Desert Heat (Complete)

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

Dorian and the others have been gone for three days now, and it’s driving me and everyone else insane that we are unable to get in contact with him. Dorian brought his satellite phone with him, but it was still damn near impossible to get ahold of him. I was lucky to even get a single word out of him before the line went dead. At least that single word gave me the reassurance that he and the others were okay.

Sin started to show signs of morning sickness the day after the guys had left, and she became extra hormonal out of nowhere. Even more so than when she was pregnant with Allen, which gave us the sense that she was having a girl, just as she had hoped for. My pregnancy was going smoothly, and I was able to get an ultrasound squeezed in at the last minute yesterday, thankfully. We were so preoccupied with everything going on with Blue Lake and Vivienne’s abduction that I missed my last appointment with Dr. Boyd.

Delightfully though, Dr. Quinn was the one who performed this ultrasound on me. After she and Luther talked everything out, she ordered him to explain everything to Celinda who, of course, forgave him. Celinda told him how her mother tried to break up her and Leroy, and Luther finally had enough of her bullshit. Luther confronted Avery and her whorish ways and demanded a divorce. On top of that, Luther went the extra mile to even reject Avery. Although the rejection should have killed her, all it did was cause her some pain, but that was it.

Apparently, their bond was so broken because of her, even rejection after the fact did nothing. Avery vowed she would get back at the Quinn’s for humiliating her and even threatened to kill Luther for real this time. That earned her a punch to the face from Dr. Quinn. I had never seen that woman use violence of any kind, but once a mother, always a mother. Elder Maxwell witnessed her threat on Luther’s life and banished her himself. He even had her thrown out without any of her belongings.

It felt good knowing that wretched woman was no longer an issue for us, and I was even more glad that Elder Maxwell took care of the banishment. Hopefully, that would be the last any of us had to deal with her. Luther took his place back in the hospital as the bio-technician, and Dr. Quinn resumed her position as the head attending physician. To say that Dr. Boyd and the temporary intern were happy to see her would be an understatement. I knew the pack hospital was a zoo some days, but seeing Dr. Quinn immediately take charge and seamlessly return things to the way they were was a breath of fresh air. I prayed that everything else would return back to normal soon too.

While sitting in my room with the twins and missing Dorian, I found myself staring at the ultrasound of the new pup. Savannah made the mistake of being inside the room during the procedure, and she blurted out the s*x of our pup to me. I was pissed because Dorian and I wanted to be surprised with this one, just like we were with the twins. But since she had given it away, Dr. Quinn printed out the ultrasound for me. I was wrong about one thing; our new pup was not a boy like I thought it was.

“Mama, wut dat?” Daisy asked as she pulled herself up onto the couch and sat next to me. Demarco followed her to the couch and instantly grabbed the photo out of my hand, looking at it upside down. It was hard not to chuckle at his adorable antics.

“This, princess, is the picture of the baby inside Mommy’s tummy,” I told her, gently turning it around for Demarco to see upright and bringing him over to sit on my other side. Demarco gave it back to me on his own, and I showed it to Daisy. She smiled and looked at it while c*****g her head from side to side. I made sure to keep some baby dolls around for reference, one for each gender, to help them understand what was happening.

“Boy!” Demarco exclaimed, pointing towards the boy baby doll.

“Awww … I’m sorry, big boy, it’s not a little brother. You’re going to have a little sister,” I explained to him. I expected him to get mad or pout, but he didn’t and simply nodded his head. I guess it was a bit much to expect a toddler to truly understand what having a little brother or sister meant.

“Girl!” Daisy shouted happily.

“That’s right, a girl means it’s a baby sister,” I told her and hugged them both. They leaned on me and put their hands on my swollen belly. I couldn’t help the giddy squeal that came out of my mouth because of how sweet the twins were being. I fished out my phone to snap a photo. “Do you guys want to record a video for Daddy?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” they both answered excitedly.

“Okay, I want you guys to keep your hands on my Mommy’s tummy, and tell your baby sister that you love her, okay?” I instructed them. I turned on the video camera on the phone and filmed it.

“Wuv you, baby,” Demarco said and planted a slobbery k**s on my tummy.

“I lub you, baby,” Daisy said and rubbed my stomach before kissing it. Either it was the hormones or me just feeling sentimental, but the cuteness overload that I just captured on film brought tears to my eyes.

“Can you please stop with the love fest already?” I turned around, snarling at the unfamiliar voice, and quickly shielded the twins by placing them behind me. “Whoa! Calm down, mama wolf, it’s just me!”

