Desert Heat (Complete)

{Cianna’s P.O.V.}

“Cici?!” I heard Lucian call from upstairs.

“In the kitchen Luci!” I shout back. I hear his footsteps as he comes down into the kitchen.

“What are you doing beautiful?” he asks while hugging me from behind.

“I’m am baking apple pies,” I tell him as I place the caramelized apples into the pie pan.

“Yum, we love apple pie in this house,” he tells me and as he inhales the scent of the apples.

“I’m making two different kinds, one will be a regular apple pie, and the other will be a Dutch apple pie,”

“Mmmm…I can’t wait to taste them,”

“I’m going to put them in the oven right now, so you only have to wait 25 minutes,” I tell him and k**s his cheek. I finished putting on the top layer of the pies, and then put them into the oven and set the egg timer.

“Why does it smell like a bakery in here?” Harvey the Beta said coming into the kitchen.

“Cianna is making apple pies,” Lucian answered

“We love apple pie in this house,” Harvey answered

“So, I have heard. I don’t think two will be enough,” I say with a giggle.

“It definitely will not be enough Ms. Cianna,” Harvey says.

“I guess I will just have to make a lot more at Christmas time,” I say while cleaning up my mess and Lucian helps me.

I have been here just under a month, and am I loving it. Lucian and I always have evening date nights by the fireplaces outside, we have s*x on a regular basis, and Deacon and Apollo are amazing in-laws. Everyone in the pack has been more than welcoming, and Harvey’s wife Melissa and Tommy’s wife Chelsea are super sweet and are showing me all the ropes on being essentially being a ranked female.

Their pups are actually older than I expected, but still young. I honestly don’t remember their names, because I barely see them. They are always out at someone else’s house or playing video games in their room. They are nice though when I do see them. We haven’t told anyone about Deacon’s potential to possibly having a second chance mate, because we don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.

“I guess we can have the pies for dessert tonight then,” Lucian said, and we all nodded. I sat at the island when I was done cleaning up and waited for the timer to go off. The house smelled so good, even in my own opinion. It didn’t take long for Deacon and Apollo to make their way downstairs when they smelled the pies.

The biggest difference between Deacon’s pack and Dorian’s pack was that there was no kitchen staff. Since only the ranked members lived in this packhouse, Melissa and Chelsea did all of the cooking. Occasionally omegas came to the packhouse to hang out and play games or watch sports programs on our big T.V., but they never ate here.

I didn’t know how to cook all that well since I never bothered to learn, but I did love to bake, which everyone was super excited about. Melissa was good with western cuisine, while Chelsea was good with Mexican and Italian. Allie had taught them to make different seafood dishes, so they both know how to do that now. I offered to learn how to cook, but they said as long as I made dessert, it was more than enough contribution.

The only other time there were omegas in the house was to clean and do laundry once a week. The house was constantly spotless, and nothing ever seemed to be out of place. Deacon was pretty OCD when it came to organization and cleanliness. Lucian wasn’t so bad, but he was definitely the neat freak in the relationship.

“Alright, let’s get dinner started,” Chelsea said coming into the kitchen.

“What’s on the menu tonight honey?” Tommy asked her.

“I’m going to the make seafood scampi that Allie taught us last time she was here,”

“Oh! Yes! Shorty made that for us while we were in Miami, it was so f*****g good,” Apollo said.

“Allie has cooked for you guys?” I asked them.

“Oh yeah, this was right before the s**t that happened with Heather went down. We were in Miami, and Shorty, the big man, Amber, and Ronnie came to hang out with us. Our last night there, Allie cooked this amazing dinner with seafood scampi, fillet mignon, a bunch of different side dishes, and cheesecake for dessert,” he replied.

“Allie bought the cheesecake,” Deacon said.

“What!?” Lucian and Apollo exclaimed.

“Yeah, she said there wasn’t enough time to make it and let it set, so she bought one,” he said while laughing.

“The betrayal!” Lucian said grabbing his heart. He was so f*****g dramatic sometimes. Everyone started to laugh.

“Allie is an amazing cook; I can tell you that much. I was so happy when she taught Chelsea and me how to make new dishes,” Melissa said.

