Desert Heat (Complete)

{Vivienne’s P.O.V.}

It felt as if I had been hit by a ten-ton truck. My head was throbbing, and my body ached in ways I didn’t think was possible. My muscles and ligaments felt as if they were torn to shreds, my bones ripped from their sockets and rearranged. I don’t think I have ever experienced this much pain before. I tried to move but couldn’t; it was as if I didn’t have control over my body. I opened my eyes and found that I was outside. I was able to move my head a bit and looked at my surroundings. I didn’t recognize anything.

I realized that I was facedown on the ground. I tried to move my body again and, this time, I was successful. I pushed myself against the ground using my arms and legs and sat up. I found it strange that I was in a sitting position like a dog. I looked down at my body and saw something unexpected—fur. My head jerked up in complete shock. I looked down again, thinking I must be hallucinating, but I wasn’t. I was, indeed, covered in fur. My hands and feet were replaced with paws. It was then I noticed that my vision was grey, and the only colors I could see were blue and yellow hues.

“Sacre bleu!” I exclaimed but realized I said it in my head. What was going on?

“Mommy!” I heard a small child call out. I turned towards the voice and saw it was coming from a young child. She looked to be three, maybe four years old, and she was running towards me. I felt my body move on its own, getting up on its feet, and my butt was swaying side to side. Wait, that couldn’t be my butt. I turned around to see what it was and I discovered it was a tail. Why did I have a tail? Why did I have paws? Why was I seeing everything in shades of grey!? “Mommy! Mommy!” My attention shifted to the child again, and my tail was wagging even faster. My body moved into a stance where my paws were in front and my butt was high in the air. Was this a play stance?

The child came closer and closer with the biggest, sweetest smile on her face. She charged at me, and I almost wanted to growl. Instead, I held my ground, and she tackled me. It wasn’t rough, but my body fell over anyway. The child began to jump and climb all over me, and she was squealing with pure joy and delight. Was I the one she was calling out to? Am I her Mommy?

I sensed that I was enjoying her touches and her laughs. I stayed on my back and watched as she used me as a personal toy. My tail was thumping on the ground while she pulled my ears and nuzzled my face with her tiny hands and adorable face. She had beautiful, platinum blonde hair just like me, but her eyes were dark grey like J.D.’s.

“Mommy! Pway with me!” she said. I thought that’s what we were doing. Suddenly, I felt her being taken away from me, and a voice I’d recognize anywhere called out to her.

“Hold on there, baby girl, let Mommy change back first.” I looked up to see J.D. He glanced down at me and smiled widely. Even though I couldn’t see in color, he was just as handsome as ever. He threw the little girl into the air, and she screamed with pure happiness—it was music to my ears. Who was this child? “Are you just going to lay there, Mon Couer, or are you going to shift back so you and Bethany can have your daily playtime?” he asked me. I tilted my head.

Bethany?

I looked at him again and tilted my head even further. What was he talking about? Suddenly, a burst of gold light hit me, and they were gone. I was in a dark room that smelled vile, and I could sense b***d all over.

“Mon Loup!?” I called out and realized that I had my voice again. I touched myself which confirmed I was back in human form. “MON LOUP!? BETHANY!?” I called out for him and the child whom he claimed to be our daughter.

“Bethany is a beautiful name, my love,” I heard an eerie and disgusting voice I wish to never hear again. Out from the shadows came the one man that I wish would die and burn in hell.

“Claude!? What do you want!?” I shouted at him.

“Now, now, my love. Is that any way to talk to your husband?”

“MARI!?” (HUSBAND!?) I exclaimed. He came towards me with that stupid smile of his. “RESTE LOIN DE MOI!” (STAY AWAY FROM ME!) I screamed while I held out my left arm in defense. That’s when I saw something sparkle in the tiny bit of light that was in the room. “What?” I gasped.

Claude grabbed my hand and pulled me to him as he pushed his face into the crook of my neck. He inhaled deeply and licked the spot where J.D.’s mark was. I wanted to vomit and scream, but what I felt was something I never thought I would feel—pleasure. I gasped and tried to push him away, but he held onto my arm and brought me back to him as he held me against his body. It felt revolting in my head, but my body was enjoying his touch. Why!?

“Yes, husband. How else would you explain this magnificent rock on your beautiful finger?” he asked as he pressed his lips to mine. That’s when I felt the revulsion all over my body. Whatever this was, it wasn’t real. I tried to push him away, but his hold on me intensified, and I could feel his anger at my rejection. But that’s when I noticed he only had one arm around me. I pushed him again; this time, he released me. That’s when I saw he only had one arm. “Ah, I guess you finally see what your mate has done to me. To think, after everything I have done for you and me, this is how you repay me. Not to worry though, Vivienne, I will be coming for you, and not even your mate or wretched family can’t stop me. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I will have you. If I can’t have you physically, I will have you in your dreams. You will never sleep again, Vivienne, for I will always be in your head. And that abomination in your womb will be nothing but a distant memory once I have you. For I will replace that … thing … inside of you with my offspring.”

“If you even think about touching my pup, I will kill you myself!” I shouted at him and hugged my body. “You disgust me! Seeing that Mon Loup ripped off your arm and that you’ve resorted to using dark magic to invade my dreams means that you ran away. You ran from a fight like a little b***h!” He raised his hand to strike me, but I held my ground, and his hand stopped mid-air.

