Desert Heat (Complete)

{Michaela’s P.O.V.}

It’s been weeks since J.D. left, and other than what Seth told me about J.D. going to see a friend from college, no one else knew anything about where he went. I decided to start with Las Vegas since I knew he went to the main University there. I went through some of the personal effects that I was able to save from being thrown out. They were the only things left of his that I could hold onto, and a couple of his shirts. He had taken his favorite clothes with him. The black and dark button-downs he always wore, and some of his favorite pants, and the picture of his parents he used to keep on his nightstand, and all of his back up toiletries.

It was almost as if he had packed knowing he wasn’t going to come back. That only broke my heart even more seeing that he had been planning on leaving. He wasn’t just going to visit a friend, he left in search of a new pack to take him, and now that he had, he was never going to come back, and I couldn’t have that.

I was going through one of the boxes when I found an old shoebox. I was surprised to find pictures of J.D. from when he was in high school. J.D. was five years old than me, so by the time he was away at college, I was just starting high school. I guess that’s why I never knew he was my mate until he came back after getting his bachelor’s degree. After I rejected him, he decided to leave again go for his graduate degree in Reno. I guess I should have seen it as a sign that he was trying to get away from me.

I was going through the pictures, and suddenly, I started to notice that they were getting into college years and there were a lot of his photos of him and one other particular person. He was handsome, taller than J.D., and had this weird hairdo.

“A man bun? Seriously?” I said out loud to myself. I kept flipping through the pictures, and they were all of J.D. and this guy. Some pictures included other people, like a dirty blonde with hazel colored eyes. I wondered who this black-haired guy was. I flipped over the pictures and saw that J.D. had written dates on them. I figured that maybe he wrote down this guy’s name. I started to go through all of the pictures that J.D. had taken with this person, and sure enough, I got to a graduation picture for the other guy. I flipped it over, and there was a note on the back,

Jed, it’s been an amazing four years and I’m sorry I have to leave you behind brother, but you know how it is- Alpha duty calls. I’ll never get over my shock knowing that my college roommate was a werewolf. We had some great times. Good luck to you my brother from another mother. I hope that when you get home to your pack, that your mate accepts you. If you ever need anything in the future, never hesitate to call.

-Dorian Shaw-

I couldn’t believe it. J.D.’s roommate from college was an Alpha and I had his name. I quickly ran out of my room and down to my dad’s study. He was out of the house on business and I knew he kept a list of all of the packs in the neighboring states that had their Alpha’s names. Even Nevada was three states over, I was hoping that this list at least went that far. I pulled out the list and started to scan by the last name and went straight to “S”. When I got there, there were two with the last name’s Shaw, but one was in Utah and the other in Nevada. Eureka! The one in Nevada had to be one I was looking for, but when I got the first name, it was Benjamin and not Dorian.

I was so confused at first, but then I looked at the date of this list, and it was almost twenty years old. Of course, my dad didn’t bother getting an updated list of the Alphas. I figured that this Benjamin guy had to be Dorian’s dad. I looked at the pack name,

“Desert Moon in Las Vegas,” I finally had a clue as to where he was. I quickly wrote a note to my dad indicating that I was going to take a small vacation to get over the loss of J.D. and to try and move on the way he did. This way, my dad wouldn’t question where I went, or what I was doing. I loved having free reign as the Alpha’s daughter. I taped the note on his computer screen so he would see it, and I made sure to put the list of packs away in the same place I found it.

I went back to my room and booked a flight to Las Vegas that left tonight. I wasn’t going to waste any time to try and win J.D. back. The only problem I was facing now was going to an unknown pack’s territory, assuming I could find it. I had to play my cards right and be cautious. I don’t know anything about Desert Moon or how they run their pack. I just had to pray that they didn’t try and kill me when I got there.

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

It’s been a couple of days since my incident with Dorian, and I honestly can’t get my mind off of it. We’d been together for over four years at this point and no matter how many times we had s*x in those four years, Dorian never knotted, as Mercury called it, inside of me before. It was a strange feeling, to say the least. Even Dorian was surprised when he realized what happened. He even said that it’s rare and almost unheard of for werewolves to knot in human form.

