Desert Heat (Complete)

{Lacie’s P.O.V.}

Aries and I are a week into our honeymoon, and I have to say, I love Australia. The food is amazing, the people are great, and the beaches are superb. I thought the beaches in Florida were nice, but now that I’ve seen this place, nothing beats being down under. Though, I still try to figure out why they call it that.

Aries and I haven’t really left our hotel room unless it’s to go hang out at the beach, and even then, we’re only there for an hour or two before Aries wants to come back to our room and have s*x. Which is what we just finished doing,

“Babe, I’m pretty sure we’re going to get noise complaints,” I tell him as he rolls off of me.

“So? What are people going to complain about? That there’s a newly married couple f*****g like rabbits in their honeymoon suite? I think that comes with the territory.”

“Hahaha, you have a point,” I replied and rolled onto my side to look at him.

“Why are you staring at me Precious?”

“Because we’re married now. We’re actually husband and wife. You are my husband Aries.” he smiled and rolled over to look me in the eyes.

“And you, my precious Lacie, are my wife.” I smiled big and just hugged him as tight as I could. “Mmmm…” he g*****d as he hugged me back with all his might.

“I’m starving.”

“Let’s shower and go down to the hotel buffet.”

“Yes!” I shot out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, leaving him behind.

“Hey, wait for me!” he shouted and ran after me. Unfortunately, our shower took a turn and we ended up having s*x for another hour. The water had turned cold by the time we were done. I was pretty certain the other hotel guests were not going to be happy about that.

After we got dressed, we went down to the hotel buffet called Melba Restaurant. We had come here twice already for breakfast, and this was our first time coming for dinner. I was excited to see some of the dinner items they offered.

While we were waiting in line, a photographer came by and asked to take our picture, so we let him. He gave us a small card and said that our picture would be available for sale after it’s printed. It reminded me of how they do things in Las Vegas. Thankfully, we came before the dinner rush, so Aries and I got seated fairly quickly. Once we ordered our drinks with the server, Aries made a beeline for the carved meats, while I went for the seafood.

I was so excited to see that they had roasted lobster with cheese. Their fresh seafood bar also had oysters, shrimp, mussels, clams, and lobster claws. This dinner was going to be epic. I loaded up my plate with oysters, lobster tail with cheese, and then moved onto the hot foods. I saw an array of grilled veggies, taco looking things, and fried foods. Sometimes, I loved being a werewolf. We could eat so much, and barely gain weight because of the high metabolism that came with being supernatural.

When I got back to the table, Aries was already chowing down on red meat, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, and even had another whole lobster looking thing.

“What is that, babe?” I asked pointing at it.

“It’s called a crayfish.”

“A what?”

“The chef said that it’s a species of lobster, but that it actually tastes better.”

“Oh, I’m going to have to try that when I’m done with this.”

“Did you see the sushi bar?” he asked.

“I did, I immediately thought of Allie.”

“Same. We’ll have to tell her and Dorian about this place.”

“I wonder if we’re going to do another trip?” I asked carefully.

“I wonder that too honestly. I doubt it though. We didn’t even go to the club for New Year’s.”

“I don’t think we’re ever going to again. Last year ruined their wedding anniversary.”

“I personally thought the news of everything that happened would put Brandon out of business, but apparently not,” he said while taking a bite of his roast.

“Well, we know that it’s too late to book a trip for Allie’s birthday since it’s only a few weeks away.”

“Dorian already said that they’re not going to do anything for his birthday either,” Aries said. I pursed my lips together a little disappointed.

“I know we only went on one trip with the others, but it was a lot of fun, even with all the drama that was going on around us at the time,” I said.

“I agree, but there’s definitely a lot more drama now. Your sister is still on the loose, and apparently is being helped by powerful dark magic, Dani’s ex is back in the picture. Plus, we have to deal with the D.K. and his queen possibly destroying the supernatural world as know it.”

“I also heard from a little birdie with a name that starts with “S” and ends with “In,” that Jed’s ex made an appearance,” I replied. Aries’ gave me a look of shock and disbelief, “I know, right?” He just shook his dead. “I still can’t believe that my sister is human, I mean, what could have happened to Delilah?” I asked.

“I don’t know Precious, but it’s a little unnerving to find out that we can actually lose our wolf counterpart. I mean, Cypher is a pain in my a*s, but I love the guy. He’s like the brother I never had.”

