Desert Heat (Complete)

{Vivienne’s P.O.V.}

“It’s too early! It’s too early!” I cried as I was being carried to the pack hospital. “I still have three weeks left!”

“You’re having twins, Vivienne. That’s why they’re coming early,” I heard Dorian shout from behind. “Don’t worry, they’re going to be perfectly healthy. Allie gave birth a full month early with our twins,” he tried to reassure me. I knew what he was saying was true, as Dr. Quinn had mentioned it to me a few times before we left Desert Moon, but I didn’t expect it to be this early.

“Alexandre, I need maman!”

“I have already sent an email to père. They should be here soon,” he replied. I nodded my head and tried to concentrate on my breathing. When we finally reached the pack hospital, or I should say pack clinic, we found that there was no one at the reception desk.

“What the f**k!? Where is everybody!?” J.D. shouted.

“There’s not even a single nurse here!” I heard Brandon shout as well.

“OOOHH!!!” I cried as I felt a contraction hit me. I dug my nails into J.D.’s shoulder, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Where the f**k is the staff!?” I heard him growl. When the contraction subsided, I looked up at him and saw that his eyes were clouded. I knew that he was linking someone, and I didn’t care who. I really just wanted to lie down and change into something that wasn’t covered in bodily fluids.

“Alpha! We are so sorry!” I heard someone call out from behind. J.D. turned around with me in his arms, and there stood the pack doctor and two nurses.

“Why is there no one here!?” he asked them.

“There was a meeting called by your father,” one of them replied.

“Meeting!? What right does he have to call a pack meeting!?” I heard Dorian ask.

“Nevermind that, get a room for your Luna ready! She’s in active labor!” Dani yelled. They didn’t respond to her but went to get a room ready. J.D. followed them and placed me gently on the bed. Everyone stayed outside of the room while J.D. and Dani helped me change into a hospital gown. The gown was cheap and felt like it was made of papier-mâché. Is this what they gave all patients?

As soon as I was finished changing, the doctor and the nurses were getting all of the machines set up. Watching them work, however, was making me even more nervous. They didn’t seem to be in that much of a hurry.

“What is taking so long!?” Dani shouted at them. “She should have been hooked up to a fetal heart monitor like ten minutes ago!”

“We’re sorry, but we were just caught off guard with her sudden labor, that we didn’t have time to prep for it,” one of the nurses responded nonchalantly. I looked over at her and then at Dani, who seemed to be in complete shock.

“Didn’t have time to prepare!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! We’ve been here for months! A delivery room for your LUNA should have been prepped WEEKS ago! She’s about to give birth to the future of this pack, for crying out loud! Or do you not give a f**k about that!?”

“Dani, stop yelling. You’re giving me a headache,” I told her. “Let them do their jobs.”

“Assuming they know how to,” she muttered under her breath. I reached out my hand for hers, and she took it without hesitation. Just then, I saw a puff of blue smoke in my peripherals.

“Maman! Papa!” I cried out.

“Oh, my sweet bébé, are you okay?” my mother asked while caressing my cheeks and tucking my hair behind my ear. I saw my father hide in the corner.

“Oh s**t, let me get the curtains for you, Adrian,” Dani said and rushed to the window. She closed the curtain closest to my father so he could at least come over to me. I didn’t miss the look of fear and disgust from the nurses when they saw my parents arrive in the hospital room. Without saying a word, my father kissed my forehead and smiled. He walked past the nurses and doctor and quietly left my hospital room.

After fumbling with the wires and machines, I was finally hooked up to everything they needed to monitor the pups and me. Unfortunately, I knew that my labor would be long and intense, but I was glad that I had Dani and my mother with me. J.D. came and went throughout my labor to check in with everyone, and I didn’t miss the fact that he reprimanded the hospital staff. Though, this time I really couldn’t blame him for being angry. Not only that, but I heard him screaming at his family. His mother wanted to be in the room with me, but I had refused, and she felt that she could pull rank on me. That set J.D. off, on top of the pack meeting Bart had called without his knowledge.

“Vivienne?” I looked at my mother, who was wiping the sweat from my forehead. “You are not happy here.”

“Maman, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just tired from this pregnancy,” I lied.

“Do not lie to me, mon bébé, I know you. And don’t think I didn’t notice how those nurses stared at your father. They don’t like vampires. Which means that they don’t like you, your brother, or Daniella,” she said and looked over at Dani.

“This pack isn’t easy to deal with. I will just put it that way,” Dani replied.

“Why do you want to stay here?” my mother asked me.

“Because. This pack has not had a decent Luna for over four decades. First, J.D.’s mother is banished, no fault of her own, and then Michaela’s mother just abandons the pack because she was too weak to stand up for herself. I won’t do that to them. No matter how difficult their behavior or how hard it is to gain their trust. I want to earn it. Not just because of my new title, but because I know I’m bett—Ohhhh!” I was cut off by a contraction, and I squeezed my mother’s hand with all my might.

