27. Isaac

ISAAC

Julian proceeded to court Juno like a 1980s film protagonist. After their first date, he made a big gesture of declaring he was quitting his job and moving for her. He flew home to get his affairs in order, but not before leaving her with a bundle of love letters — one for every day they would be apart. He sent voice notes with a frightening regularity that gave her a goopy sort of smile. Although Isaac overheard one once and all Julian was doing was narrating the apparent drama between two pigeons that lived near his apartment window with the seriousness of a David Attenborough documentary.

Madness.

When he eventually returned, he told no one about his flight and booked himself some preposterously dodgy accommodation because he “didn’t want to be a bother”. Isaac had to stuff him and his meagre belongings in one of the guest bedrooms before informing him he’d lined up an interview for him at one of his subsidiary companies. His contact there later informed him of how well Julian had interviewed and thanked Isaac for helping them fill the key role. He told Miles this proudly that night, which amused his bonded greatly. He gave Isaac a two-handed belly tickle and told him what a “squishy marshmallow alpha” he was before sauntering off, leaving Isaac rooted to the spot for a good five minutes.

He wasn’t being, to use Miles’ horrific word — squishy. Isaac had evaluated the situation quite carefully and that was the best solution for all involved. It was abundantly clear to him that Julian had no idea he was a perfect beta to Juno’s fragile omega. He had a way of anticipating her needs without any sort of pressure — the appearance of a pine-scented hoodie on a blustery day, an offer of a snack when she grew frustrated with cramming for exams.

It was why he was so surprised one evening to see Julian flinch away as Juno leaned in to kiss him. Her hurt, confused face sent a hot lash of indignation through Isaac.

“I-I’m sorry.” Julian took a few faltering steps back. “I can’t.”

Juno’s bottom lip trembled as she turned and walked off, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Julian hung his head and curled his hand into a fist, poised to strike either the wall or worse, himself.

Yeah, not in my fucking house.

Issac strode forward into view, ignoring Julian’s choked gasp of his name. With a firm grip on his shoulder and a quick twist of the forearm, Isaac marched him into the nearest room. Which conveniently happened to be his office. He let Julian get his bearings momentarily as he settled himself on the edge of his desk, facing the shaken beta.

“Explain yourself.”

He wouldn’t look at him. Just stared at the ground like a misbehaving child, making the occasional blustery exhalation or clicking tsk of his tongue. Examined the back of his hand. The palm of his hand. Put both in his pockets. Took one back out again and chewed on his fingertip.

Isaac simply watched him and waited.

Then a sniffle slipped out from behind his dark curtain of hair. A hiccup and then several more as he tried and failed to keep them from bubbling up.

“What if I lead them back to her somehow?” Julian asked between broken gasps. “What if she gets hurt again because of me?”

Isaac found himself striding forward, his body moving of its own accord while his mind caught up. He wrapped Julian in a tight embrace, pulling him close. Julian stood frozen for a beat, before he threw his arms around Isaac’s waist and clung to the alpha desperately. He tried to focus on reassuring him, instead of how good it felt to hold him like this.

“She’s safe with us, Julian. We will do whatever it takes to protect her,” Isaac assured the younger man. They pulled apart to Isaac’s reluctance but he kept a steadying hand on his shoulder. “You do want to be with her, right?”

Julian looked at him like the question was crazy. “I love her.”

“Then you need to be honest with her about where your head’s at. She doesn’t deserve feeling like this,” Isaac admonished gently.

“I’ll fix this. Right now.” Julian nodded forlornly and let out a loud exhale. “I’ll be deserving of the generosity you’ve shown me, I promise.”

There was an incessant ringing in his ears, his instincts screaming at him. Pack. “You’re a good boy,” Isaac said, his voice like gravel.

Julian’s breath hitched and Isaac felt the atoms in the room change. His hand was no longer simply bracing on Julian’s shoulder but gripping slightly. On the precipice of pulling him closer. Julian’s tongue slid along his bottom lip and left it glistening.