“I feel the same way about Samara. She drives me crazy sometimes, but she’s a part of me. I love her to death, and I could never imagine my life not being what I am or having her in it.” Aries just nodded his head in agreement with me. I was seriously wondering what happened to Delilah. Even though Heather and I are sisters, it doesn’t necessarily mean our wolves are. I have seen where siblings get sibling wolves, but in our cases, Samara and Delilah weren’t sisters. Yet, Allie, Sin, and Leah aren’t b***d-related; however, their wolves are sisters.

“Precious, don’t think too much into it. Knowing Heather, she probably did something that made her lose her wolf.” I just nodded my head and decided to put it behind me. We had two days left of our honeymoon, and I wanted to enjoy it.

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

It was finally the weekend, and Dorian and I were taking the twins to Ikea so we can go look at toddler beds for them. We got the pushcart that had the children’s seats in them and pushed the twins along.

“Mama, hungee,” Demarco said as soon as we went inside.

“What do you mean you’re hungry? We ate at home, you silly boy.”

“He’s a growing boy Allie. His appetite will only get worse as he grows,” Dorian said.

“Dorian, they’re barely going to be three.”

“That’s true, but they’re also werewolf pups,” he said in a whisper. I pursed my lips together realizing that he had a point. Sometimes I forget that our kids are supernatural.

“Do you want a snack Demarco?”

“Yes, pease,”

“Daisy, what about you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” I doubled checked and she nodded her head. I reached into the baby bag and pulled out some animal crackers for Demarco, and his sippy cup that had apple juice in it. “Daisy, do you want juice?”

“No.”

“Okay.” We trotted on, and I realized that Daisy didn’t want a snack because she was too busy looking at everything that Ikea had to offer. This was the first time we brought the twins so far away from the packhouse, and into something as mind-blowing as Ikea.

“I think Daisy is overwhelmed with everything,” Dorian said, and I just nodded my head. We made our way through and got to the children’s section that had all of the toddler beds.

“Daisy, do you want to come with mommy to see the big kid beds?”

“Yeah!” I smiled and unbuckled her from the cart and took her over to where the various beds were.

“Which one baby?” I asked her and showed her all of the different beds.

“She’s going to pick the pink one, Allie,” Dorian said.

“No, peek!” Daisy shouted at him.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Dorian? She doesn’t like pink,” I said, and he just rolled his eyes. Dorian was a little displeased with the fact that Daisy didn’t like girly colors.

“Mama, dat un,” she pointed to a turquoise colored bed frame. I walked with her over the frame that she picked out and made her sit down on it. It was about six inches off of the ground, and what I liked was that it had barriers that would prevent her from falling off at night. It was also extendable which would work out in our favor as she grew up.

“Daisy, are you sure you want this one?”

“Yeah!”

“You’re positive, baby girl? You have to use this one until you’re at least six or seven, are you okay with that?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay.” I read over the specifications to see what the max weight was, and thankfully, it could hold quite a bit, and since Daisy was half the weight of her brother, I wasn’t too worried. I wrote down the product number of the frame. I pushed down on the mattress that was on the model and realized that it was decent memory foam, so I figured we would get that too.

Demarco ended up picking a black wooden bed frame that was also extendable. We decided to get the same mattress for him. We put the twins back into the cart, and went to go look at the bedding; however, when we started to walk away, Daisy began to cry while pointing at the bed frame.

“Whoa! Why is she crying!?” Dorian asked.

“She thinks we’re not getting her the bed,” I answered and picked up Daisy again. “Baby girl, we’re getting the bed for you. That’s just the model, sweetie. We have to get you a brand new one in the big place where all of the beds are,” I tell her, and she calms down. “Don’t worry, Daisy. Mommy and daddy promised you and your brother we would get you big kid beds, and we’re going to. We can’t take that one because the store needs it to show other people. We’re going to get you the same one, okay?”

“Okay.” she whimpered. I smiled and kissed her chubby cheek. “Dada,” she said and reached up for Dorian.

“Ugh, such a daddy’s girl,” I responded and handed her to Dorian. Demarco was still a mama’s boy, but he was already becoming more independent and didn’t want to come to me unless he wanted or needed something. Demarco stayed in the cart while Dorian put Daisy on his neck. His height made it seem like she was twenty feet off the ground, and it scared me every time he did it, but Daisy loved it. It made me realize that she was going to be an adrenaline junkie like me when she got older.

