Darcy weaved her way through the Friday morning crowds, weaponising her elbows when necessary - and when certain she couldn’t be identified by the far bigger people all around her. With a dramatic inhale, she peeled away from the main horde. The corridor leading to her class was far clearer. Luca popped up at her side, seemingly out of nowhere. For the first time, Darcy didn’t jump out of her skin at the sudden sight of him.

“Wanna go for a run?” he asked before she could think of a greeting. Probably for the best, she would have ended up with a squeaky and awkward ‘hi’ anyway.

“I spend plenty of time running from you, thank you very much,” Darcy replied, snippier in tone than she had expected to sound. She fought the reflex to apologise immediately. Being rude was not in the omega nature, but being rude to a beta was an offence against wolf nature itself.

Luca laughed quietly to himself. It filled her with annoyance instead of relief.

“It’s not funny,” Darcy whispered. “You don’t know what it’s like to have someone as big as you stalking someone as small as me.”

His expression turned uncomfortable and he looked away, but still kept pace with her. Either he didn’t catch her hint or decided to ignore it. “You told me once that you liked running,” he said.

It almost caused her to stumble that he remembered such a small comment such a long time ago. “I lied,” she replied.

He was not put off by her blunt response. “Let’s go back to the woods where they held the scavenger hunt. It’s protected land; we can shift there without worrying about humans.”

“Remember when you said I could tell you to fuck off?” Darcy asked cheerfully, expression heavy with insinuation. She didn’t want to actually tell him to fuck off, at least not in public. They were still taking baby steps, at least as far as Darcy was concerned.

“You won’t even consider it? A fun afternoon out?”

Darcy gave him her best withering look.

They reached her class, not one that he shared, and stopped at the back of the queue to enter the classroom. Luca dropped his back against the wall, leaning over her at a sharp angle that made his t-shirt ride up. The skin of his hip was as golden as his face, with a sprinkling of brown freckles. Darcy’s mouth watered. She managed to drag her eyes from the exposed sliver and caught Luca grinning down at her. She flushed and wrapped her arms over her chest, hoping to look sulky and grouchy.

Luca watched her for a few moments before announcing, “I packed food for a picnic.”

Darcy perked up. “What kind of food?”

His face broke out in a beam. “You’ll have to come with me to find out, won’t you?”

“I need some details first.”

“I’ll text you.” He pushed off the wall and joined the stream of students heading towards the science block.

“I’ll be changing my number any day now!” she called after him.

As soon as he was out of sight she couldn’t keep from laughing at herself. She was in way too deep, it was embarrassing. Perhaps struggling against the quicksand was only prolonging her demise, though. Would a few weeks of fun with her mate cause her any more hurt than she was already expecting? She would have to pry herself from him either way come June 14^th. He had already entangled her to the point of heartache.

A few of her classmates gave her cautious looks from the queue and it set off another wave of giggles. She was a fool. An absolute love-soaked moron. But at least now she could accept it.

They arranged to meet at the front gate of the school, Luca would drive them to the reserve. Only alphas and betas usually had their own cars, it was a luxury reserved for the top point of their diamond structure. Darcy felt a little awkward walking the opposite way to the rest of her pack-mates  making their way to the bus queue.

Thankfully, Luca was quick to pull up in front of her. Before she had cleared the handful of steps to the passenger door, Luca was out and striding around to beat her there. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open for her with a mock bow. Darcy smiled gratefully and climbed into the car. Nerves barely contained. He shut the door for her gently and returned to his own side. When he dropped back into the driver’s seat, his attention was on pulling away, but Darcy’s was on his proximity. His body heat radiating so close to her, soaking into her skin. A warmth transfer from one soul-mate to the other. His scent was everywhere inside the car, and the warm day exacerbated its cling.

The small talk during the journey was maintained almost entirely by Luca. Darcy would like to say she was trying to protect her heart by being aloof, but the truth would be nerves and social awkwardness. That feeling of having a crush on someone and miraculously losing the ability to speak coherently near them. So near. Close enough to touch unintentionally.

After parking up and assisting Darcy out of the car, he plucked a backpack from the back seat and slung it over his shoulder with a grin.

“Picnic,” he explained helpfully.

As they passed through the gate into the forest, he slipped his fingers through hers. The skin between her fingers was stretched a little trying to accommodate his large hand, but the explosion of ecstasy that ran from her palm to the rest of her body made it more than worth it. His touch comforted her in gentle pulses through her bloodstream.

They plodded through the undergrowth for a while, Darcy couldn’t even take a guess at how long. Luca’s hand in hers had all of her attention. She was mildly dazed by his scent brushing against her as they walked side-by-side.

“This looks like a good spot.”

Darcy blinked. “Hmm?” She glanced around the small clearing that they had stumbled across. It looked like all the others they had wandered through so far.

“Picnic spot!” Luca peeled their hands apart to unpack his bag.

Darcy’s mouth slipped reflexively into a pathetic pout. The breeze tickling her now-empty palm brought a sting to her skin. Luca didn’t notice her slouched, lost demeanour. He flapped out a blue blanket in front of them and laid out a collection of plastic containers.

After sulking silently by herself for a few minutes, Darcy relented. Luca was not paying her any mind anyway. He was chattering about the snacks he had brought as he popped open the lids. Darcy dropped to the blanket cross-legged. The space around her quickly filled with food. A lot of food. Luca urged her to start picking at the selection.

As soon as she’d partaken in some sugar, she felt herself pepping back up. Her mood and energy rose with every bite. Luca took from every container, eating a piece of everything, one after the other. When a snack was down to its last piece or portion, he would slide the container to Darcy’s knee and encourage her to eat more. She fought as valiantly as she could, but there was still food in front of her when she tapped out.

Luca took the last orange slice that Darcy had insisted couldn’t fit inside of her. “I want to explore,” he said, and popped it into his mouth.

“We didn’t explore enough last time?” Darcy teased, poking fun at her own lack of direction during the scavenger hunt. She wanted very much to lie still and allow her body to digest the biggest meal she had eaten in weeks.

“I think we should explore my way. Your style is…” He scrunched his nose as he thought for whatever word he was looking for. In the pause, he slipped the last cheese sandwich into his mouth.

“Slow?” Darcy suggested. “Boring? Tiring? Time-consuming?”

Luca swallowed. “I just think that forests are made to be run around in.”

“Luca,” Darcy said with a soft sigh. Saying his name was addictive, it stroked her throat. “You should know better than anyone that I can’t run without tripping or slamming into something.” She hummed a quiet laugh, adding, “and that’s only if you didn’t catch me first.”

He chuckled through a mouthful of pastry. It was adorable. “The only times I didn’t catch you first were when I wanted to see how long it would take for you to crash into something.”

Darcy gave him her best attempt at an irritated look, although she could feel the corner of her mouth fighting to smile. As embarrassing as it was at the time, it was a little funny to her now.

He dusted off his hands and hopped up. Darcy followed at a much slower and less enthusiastic pace. They ambled to the edge of their clearing, leaving the bag and blanket behind.

Luca suddenly halted right before the tree trunks tightened together again.

“Climb on,” he said, squatting onto his heels in front of her.

“Excuse me?” Darcy squeaked.

“Get on my back.”