Desert Heat (Complete)

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

Sure enough, a month later I started to show and had to start wearing looser fitting clothes to conceal my now visible baby bump. I called Maxine and Claudia and had them come over. A few packhouse members were weirded out having two full witches in the packhouse, but when they realized they were close friends, to Sin, Dani, Brandon, and me, they kept their comments to themselves.

It worked out in our favor because it allowed them to cast the spell without anyone being suspicious of their presence. Even though there were a select few people who knew I was pregnant, Dorian was the only one allowed to be in the office with me when Maxine cast the spell. This would allow Dorian to witness the changes in my body and my scent so he could be a part of the pregnancy.

“That should do it, babe,” Maxine said

“How do we know it worked?” Dorian asked

“Who has seen your bump?” Claudia asked

“Uh, only the ranking members, Dani, and our other friend Sam,” I replied

“Let’s call Sin and Dani in here then,” Maxine responded. I mind linked Sin, told her to bring Dani with her, and to come to Dorian’s office. A few moments later they came in, but I was shocked to see that Dani was holding baby Sawyer.

“Uh, Dani, why do you have Sawyer?” I asked

“He won’t let me go. We were in the nursery playing, and he all of sudden just attached himself to me. I tried to put him down to come in here, but when I did he screamed bloody murder,”

“Dani, come here,” Claudia said. Dani walked over to her put her hands on Dani’s baby bump. Claudia hummed for a minute, which we all thought was odd, but Maxine just smiled. When she stopped humming, she smiled at Dani.

“What was that?” Dani asked.

“Girl,”

“What Claudia?”

“I mean, you’re having a girl, Dani,” Claudia said.

“I WAS GOING TO HAVE A GENDER REVEAL PARTY b***h! WHY DID YOU RUIN IT!” Dani screamed and making Sawyer jump in her arms. Luckily, he didn’t cry easily.

“Oh s**t, my bad,” Claudia said feeling bad. “You should have f*****g said so!”

“You can still have one Dani, it will just be a surprise to everyone else that isn’t in this room,” Sin said.

“Wait, Claudia, you have the ability to see a baby’s gender?” I asked.

“Yup, all upper-level witches do,”

“Maxine?” I look at her and she nods.

“Personally though, I don’t use that ability without permission for reasons such as what just happened,” Maxine says pointing at Dani.

“Well, if you’re having a girl Dani, that may be why Sawyer is attached to you,” Dorian said. All the girls in the room looked at him. “It’s possible that your little girl is Sawyer’s mate,”

“Huh? For real?” Dani asked.

“It’s not uncommon for pups to grow attached to the mother of their future mate while she is pregnant,” he replied.

“Oh wow, that’s some pretty crazy s**t right there,” Sin said. “Leah is going to be so happy to hear that her son has a mate already,”

“Anyway, now that Claudia has ruined my gender reveal for me, and I am now I’m holding my future son-in-law in my arms, why did you want us in here?” Dani asked.

“Oh, can you guys see my bump?” I asked lifting up my shirt. Sin and Dani looked.

“Turn to the side,” Sin said. I turned to my left.

“Nope, it’s not there,” Dani said.

“So, I do need to tell you, there is a flaw in this spell,” Maxine said. Dorian and I look at her. “Sin hold both of Allie’s hands,” Sin walks over and grabs both of my hands. “Dorian lift up Allie’s shirt now,” Dorian stood behind me and lifted up my shirt. Sin looked down,

“Oh, I can see it now,” Sin said. “What is this? Why do I smell…” she started sniffing me. “…freshly watered grass and…” she sniffed some more. “…blueberry muffins?” I looked at Maxine and lifted a brow.

“That’s the flaw, Allie. If someone grabs both of your hands, that person will be able to see and sense around the barrier. So, just make sure that those that don’t know you’re pregnant, don’t grab both of your hands,” Maxine explained.

“So, they can grab one hand and it won’t do anything?” I ask.

“Sin let go of one hand,” Claudia said. Sin let go of one hand and sure enough, she couldn’t see or sense anything.

“Thanks so much, you guys, this really means a lot,” I tell Maxine and Claudia.

“You know, I could tell you what you’re having,” Claudia said holding my belly. “Since I’m fairly certain you won’t be having another gender reveal party,”

“No, thank you. We want to wait until they are born,” Dorian answered.

“They?” Dani and Sin both said. I smacked Dorian’s chest and hard.

“f**k,” he muttered.

“Wait, hold up one f*****g minute! Are you guys having twins!?” Sin exclaimed.

“Dammit, Dorian!” I shouted.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said hugging me.

“When did you guys find out?” Dani asked.

“I’ve known since before we left the Bahamas. I wasn’t going to tell anyone because it was need to know,” I said gritting my teeth looking up at Dorian.

“Whatever! Congrats b***h!” Sin said and hugged me.

“Oh, that reminds me, make sure no one hugs you,” Maxine said.

“What? Why?” I ask.

“Because they’ll be able to feel the bump. Especially when you really start showing,” she replied. I gave her a look and rolled my eyes.