“Qu’est-ce que c’est!?” (What is this!?) Claude shouted, trying to free the only hand he had. Out of the darkness emerged a figure in a white robe. The robe was so bright that it lit up the room. It was almost as bright as the sun. “AHHHH!!!” Claude screamed in pain, and I realized that the light was the sun. The sun was shining on him, and he suddenly disappeared, leaving me with the person in white. The light dimmed down, and the figure turned to me.

“Who are you?” I asked. Without saying a word, the figure removed the hood, and a very handsome young man stood before me who was maybe in his late teens or early twenties. His hair had natural curls to them, and it was a dark bluish-black, just like Mon Loup, but he had icy blue eyes like me. I c****d my head to the side, and he just smiled.

“You can call me Jacques,” he replied and gave me a warm smile. A smile filled with so much love and respect. “Don’t worry. I’ll always protect your dreams. Bethany and I, together.” My eyes widened at his words. “A bientôt … Maman.” (See you soon … Mom).

{Jedediah’s P.O.V.}

After Gunner brought us to the pack hospital, he quickly gave me control again as I raced inside, not caring whatsoever that I was completely indecent. Pack members just stared at me as I ran through the hallways searching for Vivienne.

“Jed! Over here!” Dani called out and flagged me down. “Geez! Put on some clothes! I don’t need to see my brother-in-law naked!” she shouted. “Savannah! Bring Mr. Hairless Balls here a pair of shorts, would ya!?” she yelled to the nurse’s station.

“Yes, Delta!” the nurse answered while the others snickered.

“Really!?” I exclaimed to her. She just shrugged. As soon as the nurse named Savannah brought me a pair of shorts, I quickly put them on and pushed past Dani into Vivienne’s hospital room. What I saw made my heart ache. She was connected to, at least, four different machines, and there were wires everywhere. “What the hell is all of this!?” I asked Dani.

“That one keeps track of heart rate, b***d pressure, and temperature. That one is a transfusion machine. She needed a lot of b***d, and simply administering it through an IV wouldn’t be enough. That machine is a fetal heart monitor. It helps keep track of the babies’ heartbeats. That’s an ultrasound machine. It allows—”

“I know what an ultrasound machine is, Dani,” I said, cutting her off.

“Well, sorry!” she enunciated, clearly offended by my interruption. I took a chair from the corner and brought it to Vivienne’s bedside. I took her hand in mine and kissed the back of it. I felt so f*****g helpless that I couldn’t do more than just sit here and pray to the moon goddess that she and our … hold up. I looked at Dani with wide eyes. “What?” she asked.

“You said ‘babies’? As in plural!?” I asked her. She smiled and nodded her head.

“Yeah. I’m sorry to ruin the surprise. But yes, I said ‘babies’ in plural form. Vivienne is carrying twins. Dr. Quinn believes she’s about six or seven weeks along, which means she was about a month pregnant when she was taken.” I was speechless. I was already excited that I was going to be a father, but to be a father twice in one go? That made me a little nervous now. I licked my lips and tried to swallow the lump inside my throat, but I had freaking cottonmouth at the sudden news. I looked back at Vivienne and just scoffed.

“Do … Does … Did she say what they are?” I asked Dani, not knowing what else to say.

“No, it’s still too early. You don’t find out the gender until she’s about ten to twelve weeks. The last two months of the pregnancy is when the pups will grow substantially.” I just nodded my head again, trying to process the information I just received. Twins. I’m having twins. Just like Dorian and Simba. I wondered what they were going to be. Dorian constantly raves about Daisy. That having a little girl is the best thing a father can ask for. But he also can’t stop bragging about Demarco and what a great Alpha he’s going to be one day.

I wondered if I would produce a son of my own. A powerful Supreme Alpha to carry on my legacy. I mean, even a daughter would produce a Supreme Alpha, right? That was how genetics worked, wasn’t it? I couldn’t stop thinking of all possible outcomes. Two girls. Two boys. One of each. Oh man, and we would have to think of names. And then this whole Red Mountain bullshit came back into my mind. What was I going to do about Scanlan? As I was racking my brain on how I was going to confront him, one of the machines started to go off like crazy.

“What the f**k!?” I shouted. “Vivienne! Vivienne!? What the f**k is happening!?”

“Jedediah, move!” I felt a pair of arms shove me out of the way. I couldn’t stop the automatic growl that came out of my mouth. “Do not growl at me, Jedediah Brinkley! This is my hospital!” the person scolded me with a finger in my face. I looked down to see Dr. Quinn who was giving me a very scary mom look. “If you want your Luna to live, you will move out of my way so I can do my job!” I gulped, nodded my head vigorously, and stepped back.

“Never growl at her,” Dani whispered to me. I nodded my head again and we watched as Dr. Quinn examined Vivienne.

A few minutes later, the monitors calmed down, and Vivienne started to breathe normally. Her b***d pressure dropped to a normal rate, and her heart rate did too.

“Dr. Quinn, what happened?” I asked.

“I don’t know. One minute she was about to have a heart attack, and the next everything went back to normal. Whatever was happening in her mind was enough to cause her body to go into shock. But now, it’s as if nothing happened at all,” she replied, just as confused as we were.

“Look!” Dani exclaimed. We all looked at Vivienne and saw the color in her cheeks returning, and her eyes started to move.

“Vivienne!?” I shouted and pushed Dr. Quinn and the nurses out of my way. I grabbed her hand and felt tiny sparks that I didn’t feel earlier. “Mon Coeur!?” I called out to her again. Her eyes slowly opened, and I watched as she took in her surroundings before they landed back on me. “Hey, you,” I said with a smile. She c****d her head to the side for a second and she smiled.

“Jacques?”

Who the f**k is Jacques!?