Jun stood there blankly for too long. His lips pursed in that way – and Damon's heart sank. Jun wasn't going to say a word.

Which was tantamount to admitting guilt.

Damon remembered his promise to Mark.

"If he does that thing where he goes silent," Mark had said, "stop seeing him. I'm serious Damon. He could really hurt you if any of that rumor is true. I don't know why he would be in Ganymede pack courting you if he was really the son of Venus pack's Alpha, but his reasons can't be anything good. So promise me, if that happens, that you'll stop seeing him until the end of the courting period."

Still, Damon hesitated, even though he felt like he'd swallowed acid. The Damon of a few months ago would have turned on his heel and marched away without a word. The Damon of the present didn't know what to do.

Mark did, though. And Mark, in his straightforward way of thinking, wouldn't hesitate to take action and cut through the tangled mess like someone taking scissors to a chunk of knotted hair. Like knotted hair, it hurt when you pulled on it and tried to straighten it out any other way. Mark's way of doing things might make the hair look ugly, but at least the knot would be gone.

And thankfully, Mark was there. Damon didn't notice him, or remember that of course, he would be in the house, until he saw movement over Jun's shoulder. Mark shoved his way past Jun with an expression as close to fury as Damon had ever seen on him. Ever the laidback best buddy, it was rare for Mark to actually get mad at something. Without a word, Mark gently grabbed Damon's elbow and marched him back the way he'd come, taking Damon back home.

Damon let him do it. As Mark turned him around, he caught a glimpse of Jun's expression as it changed from reluctance to horror. He realized what was happening.

Before Damon and Mark had gotten even ten steps away, Jun caught Damon's shoulder. "Wait," he said, voice subdued but still holding a trace of panic. "Let me explain."

Damon paused. Jun had never lied to him before. When he didn't want to tell Damon something, he stayed silent. If he was offering to answer Damon's question, he wouldn't lie. But would he tell Damon everything, or just enough to pacify him for the moment? Omitting information wasn't lying, but it wasn't entirely honest, either. And Damon didn't know whether the information Jun was hiding from him was enough to drive Jun to that.

Still, Jun had offered. Even if his initial reaction had been to say nothing, he corrected himself. Didn't that mean Damon owed him the chance to fix the mistake?

Damon shrugged off Mark's hand, ignoring his warning look. To Mark, things were black and white. Jun had failed the minute he hesitated when confronted, and thus was guilty no matter the reasoning behind not telling Damon immediately. Maybe Damon should trust Mark's instincts. Or maybe he should give Jun the benefit of the doubt.

Damon turned, looking up at Jun, and whatever Jun saw in Damon's expression made him make a low, distressed noise in the back of his throat, pressing his forehead to Damon's shoulder, seeking forgiveness.

"Alright," Damon said quietly, throat so tight he almost couldn't get the word out. Then Jun was quietly leading him inside. Mark stayed outside the entrance, even as the door closed, separating them. Too far to hear their conversation, but close enough to bust in if Damon needed him.

Jun moved them over to the couch and they sat. Damon was the one to remain silent this time. Jun scrubbed a hand over his face – obviously stressed, which was rare for him. Jun was not high strung in the least. He was calm and confident, yet not overbearing. Gentle, a pacifist, and yet totally capable of defending himself. And yet, this topic was clearly stressing him out. Though a part of Damon wanted to comfort him, he couldn't afford to meld himself to Jun's moods this time. As long as Damon remained firm and didn't give in, Jun would tell him what he needed to know. If he let himself go, comforted Jun, gave him a free pass – he didn't know that Jun wouldn't use that to keep things from Damon.

"I do, technically, have a fiancé," Jun said, hesitant, monitoring Damon's expression. Damon fought the urge to get up and walk away. "But it was an arranged match. I do not love her."

Damon bit the inside of his cheek, hard. "Alright. Fair enough. If you don't love her, why are you still engaged to her?"

