Damon was only able to convince Jun to wait to sign the documents allowing Damon to be his heat partner by threatening to retract his offer. The poor boy looked traumatized. His wide eyes and trembling lower lip will forever be imprinted in the back of Damon's brain.

It had to be done though. Jun was still heat-crazed and unable to make that sort of decision, so with a whispered request to Mark, Ava, and the other beta, Paul, Damon was able to get them to keep Jun inside his house until he was clear-headed. Then they would have this conversation again.

Managing to escape Jun's apartment once they were done talking, however, was another problem. Once Damon stood up to leave, Jun latched onto his waist and wouldn't let go, as though he thought he was the size of a kitten Damon could stuff under his clothes and sneak out undetected, rather than a six foot tall, bulky alpha. It was adorable. And terribly inconvenient. It took both Mark and Ava to pry him off and he whined as Damon walked out the door.

Damon certainly didn't spend the rest of the week forcing himself to stay home and go to work and not go to Jun's house to see him. He was cool as a cucumber.

That was a lie. He was going into Jun withdrawal. It was especially bad because he received daily text updates on Jun from Mark.

Day 1 away from Jun:

He tried crawling out the window to escape this morning. He's lucky he lives on the ground floor.

Day 2 away from Jun:

He's been locked in his room suffering extreme horniness all day. He periodically calls out for you. You serious about this heat partner thing? Might be...intense. I fear for your asshole.

Day 3 away from Jun:

Shredded the dining room table into sawdust today. Are you sure he's a wolf and not a big cat?

Day 4 away from Jun:

Paul and I fell asleep and left Ava to watch Jun today. He was acting okay, so we thought it would be fine. Apparently while we were sleeping he went into another hump-anything-that-moves fit, as alphas do. Surprisingly, he didn't even look at Ava. Didn't even touch her, even when she tried to restrain him. Just kept calling for you. I mean...that's weird, right? Even mated alphas might not have done the same in that situation.

Day 5 away from Jun:

He's a grumpy guss today. He asked me when you were coming back over and I said not until you surface from heat-land, and he glared at me. Glared. Like he was ripping me apart with his eyes. I got shivers.

Day 6 away from Jun:

You might want to pay another visit. I know he's not lucid yet, but. Well, he needs to see you.

It was officially the Sunday of the gala. Damon wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but after Mark's last text, he had resolved to go see Jun after it, and that gave Damon the motivation to get off the couch to get ready. He rolled to his feet and headed upstairs to shower, chanting his rules for tonight over and over in his head to remember them:

1. No matter what, don't stay for longer than thirty minutes.

2. Greet Hailey and Peter, but don't engage in any conversation pertaining to their son.

3. Avoid Malachi at all costs.

Damon was going alone, unfortunately, because the only date he'd wanted to take was in heat, and his friends were currently watching said in-heat date. That meant he would be able to leave whenever he wanted, but it also gave him less protection against unwanted conversation.

Damon was so wary of attending this little event, he'd called his parents earlier in the week to covertly ask if they were really expecting him to go to this thing. And as Damon predicted, one of the first things out of his mother's mouth, without Damon's prompting, was "Damon, Hailey Reyne called me a while back. You're here for the gala this year! Have fun, sweetie."

It was his mother's usual manner of assuming what Damon would want or do based on what she wanted. It wasn't as if she was threatening him to go, or pressuring him really, she just truly thought Damon would want to go. At least she didn't mention anything about his date or lack thereof. While he had told his parents he was in a courting claim – that wasn't the kind of thing you were able to hide from parents, even if they were halfway across the world – they didn't know about any of the details. When it came to Damon's romantic relationships, they were a bit finicky.

Damon thought this was probably because he had shown very little interest in dating or relationships. When he dated Malachi, they were extremely supportive. His mother asked for every detail of their dates. And he would tell her, of course, because he loved talking with his mom. But then he broke up with Malachi, and it was like they became gun shy. Like they thought they would scare him away from having a relationship at all if they were too supportive or something. Thus, not a word had been said about his courtship with Jun. It was weird, but such was the nature of Damon's parents.

Tonight, Damon was aiming to blend in and be as inconspicuous as possible. If only it were a masquerade party. Then he could really hide. For this shindig, he was wearing a pair of dress pants and a burgundy dress shirt with a black tie. It wasn't full-suit formal, but he wouldn't be underdressed.

He walked to the Reyne's house once it was time. As he got closer, he met with a crowd of other wolves also walking to the pack leader's house, and blended in with them, slipping into the house unnoticed.

Despite not running into anybody he knew, Damon felt horribly seen. As he wandered over to the drinks table, he wondered what it would be like if he'd been able to bring Jun. Jun wasn't the most socially adept person, so it would probably be Damon taking the lead in most of their conversations, but Damon felt that if Jun were here, he would be able to sense when Damon became uncomfortable and help get him out of there. Damon could imagine Jun, the walking disaster, doing everything wrong, but in a way that was horribly endearing. Clinking glasses with someone else and accidentally getting wine all over. Or cracking the glass. Going to shake hands with someone he should have hugged. Hugging someone he should have shook hands with. But he would make sure Damon was okay through it all.

Jun didn't have to ask to know when Damon was feeling off. Whether angry, embarrassed, or just feeling bad, Jun knew. He seemed to know what Damon needed better than he did. He had from the moment they'd met. So if he were here...he would definitely, definitely help Damon get the hell out of this party.

Damon picked up a glass of wine from the refreshment table and surveyed the ballroom. He was in a corner of the room, carefully away from the main crowds. He was looking for Peter and Hailey. He just had to make sure they knew he had come. So if his parents asked, they would have to say that he had, indeed, shown up.

As he scanned the room, his gaze inevitably had to cross over the fountain in the center of the room, burbling gently away. He couldn't see Malachi there yet, so with any luck, Malachi had either gone into heat early, or had completely forgotten about Damon. Either would mean Malachi was no longer Damon's problem for the moment, and that was all Damon could hope for. Damon gently sipped his wine and allowed himself to relax just slightly.

He relaxed too soon. As Damon put the glass up to his lips, he felt a chest press gently up against his back – and then there was a very unwanted voice whispering in Damon's ear, reeking of preheat pheromones.

"I knew if I said to meet at the fountain, that's the last place you would go," Malachi said. Damon jerked away and turned to glare at him. Malachi raised his eyebrows. "What can I say, lover? I know you."

Damon wouldn't dignify that with a response. He settled for speed walking away as fast as he could without alarming anyone else. Malachi followed, of course. Damon kept to the edge of the room – now keeping an eye out for Peter and Hailey to keep away from them. If he happened upon them while being harassed by their son, they would try to push them together rather than help Damon out.

"Don't be like that," Malachi said teasingly. "I have something very serious to request of you."

"Stick your request up your ass," Damon muttered, agitatedly looking around for the safest escape route.

"Well, actually I'd like to stick it up your ass."

That got the desired reaction. Damon paused and whirled to face Malachi with his face scrunched up in confusion and disgust. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Malachi smirked, raising his own glass to his lips, looking at Damon over the rim as he murmured the last words Damon ever wanted to hear him say.

"I'd like to ask you to be my heat partner."