Desert Heat (Complete)

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

“What about this one?” I asked as I stepped out of the fitting room with the next outfit to consider.

“Ew, no,” Sin said without hesitation. I looked down at the salmon-colored dress I was wearing.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“The color makes you look pale.” I scowled at her. Sin never pulled punches when sharing her opinion. “Plus, it covers too much,” she added nonchalantly.

“Sin! It’s a black-tie charity event,” I reminded her

“Exactly,” she responded, and I just eyed her with annoyance.

“Allie, you may be pregnant, but you’re barely showing right now. This charity event, whatever it is, the wealthiest of the top 1% are going to be there. This means you need a dress that not only demonstrates that you have money, but that you have class, are sophisticated, and also sexy.”

“Sexy? Seriously? I’m married with twin toddlers and another baby on the way, I don’t need strangers to think that I’m sexy,” I said on my way back to the fitting room to remove the dress Sin hated. I did a double-take in the mirror and agreed that I did look sickly in this color. “That was the last one!” I shouted at her.

“Girl, stay there, I’ll be right back,” she called out and I heard her walk away. Knowing Sin, she was going to pick something inappropriate, but I didn’t want to argue with her. I was already sick and tired of dress shopping. I tried on the seven dresses I picked out already, and Sin had something negative to say about every single one of them. I was honestly having flashbacks of wedding dress shopping.

After about ten minutes of sitting there in the fitting room, Sin finally returned and threw three dresses over the door. “Here, try these on. If none of those work, we’re going to another store!”

“No! If these don’t work, we’re going to the damn food court to eat something and we’re going home! I’m tired skank!”

“Quit your bitching and try on the damn dresses.”

“If you weren’t my best friend and godmother to my daughter, I’d b***h slap you all the way back to San Ysidro.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” she retorted. “Try on the green one first.” I took it off the hanger and immediately saw a deal-breaker.

“Sin! This is a two-piece that separates at the midriff! It will show my bump!”

“My bad, I didn’t realize it was a two-piece. Try the black one then,” she responded. I put the green dress back onto the hanger and surveyed the black number. It was a velvet, off-the-shoulder cocktail dress that flared right at midthigh. I put it on and luckily it had a side zipper which meant I didn’t need Sin’s help to get dressed.

“What do you think?” I asked as I emerged again. Sin c****d her head from side to side while getting a better look at me. She motioned for me to spin around, so I did.

“Hmmm … it’s a contender. Your cleavage is nice and voluptuous, and your legs will look super sexy in your Louboutin’s,” Sin commented while taking a picture with her phone. It was time to try on the final dress which was a satin royal blue floor-length dress. I noticed this one was a pullover, thank god. Once the dress was on and I looked into the mirror, even I was floored at how gorgeous this dress looked.

“Hey, I think we have a winner here!” I yelled out to her.

“Oh, oh, oh, show me!” she squealed in excitement. I opened the door, paraded myself out, and did the typical “ta-da!” pose for Sin. In return, she gave me the biggest smile, clapped obnoxiously, and said, “Yessss biiiiitch!”

The dress had an illusion plunging v-neckline, a high thigh slit in the front, and a strappy, low-cut back that stopped just above my a*s. “Babe, you look like a million bucks! See, I told you it was possible to look rich, sophisticated, classy, and sexy all at the same time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you told me so. You were right, happy?” I snorted at her and she just grinned as she nodded her head. “What kind of shoes should I wear with this?”

“Well, the dress is satin, and the slit will most definitely show off your sexy legs, toned calves, and always manicured toes … so something sexy and strappy, and shiny.” I gasped at her response.

“Are you allowing me to buy new shoes?” I asked sarcastically.

“b***h, I could care less about your shoe addiction. I just want you to blow all those rich folk out of the damn water next week.”

“Sweet!”

“But!” I dropped my shoulders and looked at her. “Should you be wearing heels while pregnant?”

“Girl, I’m just over seven weeks. I’ll be fine for one night.”

“Cool beans! Let’s bag and tag this dress and go find some killer heels to wear with it!” I nodded my head, feeling accomplished as I went to change back into my clothes.

We didn’t have any luck finding shoes at Neiman Marcus, so we headed over to Saks Fifth Avenue to see if their selection was better. As soon as the shoe section came into full view, my eyes immediately locked onto a pair of crystal-embellished, iridescent leather pumps by Christian Louboutin. My addiction to his brand was a little too obvious, but can you blame me? They’re the pinnacle of shoe perfection, well-made, and comfortable as hell. They’re also extremely durable and last forever with proper maintenance.

I noticed Sin made a bee-line towards a different pair of Louboutin’s, strappy leather sandals. We couldn’t decide which shoes coordinated better with my dress, but I wasn’t about to buy both for the sake of being indecisive. Dorian already despised the fact that my side of the closet was 95% shoes. We did the only thing left to do, we took photos of each pair next to the dress and sent them to everyone for their input. We only waited a few minutes before the votes came in.

“Well s**t, that didn’t help at all. It’s a f*****g tie,” Sin grouched as she reviewed the results and showed me her phone. “Which one do you like more?” she asked me. I looked at the shoes next to the dress and still couldn’t decide. We ended up asking the sales associate to break the tie.

