23. Julian

23

JULIAN

Julian thought he should finally unpack the last dusty box he’d had shipped over.

It had been packed almost as well as it had been named (‘COMP STUFF’ in big black marker), and Julian was almost afraid of the cable tangle he was going to have to undo once he did.

He was a bit of a head-in-the-sand procrastinator.

It really wasn’t that bad in the end (procrastinator and a catastrophist, it turned out), but lodged beneath an (empty yet inexplicably included) graphics card box was an old hard drive.

Julian booted it up and was shocked to find the pictures he took of Andrew’s office from his ill-advised ‘rescue’ attempt. His embarrassment over his failure had wiped it from his memory.

Should he reveal it? What if it was a lot of drama and false hope for nothing?

But what if it was something?

He ran into Isaac on his way out as he was trying to figure out how to tell everyone.

“What’s wrong?” The alpha’s hand immediately fitted against the small of his back as he kissed his temple.

“How do you know something is wrong?”

Isaac gave him a wry smile. “You look like you’re about to throw up and pass out all at once.”

Accurate.

Julian held up the hard drive. “I need to show Juno something. But it could be nothing. So I don’t want to get her hopes up. Especially since it’s a bad thing. Well, not a bad thing. I don’t really know whether you’d call it good or bad,” he babbled. “But it could also be something, you know?”

Isaac’s brow almost disappeared into his hairline.

“It’s from when I first started working for Pack Zhao,” Julian finished miserably.

Isaac guided him along with a gentle push of his palm. “Why don’t we go downstairs and find everyone, hmm?”

Julian was surprised at the relief he felt seeing the others, knowing he wouldn’t be alone in what he was going through.

Is this what it’s always going to feel like having a pack?

“Julian would like our help,” Isaac kindly pre-empted for him before letting him take over.

Julian’s eyes darted around the room and automatically found Juno’s. She held her hand out for him and he took it, finding sanctuary in her touch like he always did.

“When I first started working for Pack Zhao, I wanted to find a way to save you,” he began, cradling her delicate hand in his. “There was a power outage one day and I took the chance to search Andrew’s office.” Julian could feel Isaac staring at him intently and wondered if there would ever be a day when the prime’s attention wouldn’t give him goosebumps. “Zero planning involved, just took advantage of the break in security. I took photos of a bunch of stuff and got the hell out of there. Later, I realised it meant nothing because there wasn’t a way barring death for you to break the bond.”

“Until now,” Juno said faintly.

“Until now.” They held tightly to each other. “I still have the photos. I forgot I had them, I should have remembered—”

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Julian,” Isaac assured him. “It was a long time ago.”

Julian gave him a grateful nod. “Andrew had a ledger. I photographed as many pages as I could. It’s all in Chinese. Might not be anything but if there’s a chance it could help you…” he trailed off, eyes darting between the pair of them.

Isaac and Juno glanced at each other, something passing between them in the brief look before they faced him again. “Can you show us?” Isaac asked.

The whole pack was squeezed into his room. Ollie had found his lego figurines and was making one dance down Everett’s arm. Julian pulled up the first photo and of course it was the used, lacy undergarment.

Why he didn’t prepare this presentation better, he’d never know.

“That’s not mine!” Juno fumed. She blinked, shaking her head to clear it. “Wait, why am I mad about that. Let’s just forget I did that, carry on,” she nervously giggled.

Julian flicked through several photos of receipts where the only comments were about how inflation was a bitch now, before coming to the photos of Andrew’s ledger. Everyone crowded over his shoulder like seagulls who had spotted a chip.

Ollie pulled back with a shake of his head. “Why am I looking, I can’t read this.”

Isaac moved closer, bracing his hand on Julian’s desk. “Zoom in, please,” he requested quietly.

The room went deathly silent as Isaac began trying to decipher Andrew’s scribblings. He was muttering faintly under his breath — numbers and names in Mandarin. Isaac gestured for Julian to toggle to the next image and Julian handed over his keyboard entirely, not daring to slow down his prime alpha.

After a tense moment, Isaac snorted with contempt. “Amateur.” His finger hovered over the screen. “He thinks he can just attribute these values to ‘family members’ and businesses that are clearly just a bad cover for actual names. And the values look like pocket change but it’s obvious that…” Isaac stopped, suddenly aware everyone was staring at him. He coughed discreetly into his fist, a crinkle appearing between his brows. “Er, Juno. This character here. Is it the same Liu as your surname? Even if it’s not it doesn’t mean—”

“It is,” Juno said faintly.

