Damon was still pressed to the ground, feeling the phantom impression of Jun's teeth at his nape. He was fuzzy headed, still processing what had just happened. There was no avoiding that scent though, and all its implications. The vicious growling to the side was growing in intensity – and Mark's pained yelp was what finally got Damon moving. He had to intervene.

An alpha just entering heat was aggressive, confused – especially if they'd been stopped just before breeding an omega. Sweet as Jun is normally, even he was powerless to instinct. Having entered the pack six years ago, Jun certainly had experienced a heat before, but Damon was pretty sure he'd never had one while in a courtship.

If an alpha was pursuing someone in particular when they went into heat, they would of course have an increased desire for the other person. That didn't preclude them from making passes at other omegas, or even betas if they were so inclined, but one would assume that if you were in a courtship, then your desire for that particular person would already be very high. Heat would just magnify that.

Unfortunately, Damon had heard of many courtships that ended in disaster because the alpha partner went into heat and cheated on the other person. Unintentionally, of course, but it would still drive a wedge between them. Usually, however, the biggest concern for an alpha in heat and also in a courtship was that they would be a danger not only to others, but to themselves.

Like with the situation now, courting alphas in heat needed to be restrained more heavily than other alphas. Their entire focus, once in heat, would be in finding their person and lessening their inner heat. That was a polite way to say they would single-mindedly attempt to fuck their partner anywhere, anytime – and all the time. Thus, the betas holding them back – because it was usually betas who had that honor – might accidentally get caught in the crossfire and get hurt.

The danger to themselves came about when the alpha's head cleared. Eventually there comes a point where the heat abates for a while – hours, maybe days – and the alpha realizes what they've done. If they've hurt someone in the heat haze, that guilt might follow them everywhere. It was rare, but it could happen, and some alphas, so torn up by guilt and the agitation from the heat, might hurt themselves. It might be something mild, like scratching up their arms and legs, or worse. Thankfully, it was rare that the beta guards got too hurt in the line of fire, so alphas self-mutilating was relatively rare. Most alphas, however, weren't in courtships, and would be too sucked into the heat to notice that they'd been led home and locked inside.

That's why this situation was particularly bad. Not only was Jun in a courtship, Damon – the source of his affections – was right within his grasp. And the only person between Jun and Damon was Mark – so Damon, realizing this, quickly shot up. If Mark was hurt because of this...

Mark and Jun were a blur of fur, claws, and teeth as they wrestled twenty feet away. Whenever Mark would withdraw, to avoid either of them getting more hurt than they had to, Jun would turn towards Damon and dash at him – and then Mark would have to get in his way each time.

Clearly, Jun wasn't particularly interested in fighting Mark. But Mark was stopping him from doing what he was really interested in, which was being inside Damon. It didn't seem like Mark was too hurt for now. Jun wasn't an aggressive person out of heat, so even subconsciously he was restraining himself from really doing any damage, personal feelings about Mark's interventions aside.

Damon started shifting back immediately, even though his clothes were half a mile away. With Damon in wolf form, Jun would stay in wolf form, so hopefully if he shifted back, Jun would follow. It would be easier to restrain him as a human.

Spurred by the stress of the situation, Damon's shift was much faster, and in less than a minute, Damon was naked on the forest floor.

Even occupied with fighting Mark, Jun was attuned to every move Damon made. Seeing Damon was human, Jun pushed away from Mark immediately and started his own shift. Damon sighed in relief, relaxing for a moment. Mark, caught off guard, began his own shift – just a moment too late.

What happened next was Damon's miscalculation.

While Mark was in the midst of shifting, Jun had already long finished and was marching towards Damon with purpose. Damon shuddered at the look in his eyes. It was molten metal, pinning Damon in place.

God damned omega instincts. Seeing the feverish tint to Jun's skin, the distress in his gaze – Damon was a slave to his need to provide. He unconsciously cooed at Jun as he came closer, unable to get to his feet, and Jun fell to his knees at Damon's side, tiny, unconscious noises of need escaping from the back of his throat.

Damon was almost too distracted by Jun's eyes to notice his very erect, leaking cock, pointing towards Damon like a god damned arrow. With wide eyes, Damon kept staring at it for far longer than was polite. Was it ever polite to stare?

The pheromones in the air were clouding Damon's mind, and seeing Jun's arousal, flushed almost purple, the omega in him screamed to present himself – location and risks of pregnancy be damned. His head was filled with filthy images. Himself, on his hands and knees, whimpering as Jun thrust into him desperately, like he would die if he stopped fucking Damon; himself, taking Jun into his mouth and savoring the taste of him, the weight of him on his tongue, Jun's hands tightening in his hair. Pushing Jun down and riding him because Jun was a good boy and he deserved it –

"Damon!" came an alarmed shout. Damon shivered, snapping out of his trance – only to realize that he had already unconsciously gotten to his hands and knees and Jun was already behind him, hands digging into the flesh of Damon's ass, his breath skating over Damon's wet hole, slick dripping down his thighs – and Jun was readying himself to continue what he'd started in wolf form. The brush of Jun's hot, stupidly big cock against Damon's inner thigh was a shock to the system.

Damon jerked away in a panic, but Jun's hands were already braced against Damon's waist, and he was pulled right back into position. Damon thought he was imagining it when Jun muttered "mine" and – surprisingly tenderly for someone in heat – kissed Damon's spine, something almost reverent in the action.

Mark came to save the day once again, but Damon had made another mistake. Mark was considerably weaker than Jun in human form. In wolf form, he'd had a chance. At least he had teeth and claws at his disposal. Now, he had nothing but his hands and feet.

However, when Mark attempted to push Jun off of Damon, though he barely managed to make Jun sway, Jun's alpha instincts warned him that someone was trying to take his mate, and he temporarily forgot his mission of impregnating Damon, instead hugging Damon to his body, pressing him into the grass and growling warningly at Mark.

So...mission accomplished?