I was so confused and a little freaked out at the same time that something so drastic would happen during angry s*x. I needed to talk to someone about it, but I couldn’t go to Eleanor, that’s too embarrassing, and I couldn’t call Amber because well, she’s busy being a Luna herself now. She and Ronnie are working overtime trying to fix Snell Island after all the s**t Bernie did. They called back all of the females who left the pack after being scorned by their mates, well, at least those they could get ahold of, and banished the males in their places. Harsh, but necessary. Some of these men had s*x with Heather when she was a minor. Amber said that some of them tried to defend that they were only a few years older than her at the time, but Ronnie and Amber didn’t care. The fact of the matter was, these men had s*x with a minor while having had mates of their own.

I decided that I would entrust my little predicament if I could even call it that to Dr. Quinn. She’s been there for me since day one, even when I was human, and she is someone that I know I can trust to give me some insight on what the hell happened between Dorian and me. I figured I would mind link her first to make sure she wasn’t busy,

Dr. Quinn?

Luna? What can I do for you?

Do you have a moment? I need to discuss something with you.

Of course, please come to my office. I’ll be waiting.

Thank you. I’ll be right down.

I went down to the pack hospital and was greeted by several pack members, including Ava,

“Hi, Luna!”

“Hi, Ava, how are you doing?”

“Pretty well, Paxton is being a pain the a*s but overall, I’m good,”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“He is so desperate for a pup that every time he sees me, he wants a quickie. And at night, he wants to go for hours on end as if I’m in heat. He’s so determined to get me pregnant, that my poor v****a is swollen and bruised every morning,”

“Well, you can’t honestly blame him, can you? You guys have been together as long as the ranked members have been with their mates, and we all have kids, other than you and Savannah,”

“I get that, but I’m still young. My sisters and I are only going to be 23 this year, and he’s going to be 28, it’s not like our clocks are going to stop ticking,”

“Sweetie, I think it’s because Simba and Katie got pregnant so quickly that he’s feeling left out,”

“Why though? Savannah and Nick aren’t pregnant yet either,”

“Well, Nick is also a very calm person. He’s never been the type to ever be in a rush, unlike Paxton who is always in a rush,”

“Ugh, why did I get stuck with the impatient one?” she asked unable to control the laugh that came with it.

“Haven’t you heard the saying opposites attract?” I reply to her and she just rolls her eyes. “Ava be happy that Paxton wants to have s*x all the time,”

“But it almost feels like a chore now, it’s not even passionate anymore,” she sulked.

“Have you talked to him about it?”

“I don’t want to hurt his feelings,”

“Sweetie, it’s apparent that he’s hurting yours when he only seems to want s*x to get you pregnant. That’s not a good thing, and you and I both know that. You need to tell him that s*x isn’t a chore or an obligation for an ulterior motive. You guys should be having s*x because you guys want to have s*x and want to be intimate,” she nodded her head. “Talk to him, and if you want me to be there with you, I can be,”

“Thank you, Luna, I’ll let you know if I need the moral support,”

“Talk to your sisters too, maybe some sisterly love will help,”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thank you,” I waved goodbye and went to Dr. Quinn’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

“Dr. Quinn,”

“Oh, Luna, please come in,” I smiled and took a seat in the guest chair in front of her desk. “What can I do for you?”

“Dr. Quinn, something happened between Dorian and me when we last…You know, had s*x,”

“Oh, what happened?”

“Well, it was heated, and angry s*x, but then again, a lot of “sessions” we’ll call them have been angry the last several months. But this last session was kind of intimate at the same time?” I said unsure of myself.

“Uh-huh…”

“Well, when Dorian finished, he kind of…got…stuck, but not in the way he normally does, not the painful way,”

“I see,”

“Mercury called it “knotting,”

“Oh,” she replied, and her eyes widened. “Are you saying that the Alpha knotted in human form?” I nodded my head. “That is…wow…I mean, that’s…” I gave her a look and lifted my brow at her because she was stuttering. Dr. Quinn never stutters, and I mean never.

