Desert Heat (Complete)

{Jedediah’s P.O.V.}

“Hold up one f*****g minute, are you telling me that this fucker tried to molest her when she was a minor, but instead of kicking his a*s then, you let it slide!? Then he was dumb enough to try again when she turned 18, and the only reason you kicked his a*s was that Viv was able to mind link, Giselle!?”

“Yes,” Adrian answered candidly.

Hearing all of this was almost too much to process in my current state of mind, and I needed a moment to collect my thoughts. I was already extremely unstable after we came back from searching for Vivienne empty-handed yet again. It all started when we found Andre in the midst of gearing up his jet for take-off to return to France. He had to be prepared to divert wherever necessary after his father contacted him. The only thing Andre could tell us was that someone from his old coven had abducted Vivienne, but not who it actually was. At least, that’s what Adrian claimed at first. Andre was planning on leaving first thing in the morning, but things took a drastic and unlikely turn.

As Andre, myself, and the rest of the guys were getting ready to go to the airport to leave for France, his father shimmered into his townhouse located here within the pack territory and promptly contacted Andre. Now, suddenly, here he was telling us that he does, in fact, know who took her; it was someone they had exiled because of his attempted assault on Vivienne a few years ago. To say that I was livid would be the understatement of the century, but Andre was even more pissed off. As soon as his father revealed who had taken Vivienne, Andre tackled his father and started to beat the s**t out of him. To witness Adrian, endure the beating willingly when he could have easily shimmered away or overpowered him said a lot.

It took every single one of us to pull him off and a slap from Giselle to calm him down. I thought I had seen Andre pissed when Vivienne first went missing, but his reaction to the name Claude went from zero to a thousand in one-tenth of a second. Once Adrian had healed from his beating, which took all of an hour, at most, he and Andre explained to me who this a*****e was.

“Why didn’t you f*****g kill him then!?” I asked, completely baffled that this guy was still alive after what he had tried to do.

“Covens work differently than packs do, Jed. We do not indiscriminately kill because of a single infraction,” Adrian answered.

“Infraction!? Are you f*****g kidding me!? A man you trusted with your life betrayed you by attempting to rape your then 18-year-old daughter!” I snarled at him. “What kind of father lets a man who tried to hurt his child live to see another day!? Especially in our world!? Your mercy only gave him the opportunity to plan and get his revenge. Now, look where we are!” I shouted and gestured around the room with my arms emphatically.

“The prison where he was exiled should have been escape-proof. It has never once failed in the thousands of years it has been around!” he countered.

“Well, that obviously isn’t the case right now, is it!?” I countered back. “My mate is missing! And not only that, according to Andre, you sensed that she’s also f*****g pregnant! This means that not only is the love of my life with this guy but so is my unborn pup! They’re both in the hands of some psychotic s*x-offending b***d-sucking son of a b***h all because YOU and your KING failed to kill him!”

“Do not speak to me that way, Jed! Know your place!”

“I’LL SPEAK TO YOU HOWEVER I f*****g PLEASE, ADRIAN!” I roared at the top of my lungs, causing him and Giselle both to jump back in surprise. “You might be Vivienne’s father, but I’m her f*****g mate! She’s practically my wife, and she’s carrying my child in her womb! I have more to lose if anything happens to either one of them!” I growled. “So help me, moon goddess, if we don’t find them in time …”

“J.D., please breathe,” Giselle implored delicately before I could finish my threat. “Vivienne is still early in the pregnancy, and you know that she is still alive because if she was not, you would have felt it.”

“She may be alive, but I know for a fact that he’s hurt her already.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Giselle, you’re a werewolf,” I sneered at her. “You know exactly what I mean. It doesn’t matter how far apart she is from me; I can feel her pain whenever he hits her!” Both Giselle and Andre growled at my words.

“You never said anything before!” Andre shouted at me.

“Because I wasn’t sure what was going on. I felt small stings across my face the last several days since Viv has been missing—like I was being pinched or something. I didn’t realize what that feeling meant until your dad told me what that fucker Claude tried to do to Viv all those years ago.”

“He’s been hitting her?” Giselle asked, her attempts to stifle her sobs futile.

“Yes, and it happens a few times a day. Some seem to be worse than others.”

“Oh, mon Dieu,” she gasped and turned her face away to conceal the tears streaming down her face.

“Papa, where is this prison!?” Andre asked him with a growl.