“Hey, no spell is 100% perfect Allie. This spell works really well, but there are exceptions and rules that need to be followed. Remember, every 30 days we have to come back and recast it, make sure no one holds both of your hands, and no one can hug you,” Claudia chimed in. I nodded my head.

Maxine and Claudia ended up staying for dinner and we invited Sam and Lucas over to the packhouse to meet them. Claudia had offered to tell Sam what she would be having, but Sam didn’t want to know, even though Lucas was dying to. Sam wanted to be surprised at birth, so they opted to skip the gender reveal stuff too. Since Claudia ruined it for Dani, she axed the gender reveal party herself and decided to do a small general reveal for Andre in their room. To say that he was happy about having a girl was an understatement. As soon as he found out, he started shopping for pink baby stuff. It was actually really cute to see him pick out things.

The weeks following, things started to kind of die down at home. Dorian gave up on the rogue and left the interrogation and torture to Lucas and Mikey. Andre took Dani to his old coven in Marseille, France so she could meet his parents. Even though his mom was a werewolf, she preferred living with the coven because they were more accepting of her than her pack was of Andre’s father.

We found out that Andre’s father is some kind of ranked Vampire, so Dorian decided to make Andre his new Delta. It was rare to have a Delta in a pack apparently because it was never needed, but Dorian felt it was the right thing to do. Especially after the amazing job he did while we were away on vacation. Lucas was promoted to Mikey’s right at the firm, officially making him the highest level Omega in the packhouse and highest-ranking team lead out of all twelve teams.

I’m officially two months pregnant now, and the twins are driving me insane. Dorian and I looped in Dr. Quinn and started having my checkups in our room late at night when the packhouse was asleep. Unfortunately, we are not able to get ultrasounds because that would require me to go down the pack hospital, which I was too afraid to do. I didn’t know who I could trust outside of our group of close friends, and Dorian understood.

I hated not having an ultrasound picture of the twins, but it was better this way. f*****g Tucker was ruining my pregnancy even if he wasn’t trying to. Mikey said that things with the rogue have gotten nowhere and that he just keeps repeating the same thing. Tucker wants Dorian dead, he wants me for himself, the bomber is someone we know. I don’t even care about the other things that go on with the rogue and leave all the gruesome torture s**t to the guys.

I was sitting in my room reading a book when there was a knock on the door,

“Come in,”

“Hey, Gizzy,”

“Brandon, seriously? How many more versions are you going to come up with?” I asked as he closed the door.

“As many as I want,” He replied kissing my forehead. “Can I see?” he asked referring to my baby bump. I stood up and let him hold my hands. “Awww, I can’t wait to meet them. Too bad Sawyer will be mated to Andre’s baby and not one of yours,”

“We don’t even know what I’m having stupid. What if I’m having two boys?”

“Eh, then Sawyer would be gay,”

“And that wouldn’t bother you?”

“Not in the slightest. I don’t judge anyone’s s****l preference, and that would include my kids. Leah and I already talked about that too. She’s perfectly fine if any our pups turned out LGBTQ,”

“You guys are awesome parents,” I tell him and hug him. “Anyway, what’s up?”

“Oh, I finally finished one of the tattoos,” he says and shows me his sketch pad. It was the tattoo dedicated to Lavender. I traced it with my finger and tears streamed down my face. “Aww, don’t cry Giz,”

“I love it, Brandon,”

“You sure?”

“Yes, it’s perfect,”

“Okay, cool because I have three stencils with me too. If you want, we can size them out really quick,”

“Yeah! Oh wait, let me tell Dorian,” I tell him.

Hey, Dorian?

Hi beautiful, what’s up?

Brandon is going to size out the tattoo of Lavender’s name really quickly. Since it’s going right under my right boob…

I understand baby.

Okay. Love you! See you in a few hours!

Love you too.

“Okay, we’re good,” I tell Brandon. I take off my shirt and my bra.

“Giz, I need you to hold your boob up a little,” he tells me as he tries to size one of the stencils. I use my left hand and hold it up. “Relax a bit, don’t pull on the skin,” I relax a little and feel him move the paper around. “This one is too big, let’s try this one,” he says and pulls out a smaller version.

“Ah, that tickles Brandon!”

“I thought you were only ticklish on your feet,” he says and moves the paper around. “I think this one should work. Let’s go see in the mirror so you can get an idea of the size,” I nod my head and go into the bathroom. Brandon gets down on his knees and places the paper where it was.

“Yeah, I like that,” I tell him.

“Cool. Let me know when you’re ready to get it done, and we can get the pack’s tattoo artist to do it,”

“Am I allowed to get it done while pregnant?”

“Yeah. It’s different for werewolves than it is for humans. Pregnant she-wolves get tattoos all the time,” I smiled and nodded.

“Brandon, there’s actually a few more I want you to design,”

“Damn, you’re really into this whole getting inked thing huh?” I just smile.

“I need you to design some with the names Daisy, Demarco, Lily, and Lazarus. Also, I want a similar tattoo to ones you, Mikey, and Dorian have. But instead of your wolves howling at the moon, design it with Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter,”

“The wolf one is no problem, but what are the names for?”