When we got to the bedding area, Dorian went to the little girl side with Daisy, and I took Demarco to the little boy side.

“Demarco, tell mommy which one you like,” I said and showed him the different linen sets.

“That!” he said and pointed to a black and white tiger set that had bright blue eyes.

“The tiger?”

“RAWR!” he roared using his little hands like they were paws. I couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.

“You’re not afraid?” I asked him and he just gave me a baby roar again. I giggled and shook my head. I picked up the linen set, and put it on the cart, and grabbed three black fitted sheets to go with it. When I turned around, I saw Dorian putting two linen sets for Daisy. “Dorian, what are you doing?”

“What?”

“Why is Daisy getting two?”

“She liked both, so I’m getting her both.” I looked and saw that one was a blue butterfly set and the other was a rainbow sprinkle set.

“Okay, well then Demarco gets another one too,” I said and took Demarco back to pick one more set. He ended up picking an all dark blue set. After getting all of those things and new pillows for them, we went down into the warehouse to find the frames. Luckily, both of what the twins wanted were in stock, so Dorian got all of the boxes and put them on the cart.

Checking out was a breeze because the lines were short. Dorian gave me his card, while he went to get to his Land Rover. After I checked out, I pushed the cart to the loading dock, as I watched Dorian back the car in. He popped the trunk and came around to load up everything, while I put the twins into their car seats. I was looking at the backseat of the car and it hit me that it wouldn’t be big enough for a third car seat.

“Dorian?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“We’re going to have to start using one of the Tahoe’s when the new baby comes. Your Land Rover isn’t wide enough to incorporate a third car seat.”

“Crap, you’re right,” he said looking over from the trunk of the car. “We’ll just have to get a bigger SUV that can.”

“Dorian, you already have four cars, on top of the Tahoe.”

“The Tahoe is a ‘family’ car when we travel somewhere,” he replied emphasizing the word family to indicate he meant “pack.”

“Dorian, if you’re going to buy another car, you have to sell one of the ones you have right now.”

“WHAT!? I’m not getting rid of any of my cars, Allie!”

“Dorian!”

“No, woman! I’m keeping my cars. I’ll just buy another one when the new baby comes.”

“Oh god,” I grumbled and just buckled in the twins. They were all smiles and giggles while Dorian and I argued over his obsession with cars. He closed the trunk and went to put the cart away. By the time he came back, I was already buckled into the front seat. He got in, and we drove off. We kept debating about the car thing, but he wasn’t budging.

“Allie, you know cars are really the only thing I buy for myself. Everything else I spend my money on is for you, the twins, and the pack.”

“UGH! Okay! Fine, you can keep your cars,” He smiled victoriously, and I just rolled my eyes.

“Mama, hungee!” Daisy said from her car seat.

“Okay, baby girl, we’re going to get something to eat right now.”

“Where should we go?” Dorian asked. “They’re not going to make it home.”

“No, they will not,” I replied and pulled out my phone. I Google mapped some places and found a Japanese hotpot with all you can eat sushi. “Let’s try out this place, it has good reviews,” I said and punched in the address into rover’s GPS. Dorian nodded and followed the GPS, and thankfully it was only about a ten-minute drive from where we were.

When we got there, Dorian took Demarco, and I took Daisy. As we entered the facility, we were greeted immediately.

“Hello, welcome to Swish. Please, sit anywhere you like.”

“Hi, do you have two high chairs or booster seats?” I asked and the server nodded. This place had a really cozy feeling, and the seating arrangement was like a long horseshoe. The server brought us two booster seats, and thankfully, the twins were big enough to just sit in those.

“Have you guys been here before?” the server asked.

“No, this our first time,” I replied. “I saw the all you can eat options, so we figured why not?”

“Oh yeah, sure, sure. All you can eat hotpot is $23.99, and you can add ribeye and New York for three dollars extra, and all you can eat sushi for five dollars extra. We have three different kinds of broth, Shabu Shabu, Spicy Miso, and Sukiyaki which is a soy sauce base and is on the sweeter side. You can also do the Swish combo, which is the combination of any two broths.”

“Babe, did you want the all you can eat?” I asked Dorian and he nodded.

“Okay, let’s do two of the all you can eat for us, and can we just share with our kids?”

“How old are they?”

“They’re under three,” I answered.

“Oh yes, that’s fine then,” the server replied with a smile. “What kind of broth?”