“Dr. Quinn, what does this mean?” she pursed her lips and c****d her head to the side, and thought a moment.

“Well, Luna…” she twitched her nose a second, “…How can I explain this?” she interlaced her fingers and rested the back of her hands under her chin. “When in wolf form, a male wolf will knot in the female during his release, and it’s normal, very normal. It’s the same as any other mammal that mates. Dogs, cats, horses…”

“Aiy ya… I got it,” I said making her laugh,

“It’s a form of intimacy that only happens to werewolves. When a male wolf knots in their mate in human form, it’s a whole different form of intimacy, and it is almost unheard of,”

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me, even Dorian said it’s unheard of, but he also said that it’s not impossible,”

“Luna, the fact that the Alpha was able to knot in human form, and especially during, what you called it, angry s*x, forged a bond between the two of you that not even rejection could break,”

“What?”

“Allie, you and Dorian are literally one soul now. Just like Bandit and Mercury. They can communicate together privately without having to take over your bodies, and that’s because their wolf spirits are joined at the h*p once they mate for the first time. It’s going to be the same for you and the Alpha now. You two will be able to communicate without having to use words. He’s going to know what you’re thinking and you’re going to know what he’s thinking. He’s going to feel when you’re in pain, when you’re happy, when you’re excited, and when you’re in the mood without you having to use your powers on him anymore,” I was taken aback by her last statement. “It also means that you have a higher chance of getting pregnant, more so than you would if you were in heat,” she raised her brows at me.

“Wait, you don’t think?”

“Have you sensed anything at all since that day?”

“No, but then again, I haven’t been thinking about that,” I admitted.

“Well, you are more than capable of knowing,” she said to me and smiled. I stared at her blankly a minute. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and put my hand on my stomach. After a few seconds, there it was. I gasped as my eyes shot open and I looked at Dr. Quinn who had even a bigger smile on her face.

“Oh my god, I’m pregnant,”

“Luna, congratulations, I’m happy for you, I really am. Especially given what you went through last year, and the risk of not being able to conceive at all,” I couldn’t help the tears flooding my eyes. Dorian and I had been trying for so long, and then all the s**t that happened last year with the poisoning and the scar tissue made me lose hope. But then Maxine and Claudia fixed me, and now here I am, pregnant. “Are you going to tell the Alpha?”

“No, not yet, I want to wait at least a few weeks,”

“Okay, well, I advise trying not to think about it too much then. As I said, the Alpha will now be able to feel what you feel, so if you’re too happy, he’s going to want to know why,” I nodded my head and smiled. I touched my belly again and Dr. Quinn came around and her hand on top of mine. As excited as I was to be pregnant again, I couldn’t help but be afraid at the same time. I always seemed to get pregnant when there was drama around us, and I was afraid that if I celebrated too early, what happened to Lavender would happen to this baby too.

{Jedediah’s P.O.V.}

Here I was, being stared down by Adrien and Andre. Vivienne and her mom went back to France to get the rest of her things while I stayed behind to bond with her dad and her brother. Andre and I started on good terms, but that soon changed when his baby sister turned out to be my mate. We had been sitting at the dining table in Adrien’s guest townhouse in complete silence for the last ten minutes after Vivienne and her mother left. I was too afraid to break the silence, so I just waited.

I watched as Andre and his dad looked at me, then at each other, and then back at me over and over. After another agonizing five minutes of uncomfortable silence, Adrien cleared his throat making me jump in my seat,

“Jedediah, I will be frank with you, I do not like you,” Adrien said. “Vivienne is my little girl, and she was what we call a miracle in my kind. Most vampires cannot procreate after a certain age, and I am well past that age, but when Giselle got pregnant again after nearly a century, I was over the moon. The same goes for Giselle, though her bond with me has slowed her aging, it does not change the fact that she is also well over the age of her prime,” he paused a minute and looked at Andre. “Do not tell your mother I said that,” he said to him making Andre chuckle.