Taste him.

Claim him.

“I…I should go find Juno,” Julian whispered thinly, moving away from Isaac’s outstretched arm and breaking the thread of tension between them.

Isaac remained still as Julian stepped backwards — once, twice — before turning and slipping out the door. He took a deep breath, inhaled Julian’s pine mingled with his own alpha scent, and an expletive slipped out involuntarily. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Having achieved some level of composure, he made his own exit from his office.

Only to run into Miles.

“Who were you in there with?”

He must have just missed Julian’s swift departure. There was no anger or hurt in the bond, mainly confusion. Isaac was trying his best to compose an answer when Ollie charged round the corner. Tucked under his arm was a now thankfully dry-eyed Juno.

“Hey, have you seen Julian?” Ollie frowned, eyes darting wildly.

Juno was tugging on his shirt. “Ollie, this really isn’t necessary.”

Isaac compartmentalised the Miles conversation he knew he had to have and turned to the most immediate fire he had to put out. “Why do you want to find Julian?” he asked, forcing his voice to remain even.

“I have words I need to say to him.” Ollie punctuated his point with a jerky move towards Isaac, bringing the cross little omega with him. “Serious words.”

“What words?”

Any bluster left in Ollie promptly deflated. “I…I don’t know. Juno hasn’t told me what’s wrong.”

“I was trying and you ran off, you…you nincompoop!” Juno scolded him with no real outrage as Ollie sheepishly scratched his head.

Julian decided this was the best time to appear at the other end of the hallway, looking slightly winded. “Juno, there you are. God, I ran around the whole house and you’re where I started.”

Miles pricked up slightly. “Where you started? You were with Isaac?”

Isaac felt like he was watching a slow-motion car crash. Julian was surveying the scene and finally sensed the odd energy in the air. “I feel like I should say no. But…yes?” he answered, tentatively.

Miles turned back to Isaac. “What happened in there?”

Juno’s gaze pinged around like a pinball, from Miles to Julian before landing on Isaac. “What do you mean, what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Isaac found himself replying far too quickly. A supremely dumb decision all round.

Everett had appeared now, drawn to the commotion, with an expression on his face like he should have brought popcorn. Fucking excellent.

“Then what the hell did I feel in the bond?” Miles threw his hands up incredulously. “I know what you feel like when you’re horny, believe me.”

“Wait, you’re horny?” Juno shook her head like she was trying to clear the mental image. “You and Julian? Is that why you brought him to the house?”

“No, of course not,” Isaac reassured her. “I brought him for you.”

“So you were just horny for no reason?” Miles asked, his eyes narrowing in disbelief.

“Yes!” For some reason, Julian thought saying this would be less suspicious. Everyone’s attention swung to him and it clearly had the opposite intended effect. “Isaac and I both agree that nothing happened,” he added in a way that was in no way convincing.

This was going abso-fucking-lutely batshit off the rails.

“Wait, are you guys a thing?” Juno’s small voice made Isaac’s heart lurch. “Do you…not want to be with me, Julian? I-it’s ok if you don’t. I’d just rather know sooner rather than later.”

Julian looked horrified at the thought. “No! Of course I want you.” He stepped forward before pausing, unsure if she would want him to continue.

“He does,” Isaac assured her. “He’ll explain everything.”

Miles clicked his fingers like a lightbulb went off in his head. “So you were trying to help out Julian and Juno?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“But you got horny.”

“What the hell is happening here?” Juno said, exasperatedly.

A piercing whistle cut through the air and everyone turned to see Everett pull two fingers out of his mouth.

“Julian wants to be with Juno. But he’s obviously going through some internal shit so Isaac pulled him into the office to yell at him or whatever prime alpha voodoo he had planned. But they may or may not have done something in there to make him horny. Which does not invalidate Julian’s feelings for Juno but it does raise questions over whether or not Julian and Isaac want to be…horny together.”

