Desert Heat (Complete)

{Dorian’s P.O.V.}

The battle that ensued wasn’t at all what we expected; we were especially caught off guard when fifty humans ambushed us as we grappled with three dozen werewolves. Whoever this Marvin guy was, his operation was on a much larger scale than we could even comprehend. The problem wasn’t how many men he had; it was the fact that he wasn’t among them.

Although we succeeded in rescuing all the captive supernatural and killing his men, we still needed to dispose of him. My hope, however, was that we dealt a blow large enough to stall his operation for some years before he could manage to resume business as usual. We made contact with Richard who then reached out to their local Elder, Jonah, to report what happened. Even though we were technically in Canadian jurisdiction, Richard felt it was necessary to bring an Elder up to speed. Jonah said he would handle the aftermath and planned to discuss getting rid of Marvin with the Elders of Canada if we couldn’t locate him.

The majority of the captives went their separate ways; but Anna, Jennifer, Ryker, the fairy we met named Abigail, and a few of the other wolves we encountered wanted to stay with us. I sent a message to Deacon to see whether Evelyn or Eileen knew of Abigail. If anything, his pack was better suited for her than ours. Abigail mentioned that her entire kingdom was slaughtered during her capture three years ago and that she had no home to return to.

Ryker swore his allegiance to Chad instead of Wyatt because he wanted to be the protector of Lexie and Lanie. Chad was skeptical at first, but when Ryker indicated he only saw them as little sisters and was old enough to be their father, Chad reluctantly permitted him. Anna decided that once she saw Lexie and Lanie alive and well, she would return to Heaven and watch over all of us as a personal guardian from the skies.

Wyatt and Richard did their best to explain to Jennifer where she came from and that she would be returned to her rightful family. The problem was that she turned out to be Maverick’s mate. Unfortunately, Jennifer had no idea what that meant and kept hiding from him. Naturally, this hurt Maverick, but he tried to be understanding. She spent 16 years in prison, only to be used as a s*x slave as soon as she came of age. She was traumatized, to say the least. I hoped that meeting all of the girls would help her heal before we tried to reunite her with her family.

Once the Elders of Canada arrived on the island and learned what Marvin had been up to for the last two decades or so, they vowed to take care of him and clean up the mess we created. They took statements from some of the wolves who were more than willing to testify against him and what he had done to them. Among them was a Golden Wolf, which no one had ever heard of, two additional Jade Wolves, an Amethyst wolf, and a Lycan hybrid. All special in their own way and all between the ages of 14⁠–⁠25. Although there were some adolescents, there were no infants or young children, thankfully.

Once the Elders took over, they chartered two boats to get everyone back to Manitoulin Island, and we departed from the airport to head back to Golden Moon’s packhouse. The few hours it took seemed to fly by; before we knew it, we arrived at the packhouse, and everyone was waiting outside for us. I wasted no time jumping out of the SUV to embrace Allie. I was careful not to squeeze too tight.

“Why do you have bandages on your shoulder!?” she exclaimed when she felt them under my shirt.

“I was shot,” I answered, shrugging it off completely.

“WHAT?!” she shouted and placed her hands on the wound.

“I’m fine, baby. It’s just a flesh wound, and it was a regular lead bullet. No silver. I’ll be fully healed soon,” I said, trying to calm her.

“OH MY GOD!!! ANNA!! J!!” I heard screaming and squealing erupt suddenly. Allie and I turned around, and we saw Lexie and Lanie hugging Anna and Jennifer. The four of them were shedding tears of joy.

“Hey there, Goldilocks twins,” Ryker said to them. The girls embraced him as well, and he held them at the same time. Chad and Brent were seething in jealousy. It was kind of funny because the girls had yet to embrace their mates.

“What are we, chopped liver!?” Brent shouted at them. The girls let go of Ryker and smiled at their mates innocently before going to them and thanking them for bringing back their friends.

“Dorian, did you guys kill him? Did you get Marvin?” Allie asked, grabbing my attention. I let out a deep sigh and shook my head. Allie was shocked and looked at Brandon and the others.