Jun froze. This lead directly into the rest of the rumor that Jun didn't know Damon knew. Based on Jun's reluctance, his discomfort, he thought Jun would give him the least information he could.

He was wrong. Maybe it was Damon's expression. Maybe it was the tense way Damon held himself. It was something – something that clearly told Jun that Damon was one push away from cutting off communication with Jun altogether. Jun held nothing back.

Jun seemed to deflate, shoulders sinking inward. "I do not have the power to break it off myself. My family..." he sneaked a peek at Damon's expression before plowing on, "my father is Venus pack's Alpha." He paused, took another peek at Damon. Seeing no surprise, Jun blinked and seemed to gather that Damon had heard a lot more than just that Jun had a fiancé. Jun wasn't stupid, no matter how oblivious he was at times. He intuited what was going on quickly, and the last of the tension drained out of him. He looked straight at Damon, and Damon could tell that Jun had let the last of his barriers down.

"That means that I am obligated to carry on the family line. The engagement has been set since birth. The only way to end it is if one of us becomes mates with someone else first, or if one of us dies."

Damon knew all this. He didn't know that Mark's rumor would be quite so accurate – he would look into exactly how the rumor was passed to Mark later, because if even Damon's mom wasn't able to tell her own son – a very much involved party – then there was little chance that it was something anyone could have found out by accident. Someone had told someone else the rumor intentionally. Perhaps even with the intent to pass it to Damon, thus sabotaging his relationship with Jun.

The jury was still out on whether it had worked or not. Jun was about to continue talking, which Damon would have appreciated because it meant Jun was willing to trust him with this information – except for the fact that he felt like he had a bellyful of curdled milk.

The only way to end the engagement was to be mated to someone else, or die. So Jun's options, if he didn't love this girl, were to kill himself, kill her – or mate with someone more tolerable.

Jun began courting Damon for seemingly no reason. They hadn't met before. Hadn't talked or gotten to know each other before. Jun picked Damon –

Completely at random. Not out of love, respect – hell, probably not even out of attraction.

If Damon thought about it, the only sexual things he and Jun had done had been when Jun was in preheat or full heat. Never while uninfluenced by potent hormones.

So Damon, if he put all the pieces together, was an escape hatch. He was unremarkable. Not the son of a particularly important family. He wasn't someone that would attract too much undue attention, so news of their courtship likely wouldn't spread much. He was in another pack as well, so news would be even less likely to get back to Venus pack.

Jun needed someone to mate with, to break his engagement – and hey, if he was in heat, why not conveniently use Damon as a warm hole while he's at it? Damon is nearly thirty, plain, and isn't pursued seriously by anyone else. He was the perfect target. No jealous suitors would be around to make a big stink about their courtship. And hey, Jun would doing Damon a favor really, by giving him a hot alpha boyfriend. It's not like he would ever get one any other way, right?

Damon didn't realize he was trembling until Jun rested a hand on his shoulder. "Damon? Are you – ?"

Before he could get out the 'alright,' Damon pushed his hand off. Jun stared at his displaced hand for a moment, sheer shock in his eyes. "So that's why," Damon said softly.

Jun looked back at him and frowned, clearly not knowing what Damon meant. Damon laughed quietly, something desperate and yet resigned in it.

"No one courts someone without knowing anything about them first. Has it worked so far, at least?" Damon asked, something simmering in his tone. Something like anger. Like despair.

Jun shook his head, lost. "What – "

"Your plan. To mate someone else so you don't have to be with your fiancé. Has anyone back home caught on, yet?"

Jun's confusion was slowly melting back into horror just like earlier. Panic closely followed. Jun reached for Damon again, but Damon was already standing.

"I think – " Damon's voice cracked. He swallowed hard. "I think someone else would be better. At this, I mean. Maybe Maria. Or one of your other admirers. I think – "

His throat closed up. With a vacant gaze, Damon mumbled, "I think I'm really better off alone."

He fled.