Sunday had been spent over-analysing every moment of the hunt, including many replays in Darcy’s head of the kiss. The feel of Luca laughing into his mouth. Smiling against his lips.

His friends had spent all of their Sunday spamming him with apologetic messages and calls. Darcy had decided to forgive them pretty quickly, but made them wait at least eight hours before informing them they were officially forgiven.

Darcy didn’t know what to expect come Monday, but for the first time in weeks he breezed into the school without a knot twisting at his stomach. Something had released the tension inside of him. Despite having no idea what the day held for him, the high of a Saturday spent in the woods with his mate had left him with a cheerful, glowing sensation.

It was only moments after opening his locker that he noticed Luca on the other side of the corridor, surrounded by his goons. Darcy took an extra-long glance, purely to confirm whether or not his mate was wearing a t-shirt with his name on. He was not. It was nice to stare at him for a bit, though. And no t-shirt meant the deal was still on. Another win for Darcy.

As he dug through his books, he couldn’t avoid overhearing the rowdy wolves’ conversation behind him. They were having an age-old teenager discussion (at least for those who were athletic or thuggish) which went as follows: who would win in a fight between X and Y? They had run through a few animals and teachers by the time Darcy was sealing his locker.

As Darcy started away for his first period, one of Luca’s goons suddenly turned his attention to him, jolting him in place.

“Okay, what about your little omega clinger versus a human?” he asked with a sneer.

Luca and his friends all eyed Darcy up as a group. A congealed monster made of six boys squashed together. Darcy was frozen on the spot in front of them. Unlike a deer, he wouldn’t get the mercy of a truck taking him out of this situation.

“Darcy couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag,” Luca answered with a laugh.

The original goon added, “we’re talkin’ a scrawny human.”

“Luca’s right,” the tallest one said. “There’s less meat on that omega than a cocktail sausage.”

“What would be a fair fight, then?”

Luca’s eyes grazed over his body from head to toe again, slowly. Darcy glared at him. He didn’t want him to see how much he was hurting him. If he didn’t force a show of anger, he would crumple pathetically in front of them all.

Luca’s grin was menacing and his golden eyes glinted at him - a predator sizing up his prey. “A stuffed animal?” he offered.

His weasel-faced henchmen howled with laughter in unison.

“But a regular sized one,” he continued. “Not one of those giant carnival ones, that would be too much for him.”

The widest henchman snorted disgustingly before joining in.“Definitely weighs more than him,” he said, before laughing himself into another snort at his own joke.

Darcy’s size was up there with his biggest insecurities, just like any omega. He clutched his books to his chest tighter. It hurt. He hoped the physical pain would wake his legs up and help him escape this emotional pain. He was transported back to his first day of high school. When Luca first began to tear him apart daily.

He was his mate now, but nothing had changed. Nothing ever would. Darcy had always known that.

Luca sauntered over to him, he looked ridiculously pleased with himself. Darcy looked him over with his strongest stink-eye. Giving back what Luca had laid on him with his analytical gaze. His bully huffed a quiet laugh and raised one brow at him.

“What?” he said sarcastically.

“Nothing,” Darcy grunted.

They had a staring match with a foot and a half of height difference.

Luca broke the silence first. “If you have something to say, then say it,” he said quietly, but with a thick layer of threat over his words.

Darcy finally turned and stomped away. He had a study period first which meant he had a whole hour free to go and cry about his poor fortune in love. Well, perhaps not actually cry. Probably just sulk in solitude. He didn’t hear any more laughing behind him, but it probably couldn’t make him feel any worse than he already did anyway.

Instead of heading to the library with his pile of revision guides, he slipped into the first empty classroom he found. At the back of the room he crawled under a desk and laid his books around him. He stared at them for a few seconds, contemplating whether he actually had the heart to study. He slumped back against a table leg, deciding to wallow in his own misery instead.

His mate was a jerk. And a bully. He would never tire of taking the piss out of him.

Apparently, he would also never tire of stalking him like a deranged door-to-door salesperson. The door of the classroom opened and closed quickly, and Darcy didn’t need to peek out from under the table to know who had followed him. Luca had a terrifyingly accurate grasp on his scent by now, it could lead him to Darcy like string.

Darcy couldn’t get a moment of peace. Not even to simply be miserable for a bit.

Luca dropped to a wide-kneed squat and ducked his head under the tabletop. His angelic golden curls bounced around his ears. His handsome tilted face caused a ripple of flutters from Darcy’s stomach to his throat.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was bland, his expression bored.

“We have a deal,” Darcy reminded him. It was all he could think to say.

“I don’t remember signing anything.”

Luca was right. At the time he had said they would put the deal in writing. Then he made Darcy so flustered he had forgotten. He floundered for a few moments.

“We shook on it,” he blurted.

Luca laughed quietly. “If there’s no blood or spit it ain’t binding,” he said.

Darcy turned his face away. He was tired of him. Tired of arguing with him. His bully had an answer for everything. He could defend his own Luca Laws to the death. He followed his own rules and no one else’s.

“Why are you getting so upset?” Luca asked.

Silence simmered between them as Darcy considered what to say, and whether to answer at all.

He kept his eyes on the back wall when he finally answered. “Because, and this may seem alien to you, I don’t enjoy being the butt of your jokes.” His voice shook even though he wasn’t trying to speak above his usual timid tone.

“My jokes are funny, you should just laugh along.”

“And what would you have done before?” Darcy whispered. Remembering how he treated him before, and having to combine that memory with how Luca couldn’t even restrain himself from teasing him when he thought he was his mate. It prickled at every inch of him. His eyes couldn’t take the pain. They filled with tears, shaking his vision. “If I had laughed along with one of your stupid jokes?”

Luca sighed. “Before what?” he asked irritably.

“Before MYSTIKA. Before she put some ridiculous idea in your head about… us.” Darcy turned his gaze on him again as the first tears dripped down his cheeks. “Before you started pretending to be nice to me.” A rogue sob escaped him and he had to clamp a hand over his mouth momentarily to get a hold of himself again. He had more to say, and his soul-mate was going to hear him. “If I had laughed along with one of your jokes back then…” He sniffed and brushed at his cheeks with trembling fingers. “The nicest thing you would have done to me would be shoving me in a locker”

“I wouldn’t have done that.” But Luca’s voice was uncertain for once, a slight shake in his throat as he spoke. Even he didn’t believe his words.

“But now you want me to laugh at the same jokes that at least before you let me cry about?”

“Crying over a joke-”

“It’s not a joke to me, Luca!” he snapped. Another small sob caught him out, but he continued nonetheless. “Jokes are funny. Your jokes are just mean. If you want to go back to bullying me, at least give me some notice so I can avoid you and your stupid jokes.”

The beta’s eyes were aflame. His irritation and condescension turned into something much darker in an instant.

“You can’t avoid me, Darcy. I’m your mate.” He wasn’t wrong about Darcy being unable to avoid him, he had tried and failed numerous times since that fateful raffle day. Luca always found him eventually. That didn’t mean Darcy would stop trying, he could be just as stubborn as his mate. Omega may not be known for taking stances against the dominant genders, but Darcy’s parents didn’t raise him to be squashed under some beta’s foot. Especially not some beta that was his mate.

“Says you,” he sniffed.

Luca’s sharp teeth poked out from his lips as a hint of a dangerous smirk passed over his face.

“I’ll prove it.”