Desert Heat (Complete)

{Dorian’s P.O.V.}

As we surrounded the women to form a barrier for their protection, shots continued to ring into the skies as Lucas’s team plucked off as many wolves around us as fast as they could. You should have seen the look of disdain on Marvin’s face as it turned into sheer rage, consuming him entirely once he realized his plans to overrun us and Wyatt’s pack had ultimately failed. There was no doubt in my mind, actually, in our mind that Wyatt had defeated whoever attacked Blue Lake.

I looked at the clock through Bandit’s eyes and, sure enough, it was half-past 4:00 PM which meant that Leah’s visions had come true but with a different outcome. Just as the water broke through the flood gates of Hell, my men and women came rushing out of their hiding spots and started to rip through any of the remaining wolves that fought for Marvin. Thanks to Olivia, she masked all of their scents as we had arrived. This only deterred Marvin, even more, when he saw just how outnumbered he truly was.

“I WILL HAVE WHAT IS MINE!!” Marvin screamed like a dramatic child throwing a temper tantrum. And I thought Allie was bad when she got angry. He shifted into his wolf and I thought he would be a black wolf at first, as most Alphas are, but was surprised to see him as a brown wolf. That only meant he wasn’t a true Alpha. I didn’t have time to dwell on this fact, as he came charging at me. The guys and I kept the circle as tight as we could to keep our females safe. That included Jennifer and Abigail.

“HELP! PLEASE! Someone! Help!” I heard a cry. I was too busy keeping Marvin at bay to know who was calling for help. It wasn’t someone from our pack. I wasn’t aware of who it was, but Sly seemed to know right off the bat. He broke away from his formation and left a gaping hole that led directly to Leah.

SLY!! GET BACK HERE!!! I roared through our pack link, but he didn’t respond. He disappeared into the crowd of wolves. s**t!! Close the circ—

“AHHH!!!” I heard a scream; it was Leah. A wolf had gotten through. I pushed Marvin as far back as I could. I turned around to see Leah with a wolf snapping his jaws at her face. She was holding it back. Eddie was trying to get to her, but he had two wolves on him as well.

“LEAH!!” Allie screamed and jumped on the wolf’s back. I knew what she was doing. She was projecting her power of l**t to render him unconscious. It worked, and the wolf fell to the ground. Allie jumped off just in time, so it didn’t crush her. I would lecture her later about being reckless while pregnant.

I heard a snarl and saw Marvin’s wolf charging towards us. The circle we had created around the girls was now broken. Maverick shifted back, grabbed Jennifer, and pulled her towards one of the SUVs we had driven. He hid her behind it and stayed with her the entire time. I guess Leah’s vision of him hiding came true.

“BANDIT!!” Allie screamed. I turned to see what was happening. Big mistake. I was blindsided by two wolves, one being Marvin. We were on our back and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few wolves stalking towards Allie and the others. One reared back and pounced, but it ricocheted far away. There was a forcefield around the girls. It had to be Olivia, wherever she was in the chaos.

I turned my attention back to Marvin and the other wolf. He had me by the leg, while Marvin tried to stomp on my chest with his not-so-big, muddy-looking paw. Right before he could put all of his weight into his assault, another wolf rammed him off me. This gave me the opportunity to kill the puny wolf chomping down on my leg. Bandit kicked him off and charged at him without regard for the injury. Bandit rammed him into the wall of the packhouse with all his might and crushed him.

Bandit swung around to see who had helped us, and it was a massive black wolf. He was even bigger than Bandit. It was rare to see a wolf larger than him. This had to be William’s wolf. He was f*****g huge, and his eyes were a fiery red.

I checked to see if Allie and the others were okay, and saw Olivia had one hand pointed towards them while she was fighting off her sister, Opal. This needed to end and fast. Marvin needed to be taken out right now. Most of his men were dead, but there were still some coming out of the packhouse of Black Moon. Xavier and his Luna were dead, so they must have completely taken over their pack lands.

I rushed into the fight to help William, though I was sure he didn’t need it. He and Marvin were at a standoff, and it was a sight to see. Marvin was barely half of William’s size, and he was trying to snarl his way out of this. Enough was enough, I snuck up behind Marvin’s wolf, and Bandit chomped down on his leg and shattered his tibia. Marvin’s wolf wailed in agony and then William’s wolf punched him square across the jaw before biting down onto his neck. I thought he would go for the kill, but he only knocked him out, suffocating him.

“NOOO!!!” I heard a screech. William and I both turned to see Olivia had overpowered Opal. A bright flash of red lightning came from Olivia as she rendered Opal unconscious as well.

Seeing that their Alpha and dark witch were incapacitated, the remainder of his men and women ceased to fight and surrendered instantly. There were very few of them left. I quickly shifted back and so did everyone else.

“Why didn’t you kill him?” I asked William.

“Because Rylee needs answers, and only he can give them,” he replied. I nodded my head.

“Dorian!” I turned to see Allie running towards me. I embraced her in my arms and inhaled her scent. After calming down, I put her down and chastised her for what she did.

“WHAT THE f**k WERE YOU THINKING, ALLISON!?” I screamed using her full name. “YOU’RE PREGNANT, AND YOU JUMPED ON A WOLF!?”

“If I hadn’t, Leah would be dead!” she growled back at me. That reminded me, Sylvester.

