A hand slammed into the wall beside Darcy’s face, halting him with an almost painful jolt on his way to his first class of the day. The broad-bodied dominant hadn’t actually touched him, but the shock was enough to knock him back a step.

“Mornin’, puppy,” the dominant cooed, puckering his lips in a mock kiss at him. Darcy didn’t recognise him, but no doubt he was an associate of his moronic mate. He looked the type. Big, ugly, and stupid.

“Good morning,” Darcy replied curtly. He attempted to side-step him, but the dominant turned as he did and blocked him in against the wall. His arms trapped him, albeit lazily, drooping a little as though Darcy wasn’t worth his full effort.

“Wanna play a game?” he asked with a full puff of rancid breath.

“No, thank you.”

“Are you the gambling type?” he suggested with a conspirational wink.

“No. Please excuse me.” Darcy attempted to squeeze away, but he pressed in closer. Darcy could see chunks of his breakfast stuck between his teeth.

“How about we strike a deal? You let me put my hand in your pants, and I’ll let you go to second period?”

“First period is about to start,” Darcy corrected him.

“I like to take my time when I play with cute toys like you,” he said darkly. His smirk was twisted and his eyes lecherous. They slid over Darcy’s body like a slug, slow and slimy. “The slower I go, the more they squeal.” With a groan, he added, “I’ve always wanted to play with an omega.” The way he licked his lips brought bile to Darcy’s throat. “What do you say? It’s a fair trade, no?”

A smooth, furious voice came from behind the oaf’s body. “Counter offer: you don’t touch him and I don’t kill you.”

Big and ugly jumped back a step, releasing Darcy from the cage of his arms. At his back was Luca, gaze murderous.

“My bad, Luca!” He laughed awkwardly. “I was only messing around.”   

“How about you do me a favour and mess around somewhere else?” Luca growled.

The pervert saluted in some kind of nervous joke. “Anything for you, beta,” he wheezed. He stumbled over his own feet scrambling away.

Darcy watched him go, frozen to the spot. He was trembling from head to toe.

“You okay?” Luca asked quietly. He reached his hands out to cup the bottom half of his face. After a few moments of Luca cradling his cheeks, the shakes dissipated.

Darcy managed to mumble, “he was scary.”

He slid the fingers of one hand through Darcy’s hair while the other opened his barrette and caught the smoothed strands within it. Setting his hair back into place. “You don’t need to be scared of anyone, Darcy,” Luca murmured. He ran his fingers down the waves softly, admiring his handiwork.

“I’m scared of you,” Darcy whispered.

A long silence. Luca clearly didn’t like that answer.

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said with a frown.

“You hurt me before.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to get over ‘before’?”

Darcy pinched his lips together for a moment. Luca had said he could be firm with him. Their new deal.

“Go away,” he squeaked. He had intended to sound stern but his anxiety got the better of him.

Luca stepped back. His golden eyes were stuck to Darcy’s face. Darcy’s hands clenched around his backpack straps nervously, but he refused to take the words back. Luca stepped back again and Darcy held firm, watching him go. Luca's expression was both concerned and confused. He managed to make even that look hot. He finally turned away and disappeared around the same corner as his stumbling goon.

Darcy’s soul almost fell out of his body in shock when his mate’s voice suddenly bellowed, “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF?”

Mumbled male voices responded.

“If I have to tell any of you not to touch him again, you’re all dead.”

Mumbled affirmation.

“I don’t even want you idiots talking to him. Think twice before you look at him.”

Darcy squeezed his arms over his chest. Luca's words had no reason to make him feel so warm. Darcy didn’t like when anyone raised their voice, but especially not a beta, or even worse, an alpha. The two most dominant genders sent shots of pure fear through his blood when they barked. Luca’s barking was reassuring, though, maybe Darcy really would get some long-term peace from his dumb friends.

And Luca had listened to him. Despite his very obvious disagreement with his decision, he had complied when Darcy told him to go.

Darcy hurried to first period, sliding through the door a little late, but not enough to get into trouble as a first-time offender. Not that he took any of the lesson in, he was still in a daze at having been obeyed by a beta… publicly. His phone buzzed a little before the bell to mark the end of class. Darcy pulled it out as he dawdled to his next lesson. A text from an unsaved number was sat on his lock screen.

Unknown: Hey

Darcy: Who is this?

Unknown: Rude.

Darcy: Melody? I thought you just got a new phone, not a new number.

Unknown: It’s Luca.

Darcy: Where did you get my number?

Regardless, he saved it so that he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Darcy had made it to the queue into his maths classroom and leant against the wall, shielded by a much larger girl ahead.

Butt-Face: I’ve had it for months.

Darcy had no idea how to respond to that. Darcy wondered if ‘months’ was before or after MYSTIKA. Had he been planning to cyber bully him, too?

Butt-Face: Do you still want me to stay away or can we have lunch together?

Darcy fumbled the slim phone, almost dropping it. This guy was getting far too comfortable. And being asked to have lunch together… felt like a date. Darcy definitely shouldn’t say yes.

Darcy: Only if you’re buying.

Butt-Face: Of course. I’m a gentleman after all.

Darcy was a fool in love. The worst kind of fool. Love foolishness was the hardest to cure. A lobotomy was his only option.

Luca was waiting for him when the lunch bell rang. They made quiet small talk walking side-by-side to the lunch hall. It felt weird. His bully wanted to know how his class was, and what he had after lunch (which he no doubt already knew, he was far too good of a stalker), and whether he was dreading it.

Luca bought two of everything that Darcy picked from the lunch line-up, but they didn’t sit at any of the tables like everyone else. As soon as they had their food, Luca lead them back out of the food hall and to an empty classroom. Darcy frowned, he was still embarrassed to be seen with him publicly, then.

Luca dumped their gatherings on one of the high tables and took Darcy by the waist with both hands, plonking him next to the food without warning. Darcy didn’t have time to even huff his indignation at being manhandled. It would have been fake anyway, he loved his mate’s touch too much.

Luca hopped up on the other side and dug in.

He ate like someone had a gun to his head, the only way Darcy could slow him was to ask boring questions about his classes, or what he had written his English essay on. He would pause, sometimes mid-chew, and think carefully before answering. As though Darcy had asked him something remotely deep or meaningful. It bought him time, though, and he eventually caught up with him. When the end of lunch bell rang, Darcy was squeezing the last of his juice into his mouth.

He was escorted to his next class full of food and superficial knowledge of Luca’s current academic status. It sounded like he was doing well in most of his classes. The love fool was proud of him, his bright, intelligent mate. The victim inside of him hated that his bully got to succeed at everything.