Damon stared at Malachi with his mouth open for what must have been an absurdly long time, because Malachi's smirk only widened.

Damon promptly snapped his jaw shut. "Have the preheat hormones completely scrambled whatever excuse you have for a brain?" he asked, but without much bite. He was a bit overwhelmed, understandably.

Because what Malachi was asking...technically wasn't illegal. Damon was in a courting claim, yes, and under any other circumstances, Malachi just propositioning him like this would absolutely be illegal.

But it was the Season. And heats came with a different set of rules.

Technically, an omega, even an omega in a courting claim, could attend to multiple alphas during their heats. In the case of a courting claim, if the omega was seeing an alpha that wasn't their courting partner, the relationship was seen as something purely utilitarian. It was to prevent issues like alphas harming themselves, attempting rape, or harming others. It was strongly encouraged throughout the pack to have a heat partner for that reason. Not that it was required to have one, of course, but it freed up betas for other things, and kept heat-induced crimes to a minimum.

So no. Malachi wasn't breaking the law in asking this of Damon.

However, in this particular situation, there was a little addendum. The courting partner of the omega in question had to give their consent for their omega to tend to another alpha. Very rarely would it happen that permission was given. No one wanted to share.

Damon quickly relaxed. There was Jun again, protecting Damon without even knowing it.

"No," Damon said simply. "And I can guarantee Jun will say no as well. So let's pretend you never asked."

Well, this has been enlightening. Damon was starting to regret coming to this thing at all, parental expectations be damned. And if Malachi was going to be sticking to him like a leech, he might as well leave without greeting Hailey and Peter while he was at it. Damon was at the end of his rope, honestly. If they asked where he was, he might just say he had shown up and been harassed by their son into leaving. As much as he liked Peter and Hailey, being honest about how much he didn't want to be with Malachi was starting to look like the better option. Damon didn't know what kind of delusion Malachi was living in, but asking that of him...was just a little too far.

Having made up his mind to leave as fast as possible, Damon spun around to leave. If he really had to, he could say he was feeling sick and had to go. It wasn't too far from the truth.

Unfortunately, things were never that simple. The minute he turned around, Damon came face to face with Peter and Hailey, who had come up behind them at some point. Hailey was smiling politely, but it seemed a bit forced. Damn. How much had they heard?

"Damon, honey," Hailey said. "I'm happy you could make it. I was sorry to hear Jun Harper had gone into heat and couldn't attend."

Yeah, Damon thought. That's what you say. Why do I get the feeling you're pleased as punch that he couldn't make it?

Damon nodded, uncomfortable. What was he supposed to say? If they knew Malachi was planning to ask Damon to be his heat partner, and had just heard him blatantly reject him – well, he could imagine they weren't too happy.

Thankfully, neither of them tried to pretend they hadn't heard his and Malachi's conversation. Peter stepped forward, that politician smooth smile in place to help smooth things over. "My son can be a bit – bold – at times. I apologize if he offended you."

"But," Peter continued, "I assure you, he's serious about his offer. We know you're in a courting claim, but Malachi has told us that you're the only person he would like to spend his heat with. And if you'll recall...well, Malachi's heats are a bit rough."

Damon did know. Though he hadn't dated Malachi long enough to spend a heat with him, Malachi had told him what his heats were like.

Like periods for human women, some alphas had awful heats, some had mild heats. Malachi fell firmly into the 'awful' category. The scratching your own skin open and trying to rip off people's heads kind of awful. As far as Damon knew, though, Malachi hadn't spent a single heat alone since he was old enough to have them. So Malachi asking for him specifically was kind of a bullshit excuse. He had dozens of partners waiting in the wings to take over as his heat partner. Malachi was just being an asshole on purpose and putting Damon in a difficult position.

Damon sighed. He had to be firm on this. "I'm sorry, Mr. Reyne. I've already promised to be Jun's heat partner. And I don't think he would be okay with sharing my time."

Hailey pursed her lips, clearly a bit upset, but trying to reign it in for the sake of not alarming any of the party guests milling about around them. Thankfully no one was really paying attention to them, but if anyone did happen to hear about their conversation, a play-by-play would spread through the pack by morning. Damon felt something inside him shrivel a bit when Hailey looked so distressed. This woman had babysat him more times than he could count. She was almost more a mother to Damon than his own mother. He wasn't sure how such a kind woman had ended up with a son like Malachi.

"Have you two signed the papers?" she asked. Damon immediately didn't like the way the conversation was going.

"Well, no, but – "

"Great," Malachi interrupted, slinging an arm over Damon's shoulder. He even ruffled Damon's hair roughly to be extra asshole-ish "Let me talk to Jun. I'm sure we can work out a peaceable arrangement."

Damon...actually was starting to feel a little sick. Was Malachi seriously going to try to intimidate Jun into sharing Damon for the Season?

The thought of Jun and Malachi squaring up – it was frightening to say the least. Not because Damon thought Jun would ever be the weaker opponent, in a physical fight or a verbal one, but because Malachi didn't play fair. If there was something he could use against Jun, he would use it without hesitation.

And Damon knew for sure that Jun had secrets he was keeping.

So, maybe Damon hadn't been firm enough.

"I'm sorry," he said again, ignoring Malachi in favor of looking directly at Peter and Hailey. "I simply don't like your son. He treated me like shit. I'm sure you can find someone else to help him out."

Then Damon made his escape.