***

"Alright," Mark sighed. "Ava and another of my friends are here to help me with him. I'm not strong enough on my own if he goes off the rails."

"That's fine," Damon said, already hopping to get his jeans over his hips. "I'll be there in five minutes."

Damon hung up the phone, proceeding to run around his house and gather up anything he would need like someone who had just heard their wife was going into labor. He appreciated Mark's foresight in gathering backup. Mark's other friend was probably another beta, and Ava was an omega.

There was certainly some risk in having an omega be one of the people keeping watch over an alpha in heat, for a few reasons. The most obvious is that alphas in heat were most highly attracted to omegas, so there was always the risk that Jun would black out and go for her. It went the other way too. As Damon had experienced in the forest, an alpha's full heat pheromones were potent, especially so to omegas. They brought out Damon's need to submit and provide like nothing else. If it were any other omega tending Jun, Damon would be worried, but not with Ava.

Though unbonded, Ava had exactly zero interest in Jun as a partner, thus the thrall would be particularly lax for her. She tended to go for either female alphas or male betas, if anyone. Ava also lifted weights five days out of the week. She could bench press Mark.

Jun lived a few blocks away from Damon, in the only set of apartments on pack land. Well, they were actually just a big house renovated into apartments. Jun lived on the ground floor.

Truthfully, Damon had only been here once, and he had never gone inside. So walking right up to the front door and letting himself in was a bit of a surreal experience. The living room was empty when he stepped in, a single lamp lit in the corner, casting the room in strange shadows.

"Jun?" he called, voice barely more than a whisper. The atmosphere was a little creepy, so breaking the silence felt almost dangerous. The door closed behind him with a 'schick' noise and Damon jumped a little like he was in some B grade horror movie, glancing back at the door, and when he turned back around, he was suddenly faced with a very broad, bare chest. "Gahh!" he shouted involuntarily, jerking back. "Jun, what – "

Before Damon could finish his sentence, Jun bent down and wrapped his arms around Damon's waist in a hug, burying his face in Damon's shirt. Once the top half of Jun's body was out of the way, Damon could see Ava, Mark, and Mark's friend standing in the living room, watching them warily, in case Jun lost control.

Though Jun's face was rubbing distractingly over Damon's sternum, Jun was true to his word and was indeed in control of himself. His hands never strayed past Damon's waist. Damon's heart softened, melting like butter. He patted Jun's fluffy hair, which was sticking up in a few places, probably from running his own hands through it anxiously.

"I'm sorry," Jun mumbled into Damon's chest, something in his voice that made Damon think Jun had probably been beating himself up over this since Damon left him in the forest. "I'm sorry, Damon."

Damon sighed and poked Jun's cheek. "Nothing to apologize for, silly. It's not your fault."

At this, Jun lifted his head slightly, until he could peek up at Damon with his wide, dark eyes, something unnamable there that made Damon's mouth go dry all of a sudden.

Damon and Jun had now been hugging for far longer than was appropriate. Mark stepped forward and threw a shirt on Jun's head. "Okay. You've apologized. Will you stop trying to break out now?"

Jun slowly straightened up, grabbing the shirt off his head, and nodded, finally content. Despite now having something to cover up his indecently attractive chest muscles, Jun just held the shirt, staring at Damon and swaying towards him slightly on the balls of his feet. Damon hadn't known it was possible for a human being to make the heart eyes emoji.

This reminded Damon of when Jun had brought him home after that one date and opened his arms for a hug. He was making the same swaying motion, as if he was once again silently asking to hug – except this time, Damon knew Jun wanted something a lot more x-rated than a hug. Damon was a little amused, he would admit, but he looked pointedly at the shirt and Jun quickly slid it on, but didn't move to let Damon past him. Damon cleared his throat awkwardly and peeked at the three others.

"He seems to be in control right now. I have to talk to him, so can you give us some space?" Damon asked, both to convince them to give him and Jun some privacy, and also to make sure they thought it would be okay to do that right now. Damon truthfully couldn't tell if Jun really had control over himself or not, so he was relying on their professional opinion.

Mark rubbed his chin a little worriedly, but nodded, and gestured for the others to go to the adjoining kitchen with him. The kitchen and living room shared a wall, with just a swinging door between them and Damon and Jun, just in case Damon needed help fast. Once they were gone, Damon poked Jun's chest until he got the idea to step back and then led him to the sofa. Jun followed obediently, taking a handful of Damon's shirt so he couldn't get too far away.

There were a lot of things Damon had to talk about with Jun. The problem was that Damon didn't know if now was really the right time to be bringing them up. Jun might not be in the best state for some of these conversations.

He felt he owed it to Jun to tell him about the gala. Damon was planning to go – avoiding Malachi at all costs of course – but only for the sake of making an appearance and not angering his parents. Jun would probably accept this with little fuss. He might be disappointed that he couldn't go with Damon, but the invitation was very specific about not allowing in-heat alphas to attend, so he would pout, but accept it.

Damon was also a little conflicted about whether or not he should tell Jun about what was going on with Malachi. It's not like Jun had anything to worry about, of course. Damon would rather cough up blood than get back together with Malachi, but he felt that Jun deserved to know that Malachi was 'pursuing' him, in his sleazy, half-hearted way.

Hmm...looking at Jun's flushed cheeks, his gaze riveted on Damon...Damon decided that was a conversation for lucid Jun. He could still tell him about the gala though.

But Damon had other things he needed to bring up. Less pleasant, more personal conversations. For example, Damon hadn't yet had the chance to ask Jun about this whole son-of-the-Venus-pack's-alpha nonsense. Again...Damon thought that might be a conversation for lucid Jun.

The third point he had to bring up – well, it was a conversation better brought up sooner than later, but Damon didn't want to rile up Jun's heat-brain anymore than possible right now. Damon had thought about it for a long time after getting home earlier. Maybe...he should ask Jun about being his heat partner? The pack doctor didn't like it as much when an alpha and omega pair came to him to sign up after the alpha's heat had already begun, but it could still happen as long as Jun was sane enough to make the trip to the pack doctor's office and properly give his consent on the forms.

Damon just thought that it was much too cruel to leave Jun to his own devices. And as long as Damon remained responsible throughout...well. It would be fine. Damon was twenty-six, had only had sex once, and he was painfully attracted to Jun. Spending a heat with someone wasn't a lifelong commitment. Some omegas even sold their time for desperate alphas, offering to be their heat partner for financial compensation. Damon would of course not be selling himself, but it wasn't like offering to be Jun's heat partner was the same as proposing to bond with him.

So, yeah. Lots to talk about. And there was Jun, sitting and staring at him politely, waiting for Damon to say what was on his mind.

Damon took a deep breath, and began.