“Antarctica. Why?” Could this guy be any dafter? First, he lets Vivienne’s attacker off with a slap on the wrist by exiling him, and now he has to ask us why we want to know where this damn prison is. Considering he was general of the coven, he seemed pretty dull to me, and it’s not like I am the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Adrian, if anything happens to either one of them because of your coven’s failure to execute him four years ago, I will rip your entire coven apart, and that will include you!” I snarled at him and stormed out of his townhouse through the front door, completely unphased by the fact that the sun was still blazing outside.

As I was stomping my way back towards the packhouse, Andre caught up to me. At first, I thought he was going to talk s**t to me for threatening his father and his old coven, but he just walked next to me and didn’t say a word. I could sense his own anger at the fact that his father intentionally lied about knowing Claude was responsible for kidnapping Vivienne. Before I knew it, the rest of the guys caught up to us as well.

When we arrived back at the packhouse, all of the girls were waiting for us in the living room with anxious expressions. Allie stood up first, at least, she attempted to. She struggled a bit but eventually found her footing and stared at us. All of the other women were looking at us with eyes like puppy dogs as well.

“When are you guys leaving?” Allie asked.

“Right now,” I answered. All of the girls nodded, and each went to their respective mates. I couldn’t stop the pang of jealousy that filled me and waited patiently for the guys to finish their goodbyes. Then Allie and Dani both came up to me unexpectedly and hugged me too. They lent their support by providing encouragement to keep my head held up high and assured me that she’s going to be fine. I nodded my head and tried my best to stay positive.

Dorian linked the fab-four of bounty hunters to accompany us, and they were already outside waiting for us. But what shocked me the most was when I saw my entire team outside as well.

“Amos? What the hell?” I was flabbergasted.

“Jed, you’re one of us, and that means that your mate is too,” he answered.

“Yeah, and this thing about being some kind of supreme Alpha just got us all giddy inside,” Amy replied in a girly tone that didn’t suit her.

“For real dude, we’re excited to fight alongside you to help you find your mate. A future Luna. It’s what we werewolves are all about. Official Luna or not, your mate is a Luna, and that makes her hella f*****g important,” Albert said.

“Not that she isn’t important already, because she is, but … Ah, hell, you know what we mean,” Ricky said.

“Ricky, just shut it before you dig yourself further into an already mass grave,” Amos suggested to him, making everyone snicker. I walked up to Amos and fist-bumped him.

“Thank you, all of you.”

“I hope you all packed warm, it’s going to be freezing where we’re going,” Andre warned them.

“How cold?” Fury asked.

“Antarctica,” Dorian replied.

“Is that where she is?” Amy asked.

“No, but it’s where the a*****e that took her was being held in prison. I’m hoping if we can catch his scent, we can figure out a way to follow it,” I replied. Everyone nodded their heads in understanding, and one by one started to pile into the many SUVs that were parked and ready.

“Jed,” Dorian said as he came over to my side. “I need you to promise not to go all commando when we find her. We need to have a rock-solid plan if we’re going to get both your Luna and your heir out of their situation alive. I know what you’re feeling. I’ve felt it more times than I care to admit. I’ve lost a pup myself, and I promise you, you will never feel that kind of pain.” I looked at him and the sincerity behind his eyes spoke volumes. I nodded my head and we both got into the same SUV to head out to the airport.

Once we were up in the clouds heading towards Antarctica, some people decided to catch up on some shuteye, others played games or read a book, and a few of us were reviewing strategies to utilize when he found Vivienne or came across enemy combatants. Some of the team aboard Dorian’s jet still needed to get fully up to speed on the situation, and Andre ended up having Amos’ team go on his jet. I was planning on joining them, but Dorian requested that I come with him. We made sure to secure a line of communication with Andre’s jet so we could all openly discuss our plans together.

“You guys, we haven’t fought against vampires in a long while, or ever for some of us; but remember, rip out their hearts or rip off their heads,” Dorian told all of us who were with him strategizing.

“I hate vampires,” Aries said, gritting his teeth. “No offense, Delta … Jed.”

“None taken, Aries. As of right now, I am hating them as well, and I am half Vampire,” he grunted.

“Same. I know you don’t hate a select few,” I replied and sent a wink his way.

“Andre, do you think this guy Claude will have allies?” Brandon asked.

“Honestly, I do not have a clue, mon ami. Claude was like an uncle to me. I trusted him with everything. Our whole family did, and he betrayed us in the worst possible way. He betrayed the coven in doing so. I’m fairly certain if he does have allies, it’s unlikely to be members of my father’s coven; however, I wouldn’t put it past some people to betray our coven. Just like those who betray our pack,” Andre responded. “I knew I should have killed him back then,” he said while gritting his teeth.