“ARIA! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND! I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!” I yelled at her.

“Psh, you wish you could kill me,” she said and rolled her eyes.

“What are you doing here!?” I asked her, completely annoyed while putting the twins in the playpen.

“I thought about what you said, about having Gideon fall in love with someone else other than Heather.”

“Okay?”

“I think I have a plan that will get him to fall in love with me but not know that it’s me.” I turned around and lifted my brow at her in utter confusion. “I’m going to use magic to cloak myself into another person and seduce him.”

“What?” I looked at her like she grew a second head. “Aria, that’s insane. He’s the king of all demons. Wouldn’t he be able to sense you and your magic?”

“No, you see, that’s the beauty of dark magic cloaking, we can even cloak our own magic. Most demons at my level possess the same powers anyways. Energy balls, fire balls, and shimmering.”

“Aria …” I let out a frustrated sigh. “You can’t just change your appearance and expect Gideon to fall in love with you. That’s not how this works,” I informed her.

“WELL DO YOU HAVE ANY BETTER PLANS!?! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!! I CAN’T JUST WAIT AROUND FOR HEATHER TO GET PREGNANT AND LOSE ANY CHANCE OF EVER BEING WITH GIDEON MORE THAN JUST SEXUALLY!”

“Why are you still having s*x with him!? Do you have no self-dignity!?” I questioned her. “Why do you love someone who only uses you for s*x, Aria!?”

“I can’t help it! Okay!? I just can’t!”

“No, you can. You’re just choosing not to! I’m sure there are plenty of other demons in the underworld that would treat you ten times better than Gideon ever would!”

“I don’t care about those demons! I want Gideon! I love Gideon!” she screamed and crossed her arms like a child. I just sighed again.

“Aria, changing your appearance isn’t the answer. Why would you want to change who you are, just to earn even the slightest bit of attention and respect from a man? You should be respected and valued for who you are already. Regardless of you saying demons are soulless, it doesn’t mean you should be seen as less than a human being. You have a heart, and you have feelings. Why are you giving your heart to someone who doesn’t care about your feelings?” She just stared at me without answering. Right when I thought she was going to answer, she didn’t and instead shimmered away. I sighed for the umpteenth time and shook my head.

“Mama fwend?” Daisy asked me. I turned around and noticed the twins just staring at me. I thought about it for a second and answered her.

“Yes, baby, she’s mama’s friend.” I looked back to where Aria had just been standing, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Was I being naïve or just plain stupid? I had no idea, but I knew that I wanted to help her. And not just help her in killing Heather, because the moon goddess only knows that I want Heather dead more than Aria does, but I want to help Aria find love. I want to find Aria a mate. Even if demons don’t have mates, I’m hoping that I can find Aria someone who would love her as much as she claims to love Gideon. Even though she’s a demon, the crazy thing I’ve noticed is that she doesn’t have a dark essence. It’s a strange anomaly I sensed when she abducted me last time, but I didn’t want to mention it to anyone just in case my pregnancy was throwing off my vice. But talking to her again just now proved that I’m not losing my sanity. Aria has a good essence about her.

Speaking of Heather, I was really curious as to what she was up to, but as long as she was nowhere near me, I was golden for now. I was more worried about Vivienne and her well-being. There was something that the guys were saying before they left, but I didn’t want to pressure Jed to say anything. Though, I thought I had an inkling of what it may be.

{Vivienne’s P.O.V.}

Today marks the seventeenth day since that a*****e Claude took me from my pack, from my home. Every day has been the same as the next. I’m honestly starting to wonder what Claude’s problem is. Four years ago, he had no problem trying to take my purity for himself, but now all he does is slap me around before storming out. Well, more like stomping out, as if he were a mere child not getting his way.

“You seem to be deep in thought, mademoiselle,” Marco said to me.

“I was thinking about Claude,” I told him honestly.

“Oh, and why is that?”

“Something is wrong with him.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was 18, he tried to force himself onto me.”

“And?”

“Well, he could easily do it now, but he’s not. All he does is hit me, scream, curse, hit me again, and then stomp away.”

“Your point?”

“What’s stopping him from forcing himself onto me?” Marco pursed his lips together, slid his tongue across his teeth, and just nodded his head. After a moment, he just looked at me. “What?”

“You don’t know, do you?” he asked me.

“Know what?”

