Jun grew visibly more tense the closer Damon came. Damon knew it was stupid to get involved right now, especially if this devolved into a physical altercation. There were five betas and an alpha here that would take one look at Damon throwing a punch and knock him over with the flick of a finger.

But alas, he didn't really care.

So he marched forward, probably about as intimidating as an enraged toddler, and reminded himself that violence wasn't the answer. Yet.

Instead of pouncing on Malachi like a mother cougar protecting her cubs, Damon – quite maturely, in his opinion – tapped Malachi on the shoulder. He turned, and seeing Damon, a gross smirk tilted his lips. Damon glowered back.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up. What? Do you have something to say? The law is clear. You were there."

Shifting into a wolf and ripping Malachi's throat out wouldn't be too much of an overreaction, right?

"I was. What I saw was you provoking Jun and Mark into beating you up so you could be a little bitch about it and do this."

Malachi whistled, turning fully away from Jun to engage with Damon. Over Malachi's shoulder, Damon saw a muscle in Jun's jaw jump. Clearly Jun wasn't too pleased with how close he and Malachi were.

"The mouth on you. You never talked like this when we were together. Does your boy over there like that kind of talk?" Malachi leaned in to stage whisper to Damon. Damon forced himself not to flinch away. "Be honest. He's more of the 'receiver' in the relationship, isn't he?"

Damon feigned boredom. "Actually he fucks me so hard I cry. A feat you and your miniscule dick never managed to accomplish."

Malachi's smirk faltered, just for a moment. Damon savored that victory. He recovered quickly, however. "Hm. Is that so? Jun Harper, stupidest alpha to grace this pack in years, and he can manage to please the ice queen? Well, I guess you don't have to be smart to use your dick, right? Just point and thrust. If brute force is what you're looking for in a lover, I guess he's as good a choice as any."

Damon would realize later that he was trembling minutely, all over, shaking with repressed rage. Implying that Jun liked to get fucked was one thing. Damon was sure that Jun was secure enough in his masculinity that it wouldn't bother him one bit. But insulting Jun's intelligence?

That was a one-way ticket to getting your ass handed to you.

It wouldn't have made Damon so angry, except Jun being 'stupid' was a long-running opinion a lot of people in the pack had about Jun. He was silly. Sometimes he unintentionally acted in ways that most people would look at and think, 'is it this guy's first day on earth?' He was spacey, and weird, but well-intentioned and warm, so people who have interacted with him once would think that maybe this guy isn't the brightest crayon in the box.

But he was. He had something of a childlike quality to him – a gentleness in the way he reacted to the world that was different than most people – and so it was confused with a lack of intelligence. And Damon understood that from their first date.

Damon knew it. But because he knew it, because it was such an obvious truth now that he knew Jun well, it was infuriating to hear Malachi of all people insult him in that way. Malachi struggled to avoid repeating the equivalent of freshman year for the pack in school, so it wasn't like he had room to talk.

The omega in Damon was fighting to take over. To just rip into this asshole, drag Jun back inside, and lock the door to keep their enemies away. He was one push away from losing it. Only Jun's silent pleas with his eyes were keeping him restrained. Damon knew the wrong move right now would only make the situation worse. So he bit back the urge to flay Malachi.

"At least he's honest and honorable. More than anyone can say for you, you little rat."

Malachi just kept smirking away, a satisfied glint in his eye when he saw Damon's clenched jaw and trembling fists. He'd gotten under Damon's skin, which is what he'd set out to do in the first place.

"Alright. Well, it's been fun catching up, Damon, but criminals won't imprison themselves. I have places to be." With that, he jerked his head to signal for the betas to follow him and strode off down the path, where Damon could see a car idling, waiting to take Jun to the pack's holding cells. The betas tightened their grip on Jun and went obediently, the three flanking them making sure Damon kept his distance. He barely stopped himself from snarling at them. Jun held Damon's gaze as long as he could, communicating things that Damon understood, but ignored.

Don't worry about me, just go inside, I'll be fine, his eyes said. No way in hell was Damon just going to leave him by himself. He waited until they drove away before pulling out his phone. He had to check in with Mark. Mark had been involved in beating up Malachi as well, so they were probably putting him in the cells too.

Damon tried Mark's cell first, thinking that he could warn him, at the very least. Malachi might be heading right for him.

Mark, thankfully, picked up. "What's up?"

Damon took a deep breath. "Just...too much."

***

After giving Mark ample warning, Damon walked into the woods. The holding cells were possibly the most remote part of pack territory, hidden in the forest a few miles away from the main pack land. It was too far to walk, and Damon didn't know anyone in the pack with a car, so if he wanted to get there before nightfall, he had only one option – to shift and run there.

It also served another purpose. It wasn't likely that they were going to just let Damon in, so...he would have to break in. And the best way to do that would be as a wolf. He was flying by the seat of his pants essentially, running off of his memory of the location of the holding cells and the layout of the building. But it didn't really matter. He might not be able to break Jun out, or really do anything to help their situation, but he couldn't leave Jun alone there right now.

Especially because, during that verbal spar with Malachi, Damon noticed a particular strength to Jun's scent that hadn't been there when he left. He was back in preheat, and because he'd already been briefly in heat, the preheat period was going to be a lot shorter. Damon predicted that he would be completely in heat before the sun set.

It wasn't like Damon could do anything about that either. But leaving Jun alone in a cold cell while he went into heat, anxious and worried about what was going to happen to him?

That simply wasn't an option.

So Damon ignored the omega part of him telling him that he needed to get back to the nest where it was safe, now. Because even if he went to the nest, Jun wouldn't be in it, and he thought – knew – that would be worse.

He shifted, grabbed his clothes in his mouth, and dashed into the brush.