“No disrespect, Delta, but why didn’t you?” Warlord asked.

“I was stopped by my father and the King of the coven. As my father explained to Jed and the rest of us, covens don’t just kill for one crime. They’re typically just exiled. Life in prison, basically, but with no food or water, or in a vampire’s case—b***d.”

“So, basically, anyone exiled will practically starve to death?” Poseidon asked.

“It takes a while for a vampire to starve to death, unfortunately. They go mad with b***d l**t because of their thirst. Like a rogue wolf, they become unstable, feral, and dangerous. They enter into a state of delirium and begin to hallucinate. Some have even chewed off their own body parts solely out of hunger.”

“EW!”

“GROSS!”

“AH, HELL NAH!” several people exclaimed in disgust.

“It can take years for that to happen. Vampires as old as Claude, my father, and the King of our coven can go months without feeding before they lose their control. And even then, the loss is gradual and occurs over time. The younger the vampire, the faster it hits them. Claude is over two hundred years old.”

“I don’t give a flying f**k what your coven king says, Andre. If I get my hands on this Claude fucker, I’m going to rip his head off,” I forewarned.

“Not if I get to him first,” he replied. Before I could say anything back, the captain, Greyson, came to us.

“Alpha, may I have a word, sir?” Dorian stood up and followed him into the cockpit. About ten minutes later, Dorian came back while rubbing his face profusely in obvious frustration.

“What’s up?” I asked him.

“We can’t fly directly to Antarctica, it’s illegal.”

“Then how do we get there!?” I asked.

“We have to fly to Buenos Aires first so the jets can refuel. Then, from there, we have to fly to Ushuaia. From Ushuaia, we’ll have to take a charter plane to Antarctica.”

“What the f**k? How long is that going to take!?”

“About 30 hours from here all the way to Ushuaia. After that, it’s about another 2800 miles to Antarctica.” We all looked at him like he was insane, but he was totally serious. “Depending on the charter plane’s capacity and speed, it could take another half day of travel to get there.”

“We don’t have that kind of time!” I shouted. “We don’t have time to make stops!”

“I know, which is why I’ve told Greyson that we’re going to stop in Buenos Aires and use Adrian and other members of the coven to shimmer us the rest of the way. Andre, I need you to contact your father and notify him of our plans.” Andre looked like he would rather eat dirt than speak to his father again, but Dorian wasn’t giving him much of a choice. Andre reluctantly agreed. “Everyone get some sleep. I don’t think we’ll be getting very much once we land.” Everyone nodded, and we hung up the video call with Amos.

I leaned back in my seat and thought about all the different ways I was going to kill Claude for hurting Vivienne. I also thought about the fact that I was going to be a father soon. We hadn’t even been trying to get pregnant, and Vivienne hadn’t gone into heat yet. But I was happy nonetheless and nervous. Before I could dwell on the thought of watching Vivienne’s stomach swell with my pup growing inside of her, we needed to find her and bring her home first.

Let’s go get our Luna.

Gunner, did you know?

Know what?

That we’re an Alpha?

Yes.

Why didn’t you ever say anything to me!?

Would you have believed me?

Probably not. I mean, I grew up with an Omega family. I was always under the impression I was an Omega.

Jedediah, could you not feel how strong we were? Why do you think we were one of the best warriors at Red Mountain? Why do you think you’re so big and burly, and I’m similar in size to Bandit?

All werewolves are large.

True, but compare us to that of the Gamma. Or even the Beta. Do you not see that we’re bigger than they are?

I … No, I never noticed. I never really cared about size. Did my parents lie to me?

Jedediah, the Luna is right. Your parents are not your parents. Even though they passed before I came to you, I would have still felt the pain of losing them, as you did, but I didn’t. And for a long time, I thought it was strange.

What are you saying, Gunner?

Dear human, I felt no connection to your parents when I went through your memories that night I first came to you. I knew that they were not your birth parents, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to tell you.

You … knew?

I’m sorry.

But, if they’re not my parents then where do I come from?

A long line of Supreme Alphas. Believe it or not, we are more powerful than Dorian and Bandit. I just hold back whenever I am training. I do not want to disrespect him. He’s our Alpha, for now.

What do you mean, for now?

Jed, we need to go back to Red Mountain.

Why?

Because I have the deepest feelings that we are the rightful Alpha to that pack and not Scanlan.