“She’s right. Allie has a lot of skill for someone so young, and honestly, I’m surprised she hasn’t completely taken over her kitchen,” Chelsea said prepping everything. I want to help her, but one of the rules was that when one cooks, they do it all and everyone helps clean up. It was a really good system.

“Aww, now I want to try her cooking,” I whined.

“Allie and Dorian will be coming during Spring break in a few months, I’m sure Allie will be more than happy to cook something then,” Deacon said.

“Plus, we’re going to see them for New Year’s for a few days while Shorty is on break from school, so I’m sure she won’t mind cooking something for us then either,” Apollo added.

“Yay! I can’t wait,” I exclaimed.

“This dish is Allie’s recipe, granted it may not be exactly the same, but it should give you an idea of how well versed her cooking skills are,” Chelsea said as she put everything into a mixing bowl and started to measure out spices and herbs.

“Another big difference is that Allie doesn’t measure. She eyeballs everything, and it’s never too salty or too bland. It’s always just perfect. That’s the one thing Chelsea and I are still trying to master,” Melissa said. I was going to reply to her, but Deacon’s phone started to ring,

“Hey, speak of the tiny devil,” he said and answered. “Hey Shorty,” It was a FaceTime call.

“HI!”

“What’s up?”

“Nothing, just calling to check in on everyone. How is Cianna doing?”

“Ask her yourself,” Deacon says and hands me the phone.

“Hi, Allie,”

“Hi! Are you doing okay over there? Is Luci being good to you?”

“He’s perfect Allie, absolutely perfect,”

“Good! Tell him that I said if he f***s up, I’m going over there to kick his a*s,” I started to laugh, and Lucian made the face of being betrayed.

“Actually, since you’re the on the phone, I wanted to ask a favor,”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“When we go visit for New Year’s, will you cook for us? Everyone here is raving about your cooking, and now I want to try it,”

“I’d be happy to! I love cooking for other people,” she replied with a big smile.

“Really!?”

“Of course! We will have Lacie and Aries come over too and we can have a big dinner,”

“That would be so great, thanks, Allie!”

“Anytime!”

“Allie, since you’re on the phone, can you help me?” Chelsea called from the kitchen. I took the phone to her and held it up so she could see Allie.

“Hi, Chelsea, what do you need?”

“Well, I’m making the seafood scampi you taught us, and I can’t remember how to long to cook the shrimp for,”

“Oh, that’s easy, when you’re cooking it on medium-high heat, wait for one side to turn pink, and then flip it over, when the shrimps turn into a loose C shape, it’s done. If turns into an O shape, you’ve overcooked it,”

“Ah, okay, got it. Thanks, doll,”

“You’re welcome! Also, if you using other kinds of seafood like clams and mussels, cook those about six to seven minutes rather than ten. The shell holds residual heat and continues to cook it while you’re waiting for the shrimp to cook. Pasta should only take seven minutes on high heat,”

“Yes, I have all that written down. Thank you,”

“You’re welcome Chelsea,” I turn the phone to look at Allie. “Well, since you guys are getting ready for dinner, I will let you all go. See you in a couple of weeks! Oh, and Cianna,”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry about finding an outfit for the club for NYE, all of us girls are going shopping the night before, so you guys have to come on December 30th, or sooner,” I look at up at Deacon when she says that.

“I heard you Shorty, we will,” he replied, and I looked back and smiled. She waved and I waved back.

After about another twenty minutes, dinner is served. I never had seafood scampi before, even though living in Florida all of my life you think I would have. I took one bite and was in heaven,

“OH MY GOD! THIS IS SO GOOD!” I shouted and quickly took another bite.

“Oh, well I’m you like it,” Chelsea with a sigh of relief.

“Chelsea, this is pretty close to Shorty’s,” Apollo said.

“Yeah, really close,” Lucian agreed.

“Oh, I’m so happy to hear that! I didn’t f**k it up,” she said sighing even more.

“If this is Allie’s recipe and it came out this good, I can’t wait to taste something original from her,” I said while dancing in my chair. I loved food, and I didn’t care who knew.

“Cianna?”

“Yes, Deacon?”

“When do you plan on starting work again?”

“Amber and Dorian said I could take the holidays and start on January 7, which is the Monday after New Year’s,”

“Okay, are they going to provide you with a computer and stuff, or do we need to get you one?”

