Desert Heat (Complete)

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

After hanging out with Jed for the rest of the day, he went home to get some rest, and I went to the kitchen to help Mrs. Johnson and Katie prepare dinner. In all honesty, I was really distracted after having such a sentimental heart-to-heart with Jed. That was definitely the longest conversation we’ve ever had, and something about him made me uncertain. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t realize I was burning the current batch of gyoza.

“Luna!” someone shouted.

“Huh? What?” I looked around, confused.

“Oh my god, Luna, you’re burning the dumplings!” Katie shouted at me.

“Oh s**t!” I exclaimed and quickly removed them from the fryer, finally snapping out of my daze. Luckily, they were just on the extra crispy side, but not completely burnt.

“Luna, you’re never distracted in the kitchen, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Johnson asked while she inspected the extra crispy gyoza.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” I said and quickly stepped away from the fryer.

“Has the baby brain already gotten to you?” Katie asked.

“No!” I answered defensively and scowled, but by this point, Katie, Mrs. Johnson, and the other kitchen Omegas all gave me funny looks. “Maybe …” I tried to deflect, but they still didn’t budge. “Oh, alright fine! Yes, my brain is all sorts of messed up because my husband got me pregnant again, happy!?”

“And of course, the snapping has returned again,” Hilary snarked, making the others snicker at her comment.

“Hey, I’m not snappy!” I defended myself.

“Yes, you are,” I heard a deep voice radiating from the entryway. We all turned and saw Dorian leaning against the frame.

“Good evening Alpha,” everyone said and bowed their heads.

“Hey, you’re home early,” I said as I made my way over to greet him with a welcome home k**s. “Slow day at the office?”

“Yeah, a lot of the meetings were more for Mikey and Lucas, so they’re going to run late.”

“What about the others?” I asked as I led him to the island to sit down while he decompressed.

“Andre is in Prague meeting with a supernatural military unit and Brandon is busy with his real estate agent looking for a new plot of land for the new club he wants to build.”

“God, he’s going to build another one?” I scoffed.

“Yeah, but he’s not sure if he wants it here or if he wants it in Reno.”

“He already has six total, and it’s not like any of them are doing poorly,” I pointed out and Dorian just shrugged.

“Alpha, dinner won’t be ready for about another hour or so, would you like to go upstairs and relax a bit while you wait?” Mrs. Johnson suggested to him. “And please take the Luna with you, she’s going to burn down the kitchen.” I gasped at her betrayal while everyone else laughed.

“One batch! I made one batch extra crispy and suddenly I’m being kicked out of my own kitchen!” I shot back as Dorian pulled me along and out of the kitchen. The entire kitchen staff didn’t even try to contain their laughter as I was dragged away against my will.

Dorian and I went up to our room, and he decided to take a quick shower while I went to lie down on the chaise lounge in the corner. I didn’t even realize that I fell asleep until I felt myself being lifted up and taken somewhere. I opened my eyes and saw Dorian fresh out of the shower with his hair still wet and in nothing but a towel as he carried me to bed.

“s**t, did I fall asleep?” I asked as he gently laid me down.

“Yes, you did,” he replied with a soft smile and brushed the hair out of my face, “looks like the pregnancy fatigue is setting in already.” I yawned and just nodded my head. “Let me go get changed.” I nodded again and hugged the pillow as he disappeared into the closet. Dorian wasn’t kidding when he mentioned pregnancy fatigue was hitting me because the moment I got comfortable again, my eyes felt so heavy. Dorian came out of the closet in a pair of his black sweats and no shirt. He came over next to me and laid down on the bed. I entangled myself in him and snuggled my face into his broad, magnificent chest.

“How was your day, baby? Other than burning dinner?” he asked, and I instantly smacked his chest with the back of my hand.

“I did not burn dinner. I made one batch of dumplings extra crispy. They didn’t burn, and they’re still completely edible,” I corrected Dorian which made him chuckle. He kissed the top of my head.

“Okay then, other than almost burning a batch of dumplings, how was your day?”

“It was good. Jed and I really got to know each other.”

“Jed came over?” I nodded my head against his chest. “What did you guys talk about?”

“Family, life, you know, all the typical s**t people talk about to get to know one another.”