“Let me do the spicy miso,” I replied.

“I will have the Sukiyaki, and add the Ribeye, please,” Dorian answered.

“Oh yes, me too, and can I add the all you can eat sushi?”

“Allie, you can’t have sushi,” Dorian pointed out.

“I can as long as it’s not raw,” I retorted.

“Here is the sushi menu for the all you can eat, and you also get two appetizers.”

“Cool,” I responded and looked at the menu. “Let me get the shrimp tempura, and gyoza please.”

“And what kind of meats did you want to start with?”

“I want ribeye all the way,” Dorian answered.

“I will do ribeye with brisket, please.”

“And for your sushi?”

“Oh, let me get … the Shrimp Killer, the Danny, and the Swish to start.”

“Okay. Did you want rice with your hot pot sir?” the server asked Dorian.

“Yes, please, and one for each of our kids.”

“Of course.” the server put in our orders and he brought plates of veggies, rice, dipping sauces, and filled each of our pots with the broths that we asked for. I quickly tasted mine to see how spicy it was. It didn’t seem too bad, I figured it would be okay to share with the twins. Dorian let the twins taste his broth, and they both seemed to enjoy it.

“Is this like the Chinese place we go to on Spring Mountain?” Dorian asked.

“Yeah, it seems that way. But I guess we only get one broth choice and we each get our own cooking station,” I answered.

“While they’re slicing your meats, what can I get you to drink?”

“Do you have diet soda?” I asked

“Yes, we have diet sprite and diet coke.”

“Diet sprite please.”

“Let me get a regular coke,” Dorian ordered.

“For the little ones?”

“Do you have juice or anything like that?”

“We have lemonade.”

“Oh, let me get one glass of lemonade and one ice water.”

“Coming right up.” A few minutes later, the server came back with our drinks, and I split the lemonade between the twins into their sippy cups and mixed it with water to dilute it. The last thing we wanted was the twins on a sugar high.

“Hungee!” Daisy shouted.

“Here, eat a carrot,” I said and gave her the carrot slice that was on my veggie plate. “Here’s one for you too, Demarco.”

“I will forever be grateful you got the twins to eat their veggies early on, baby. It makes eating out with them so much easier,” Dorian said as he loaded his veggies into his broth. I just nodded in agreement as I also loaded my veggies in.

“Here are your meats. We have ribeye all the way, and ribeye with brisket.”

“Thank you,” we both replied.

“Your sushi rolls are coming right out.”

“Thank you.” Dorian and I started cooking, and I got extra plates for the twins. Once we cooked up some meat, we both gave some to the twins, and Dorian shared his veggies with them. Luckily, the all you can eat option came with bottomless veggies and noodles.

“Here are your sushi rolls.”

“Yes!” I put a couple of pieces onto the twins’ plates, and thankfully everything I got was a fully cooked item and none were spicy. The twins loved their sushi, but Dorian still wouldn’t go near it.

“Mama, bocci pease,” Daisy asked. I looked and I saw that I had already put mine into my spicy broth.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said getting the server’s attention.

“Yes?”

“Can I get some more broccoli, cabbage, and carrots, please?”

“Of course.” He came back a minute later with a basket full of veggies, and I had Dorian cook the veggies in his broth. The twins were eating so well, and I was so thankful. We ended up getting a lot of compliments from strangers about how well the twins were doing at a restaurant, and it just filled us with pride.

Altogether, Dorian and I with the twins ended up eating a total of seven plates of meat. The twins definitely ate more than a normal child would, but they were happy campers being able to eat all the meat and veggies they wanted. Even though they didn’t have their wolves yet, we couldn’t deny what they were. I ended up eating more sushi than meat, but we still ended up making the all you can eat option worth it.

“Do you guys want ice cream?” the server asked, and the twins answered for of us. Dorian and I laughed and so did the server. “We have green tea, chocolate, and vanilla.”

“Chocolate for the kids and I will have the green tea,” I replied.

“Vanilla for me,” Dorian ordered. The serving sizes were really small, but it was just perfect for the twins. After dessert, Dorian paid, and we left to go home. The twins ended up passing out in a food coma which made it very peaceful.

I looked back at my sleeping pups, and I could just picture having a third one back there with them. A smiled immediately took over my face, and I placed my hand on my stomach. Dorian reached over and placed his hand on top of mine, and he just gave me the most loving smile. I let out a sigh of content and just enjoyed the hour ride home.