It was the most any of them had ever heard Everett speak.

The pregnant silence was punctuated by rapt applause.

“I followed none of that,” Ollie said cheerily between loud claps as Julian made an incomprehensible strangled noise.

Juno gave Ollie a kiss on the cheek and murmured something in his ear, sending him on his way. Everett left with him, his bombshell still smoking in the atmosphere. She took a deep breath and turned back to where the rest of the pack remained frozen.

“Isaac, I think you and Miles should have a chat, don’t you?” She slipped so easily into omega mode, eager to temper the heightened emotions in the pack and bring everyone back together again. “Julian, come with me, please.”

Soon it was just himself and Miles. Eager to not make a spectacle of themselves again, Isaac guided him into the office. He didn’t like the sick feeling in his gut, like he was bringing Miles to the scene of a crime. The air needed to be cleared and fast.

“I spoke to Julian about what’s holding him back from a relationship with Juno. He got emotional and I held him. We shared a moment. Nothing else happened,” Isaac explained, taking Miles’ hands so he could gauge his reaction better. “But I am attracted to him. I have been from the day I met him. Though it hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind, only really coming forth today.”

His heart sank when Miles disentangled their fingers, but began pounding loudly in his ears as Miles closed the distance between them. Thumbs tucked into his waistband and a strong yank brought their bodies flush together. Isaac stifled a groan and couldn’t resist buying his nose into his bondmark to breathe in his familiar sangria scent. There was a hint of Juno he almost always had now as well, generous fat peach wedges floating in red wine. Miles rolled his hips, pressing his thigh against Isaac’s thickening cock.

“Ignore that,” Isaac muttered. “Talk to me, please.”

Miles did neither, instead choosing to slide his hands into Isaac’s back pockets and nip lightly at his earlobe.

“Miles,” Isaac warned, his voice a much lower register this time.

“So we don’t have a problem in this department. Good to know,” Miles said breathily against his neck.

Isaac growled. “If I ever gave you the impression we did then I have some re-educating to do.”

They kissed, slow and lingering. Tasting and savouring. A reset, their connection bursting to life in the bond.

“I love you,” Miles said, quietly.

“I love you, too.” Isaac made sure Miles didn’t just hear it but felt it, knew it so strongly it couldn’t be denied.

“I love you,” Miles re-iterated. “I’m falling for Juno but that doesn’t change that I love you. Just as you exploring your attraction to Julian doesn’t diminish what we have. I just wish you had said something earlier. But knowing you, you probably put it in a little box on your mental shelf to be dealt with later.” Isaac had to reluctantly concur. He should be thankful Miles only ever used his extensively intimate knowledge of Isaac’s inner workings for one of two things — to annoy him or turn him on.

Right on cue, a shameless pout crossed Miles’ face. “You’ll make it up to me, though. Right?

Isaac wanted very badly to rise to Miles’ insubordinate challenge and fuck him senseless against his desk. But he had something more important to say first.

“I’m sorry, love. I should have told you.”

“I forgive you.” Miles reached between them, flicking open the button of Isaac’s pants, then his own. It was like the blast of a starting pistol, sending desire flaming through his body. “Now that that’s over with, there’s something else I need your help with. See, I’m this super off-limits secretary and my boss has been riding my ass hard lately. Don’t you think I deserve a raise?”

Isaac loved him so much in that moment his chest actually hurt. There was a softness in Miles’ beautiful eyes that told him he felt it too.

His hand shot out and stopped Miles’ brazen attempt to undress him. “That is inappropriate,” he reprimanded him. He released him tersely, walked around his desk and settled into his chair. Knees spread, his cock tenting his pants. “Sit down. The only thing that will persuade me to review your salary is your performance,” Isaac snapped, eyes blazing.

Miles stepped into the small space between Isaac and the desk as the tension between them reached a fever pitch. “Well in that case, sir,” he said, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. “I would rather kneel.”