Desert Heat (Complete)

{Jedediah’s P.O.V.}

Two months later

It was hard to let go of the assumptions I made about how I would reclaim the Alpha title of Red Mountain. These days, it was difficult to sit inside Scanlan’s … well, I should say my office. Everything just left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt continuously frustrated that things didn’t turn out the way I wanted—no, the way I needed them to. After Scanlan was taken into custody and Dorian left suddenly to tend to Allie’s early labor, everyone else that remained went inside of the packhouse. My birth father, the rightful Alpha of this pack, took back the reins only to give them to me the next day.

Even though we had petitioned the Elders of Colorado to allow me to challenge Scanlan for the title, they felt that it wasn’t worth it. There was more than enough evidence to have him banished or even executed. No one was happy about that because they felt like that one, they were cheated out of a good show, and two, it felt as if I didn’t actually earn my title. And since two of the Elders knew who my father was by name and face, they had no problem with him just picking up where he left off. But that didn’t last either. Now, here I am, sitting in this office after having everything taken out and burned because I don’t want any of it. It’s not mine, and I don’t want any of it to be mine. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

My father has been trying to train me to be an Alpha, and no offense to him, but he’s not Dorian; I don’t see things the way he does. I already knew right from wrong, but it felt like my dad wanted to just be a boss rather than an actual leader. His pack joined ours, and they were already used to how things were done with him, but the rest of Red Mountain wasn’t. They were so used to free reign and doing whatever they pleased that the sudden order and structure to everything was pissing a lot of them off. Trying to transition from Omega to Alpha was a big change, and I honestly didn’t know what to do to keep the peace within the pack.

Brandon drove back to Desert Moon on his own a few days after things were settled since Dorian couldn’t be here like he had promised. He was, however, able to catch me up to speed with what had happened, and I felt horrible that I couldn’t be there to help them track down this b***h Heather, who almost killed Allie and their daughter. Dorian told me how he decided to promote Simba to the highest Omega rank alongside Sam and Lucas for what he did to save Allie and their pup. If I were him, I would have done the same thing. He also told me the whole deal with the godfather situation. To say I was bummed was an understatement, but again, I completely understood where they were coming from. Though thankfully, I would still be Uncle Jed, and that was enough for me.

“Hey.” I looked up when I heard someone at the door. I saw Seth, and he was rubbing the back of his neck. Our friendship had taken a turn for the worse when I had found out why he rejected Pauly.

—–Flashback—–

“You have three seconds to tell me why you thought it would be smart to reject your mate, Seth!” I shouted at him as we were in Scanlan’s office.

“I didn’t want to! But she was a rogue!” he defended.

“Are you f*****g serious!?” I bellowed. “Had you used your nose instead of only your eyes, you would have sensed that she doesn’t even smell remotely like a rogue, you f*****g i***t!” Seth lowered his head, and Pauly was still sniffling in the corner while both of my mothers comforted her. Both of my fathers were standing by me, and of course, my biological father was trying his damned hardest not to kill Seth.

“Look, man, it’s not like I knew she was your sister. Or some powerful female Alpha!”

“THAT SHOULDN’T f*****g MATTER!” I roared, slamming my fists on the desk and making him jump. “You of all people know what rejection did to me all those years ago! You witnessed every bit of my heartbreak and sorrow, and yet, you did the exact same thing! Regardless of her being my sister! That pain you saw me go through day in and day out while Michaela f****d around, and you did the exact same thing to her!” I yelled and pointed at Pauly.

“I’m sorry, okay,” he said, looking down. Then he looked over at Pauly. “I’m sorry, Paulette, I really am.”

“Your apologies don’t matter anymore!” my father shouted. We all looked at him. “You lost your chance with my daughter! I will not allow someone as shallow as you to be mated to her! You don’t deserve my daughter. Just like Michaela never deserved my son. Paulette, you will accept this boy’s rejection, and we will ask the moon goddess to give you a second chance.”