“SYLVESTER!!!” Brandon roared, shaking the ground beneath us. Sly came from behind the packhouse and had Sierra with him. Before he could say one word, Brandon charged at him, knocking him over, and punched him across the face several times. It took Leroy, Paxton, Derek, and Lucas to get him off before he killed him. “YOU LEFT YOUR POSITION IN THE CIRCLE FOR THAT b***h!?!” Brandon roared again. Eddie was on the surface, and he was pissed. “LEAH COULD HAVE f*****g DIED!!!”

“Sylvester?” I looked up to see my mate staring at me with a blank expression. “Are you okay?” she asked. Though, her tone was not genuine.

“No, I’m not. I have a choice to make, and it’s not easy.”

“What are you talking about? The right choice is to choose your mate,” she said matter-of-factly.

“No, Sierra, it’s not. If I choose you, I lose everything I’ve ever worked for. I will lose the pack I was raised in. I’ve already lost the trust and respect of those who rule my pack. Losing the pack entirely would mean I become rogue. I will never see my family again.”

“Your Alpha and Luna are just as f****d up as mine! Who gives their pack member an ultimatum like that!? Huh!? Your mate or your pack,” she said, mocking Luna Allie. “I’m your mate. The moon goddess chose me for you. That should be the most important thing that there is.”

“If you believe so highly in the mate bond, then why would you willingly participate in trying to have your Beta male’s mate killed?”

“Keaton’s not even the Beta! He’s the little brother of one! I just wanted my friend to be happy!”

“So, you admit it. You helped your friend in the attempted murder of another wolf’s mate?” I asked her. She took a sharp intake of breath when she realized what she just admitted. “And instead of standing by that said friend, you ratted her out in exchange for leniency?”

“I had to do what was necessary to survive! Terrine would have killed me herself if I didn’t help her! Keaton would have killed me had I not betrayed her! I just wanted to survive! Anyone in my position would have done the same thing!” she shouted at me.

“Most people would never allow themselves to be in that position. The fact that you even call this person Terrine a friend is beyond me. A true friend would never threaten their friend’s life over something as trivial as an infatuation. Secondly, a true friend would never rat out their friend to save their own a*s!”

“Are you judging me?” she asked with an appalled tone.

“Yes, I am,” I answered without hesitation. She scowled at me and glared her eyes. “Be honest with me, Sierra. Why do you want me to betray my pack and choose you?” I knew this question came out of the blue, I needed to hear her answer. I was seriously contemplating leaving Desert Moon to be with her. The mate I had been longing for, for so long. But I needed to hear her say that she wanted me for me. That she too wanted to fulfill the mate bond for the right reasons. Out of love for me, her mate.

“What kind of question is that? It’s obvious, isn’t it?” she said blankly. “I have nowhere to go. My Alpha will skin me alive if I go back to Blue Lake. Alpha Xavier is dead, and his pack is in ruins. Your pack obviously won’t accept me. Your b***h of a Gamma already said so. I’m officially a rogue. It only makes sense that my mate is a rogue with me.” I was baffled at her response. Not once in her reasoning did she say that she wanted to be with me as her mate, but she wanted me to be her mate to suffer with her.

“Are you telling me that you only want me so that you won’t be alone?” I asked to make sure I understood her correctly.

“Yeah,” she replied without remorse. “That’s what mates are for, aren’t they?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sierra didn’t believe in the mate bond the way that I did. She didn’t see the appeal of loving someone for all eternity. Creating a family. Showering each other with love, passion, desire, and everything else in between. I wanted what my ranked members had. Everyone in our pack who had yet to find their mates did.

I fell in love with Sierra the moment I laid eyes on her, but she obviously didn’t feel the same way. For her, I was just her ticket out of a lonely life as a rogue. How could I accept her? I never once thought I would ever contemplate rejecting the most precious thing the goddess would give me. And yet, here I was. Before I made this ultimatum decision, I needed to know one more thing.

“Sierra, do you ever see yourself being a mother?”

“Ew, no. I hate kids. I took care of Terrine’s pup because I didn’t want to deal with her and her raging bitch-a*s. I’ve never wanted pups. I even got a hysterectomy at 21.” My heart plummeted. The she-wolf in front of me was not my mate. The moon goddess wouldn’t do this to me. She wouldn’t want me to be mated to someone so selfish and incapable of love or compassion. I shook my head in disappointment. I had hoped that she would have at least said yes to having a family. That would have swayed me to choose her over the pack. Because at least then, I would have had what I wanted most in this world. A family of my own.

“Sierra, what’s your last name?” I asked her nonchalantly.

“Paisley. Why?”

“Because it’s come to my attention that we are not meant for each other. The moon goddess has made a mistake.”

“What!? You can’t be—”

“I, Sylvester Monroe, hereby reject you, Sierra Paisley, as my mate and partner,” I spoke the words and felt my heart break.

“NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS ME!!!” she shrieked and held her chest. I didn’t wait for her to accept my rejection. With her being classified as a rogue, the bond would break over time. I turned my heel and walked back towards the people who I knew were angry with me, but would forgive me nonetheless. I may have lost my rank and position as the guard for Beta Leah, but it was the price I had to pay for my actions.

As I walked back to accept my punishment, I felt a gust of wind and heard what sounded like giant wings.

“Hello, Sylvester,” I heard a melodious voice. I turned around to see the most beautiful being in front of me.

“You?” was all I could muster out.

“Yes, me.” She smiled. “I guess you don’t remember my name,” she said after I just stood there staring at her. I gulped and shook my head. How did I not notice how radiant she was before? She giggled and that alone made my heart stop. “It’s Annalisa. But everyone calls me Anna.”

“Anna,” I whispered.

“I guess we have some things to discuss,” she smiled again.