“Aww, now I want to try her cooking,” I whined.

“Allie and Dorian will be coming during Spring break in a few months, I’m sure Allie will be more than happy to cook something then,” Deacon said.

“Dorian said that they were going to ship everything I will need before I start so it will all be encrypted,” I replied.

“I’ll have a desk set up for you in your room so that you can work privately,”

“Thanks, Deacon, I appreciate that,” I smiled, and he winked.

After dinner, I cut up the pies and brought them over to the table with some vanilla ice cream that was in the freezer. I got so many compliments on the pies, that the guys wanted me to make them again tomorrow night, which I had no problem doing. I loved living at Yellow Moon, it was definitely home.

{Lacie’s P.O.V.}

“Aries, please, I can’t anymore,” I pleaded with him. I wasn’t even in heat, and we had been going at it ever since we got home, which was three hours ago. Every time I thought we were done; he wanted another round.

“I can’t seem to keep my hands off of you, Precious, I guess being away from you got to me more than I thought,” he said while planting k****s all over my naked body.

“I’m exhausted babe, and I’m hungry,”

“I am too, we might have to order something,”

“Don’t be silly, I can cook us something really fast,” I said sitting up, but he immediately pulled me back down and held me tight.

“Not yet, let me hold you, Precious,” I giggled, and we held each other for a few minutes.

Aries and I eventually got up, and he went to take a shower and I put on a tank and some spandex shorts and went to the kitchen to whip up something for us. I dug through the fridge and pantry and found some ground beef, pasta sauce, and penne pasta.

“Perfect, simple pasta dish with meat sauce,” I said to myself and started cooking. I put a pot of boiling water on the stove and put the ground beef into the pan. I browned up the meat, emptied out the excess grease, and then added the sauce. I diced up a tomato and added it to the sauce. I brought that to a simmer, and added the pasta into the water, and set the egg timer for seven minutes.

While I was waiting, there was knock on the door, I went to go open it, and was stunned at who I saw, and my wolf Samara was growling in anger,

“Who are you?” this random girl asked me.

“Uh, I can ask you the same thing,” I replied.

“Where is Aries!?” she shouted.

“He’s in the shower. Who are you?” I asked again. Without even answering me she pushed past me and let herself in. “HEY!” I shouted.

“ARIES! ARIES WHERE THE f**k ARE YOU!?”

“Hey! I asked who you were! Why are you at my house!?” I said pulling her arm. Who was this b***h, and why was she looking for Aries?

“Who I am is none of your concern! Aries, get out here!”

“b***h! I’m not going to ask again, who the f**k are you!?” I shouted in her face.

“I’m his lover!” she spat. Did she say, lover? “How about you tell me who the f**k you are, and why you said this is your house!?”

“I’m his mate! And his girlfriend!” I spat back.

“WHAT!?” she shrieked. I could see her shaking in anger. I didn’t even know Aries had a lover before he met me. I mean, it kind of made sense, being a 30 year old with no mate, why wouldn’t he have had partners before meeting me. I wanted to say something, but the timer for the pasta went off. I went over to the stove, turned it off, and quickly drained the pasta, so it didn’t overcook. I made sure to turn off the other burners, so nothing burned. “What the f**k is this? Are you cooking dinner for him!?”

“I just said I’m his mate! Why wouldn’t I be cooking dinner for him!”

“He doesn’t have a mate!” she shouted. This b***h really had no idea. I pulled my hair to the side and showed her my mark.

“I’m bearing his mark, and he bears mine! I am his mate! Now get the f**k out!” I shouted. She didn’t move. I walked around the island and started to shove her towards the front door. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” I screamed as she started to resist. Before I knew it, she grabbed my hair, I grabbed hers, and we started to wrestle on the floor.

We were both screaming and scratching at each other. I was stronger having Alpha b***d in me, but she happened to be on top. She got the upper hand and punched me across the face. She tried to strangle me, but I broke her grip and hit her square across the jaw making her get off of me. I tried to get up as I caught my breath, but she grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head into the floor.

“GET OFF ME b***h!” I screamed and tried to turn over but couldn’t. She grabbed the back of my head again and tried to slam my face into the floor once more, but before she could there was a loud and angry growl,

“MAYA!!”