Isaac pointed at a set of numbers beside it. “I believe this is a date. Year. Month. Day. See? Tell me if it corresponds with around the time when you were, you were…”

The sudden flare of alpha power robbed the air from Julian’s chest. Then dissipated to nothing as Juno laid a hand on Isaac’s shoulder.

“Jesus, Isaac,” Everett muttered.

Juno quietly confirmed Isaac’s suspicions and the tightness in the alpha’s body slowly uncoiled. “120k.” Isaac was fixated on Juno, intently gauging her reaction. “Your father had a debt of $120,000 erased.”

Every eye swung to their omega, watching her process this information. She flickered between sadness and outrage before both gave way to revived purpose. “I can use this. Along with Ben’s DNA test results.”

Ben had notified her that morning, confirming what they suspected. They were biological maternal half-siblings. Granted, they didn’t have Peter Liu’s DNA but both Ben and Juno were fairly certain about who he had fathered.

“Once you go public, it can’t be undone,” Isaac said carefully. “Are you ready for that? To speak out against him?”

“Yes.” Juno winced and pressed agitated fingers to her cheeks. “No.”

Everett immediately enveloped her from behind, his arms circling her waist. Julian was amazed by how fast the big alpha could move sometimes, especially if Juno was involved.

“You’re trouble,” he told her, kissing the inked snake that peeked out from underneath her collar.

“Everett,” she said exasperatedly.

“You know what that means?” he continued undeterred. “You’re a thorn in his side. Aggravating. Difficult.”

Sweetness blossomed as Juno understood his meaning. Julian was awed by what he could sense in their bond.

Lion-heart.

“Give him hell, baby.”

Julian had a flash of their first meeting. Lifeless eyes, bloody neck and flinching at every little sound. The omega before him had painstakingly built herself back up and still possessed all of her light.

He was so fucking proud of her.

“Cuddle with me in my nest tonight?”

Juno was already leading Julian by the hand down the hall. He floated along behind her, preoccupied by the elegant flick of her hair, the sway of her hips.

“Wait.” Julian skidded to a stop. “I want to say good night to Isaac first.”

Juno looked very pleased by this, and said nothing as she led him the last few steps to the door of her nest. “Of course you should say good night to your alpha,” she said coyly. She gave the door a light kick with her heel and as it swung open, Julian could see why.

Isaac’s head lifted at the sound of their entrance, watching her guide him inside. He stood casually, his posture loose. Simultaneously understanding the nest wasn’t his domain but unable to temper his talismanic nature. Juno went to stand beside him and everything in Julian surrendered to them.

“I think we need to properly thank our sweet boy here for his foresight.” Juno began to pace around him in circles and Julian could almost hear the rasp of coil and scale as her snake-like allure drew him in. “Not only did he take those pictures but he kept them safe for all these years.”

Isaac looked him over with pride and his knees almost gave way. “Yes I agree,” Isaac murmured. “He’s been so very good.” There was a glint in his eye that gave away his knowledge of Julian’s rapidly hardening cock.

Juno’s breath fanned on his neck as she stroked her bondmark. “You should know Isaac, when I’m with Julian…I own him.” Her fingers wound protectively around his throat and his pants instantly became way too tight. “His pleasure. His cock. His cum.” She emphasised each word with a dainty kiss on his cheek and jaw before turning to Isaac. “Will that be a problem?”

Isaac was dealing with a similar issue judging by the distended front of his crotch. “No, I think we can make that work quite well actually,” he replied, his voice dropping several octaves.

“You’ll defer to me?”

“Of course.”

When Miles had roped him into his scheme of trying to get Juno and Isaac together, Julian was happy to oblige. Two of the most beautiful, stunning people he loved together? Julian just hoped he would be lucky enough that he could one day have a front row seat to that visual buffet.

But seeing them together now made him realise it transcended simple attraction. There was balance and magnetism — one always running in counterpoint to the other. The head and heart of their pack.

And right now their entire focus was on him.

Julian gulped.

“What do you say, angel? Would you like us to show you how grateful we are?” Juno was dotting kisses all over her bondmark as her arousal seeped into their bond.

Isaac moved to his other side, the warmth emanating from the nearness of his body an inferno. “Say yes and you’re ours until we’re satisfied.”

His omega. His alpha. Heaven and hell and all his wildest dreams.

Julian made it all real with a single word.

“Yes.”