“It was different back then, Vivienne. You weren’t marked by a wolf, or by anyone for that matter,” he explained to me. I stared blankly back at him. “I would have thought your father would have explained this to you, but I guess he didn’t.”

“Qu’y a-t-il à expliquer?” (What is there to explain?)

“Once a vampire has been marked, they cannot be marked again. It will kill them.” My eyes widened and all I could do was make an O with my mouth, but then, I furrowed my brows.

“My Lord, I am a hybrid. Does that hold true for me?” I asked with curiosity.

“I do not know, and I do not think he does either. But I will also bet that he is not willing to take the chance.”

“Then how does he expect me to be his? I mean, not that it would ever happen, but still.”

“The only way for a vampire to be marked again is for the host to admit their love for another. Claude may be buying his time for you to admit that you care for him as a man.”

“But does it work the same way with that of a werewolf mark? I’ve never heard of werewolves accepting the love of another and their mark disappearing. Other than what Allie told me about a crazy woman who tried to kill her. Something about being an impure wolf and that their mark had no value. But Mon Loup’s mark is anything but invaluable. This mark is a symbol of our bond. Our love. A love so true it created a new life.”

“I know, Vivienne, but I don’t think Claude is willing to risk forcing his nocturnal mark on you. He won’t take the risk. This is a good thing for you.”

“It buys us more time for my mate to find us.”

“You.”

“Excusez-moi monsieur?” (Excuse me, sir?)

“It gives your mate time to find you and your young. As soon as I find the location of my family, I will be going to them.” I nodded my head in realization. “Let us just hope that his b***d can tell me where they are.”

“Doesn’t he need to be alive?”

“Non, he does not. As long as his b***d is fresh, it will tell me all that I need to know.”

“Well, that is a good thing. If I know my brother and my mate, they won’t show any mercy.”

“I would hope not,” Marco said.

“Monsieur, have you figured out a way to determine who from our coven helped Claude find me?”

“His b***d. All of the answers we will need are in his b***d. Souviens-toi de l’enfant, le sang est la clé.” (Remember child, b***d is the key.) I nodded my head. He was right. Everything we needed to know about who, what, when, where, how, and why would all be answered once Marco got ahold of Claude’s b***d. A single drop was all it would take. I just hoped that mon loup and Alexandre found us before Claude learned of our pup. I was sure my scent had changed by now, but I’m fairly certain that Claude thought it was because I haven’t bathed in nearly three weeks.

I was more worried that b***d would eventually no longer sustain our hunger, and that my pup may die from lack of nutrients. I prayed to the moon goddess and the nocturnal god that J.D comes soon.

Don’t worry, Vivienne. Our pup is in good health. For now.

TEMPEST!!!

Bonjour, mon ami.

Tu es en vie! (You’re alive!)

Oui. The nightshade really did a number on me. Put me in a deep sleep while your vampire side took over.

Thank the gods and goddess, I thought I lost you, Tempest.

You can’t get rid of me that easily, Vivers. I’m your wolf. I am here to stay. With that being said, I wanted to ask you something.

Oui! Anything!

Now that we are carrying a pup, have you thought about being turned into a full wolf?

What? What do you mean? You want me to give up my vampire side?

It’s not that. I’m going to sound selfish for saying this, but it’s because I want to be able to be with Gunner. I can only speak with him, but I will never be able to see him.

Oh, Tempest. Je suis désolé. Je n’y ai jamais pensé. (I’m so sorry. I never thought about that.)

Will you at least think about it?

Of course, I will.

Tempest retreated to the back of my mind, and what she said got me thinking really hard. I loved being a hybrid because I could do almost everything a vampire could, along with everything a werewolf could. Unlike Andre, I got the best of both species and very few of their weaknesses. But having a wolf spirit without being able to shift into a wolf made things quite interesting. It was like there was a magic block that prevented Tempest from fully taking over my body, and we both believe it had to do with the vampire gene.

Having her spirit within me proved that my werewolf side was more dominant, but the vampire side was just as possessive and wouldn’t allow the shift to occur. My family felt that it was fine, and we were fine with it too; but that was because we felt that I would have a vampire mate and not a werewolf mate. But things didn’t turn out the way anyone expected, and now, my wolf, my closest friend cannot be with her mate because of the vampire within me.

If I stayed a hybrid, Tempest and Gunner would never be able to be with each other. But if I had J.D. fully turn me, then I would lose my ability to shimmer, and my vampire side would no longer be able to communicate with my family. There was a lot to think about.