Getting Mark sorted out at the Hart's house was...a process. Before anything, Damon pulled Mark aside with Jun and asked what, exactly, had happened in Ganymede pack that required Mark to attempt what he considered espionage in another pack.

"Actually, it's nothing super bad," Mark admitted, "but it is weird. Plus, I, uh. Didn't have anywhere else to go. I heard all this stuff from Ava, and I wandered into a nearby human city to stay for a while. When I heard you were headed to Venus pack, I figured I would come find you to let you know."

That made no sense, but this was Mark we were talking about. Ava was perfectly capable of texting Damon if something serious were to happen, so Mark didn't have to play messenger at all on those grounds alone.

But Damon had been best friends with Mark for years, and he knew how to read between the lines. He clapped Mark on the shoulder and looked into his eyes seriously.

"...You were just lonely, weren't you?"

Slowly but surely, Mark's bottom lip started to wobble. "Living as a human sucks ass."

Damon wanted to roll his eyes at him, but honestly, Damon couldn't blame him. He had lived as a human for four years and yeah, it kind of sucked ass. Mark especially wasn't very well suited to human life. He was definitely the kind of person to do something absolutely batshit in public that might be totally normal in a pack but completely deranged in human society.

Damon patted him consolingly. "Agreed. Anyway. What did you want to tell us?"

Mark cleared his throat. "Malachi's been spreading this rumor...no one believes it! I think. I don't, obviously. And neither do any of our friends. Well, actually, Paul might – "

"Mark," Damon interrupted. Mark was a bit of a rambler when nervous, which Damon didn't usually mind, but he really needed resolution to that cliffhanger, now please.

Mark shook himself. "Right, sorry. Anyway, Malachi's been spreading this rumor that Jun brainwashed you or something. He was telling everyone that Jun practically abducted you from Ganymede pack."

Okay – what the fuck was the purpose of that? Why was Malachi trying so goddamned hard to make Jun the bad guy? He'd already gotten Jun kicked out of the pack. What more did he want?

Damon could only think of two plausible explanations. One, that Malachi was trying to get the rumor to spread to Venus pack, where it had the potential of lowering people's opinion of Jun – which could potentially be detrimental to Jun's standing as the next Alpha. But that was a long shot. There was no guarantee a rumor like that would spread, nor a guarantee that it would hold any weight with anyone in Venus pack. It was weird that it was spreading at all in Ganymede pack, given that so many people were present to watch Jun's trial – and thus, witnessed Jun being kicked out sans Damon, not abducting him, as Malachi would have people believe. Plus, Jun wasn't going to become the Alpha anytime soon. Rumors without any backing to them like that one would quickly fizzle out and be forgotten.

The other explanation was that Malachi was hoping to rile up enough people in Ganymede pack to get them to go looking for Damon and Jun, presumably to "save" Damon. It didn't matter that Jun was the model of a perfect citizen while living in Ganymede pack – and, in fact, was considered the goodest boy by pretty much everyone who'd ever met him.

...Well. Maybe that was more Damon's view on things than everyone's, but the idea was the same. Jun was a good man. Aside from the fact that, yes, he'd technically beat up the pack leader's son, Jun was perfectly polite and innocent.

But once Malachi twisted everything around with his silver tongue, as he certainly would, people would question that judgement. People were already unsure about him after the trial, some outright hostile, so it wouldn't take much pushing to get people to gather their pitchforks and torches.

In addition, while Damon was fairly sure that the majority of Ganymede pack had no idea Jun was the Venus pack Alpha's son, he had no idea if Malachi was unhinged enough to go blabbing about that. Not only would that destroy Venus pack's trust in Ganymede pack – because that was confidential information. Damon's own parents weren't willing to tell him about it, and it was something that intimately affected him. But, if Malachi was just jumping straight off the sanity train, he might just let it slip, and that would mean Ganymede pack would be up in arms for a whole new reason.

They might accuse Venus pack of sending someone in to stir up trouble in the pack, to weaken the bonds within the pack and consequently, create an opening for Venus pack to attack Ganymede pack.

It didn't matter that Venus pack had been Ganymede's ally for the better part of the past few decades. Given a push in the right direction, people could jump straight to that conclusion and end up making an issue out of it.

Still, that was also a long shot on Malachi's part. Unless he completely disobeyed his father and told everyone that Jun was from Venus pack, Malachi wouldn't get anyone to reach that conclusion.

So, Damon couldn't be sure exactly what the point of spreading that rumor was, in this case. The most likely option, when he thought about it, was that Malachi was just doing it to be a vindictive asshole. As usual.

"Also," Mark continued, "Malachi's been practically stalking Ava."

"...What?" Damon asked, unsure if he'd heard correctly. Malachi was stalking Ava? Ava had mentioned that Malachi had tried to get her to tell him where Elizabeth was – which was weird in and of itself. Had that escalated to stalking? If so, why?

But more importantly – "Has she punched him yet?"

Ava didn't take shit, and she wasn't above punching the dick if he got too annoying. The problem, as they'd seen before with that route of action, was that it tended to end in banishment.

Mark shook his head. "I don't think so, at least."

That was good. For the moment. Still, Malachi's behavior was likely to make things reach a breaking point sooner rather than later. But Damon couldn't do anything about it for now. He just had to wait and see what happened on that end.

Just as they finished talking, Jay came back into the room, hair still damp from his shower and in new clothes, but no less grumpy-looking. Ian stood up.

"Jay. Damon's friend here is going to be staying with us for a bit. Could you show him to one of the guest rooms? Jess, could you get the extra blankets from the closet?"

Jess, who'd been silently watching everything with bright eyes, nodded and aimed a friendly smile at Mark. Jay, however, dropped the towel he'd been using to scrub at his still-wet hair. He ignored it in favor of glaring in Mark's direction, causing Mark to subtly step behind Damon and shrink into himself, essentially using Damon as a human shield, which he did not appreciate. Damon didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.

"What? Why is he staying here?"

"Because he needs a place to stay. What's the problem?" Ian asked, crossing his arms. "We've let hundreds of guests stay here over the years. Why are you throwing a fit about it now?"

Jay's mouth pursed into a thin line, jaw clenched.

Damon was a little confused too. Jay was really worked up over this, which was a little weird. Of course, Damon wouldn't be happy to find someone trying to sneak into his house either, but once he figured out the situation, he wouldn't be as heated about it. And worse – Mark seemed to think Jay was going to truss him up like a pig and roast him.

...Had something else happened outside?