“I see.”

“Dorian, what do you know about his parents?”

“That’s a random question,” he said, adjusting himself so he could look at me. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Something Jed said about his parents that just got me thinking. It’s actually what had me so distracted that I overcooked the gyoza.”

“Actually, now that I think about it, I never met his parents.” I lifted my head so I could lift a brow at him.

“What? You two were joined at the h*p in college, and you never once went to Colorado to meet his parents or his pack?”

“By the time he and I met, I was the Alpha of our pack and building my company. As close as he and I were back then, I didn’t have time to just go meet my friend’s parents at a foreign pack.”

“Oh,” I replied and laid my head back down.

“What did he say that has you so distracted, baby?”

“He told me that his parents fought a lot and that he said he never really felt loved by them.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s told me that too.” I pushed myself up and sat on my knees. Dorian propped himself on his elbows to get a better view of me.

“Dorian, don’t you find it strange that his parents fought like that? I mean, I know we don’t know the full details, I’m not trying to be nosey, and I know couples naturally fight and argue, but the way Jed explained it … He made it seem like that’s all they ever did, and he even questioned why his parents were even together.”

“He said that?” I nodded my head. “Jed’s never gone into that much detail with me, so I don’t know what to tell you, baby. Why is this so important to you anyway?”

“After we talked and hung out for the rest of the day up until about two hours ago, something about him was different. It was like I was finally getting to know the real Jed and, because of that, his essence was transformed into something else.”

“Different? Like it changed from when you first met him?”

“No, not like that. I mean different, as in more potent. I know that someone’s essence isn’t a scent, but that’s really the only way I know how to describe it.”

“Okay? How was it more potent, as you say?”

“Ummm … Almost like I finally got a full sense of who he is?” I said without confidence.

“Is that a problem?”

“Oh no, it wasn’t meant in a bad way. God, how do I f*****g explain this?” I said, trying to rack my brain on how to get Dorian to understand. The baby brain was seriously blocking any coherent thoughts at the moment, but I somehow managed to say, “Dorian, I don’t think Jed is a low-level Omega.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“I know this may sound crazy babe, but I have the strangest feeling that Jed is a ranked wolf.”

“What?!” Dorian sat up straight up and looked at me like I was hallucinating on drugs. “Allie, that’s ridiculous. I’ve known him for over a decade, and he’s always been an Omega.”

“But you met him in college, babe. And you only know what he’s told you about his past.”

“Yeah, and I doubt he would lie to me.”

“I’m not saying that he’s lying.”

“Then what are you saying, Allie?”

“What if Jed doesn’t know his past as well as he thinks he does?”

“Come on, what person doesn’t know their own past and their own rank, especially in our world?”

“What if he was adopted?”

“What!? Allie, you can’t just say s**t like that!”

“I’m not trying to be offensive, Dorian! I’m just saying what my intuition is telling me and I don’t know how else to put it! Jed said it himself, he said that his parents always fought and the majority of the time, he was the subject of their arguments. What parents fight about their child that often? Hmm? We’ve had our issues, but our disagreements were never about the twins directly. Ever.”

“So, you think that because his parents always fought about him and his personal opinion that his parents shouldn’t have been together are reasons to question his paternity?” I sat there for a moment and digested how Dorian just summarized everything.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Allie!”

“What!?” He gave me a look—a look that said I’m psychotic. “Don’t give me that look! I’m not crazy, Dorian!”

“Yes, woman, you are. You’re literally questioning someone’s paternity, and not just someone, a close friend of mine, all because he said that his parents fought constantly.”

“If we could just …”

“No, Allie!” he cut me off instantly. “We are not going to ask Jed to get a b***d panel to test his DNA, that’s disrespectful!”

“How did you know that’s what I was going to say?”

“Because I know you,” he asserted. I scowled at him and crossed my arms. “Allie, you’re not going to bring this up to Jed. It’s bad enough he lost his parents at 15. Don’t go digging up his past just because you want to test a theory.”

“But …”

“This is not up for discussion Allie!”

“FINE!”

“Don’t get snappy with me, wife. This pregnancy won’t be like the last time. You’re not going to guilt-trip me into submission this time around.”

“We’ll just see about that,” I muttered under my breath