“What?!” Paulette cried. “But, Dad, I don’t want—”

“It’s not a matter of what you want! It’s a matter of what you deserve!” he yelled.

“DAD! You shouldn’t interfere with the mate bond!” I said to him, standing to my feet. “What happened with me and Michaela has nothing to do with what’s going on here. This is between Seth and Pauly, and no one in this room has the right to say otherwise.”

“Jedediah, you’re about to be a father yourself. What would you do if your daughter were in your sister’s shoes!?”

“I’d let her make her own decisions because she would be a grown-a*s woman who can make her own choices! I’d trust that even if she were to make the wrong choice, she would take the punishment and learn from it. We’re all meant to fall on our faces and fail from time to time! That’s what learning and growing are all about! If you keep interfering in situations like this, Pauly isn’t going to learn s**t, and neither will Seth!” I defended and then turned my attention to the elephant in the room. “I don’t care what you two decide to do, but if my sister decides to accept your rejection, then you better leave her the f**k alone. I mean it, Seth.”

“If that’s what she chooses, then I will respect that.”

—–End Flashback—–

Needless to say, those two still haven’t put a pin in their situation, and they’ve been avoiding each other like the f*****g plague. Pauly refuses to live inside the packhouse, so my family decided to move into one of the bigger cottages within the territory. I put Seth on administrative leave from training pack members and gave that duty to Isaac for the interim until I figured out what to do about Seth and his idiocy. In the meantime, he’s been helping my father’s pack members get settled in their new housing arrangements and trying to keep the peace from feuds between the packs.

“What do you want, Seth?”

“I just wanted to let you know that all of the housing arrangements are complete, and all pack members are in their new homes and/or new rooms.”

“Okay? Is that all?”

“Um, well, no,” he replied and closed the door behind him.

“If this has to do with my sister …”

“It doesn’t. It has to do with Michaela and that vampire dude,” he said. This caught my interest. “I know you didn’t want me getting involved with it, but I advised Isaac and a few others where I thought he was hiding out while they were, you know, playing house together after she ran.”

“And?”

“They found a space between the mountains, and one of the female warriors, Loren, was able to squeeze through the opening. She found what looked to be a pile of ashes inside, and some female clothes which definitely belonged to Michaela.

“You think the vampire died from his injuries, and Michaela ran?”

“It would make sense. Her father is forever your prisoner in the dungeon, her mate is dead, and she’s a wanted fugitive of yours and your father’s. She couldn’t stay there forever. She would have figured out that we would eventually find her.”

“As long as she stays far away from me, Vivienne, and our family, then I don’t care where the f**k she goes. She’s a rogue now.”

“Don’t you want them to track her down? Bring her back to face judgment?”

“Why? So the Elders can just have her executed and be done with it? No. Death isn’t nearly a big enough punishment for her. I don’t care what she did to me; it’s what she did to Vivienne. I want her to suffer for the rest of her life, knowing that she will never have another mate again. Even if Claude isn’t dead and they’re on the run together, they have nowhere to go. His coven wants his heart on a platter, and what could she possibly accomplish as a rogue that can only travel by night? It doesn’t give her much to rely on.” Seth just nodded his head and turned to leave when my door swung open, and Andre walked in.

“Seth.”

“Beta.” Did I forget to mention that I stole Andre from Dorian and that he was pissed about it? Seth left us and closed the door.

“It is very barren here,” Andre mentioned as he looked around.

“Yeah, almost everything is out, and my new furniture should arrive in a few days. How are Dani and Monique adjusting?” I asked him.

“Better. I think it makes it easier on Dani and Monique because Dani can shimmer back to Desert Moon whenever she wants for playdates with Sawyer. And of course, she was able to get Allie to convince Dorian to release Derek and Christine to come here.”

“He what? What the hell? Why wasn’t I told that they were coming here!?”

“Dorian did not tell you?”

“NO!” I exclaimed in annoyance.

“Oh, well, now you know,” Andre replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“When do they get here?”