“Sorry, Giz, but he wasn’t there. We killed everyone else involved, and we’ve put a major hole in his operation, so he won’t be kidnapping or selling anyone anytime soon,” Mikey tried to console her.

“Allison, it’s over, for now, so don’t worry too much,” Ethan added on. Allie nodded and put her hand over her stomach protectively. I put my hand over hers and, as soon as I did, we felt the pup kick.

“He must know your touch, babe. He never kicks for me. Something tells me he’s going to be a Daddy’s boy,” Allie said with a soft smile. I watched as she shifted her eyes behind me and c****d her head to the side. “What’s wrong with Maverick?”

“Oh, he’s a little bummed right now.”

“Why?”

“Turns out Leah’s vision meant something when she saw Jennifer hiding with him,” I answered.

“No.”

“Yeah.”

“She didn’t …”

“No, but she’s a little apprehensive since she doesn’t know what it means.”

“Oh man, what horrible timing,” Allie said sympathetically.

“Yeah.”

Once everyone had finished celebrating our safe return, Richard came out to join us. All of the captives who returned with us were standing by the respective packs they chose to stay with. Before we planned our return to Desert Moon, we offered to take Jennifer back to meet her parents. Richard had already spoken with Xavier to let him know that we had recovered Jennifer safely and that she wasn’t actually sold. It was clear that Marvin had lied to him from the very beginning and had no intentions of following through with his promises.

In order to prevent Leah’s visions from coming true, Wyatt was instructed by Richard to return to Blue Lake not only to prepare his pack but also to ensure that he and Rylee fixed their issues as soon as they could. The strength of their pack depended on their strength as Alpha and Luna; there was no time to lose. I didn’t have to worry about Wyatt anymore and once his bond with Rylee was complete, he would be a great Alpha once again, if not better than before.

“It’s getting late. Everyone wash up, get some rest, and spend time with your loved ones. Though you have stopped Marvin’s operations, this is far from over. If we are to prevent what happened in the Desert Moon Beta’s visions, then we must follow our next course of action to the tee,” Richard told us. We all nodded and did what he said.

When Allie and I got back to our guest room at Golden Moon, I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms and sleep, but she wasn’t having it. Allie projected her l**t as soon as we entered the shower. As much as I wanted to pound into her, her pregnancy made that difficult. But it didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves in the shower, and then in bed. Allie worked me until I passed out from exhaustion.

The following day, everyone packed up and prepared to go our separate ways. Blue Lake had already left because they wanted to return before any potential attacks could occur while they were still traveling, but William and Olivia stayed behind to escort us. And Anna flew back to the skies but promised to watch over us. Whoever was behind these attacks would hopefully be caught off-guard once they saw Wyatt and the others back home. I already knew we couldn’t stop the attacks, but our plan in getting them back to their pack grounds was to lessen the blow. Rylee didn’t want to leave, but we had to stress the importance of changing the outcome of Leah’s visions or we could lose a lot of friends and pack members.

“Richard, are we ready to go?” Dorian asked.

“Yes, I believe we are,” he replied. “Jennifer, are you ready sweetheart?” Richard asked kindly. She cowered away but nodded her head anyways. Before leaving, Rylee and Lanie told Maverick what we discussed last night about returning her to her family to heal before trying to claim her. He wasn’t having it and insisted on staying with her at Black Moon, but Chad forbade him from doing so and chastised him for being selfish. Maverick was upset, but he understood that Jennifer’s mental health came before his emotional and physical need for his mate.

“Alright everyone, let’s load up and get going. Black Moon is only three hours from here, and Xavier and Heide are anxious to get their daughter back,” Richard said. Dorian took my hand and we got inside the SUVs to make the trip.

The drive didn’t feel like three hours, and the entire time I was mind linking with Leah to make sure her vision wasn’t going to happen earlier than expected. She said that as of now, things were looking on the up and up and that we still had a few hours before it came true. We wanted to make it before it got too late because she mentioned the attack happened right before 4:00 PM.

When we arrived, I could see a group of people waiting. An average height African American man stood with a smaller petite African American female who looked a lot like Jennifer, but older. That had to be Xavier and Heide. There were two other men and women beside them, which only meant they were their Betas and Gammas. Things didn’t seem too off … yet.

