Damon bolted through the branches of the pine tree, ignoring how the needles scraped against his exposed face and hands. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his throat. He approached the boundary of Ganymede pack within seconds, and still, thankfully, hadn't heard any sounds of pursuit.

But of course, Damon just had to go and think that and jinx himself, because in the next second a shout rose up off to his right – something to the effect of "there he is, get him" – and the forest was suddenly alive with the sound of tromping footsteps, headed straight for him. Damon lowered his head and ran faster, focusing on making sure his legs didn't seize up in terror before he even reached No Man's Land.

Damon knew that trying to pay attention to where all the betas were around him would only end up distracting him enough to get himself captured, but he couldn't help but track the noises they made to gauge how close they were. There were at least three sets of footsteps behind him and to the right, and at least two sets on the left. They were boxing him in.

The long grasses of No Man's Land were only thirty feet away. He would make it. He had to.

But the betas were much faster than Damon, probably because staying in shape was part of their job description, unfortunately. Damon's side was starting to hitch up, less from exertion than panic. He could hear the betas breathing now. They were practically right on his heels.

Damon didn't dare to glance back – he's seen more than enough movies to know that would practically spell his doom – but he then heard one of the betas, frighteningly close to him, mutter "gotcha" under his breath.

Damon braced himself to feel a hand in his collar dragging him back, or more cruelly, to feel whoever was behind him kick the backs of his knees to take him down. Thankfully, neither happened, but he did hear a grunt behind him, and then suddenly the oppressive sense of having someone on his heels was gone. A little freaked out, Damon risked a small glance out of the corner of his eye and saw a beta – presumably the one that almost got him - on the ground, groaning with a hand to the back of his head. A bloody rock lay innocently a few feet away.

So the rock thing was working, apparently. Nice.

It was exactly what Damon needed. Without that beta right behind him, Damon put on an extra burst of speed and shot over the boundary line into No Man's Land. He wasn't in the clear yet, but perhaps because of the endorphin rush, Damon smiled brightly, almost giddy enough to laugh.

He wanted to look back and check on Ava and Elizabeth now that he was past the boundary, but by the sounds of grunts and shouts coming from their direction, they were doing just fine. So, Damon did what Elizabeth said, and ran like hell, eyes locked on the green soybeans in the distance. He was slowed down a bit because the grass and weeds were so thick in the field, but that just meant that anyone who managed to come after him would also have the same handicap.

He kept his ears perked up for any sign that Ava or Elizabeth was in danger. He knew they could handle themselves, but he wouldn't be able to accept it if either of them got in serious trouble for helping him. He hoped they were keeping an eye on his progress so they could get the hell out of dodge once Damon was past No Man's Land.

But it seemed like that wasn't going to be an issue. Damon crossed through No Man's Land and stumbled into the relative flatness of the soybean field, covered from the waist down in hitchhikers. He was officially out of Ganymede territory. He paused for a full ten seconds, suddenly not sure of what to do now that he'd accomplished his goal, before shaking himself out of it and ducking behind a couple cypress trees bordering the field to watch what was happening on the other side.

He was just in time to watch two shadows with hoods concealing their faces running deeper into the forest, disappearing from sight and the grasp of the betas, several of whom were covered in bruises and bloody gashes. Damon let the tension in his body drain out with a sigh seeing them escape unscathed.

Now... Damon glanced at his surroundings. Soybeans. Trees. Not a single house or road in sight. Wonderful.

Elizabeth had said not to worry about this part, but now that it was here, Damon was worrying about it. He knew he was roughly southeast of the pack, and he knew Venus pack was south of Ganymede, so theoretically, he was pointed in the right-ish direction. Damon could always pull up a map on his phone, but he would only be able to find maps of human cities. There wasn't exactly a Google maps for pack lines.

So he could only start walking, uncomfortable with how exposed he was out in the field.

He only walked for five minutes before he understood why Elizabeth wasn't worried about what would happen to Damon after he escaped the pack.

He smelled him first. Spicy sweet and warm. It made him stop in his tracks and whip his head around frantically. But before Damon could spot him that way, he was wrapped up from behind in the biggest, most comforting bear hug known to man.

Jun.

Damon felt Jun's smile against the skin of his neck and couldn't help the mirroring smile on his own lips.

Finally.

***

Damon made Jun sit on a little hill a distance away to catch up. Of course, it was Jun, so once Damon had successfully gotten him to sit still and release Damon from his iron grip, he just twisted Damon right down into his lap. Damon was so happy to see him he couldn't even bring himself to scold Jun for manhandling him.

There were a few things Damon had to straighten out. Like why Jun had conveniently been waiting right in the area for Damon, as if he'd known Damon was coming. And, relatedly, why Elizabeth seemed to know Jun would be there. Honestly, even if Jun told Damon that he and Elizabeth were in cahoots conspiring to abduct Damon, Damon wouldn't really care, but he still wanted to know. He also had to figure out what their next steps were.

But before Damon could get out a single syllable, Jun took advantage of Damon's open mouth to slam their lips together and slide his tongue right in like the mannerless gremlin he was. And then Damon's head went a little fuzzy, and he forgot his own name for a few minutes.

The old saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' seemed to be intensely true. Surrounded by Jun's scent, his warm chest under Damon's open palms, Damon felt the tight knot buried in his stomach start to loosen. It set in that this was real – that Jun was fine and here, waiting faithfully for Damon like nothing else in the world mattered. God he had missed this man.

But, as they sat there, lips sliding together like they couldn't bear to part, Damon's relief gave way to all the pent-up stress and worry he'd been pushing down and his breathing grew ragged. His hands slid into Jun's hair and tugged, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to get his attention. Jun grunted in that particular tone that Damon had come to learn meant something he'd done had turned Jun on and filed the information away for later. Apparently, Jun liked having his hair pulled.

But for the moment, Damon was trembling too hard to put that knowledge to good use. He pulled again and the kiss broke, allowing Jun to see that tears had started silently streaming down Damon's cheeks, though Damon himself hadn't even noticed.

Jun didn't seem alarmed, and calmly used his thumb to swipe the tears away.

"Don't ever do that to me again," Damon said.

Jun nodded, but he was smiling in delight, the bastard. Damon narrowed his eyes and tugged on his hair again in warning. Jun began purring in response. Damon choked on a laugh and let his head fall to Jun's shoulder. Whatever shitstorm was waiting for them in the coming days didn't matter for now. At least the longing in Damon's bones had been sated.

God help anyone who managed to tug Jun out of his grasp for a second time.