“Oh, they’re already here. Vivienne and Dani are showing them to their new room in the packhouse. Some of the other pack members aren’t very happy that there are newcomers who are being given one of the better rooms.”

“Oh my god, all childish bickering is going to drive me into an early grave.”

“I think it has to do more with the fact that there are non-wolves in the pack now,” Andre mentioned a little bitterly.

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying that the Red Mountain pack members are not very accepting of Vivienne, Dani, me, or Monique. Some of the pack members will not allow their pups to play with her. It is actually why Dani chooses to go to Desert Moon for playdates. Because at least Monique is loved and accepted there.”

“Son of a …” I got up from my desk and went out into the main foyer of the packhouse. I was already annoyed with my father being unaccepting of Andre as my Beta, but the fact that even pack members were acting like assholes about it was not going to fly with me. Especially if they were going to make my niece an outcast. I mind-linked all of the pack members to meet outside of the packhouse—and I meant all of the pack members.

It took several minutes, but eventually, all if not most pack members were outside waiting for me. Vivienne was to my right, with Andre to my left and my family behind me. Vivienne had about six weeks left in her pregnancy and still refused to tell me what we’re having. I kept thinking one of the pups was, at the very least, a girl because everyone kept using analogies that have to do with daughters with me. I held onto her hand, and I could see some people roll their eyes at my gesture.

“Alpha, why have we been summoned?” a pack member whose name I have yet to learn asked.

“It has been brought to my attention that pack members have been openly discriminating against the Beta and his family, as well as your Luna!” I shouted. I saw some people avoid eye contact, looking off to the side. “I’m not going to sugarcoat anything with any of you. I chose Andre to be my Beta because he is ranked by b***d and was also the Delta at Desert Moon! I asked him to be my Beta not only because he has the experience, but because he was the only one who was even remotely qualified for the job!” This statement made some heads turn in shock. “I didn’t choose anyone from any of the two packs because I don’t trust any of you! No one in either pack was of ranked b***d! And even if you were, I still wouldn’t have appointed you because you all turned a blind eye to the s**t that Zachary did! I know for a fact that the older pack members knew who my biological father was and probably had the inkling that things with Zachary weren’t what they seemed, and yet, you did nothing.” I could see some guilty expressions on some of the older pack members’ faces which only proved my theory. “And for those of you who don’t know, not only is Andre the Beta of this pack, he’s also your Luna’s brother! Which makes his daughter my niece! You pack members that are openly mocking and outcasting Monique from playing with your pups had better cut that s**t out now, or you will answer directly to me! If you’re not happy with who your ranked members are, then feel free to leave. No one is going to stop you!”

“JEDEDIAH!” my father shouted from behind me.

“DON’T!” I shouted back. “This is my f*****g pack! I’m the f*****g Alpha now! You and the Elders agreed to it. You ran your pack the way you saw fit, well guess what? The merger between the two packs makes me Alpha of both, and I will run it how I see it. There will be no more discriminating, and there will be no more fighting over trivial bullshit like housing and pack duties. This pack was doomed from the moment Scanlan took over, but I’m here now, and I will make this pack better. But in order to do that, everyone has to work together. If you can’t get in line, then get the f**k out! Those are your only choices on the matter. This is everyone’s one and only second chance. If you’re caught discriminating, talking s**t, or blatantly disrespecting anyone, especially that of a ranked member or their pups, you will be banished and deemed as a rogue! Do I make myself clear!?” No one answered and just looked around. “DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?!” I roared.

“YES, ALPHA!” everyone replied in unison.

“Dismissed!” They all dispersed like cockroaches hit by light.

“Jedediah, we don’t make threats against pack members like that,” my father chastised me.

“And I’ve already told you that your opinion no longer matters. You had your chance to be Alpha. You had thirty f*****g years to take this pack back, but you stayed in hiding and decided to give me up instead.”

“Son, we already told you why we did what we did!? How many more times do we have to explain ourselves?”