“Are you sure you don’t want an epidural?” Dani asked me.

“No. This pain I can handle. This is nothing compared to what Claude did to me. The pain of knowing that my pups will be treated like dirt is a pain that I won’t be able to handle. I don’t care how they treat me, but I will not stand by and watch as they treat my children the way they currently treat Monique. It disgusts me that they are still doing that to her,” I gritted my teeth while breathing through the contraction. Once the pain was gone, my mother wiped my forehead again. As I was catching my breath, the pack doctor came in to check on me.

“Vivienne, how are we doing?” he asked without any genuine curiosity. Dani and my mother snapped their heads towards him. “Is everything alright?” he asked when he saw how unhappy they were.

“Vivienne?” Dani questioned him. He cleared his throat.

“My apologies. Luna, how are we doing?” he corrected himself.

“Get out.” I looked at my mother.

“Maman?”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, get out! I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter or my grandchildren. You didn’t mistakenly call her by her name; you did it on purpose. If you’re going to blatantly disrespect my daughter, who is your LUNA, then you have no right to deliver the future Alphas of this pack! So, GET OUT!” she snarled.

“This is my hospital! You can’t tell me what to do!”

“But I can.” The doctor froze and slowly turned around. In the doorway were J.D. and Dorian.

“Al – Alp – Alpha …”

“Get.Out.”

“But, sir, I’m the only doctor in the pack. Who will deliver the pups?”

“We’ve already taken care of that,” he replied. Behind him, I saw a puff of blue smoke, which meant that my father had just returned from somewhere.

“Excuse me, Alphas,” I heard an all-too-familiar and welcoming voice.

“Dr. Boyd!” I cried.

“Young Luna Vivienne, how are we doing?” he asked with such sincerity.

“EXCUSE ME! YOU CAN’T JUST COME IN HERE AND HIJACK MY PATIENT!”

“Excuse me, Luna,” Dr. Boyd said to me and turned around to face the other doctor. “Hello, my name is Dr. Zane Boyd, and from what I can see just in this room alone, you haven’t actually been treating your Luna as an actual patient. The machines are not set up correctly, and several of the wires and pads are improperly positioned on her body. Not only that, but the fetal heart monitor isn’t projecting any data, which means, had I not shown up, you never would have known that one of the twins is currently in distress!”

“What!?” I cried.

“Dr. Boyd, if there’s no data, then how do you know that!?” J.D. asked him.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, Alpha Jed. And I’ve delivered quite a few pups at Desert Moon. The shape of the Luna’s stomach is showing me that one of the pups is still on its side and hasn’t quite turned over yet. A little pushing and coercing should do the trick.” He huffed at the Red Mountain pack doctor and quickly started to push into my abdomen.

“AHHH!!!” I cried, and my mother held my hand as I screamed my lungs out.

“Dr. Boyd! You’re hurting her! STOP!” J.D. growled.

“Just one more push,” Dr. Boyd said and pushed again, making me scream once more. But as soon as he did, I felt a sudden release. “There we go.”

“Oh, that feels so much better,” I said with a smile.

“Okay then, you fixed her. Now you can leave. This is my hospital, and I do not give you rights to be here!” the Red Mountain pack doctor shouted.

“Dr. Willis,” J.D. growled. The doctor gulped and turned to face J.D. again. “You’re fired.”

“You can’t do that!”

“I just did. Now get the f**k out before I force you out.”

“Your father will hear of this!” he shouted. However, before he could leave, J.D. grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall of my hospital room.

“My father? Have you forgotten who the current Alpha is? My father has no authority. You and everyone else in this sad excuse of a pack better step in line and respect who your ranked members are, and you better do it fast. Need I remind you what I said a few days ago. Insubordination is grounds for banishment, and let me tell you something, you sniveling little coward. They’re not empty threats. I will have no problem banishing you and everyone else in this pack and start completely over from scratch. No problem, what.so.ever. And just to show that I’m not f*****g around, you are hereby banished and considered rogue. Get the f**k out of my pack.” J.D. threw him out of the hospital room, and without saying anything, the former doctor stood and scurried away.

“Very well done, J.D.,” my mother complimented.

“You good?” Dorian asked. J.D. nodded his head. “Dr. Boyd, please stay here at Red Mountain until Jedediah can find a permanent replacement. Something tells me that he’s going to need someone with your experience to help clean house in this sad little clinic.”

“It would be my pleasure to stay and assist Alpha Jed. I’m just sorry that it has to be this way,” Dr. Boyd replied and shook his head in shame. “Luna, you still have a ways to go before we start pushing, and I don’t see an issue with doing a natural birth now that both twins are in good positions. Let me attend to a few things to ensure that we have a smooth and safe delivery, and I will be right back. But first, let’s get these monitors up and running correctly.”

“Okay,” I said and laid back comfortably.