“Oui, Papa,” Andre replied and they both turned to me again.

“I know that I cannot interfere with the mate bond, but I can give you a proper warning Jedediah,” he said, and his eyes turned red. Normally I wouldn’t feel intimated by a vampire, but this was my mate’s father, and according to Dorian, he’s a ranked vampire, a general of some sort to the Vampire King in France, so I was not going to mess with him. “If you hurt my Vivienne, I will hunt you down and bleed you dry. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly, sir,”

“Remember Jed,” Andre said, and I fixed my gaze upon him. “I am your superior, and I will make it my life’s mission to ensure my sister’s safety. If you hurt her, you will not have to worry about my father, you will have to worry about me,” he said, and his eyes turned back.

“Yes, Delta,”

“Now that is settled, how about some whiskey?” Andre said getting up and going to one of the cupboards in his dad’s kitchen. “Père, b***d?”

“Oui, merci, Alexandre,” he responded and then looked at me again. “Jed, as my son calls you, do not take this personally. When you have your own children with my Vivienne, you will know where I am coming from,”

“Yes, sir,”

“Tell me, do you want to have children?”

“Yes sir, I do. I’ve always imagined myself as a father,”

“How many?”

“As many as Vivienne is willing to give me,” he nodded his head as Andre came back with three glasses.

“Jed, is it true that my sister is your second chance?” Andre asked while sitting down.

“She is,” I answer and look at the both of them. “Which is why I don’t plan on letting her go. After getting my heart broken by my first mate, I didn’t think the moon goddess would give me a second chance, especially if I stayed at my old pack. Which is why when Dorian and Allie were so gracious enough to give me a membership here, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the moon goddess would have pity on me and give me a second chance mate to go with my second chance life,”

“Are you saying that your first mate rejected you?” Adrien asked and I nodded my head. “How long ago?”

“Over six years ago, sir,”

“That is quite long ago, I am surprised you received a second chance,”

“Honestly, sir, I think it has to do with the fact that I recently accepted the rejection,” I tell him honestly.

“Jed, are you saying you that you have lived with this heartache for six years?” Andre asked me.

“I have,”

“Wait, did she…” I knew where his question was going, and I nodded my head.

“Alexandre?”

“Père, if he did not accept his first mate’s rejection right away, he lived with the fact that she was having intercourse with other men,”

“Quoi?” Adrien looked at me. I’m sure he knew what Andre meant by everything. “You mean, you felt that pain all these years, and endured it?”

“Yes,”

“Sacré bleu, why?”

“Because I loved her, and I was naïve in thinking that if I waited it out she would finally come to accept me, but after six years of pain, I decided that enough was enough, and left,” I answered rubbing my finger on the brim of the whiskey glass. “I told myself that I would accept her rejection after I found a new pack, so, after Dorian and Allie welcomed me, and I got settled into my new townhouse, I accepted Michaela’s rejection,” I said and took a sip. “I admit, it sucked, and it hurt worse than being kicked in the balls, but I felt better knowing that I had a clean slate to start over on. I never expected that I would get a second chance, I could only hope for one. But I never thought I would meet her so soon after accepting the rejection of my first mate,” I shot back the rest of the whiskey, “…but I’m glad that my second is as beautiful as Vivienne. She’s pure, innocent, kind-hearted, and loving. Everything that Michaela never was, and I’m honestly starting to believe that perhaps I was never meant to be with Michaela in the first place and that the moon goddess was just biding my time so she could bring Vivienne into my life,”

“Why do you say that?” Andre asked.

“Come on man,” I look at him. “I came to Dorian two weeks ago out of the blue asking for his permission to join his pack, and I met you the same day. That same day you said your dad was coming to visit the pack and that your mom and sister were coming for the first time,” Andre’s eyes widened with realization. “Maybe the moon goddess opened my heart and my mind to finally move on from the heartache so that I could meet my true mate, your sister,” after I said that, I saw both of their hard shells start to crumble. These guys were romanticists, and it was obvious.