“I don’t care what your reasoning is. The fact of the matter is, you gave up—and you put all of the pressure on me, pressure that I didn’t even know I was under. Your choices had consequences, and the only one who had to face them was me. You only decided to show up because I found out who I was from a complete stranger. You and everyone else had plenty of opportunities to put a stop to all of the madness. You, mom, Lynette, Duke, and Rayna. All of you abandoned your children to save your own asses.”

“What would you have done had you been us!? Zachary would have killed your mother if I fought him!”

“I get why you chose to give up at first. Mom was pregnant with me. But after I was born, you could have easily come back and challenged him again. But instead, you chose to stay in hiding. Fine. That was your choice. But instead of just keeping us together and starting a new life, you chose to send me into the lion’s den as a newborn because you wanted to get back at Scanlan. To try and teach him a lesson. Okay, fine. That makes sense. But what doesn’t make sense was why it took you all so f*****g long to show yourselves to me. You could have easily come to me when I turned 18 and told me everything. But none of you did. So, not only did my birth parents abandon me, but so did my adopted parents and the woman that I considered to be a mother to me. All of you abandoned me when I needed you all the most, and now you’re here trying to tell me how to run my pack? No, that’s not how this s**t works, Dad. I’m glad we’re together now; I really am. And I’m ecstatic about having a little sister, but none of you have any right to tell me how to run Red Mountain as its Alpha. If I need advice on how to be a great Alpha, I’ll ask Dorian.”

Without waiting for a reply, I took Vivienne’s hand, and we went back inside the packhouse with Andre following closely. I stopped mid-track and turned around to face them. “And my rules of discrimination apply to you as well, Dad. I don’t give a flying f**k if you’re unhappy that my Beta is a hybrid. Deal with it, or you can leave too.” I saw the shock and hurt in his eyes, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let us being family cloud my better judgment. Family doesn’t get a free pass. If anything, I should be holding them to a higher standard.

“Mon Loup, you didn’t have to be that harsh,” Vivienne told me as we went up to our room.

“Yes, I did. I’m not going to stand for anyone disrespecting you or our family. That includes my family. You and our pups come first. And if Monique is being outcasted, then I know our children will be too, and I won’t stand for it. I need to nip this in the bud right now before our pups are born. If my family and the pack members don’t like it, well then, they can go and live as rogues or try and find packs that are just as closed-minded as they are,” I replied.

“I just don’t want to be the cause of further issues between you and the pack.”

“Hey, hey, don’t do that. I don’t give a f**k about any of that. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you. You and our family are the most important thing to me. If you asked me right now to give this all up and go back to Desert Moon, I would go in a heartbeat. Gunner might not like it because he likes not having to answer to Bandit anymore, but I wouldn’t care either way. I respect Dorian and Allie, and they never once made it feel like we were never welcome. You’re the one who said you wanted to stay and be the Luna so we can help these people find balance and heal from the drama. That’s what makes you the best Luna this pack has ever had. Even Luna Lynette gave up her duties as Luna to run away from her problems. She was selfish, and she left her daughter here to grow up with that bastard. Had she, at the very least, taken Michaela with her, then Michaela wouldn’t be living her life as a wanted fugitive and mated to a psychopath. Everyone’s choices have consequences, and sadly, our parents’ choices have us reeling in those consequences. The only good thing that came out of this mess of bad choices was you and our babies,” I said and pressed my forehead to her as I held her close to me. “You are my home, Vivienne. It doesn’t matter where we are. You will always be my home. I will go where you want us to.”

“You are my home too, Mon Loup. But we are needed here. It is as you said, we can make this pack great,” she whispered. I nodded my head and buried my face into her neck. I knew that being an Alpha wasn’t going to be easy, but as long as I had Vivienne by my side, I knew that it wouldn’t be impossible. Though I secretly hoped she would tell me, ‘f**k all of this and let’s go back to Desert Moon’, I knew that she wouldn’t. Hopefully, Dorian and the others are having better luck dealing with their demons than we are.