“Potential names we came up with for the twins,”

“Got it! I got you Giz. Just give me some time to get those done. I still need to finish your back piece,”

“Thank you,” I k**s him on the cheek, and he leaves. I feel my stomach rumbling a little and decide to head down to the kitchen for a snack. I still have a week left before Maxine needs to come back, so I am safe walking around the packhouse.

As I make my way through the living room, I am met with a now running baby Allison. She runs straight up to me and hugs my leg.

“Hi, Allie,” Casey says as she tries to pick up Allison.

“Hi, Casey, how have you been?”

“Good, just busy with two toddlers. It’s hard, but it’s worth it,”

“Glad to hear. Things with Hank going strong?”

“Never better, though sometimes he works a little too much. I guess the threat is pretty bad,” I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Hank’s team only goes out twice a month to look for Tucker and there was no imminent threat at the moment.

“Casey, what are you talking about?”

“Hank told me that the Alpha has him and his team traveling a lot to find that Tucker fellow,” I just furrowed my brows at her. Hank’s team was only traveling for max two days every few weeks.

“I didn’t know that. How long is Hank gone for?” I asked her. Something didn’t seem right.

“Sometimes he will be gone for two days, and every now and then he’s gone for like five days,”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Allie, I know I things with the Tucker guy is serious, but do you think you can ask the Alpha to let my husband be home a little more often. The kids and I miss him,”

“Sure, Casey. I can do that,”

“Thanks, Darlin,” she says and picks up baby Allison and walks away. Something was totally off about everything she just said. Why would Hank be gone for more than a couple of days and why so frequently? Was Hank cheating on Casey and lying to her face about it?

I went to the kitchen and sat at the island.

“Hello, Luna,”

“Hi, Katie,”

“So, I heard that Leah’s son is mated to Dani’s unborn daughter,” I smile and nod. “Did you want anything to eat?”

“Yeah, sweetie, can you make me a Turkey BLT?”

“Sure, extra bacon?”

“Extra lettuce and can you add a few avocado slices?”

“Of course, give me a few minutes,” I sat and just kept thinking about what Casey said about Hank working a lot. I knew the team schedules like the back of my hand, and Hank’s team was one that guarded the packhouse and only traveled during rotation.

I was so deep in my thoughts, I had no idea Katie even put the sandwich in front of me,

“Luna?”

“Hm?” I look at her.

“Your sandwich,” she says pushing the plate a little closer to me.

“Oh, thanks sweetie,”

I was holding the sandwich in my hand and couldn’t let go of what Casey told me. Could Hank really be having an affair? I knew it was possible for wolves to have one, but I didn’t think that Hank could be capable of doing that. I took a bite of my sandwich and just replayed my conversation with Casey over and over,

“Baby?” I heard Dorian’s voice. I looked up and he was sitting next to me.

“What? When did you get home? Wait, why are you home?”

“I got home just now, and I finished work early,”

“Oh,”

“You going to eat that or just stare off into space?” he said pointing to my BLT.

“You hungry?” I ask and he nods. I push it over so he can have it. I was so lost in thought that I actually lost my appetite and just ate a fruit cup instead.

After we ate, we went upstairs to rest a bit before dinner. I went into the closet and pulled out Dorian’s shirt and shorts so he could change.

“Here, Dorian,” I say while handing the clothes to him

“Thanks, baby,” he said and kissed me on the cheek. “How are my pups doing in there?” he asked placing his hands on my baby bump.

“They’re doing great. Fighting for the room already,” I say with a smile.

“Allie, is something wrong? And don’t even try to lie,” sometimes I hated that Dorian could read me like a book.

“Babe, do married werewolves cheat?” I ask.

“Why are you asking me that? I’m not cheating on you baby if that’s where this is going,”

“What? No Dorian, I’m not asking because of you, I’m asking because of Casey,”

“Casey? Hank’s wife?” I nod. “Why?”

“Casey and I had a brief conversation earlier, and something she said got me thinking that Hank may be having an affair,”

“What did she say?” he asked picking me up and placing me on the bed as he stood between my legs.

“She told me that you have been sending Hank and his team out looking for Tucker more frequently and that he would be gone anywhere between two to five days at a time,”

“What? Hank’s team is tasked to watch packhouse and only travels for two days during rotations,”

“Exactly! Why would he lie to Casey?” I ask. I could see the wheels turning in Dorian’s head. “So, I ask again. Do married werewolves cheat?”

“It’s not unheard of, but if Hank was having an affair, Casey would know,”

“How do you mean?”

“Once you are fully mated, the bond is felt by both people. If one cheats on the other, they will feel their bond breaking. If Hank is sleeping around, Casey would physically feel it. She would literally feel her heartbreaking,”

“Then I guess, Hank’s not having an affair. Casey said they’re going great and just hates that he is working so much,” I tell him. I look up at Dorian and hold his waist. “Babe, if Hank’s not having an affair, why is he lying to Casey?” Dorian pulled me into a hug and we both just held each other. Both of us were thinking hard about this. We both knew something wasn’t right.