“Jed, let me ask you something. When you were rejected, what was the first thing you did?” Adrien asked me.

“Honestly, sir?” he nodded. “I cried,” they both looked taken aback by my honesty. “I kind of had a feeling that Michaela was my mate when she was 16, and I was 21. I actually went home for the holidays, and I felt it. But she was still underage, so I decided that I would get my degree, and then claim her when I graduated, but that didn’t turn out the way I wanted, obviously. She rejected me in front of her friends and mine and humiliated me, but instead of getting mad at her or turning my back, I got on my knees and pleaded with her. I even made sure no one told her father what happened, because I didn’t want her getting in trouble,”

“What did she do?” Andre asked.

“She said that she would never want to be associated with an Omega as her mate,”

“Wait, she is ranked?”

“Andre, she’s the Alpha’s daughter,” I tell him and look him dead in the face. “She wasn’t raised to be shallow that way, and she didn’t use to be, but it was like, as soon as she saw that I was her mate, her entire personality changed. After pleading with her, she turned her back on me, and left me sitting there on my knees crying my heart out,” I smirked at how weak I was back then. “I decided that I was going to leave for few years and go to graduate school, so I ended up in Reno for another three years, and the entire time I was there, she was messing around with others, and I could feel it even though I was several states away. When I got back, she still refused to accept me and started to flirt and make out with guys in front of me. I spent another three years just training and becoming the best fighter my pack had and honed my tracking capabilities. But even with moving up in my level as an Omega, she still didn’t accept me, so I decided to leave,”

“Jed, I am sorry you had to endure such hardship just to be loved,” Andre said to me. “I am curious, what did you tell your parents when you left?”

“My parents are dead,” I tell him without hesitation. “They died in a rogue attack about fifteen years ago. Alpha Scanlan brought me into the main packhouse and raised me as his own, but because he never officially adopted me, I was still an Omega,”

“Why did he not adopt you?” Adrien asked.

“Because the Luna, Michaela’s mom didn’t want to,”

“Did she dislike you?”

“No, it wasn’t that. It was because I was already fifteen at the time, and it would only be three years before I left for college, so she didn’t want to bother with the legality of an adoption. She loved me, and she treated me like a son. It was hard when she died. It was like I lost a mother all over again,”

“What happened to her?” Andre asked.

“Another Rogue attack a month after Michaela rejected me,” the look on their faces were ones of pure sympathy.

“Your old pack seems to be attacked a lot,” Andre said.

“It was, and it’s because it’s a small pack. Just over 200 pack members and the men aren’t trained the way the men and women are trained here. And since the Red Mountain pack is so far off into the mountains, it was more easily accessible to rogues. They don’t have a barrier and a wall-like Desert Moon does,”

“Most forest packs do not have barriers, that is why Dorian works so hard to keep the walls sturdy, and guards everywhere,” Andre answered. “Even though we are in the desert, we are also out in the open at the same time. Our pack is easily accessible by humans because it looks like a suburban neighborhood, but we can easily keep out rogues and other supernatural because of Dorian’s constant need to beef up his security measures,” I just nodded my head.

“After so much suffering and so much heartache, I just couldn’t take it anymore. Michaela was the final straw, so here I am,” I said to them playing with the ice in the whiskey glass. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell Vivienne any of this,”

“Are you asking us to lie to my daughter?” Adrien hissed.

“No, sir, I’m asking that you allow me the courtesy to tell her myself when she asks me about my past. I don’t plan on hiding anything from her and I’ll tell her everything as I have told you here tonight. With all due respect, it is not your place to tell my mate about my past,”

“You have some big balls Jed, but I respect you for that as well,” Andre said holding his whiskey glass to me. I held mine up in return.

“Very well,” Adrien said and held up his glass of b***d.

After all that was said and done, I said my goodnights to them and went back to my townhouse to get some sleep. I had training in the morning, and I already knew I wasn’t going to sleep well knowing that Vivienne was going to be gone for a day or two. Even after only spending a few nights with her, my house and my bed felt so empty without her. I couldn’t wait for her to return.