***

"I wasn't lying," was the first thing Jun said. That would be comforting – if Damon knew what he was talking about. Jun had firmly closed the door behind them – and locked it, by the way - and steered Damon to the couch, kneeling in front of him. He was very earnest, if nothing else.

But Damon could only sit in confused silence and wait until Jun explained himself. Damon knew Jun didn't lie. It was the one thing he was completely sure of. Jun might keep things from him – very important things regarding, oh say, his fiancé and his parents. But he had shown that he would go to great lengths not to lie.

So, what was he talking about?

"When I claimed you," he said, clearly thinking that would help. It didn't. Also, did he have to phrase it that way? It was a courting claim, not a claim claim. Damon grumbled to himself, but it didn't stop him from blushing.

What could Jun have possibly lied about that day? They hadn't even interacted directly. Damon had gone to the town square, Jun got up on stage, issued his claim, and then walked away, so what - ?

Oh.

"I, Jun Harper, am in love with Damon Blackwell."

Jun saw the realization in Damon's face before Damon had even had a chance to finish processing the thought. He barreled onward, probably afraid that Damon would stop him from speaking.

"I wasn't lying," he repeated. "I know you think I couldn't have been in love with you."

Damon's head was a little fuzzy. So, as it stands, the possibilities are that Jun fell in love with him at first sight, or what? They were soulmates? Damon refused to believe anything that cheesy.

Jun sat back on his heels, uncharacteristically nervous. "It was so long ago – I don't blame you for forgetting."

...Okay. Now things were getting cryptic. What's...?

Jun suddenly reached out and grabbed Damon's hands, staring up at him intently. "I'll tell you...but when I'm done, you can't tell me I made the wrong decision."

Turning the cryptic-ness up a notch. Great. Damon felt weirdly fluttery in the stomach. He had a feeling that what he was about to hear was both going to be very welcome...and unwelcome.

"Why?" Damon asked. Why couldn't he tell Jun it was wrong? If he'd truly done something awful...but what could someone as sweet as Jun have possibly done to make him this nervous?

Jun's jaw clenched determinedly. "Because it was right."

***

It was hot.

Unbearably hot. Why did the pack choose to have this fieldtrip in the middle of summer? Damon didn't understand why they couldn't have picked a perfectly good autumn date.

That didn't mean Damon wasn't excited. Having only left pack territory and the surrounding human city twice before in his sixteen years, he was looking forward to seeing more of the world. The trip was only held once a year, and only those in Damon's grade level were able to go. Well. "Grade" was a loose term within the pack education system. The pack school – which was a real school, otherwise the humans would be suspicious that there were a bunch of kids living off the grid – was considered a private school. The criteria for getting into the school were a bit more rigorous than humans were aware of. You had to have significantly more hair. And fangs. Thus, when humans went to apply and were soundly rejected, they thought it must be due to extremely strict requirements.

However, the pack was pretty loose in terms of separating students into grade levels. Kids were lumped together to be taught various subjects. Damon could have math with a class of thirty kids aged from 13 to 17, or he could have a science course with 10 kids all his age. So, generally, once you hit 15 or 16, you were eligible to go on the fieldtrip.

The trip was to Venus pack, one of Ganymede's allies to the south. They were going to spend two days and a night touring their facilities and learning how their hierarchy differed from Ganymede's. Damon already knew the basics. Because omegas had the heats over there, things were set up a bit differently, with a head Alpha and different courting rules. Still, Damon had heard that the Venus pack was friendly and welcoming to outsiders. Plus, the activities they were going to do there sounded fun.

Damon sat next to Malachi on the bus. Damon had wanted to sit next to Mark, but Malachi bulldozed his way into the space next to Damon. Weird. He'd been getting closer to Damon a lot lately for no real reason. Damon wondered what was up with that. Sure, their parents were friends. That didn't mean they had to be friends too.

Damon worried that Malachi was going to try to court him or something. It didn't seem totally likely, considering that Malachi had just started getting heats this year. The alternative was that Malachi was trying to get Damon to sleep with him – which, yeah, Malachi was hot, but Damon didn't really feel anything for him. Plus, Damon wasn't really interested in sex. Weird, he knew, especially for a sixteen-year-old boy. He was secretly a little anxious about it. Maybe...there was something wrong with him?

Their parents had been suggesting (well, asking, really) for Damon and Malachi to give a relationship a try for a while now. Damon...Damon thought he would rather wait. Not that Malachi wasn't cool. Damon was just...scared, he supposed. To be in a relationship with someone.

He and Malachi chatted for a lot of the ride, but eventually, Damon faked going to sleep to get a break.

When they arrived, they were led to a set of spare dormitories built specifically for visiting students. Ganymede had a mirroring setup for visiting Venus pack students. After the housing situation was settled – omegas and female betas on one side, alphas and male betas on the other – their chaperone and a guide from the Venus pack led everyone on a tour.

Damon followed the group with Mark, and another mutual friend, Ava on one side, and Malachi on the other. Mark nodded at Malachi in greeting when he showed up, but Damon could tell it was a very reluctant nod. Mark had never really liked Malachi. Well, whatever. As long as they're getting along. They don't have to be best friends.

The tour began in the heart of Venus pack. Venus was a bit bigger than Ganymede pack, and a lot closer to nearby human cities, so the buildings were newer, and a lot bigger.

As they walked, listening to the tour guide, Malachi suddenly leaned down to Damon's ear to talk to him.

"You know, the omegas have the heats here," he said. Damon tensed a little bit. Malachi liked to tease him a lot, especially concerning physiology – probably precisely because he knew it made Damon uncomfortable.

Damon rolled his eyes. "And?"

"And," Malachi continued, "haven't you ever thought about what a heat is like?"

"Only one of us has had one, Malachi," Damon said dryly. "Why don't you tell me what it's like."

"Well," he drew out, a smirk tilting his lips, "given the right circumstances...it's euphoric."

Damon suppressed a shiver. Everything he'd heard about heats said that they were painful, that you lost your mind when you were in one. Damon didn't think he'd like being so – so helpless. "Sounds like a blast," he muttered sarcastically.

Malachi's smirk only widened. "Think about it – half the omegas we've passed so far are probably getting their brains fucked out once a year. Haven't you ever – "

"No," Damon said, with a tone of finality. Malachi put his hands in the air and backed off, but he was still clearly amused, which irked Damon for some reason.

The next bit of the trip passed in relative silence. They saw the pack courthouse, the pack school – they even passed by the Alpha's house, an intimidating dark purple two-story house, and then neatly skirted into a nearby open market. Venus pack was half-integrated with the nearest human city, and half farmland, so they had a thriving produce market.

The students were set free to browse the different stalls, but they had to use the buddy system to keep from getting lost. Malachi tried to get Damon to be his buddy, but one of Malachi's other friends came over and paired with him, leaving Damon and Mark together.

Damon felt much more comfortable with Mark, and he quickly relaxed as he wandered around the market. Having not eaten anything other than a snack since getting off the bus, Damon's stomach was rumbling fiercely for some of the food he saw on display.

Just as he and Mark were coming to the end of one row of stalls, there was a burst of noise near the entrance of the market. Damon and Mark looked over curiously. Was something happening?

The woman running the stall nearest to them saw their confusion and kindly explained. "That'll just be the kids getting out of school. They like to come here after their lessons."

Ah. So far, Damon had only seen adults walking around. He supposed it made sense that all the children his age were in school at this time of day.

And that, the Damon of the future would learn, is where Jun's story began.