Maria Wells hated Damon.

Why? Because Jun loves Damon. And Maria "loves" Jun. Hence, the problem.

Damon wasn't a petty person, so he would never flaunt his relationship with Jun, or accept his courtship just to spite some of these other wolves that had their eye on him.

But by God did he want to sometimes. Especially to spite the ones like Maria. He could see her still glaring at him from a safe distance before she whirled around in a huff, thinking that she had made her point.

...The only point she'd made was that she got violent when she was jealous. Even if Damon didn't accept Jun, he didn't think he could let her have him in good conscience. Jun was too sweet. What if she hurt him somewhere down the road?

And now Damon's porch was covered in broken glass. He was just kneeling to pick it up, grumbling under his breath, when a shadow eclipsed his on the porch.

Mark was standing behind him, eyebrows raised. "What happened here?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Nothing important. Just another of Jun's fan club expressing their feelings."

Mark scratched the side of his nose. As Damon's best friend, he had also been the unfortunate recipient of a few threats, as if he had any say in the matter.

"I'm still not sure what's up with that. The guy's attractive, and a good man, for sure, but seriously. Is there any need to go full stalker mode? Have some decency," he muttered and knelt next to Damon to help him pick up the glass.

Damon sighed, in full agreement. One would think Jun was a celebrity or something, and not just a mysterious transfer alpha that couldn't lie and put candles in cupcakes for every occasion.

"And I'm still not sure why they haven't made a move on him in the past six years he's been in this pack," Mark continued. "Choosing to go after him only after he's started pursuing someone else is a little transparent."

Damon snorted. "Unfortunately, I've asked about that. Apparently Jun just never gave them the time of day, so it's not out of a lack of trying."

Mark blinked curiously, picking up the final piece of glass as they headed inside to throw it away. "Huh. Weird that he's so into you out of the blue. Not that you're not very attractive, it's just...odd."

Damon nodded. "Couldn't agree more."

***

He wasn't sure why he'd accepted whatever excuse had been made when he'd reluctantly invited Jun into his house a few days later. But there the alpha was. On his couch. Staring at him over the back of it as Damon brought him a glass of water from the kitchen.

"I'm thirsty," he'd said when he walked in.

And now there they were. Side by side as Jun sipped the water and Damon forced himself to breathe through his mouth because by God those preheat pheromones were going to drive him to drink-

Then suddenly Jun was leaning into his space - over him, around him - everywhere but inside him where all the senses in Damon's omega body were telling him to be. Damon's breath stuttered.

Jun stared. Jun always stared. It was the thing Damon had begun to expect with Jun.

It had been creepy at first. He focused his gaze on Damon and didn't blink for the longest stretches of time - Damon had worried, at the beginning, that he wasn't blinking at all, but he had assuaged that fear by timing it. Jun had gone nearly a full minute without blinking. It was unsettling at first, but as with most things about Jun, Damon had just come to expect it.

Except, unlike with most alphas pursuing an omega, Jun's eyes never wandered. Sure, Damon had caught him staring at his neck a few times, sometimes his hands or hips, but it was a fixed stare, not a roving one, and so it hadn't felt indecent, even if, for all Damon knew, Jun was playing out a three act sex fantasy in his head.

This stare, however, was blazing. It ran over every inch of him like Jun had never seen him before, carefully cataloging ever tiny detail even through his clothes. Damon felt himself heat up, and bit his lip hard to shake away the urge to pull Jun on top of him and let him grind against Damon.

That's what Jun needed. Damon could see it in his eyes, could see how he was helpless as to what to do to ease his ache, and Damon's inborn, omega instinct to provide rose it's head, demanding that Damon roll over and present himself so the alpha can release his distress, but - no.

Damon swallowed thickly and scooted back to give himself some room to breathe, away from that gorgeous scent. Jun grasped the signal and backed off.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Damon wanted to say, no, no I'm not uncomfortable. Uncomfortable in the sense that my pants are too tight and my slick might have soaked to the couch cushion by now, yes, but otherwise, nope.

Instead, he nodded. They were still courting and Damon had no intention of accepting Jun. It would be wrong to give him false hope by sleeping with him. There was also the possibility that Jun's heat would make him lose control and mark Damon, in which case they would have no need for courtship.

Damon wasn't going to take that risk. "It's fine," he said. "You're in preheat, you can't help it. But why are you here, anyway? Aren't you worried about the preheat pheromones?"

"Yes" Jun said, and then pursed his lips. A long time passed in silence before Damon sighed and realized that he once again wouldn't be getting an answer to his first question.

Seriously, this man...

Damon sighed and made to get up. If Jun wasn't going to tell him anything, then there was no need to torture himself with the proximity.

However, just as Damon stood up, a hand clenched on the back of Damon's neck and he was spun around until he was straddling Jun's lap.

"Wha-" he gasped, and then - he could no longer make sounds that resembled words, because Jun had gotten ahold of his neck in just the right way -

See, omegas have these sensitive nerve bundles on the back of their necks. This can serve a sexual purpose, such as providing pleasure when they receive a mating bite, or it can be used for control.

Not bad control, usually. It depended on why whoever it was had to control the omega. Once the nerves there were stimulated, usually by pressure from fingers, or mouths, in wolf form, the omega would go limp, dazed, and docile. So really, the purpose of the nerves was to calm omegas down when they were in danger of hurting themselves.

Some omegas would go into a frenzy occasionally, usually only when pregnant or if they had young children and felt they were threatened. If their alpha stimulated the nerves there, it would essentially reset them like a crashed computer so that the stress of their anxiety wouldn't hurt their unborn child, if pregnant, or lead to them hurting others if not.

So - why would Jun use it on Damon, who was not, in any sense, close enough to a frenzy to warrant it?

Well, actually, Jun didn't realize what he'd done. Once Damon was seated on his lap, straddling his thighs, he noticed Damon's blissed out, nearly comatose state and hurriedly let go, yelping a "sorry!"

It took Damon a moment to return from that static filled place in his mind. When he did he noticed Jun peeking at him with big, guilty eyes.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, seeing Damon come to. "I wasn't thinking, I just..."

"Wanted me on your lap?" Damon finished, tone slightly dry, but also flirtier than he'd intended it to be.

Jun's flush increased and he bowed his head.

Damon didn't know what it was about Jun's almost childlike innocence was so compelling, but it was. It very much was. And so Damon leaned in to meet Jun's eyes. Surprisingly, Jun met his gaze head-on, still embarrassed, but still with his usual alpha need to see everything that was going on around him.

Damon didn't kiss him on the lips, though he very much wanted to, but the cheek instead.

"You're sweet," he whispered, and patted Jun's head with a smile like he was a domestic dog before making to get off his lap.

And like before, he was pulled down again, only this time Jun wasn't so nice about it.

No, Jun was very mean this time.

As Jun's lips collided with his, Damon simultaneously felt Jun's hand slide easily into the back of his pants and directly into the mess of slick coating his entrance. Damon jolted, but his protest was swallowed up in Jun's mouth.

Jun took his hand out, surprisingly not going any further. Damon gasped as he was released from the kiss and then stared, wide-eyed, as Jun slid the fingers he'd just covered in Damon's slick into his mouth and sucked.

Jun let Damon off his lap, and when he noticed Damon still staring at him, he titled his head, curiously, as if he couldn't figure out why Damon looked so scandalized.

"What?" He said. "I just wanted to know what it tasted like."