After Dr. Boyd did what he did best and several hours had passed, it was time to push. And boy did I push. I had pushed so hard that I had shat myself and was so embarrassed by that fact that I cried. My mother and Dani both assured me that it was natural, and even Dr. Boyd said that it happens during labor more than not. That didn’t make me feel any better, but there was nothing that I could do about it.

J.D. was in the room for the delivery, and he kept whispering sweet nothings to me as if nothing was wrong and as if he didn’t just banish the pack doctor a few hours before. Not only that, but he had apparently also banished the two nurses from before because they were caught speaking ill of my parents. They were caught by Brandon and Mikey, and, of course, they had no problem reporting the incident to Mon Loup. Dorian sent Dani to retrieve a handful of nurses from Desert Moon to help out as well. After pushing for what felt like a lifetime, I felt a sudden relief, and then a cry broke me out of my trance.

“Congratulations! It’s a healthy baby boy!” Dr. Boyd exclaimed with such joy in his tone.

“A boy!?” J.D. shouted with glee.

“Yes, Alpha Jed. A boy. A future Alpha,” Dr. Boyd reiterated as a nurse placed him on my chest.

“Look, Mon Coeur, we have a son,” he said to me softly.

“Jacques,” I whispered and kissed his chubby cheek.

“Huh?” I looked up and smiled. “Did you say, Jacques?” I nodded my head. “Wait, are you saying that it was our son you were calling out to when you woke up that day in the hospital back at Desert Moon?”

“Oui, Mon Loup.” I saw his face soften and become warm when things started to make sense. Unfortunately, our tranquility was short-lived as I felt pressure and another contraction come on.

“Okay, it looks like they’re not going to be that far apart!” Dr. Boyd shouted. He instructed me to push again, and it didn’t take much for Bethany to enter the world. Her cries were ear-piercing, and she had a full head of blonde hair. “Congratulations! It’s a girl!”

“NO!” J.D. wailed. We all look at him in shock. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, now I have to deal with boys trying to woo her!” I just shook my head at him and his logic. A nurse put her on my chest as well, and as soon as she did, Jacques and Bethany held each other’s hands.

“Vivienne, look,” my mother said.

“I see, Maman.”

“They are going to have a very close relationship. I just know it,” she said with awe as she looked down ever so lovingly at her new grandpups.

“What’s her name?” Dani asked.

“Bethany,” I answered right away.

“What?” J.D. looked down at me in surprise. “Did you say, Bethany?” I nodded my head. “Why Bethany?”

“You tell me,” I replied. His eyes widened.

“Do you know something that I don’t?” I smiled without replying. “I mean, the only reason I could think of naming her Bethany is because of my grandmother. My adoptive grandmother, but still.”

“Did you have a good relationship with her?” my mother asked him.

“I did. A very good one. She died before my parents did. I remember that whenever I felt alone, I could always go to her, and she would just take me in her arms and tell me how loved I am and what a blessing I am. That I was special, and I would do great things one day. She always made me brownies because I preferred them over cookies. She died when I was ten, but I still remember everything about her.”

“It’s a beautiful name, Mon Loup,” I replied and looked down at our babies. Our babies.

“Alpha, Luna, we need to take the twins to clean them up, weigh them, and get their other measurements. We will return them shortly,” Dr. Boyd informed us. We nodded our heads, and the nurses took them. I looked back at J.D., who had his thinking face on.

“Mon Loup?”

“Jed, what’s wrong?” Dani asked.

“I think I just had an epiphany,” he answered. We all looked at him like he had lost his mind. He abruptly straightened his back and then ran out the door without saying a single word.

“What the hell was that about?” Dani asked. I shrugged my shoulders because I had no idea either.

“Not to worry, young Luna and Beta. Something tells me that the Alpha has come up with an idea that will benefit everyone,” Dr. Boyd said as he cleaned me up.

“What idea?” I asked.

“Don’t worry too much, Luna. Your job now will be to raise those two beautiful and special pups. Let the Alpha deal with the pack politics for now.”

“Special?” I asked him. Did he know?

“What do you mean by special?” Dani asked.

“Did you see how the young Alpha pup grabbed his sister’s hand as soon as she was laid down next to him?” We all nodded our heads. “Well, there is a legend that states when werewolf twins that are born connect with each other immediately after birth, both will share a very special gift. That gift is not determined until they become of age; however, it will be a very powerful gift.”

“C’est Magnifique!” my mother exclaimed and clapped her hands in excitement. I just blinked rapidly.

“Hey, why aren’t you excited?” Dani asked me while eyeing me suspiciously. I pressed my lips together. “Oh, you already knew!?” I didn’t reply and just avoided looking at her or my mother. But then again, I had nowhere else to look because I wouldn’t stare at Dr. Boyd, who was still cleaning me up down there. “What is it!? What gifts are they going to have!?” Dani asked exuberantly.

“It’s a secret.”