“Richard! You did it! You found her!”

“Xavier, I told you that I would. Didn’t I tell you to trust me?” Richard said, holding his shoulders in a friendly manner.

“Yes. Yes, you did. I knew I could trust you, old friend! Where is she?”

“Hold on, dear friend. I must warn you; she has been through hell and back, and she is very fragile. Remember, she doesn’t know you two, and she will need time and lots of support and rehabilitation.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Whatever she needs,” Heide said. I couldn’t help but notice her tone was off. It almost sounded forced. I peeked around Dorian to get a better look at Xavier and Heide, and I instantly felt the presence of someone else familiar. Sierra.

Something wasn’t right. How did she get here? Why was she here? What business did she have brought at Black Moon? I needed to get a better read on Xavier and Heide, but I was hidden behind Dorian because he was too preoccupied with being on alert. I mind-linked Sin.

Sin, tell me if you can get a read on Xavier and Heide.

What? Why?

Something is off. I can sense that girl Sierra from Blue Lake here.

What? Why would she be here?

My question exactly. Dorian is blocking me from the Alpha and Luna of Black Moon. I can’t get a read on them.

Okay, give me a second. Our link was severed for about ten seconds before she came back to me. I can’t!

What do you mean you can’t?!

There’s a magical barrier!

My eyes widened, and I knew that something was horribly wrong. I pushed my way out from behind Dorian, and the moment I locked eyes with Heide, I immediately sensed she wasn’t a wolf. Her soul was dark, darker than Sierra. As soon as I turned my gaze to Xavier, I got the heebie-jeebies and quickly realized this was a trap. Just as the realization hit me, Jennifer was being led to them. The smile on Xavier’s face was not that of a happy father’s but that of a sadist.

“JENNIFER, NO!!” I screamed but it was too late. Xavier grabbed her and not in a fatherly kind of way. All of a sudden, we were surrounded by wolves in wolf form, and those before us started to change forms.

“What the f**k!?” Dorian shouted and pulled me back to cover me. The man who was once Xavier started to laugh maniacally and the woman turned into someone else entirely.

“OPAL!?” Olivia shouted.

“Hello, dear sister.”

“Marvin!?” Richard growled. “What is the meaning of this!? Where are Xavier and Heide!?”

“Dead.” We all froze. “You see, Xavier was weak and stupid.” As he said this, he snapped his finger, and two men brought out Sierra. Sly gasped and I knew then he figured out that she was his mate. She looked terrified. “You see, Xavier hired this young lady spy on Blue Lake, and she was more than willing to betray her own pack out of spite. She gave him information on her Luna, and on you three,” he said looking between Leah, Sin, and me. “When she gave him that information, he called me and said he wanted to negotiate. I let him think he had the upper hand. I came, heard him out, and then had his entire pack killed for trying to double-cross me. Though I must say, I didn’t think that you would all find my bunker the way you did.”

“What do you want!?” I shouted.

“What rightfully belongs to me. I want Project Gemini, and little J here,” he demanded as he nuzzled against her. Maverick snarled. “Oh, well isn’t this a surprise. Little J here seems to have met her mate. Young man, you sure you want this filthy w***e as your mate? She’s opened her legs for so many of my men, and willingly.”

“Shut up before I make you shut up!” Maverick growled.

“Touchy young pup, aren’t you?” Marvin antagonized him. “Since you all destroyed my business, I think it’s only right that I take something in return.”

“You can’t be f*****g serious!” Mikey shouted.

“Oh but I am. You see, you’re completely outnumbered, and I already have a plan in place to obtain Project Gemini. Now, I will take your mates,” he said with a serious expression. All of the guys immediately stood their ground. “Oh please, your attempts are futile, just hand them over, and I’ll let y…” he paused when one of his men whispered something in his ear. His face contorted into pure anger and his eyes flashed black.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire went off, and all of the wolves around us started to fall dead. This caught him by surprise, and he let go of Jennifer. Maverick wasted no time grabbing her and taking her to safety. Everyone shifted at the speed of light, and put me and all the girls, including Jennifer, into a protective circle. Then all hell broke loose.