“Well, both look very elegant, but I think I will go with the strappy sandal. It just screams class with a little bit of sass.” Sin and I smiled at his reasoning and rolled with it.

“Alright, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I and my unborn baby are f*****g starving. Let’s go to the f*****g food court already,” I whined. Sin carried my dress for me while I carried my shoes.

“Where do you want to eat?” Sin asked as we made our way through the mall. I stopped and pulled out my phone to find the directory of food vendors and restaurants available.

“You in the mood for some wings?” I asked when I saw there was a wing place.

“I’m always down for wings,” she replied. I smiled at Sin for being more agreeable about the food and we headed over to Wing Addiction. “Yo, they have the whole wings here,” she said while looking at the photos in the window.

“Yes, I love it when they’re whole,” I replied as we went up to the host’s podium to check-in.

“Hello, welcome to Wing Addiction, how many?”

“Hi, just two,” I replied, and she grabbed two menus for us.

“Do you think we can get a booth? We don’t want anyone stepping on this,” Sin asked her while holding up the dress.

“Sure, no problem at all,” the host obliged and led us to an empty booth towards the back. “Your server will be right with you.”

“Thanks,” we both answered in unison and took our seats. As soon as she left, we dived right into the menu to see what was offered since neither of us had been here before.

“I didn’t know this place was here,” Sin mentioned as her eyes darted back and forth.

“Same, and we come to this mall a lot,” I replied and reviewed their menu selections. “Oh, that K**s of Fire one sounds good,” I pointed out.

“Maple cognac sounds pretty good too,” Sin said in return. After about five more minutes, the server showed up and took our orders. The place was a little busy, but the service was still quick and efficient. We ended up ordering 40 pieces just between the two of us and picked K**s of Fire, Maple Cognac, Tequila Lime, and traditional buffalo for a nice variety of flavors.

Once our food was ready and brought to the table, we took a bite into the wings and tasted pure ecstasy. Sin and I kept moaning in sheer pleasure as we devoured them one by one. Working in clubs and casinos meant that we’ve had our fair share of wings, in addition to our abnormal obsession with Wing Stop, but these flavors were so unique and delicious we knew we had to come back with the guys and the kids. This instantly became a new favorite spot for us.

{Sin’s P.O.V.}

We decided to call it a day after lunch, and Allie and I returned home from a successful shopping trip. It was actually nice to drive ourselves for once—Allie had to practically command Simba and Nick to stay home because we wanted to spend the day together for old times’ sake. It’s been years since it was just her and me out on our own, and today was just what the doctor ordered for both of us.

I sat on her bed while she put away her new dress and shoes. “You know, I’m surprised you didn’t want to go shopping for yourself,” Allie called out from the closet.

“Eh, I knew you wouldn’t want to spend hours shopping today. You tend to be in less of a shopping mood when you’re hormonal,” I replied and laid back onto her bed. After a minute or two, it was silent although I could still hear her moving hangers around to accommodate the dress.

“Hey.” I looked up and saw Allie leaning against the door of the closet. “So, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since I saw you this morning,” she continued.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to say anything while we were out.” I furrowed my brows and c****d my head at her since she was being cryptic. All she did was smile and lifted her brow at me. Instantly, tears flooded my eyes.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner!?!” I all but shouted and started to cry.

“Because of this exact reason,” Allie said while pointing at my face, “I knew you would make a scene, so I waited until we were back home.” I couldn’t stop the waterworks— Mikey and I have been trying so hard, and every time my heat passed with no pup, we were certain that the moon goddess wouldn’t give us another.

“How far along do you think I am?”

“Well, your heat was two weeks ago, so I’m assuming around that time. But instead of us guessing, how about we go talk to Dr. Quinn?”

“Allie, we’re going to be pregnancy buddies!” I sobbed.

“Yeah, we sure are,” she said with eyes full of tears too.

“Do you think the moon goddess let this happen because we didn’t get to experience it together last time?” I asked carefully.

“I don’t know, maybe,” she replied truthfully. I hugged Allie tightly and we cried together. We both knew, but neither one of us ever said it. We were resentful when her first pregnancy fell through that horrible day. While pregnant then, she and I were joined at the h*p. Even though Leah was involved as well, something between Allie and me shifted for the better and, after Lavender died, that connection broke. For the life of me I never knew what it was, but when I saw that same connection between her and Sam, then later finding out Keegan was Daisy’s mate, it hit me that Allen was supposed to be Lavender’s mate.

I adored Katie, and Madison was going to be a wonderful mate to Allen, but I couldn’t help but take Allie and Dorian’s loss that day so personally, because I lost out too. I’ve never told anyone this, not even Mikey, and I never planned to. I kept this to myself because I didn’t want anyone to think that I disapproved of Allen’s future bond with Madison. I just hate the fact that my son’s first mate was killed before he even got to meet her.

“Come on, let’s go see Dr. Quinn and see how far along you are,” Allie gestured for me to follow her. I nodded my head and as we headed down, we ran into Leah who had lifted her brow upon seeing us.

“Where are you two going?” she asked. Allie and I looked at each other and then back at her. We grabbed her hand and dragged her along with us. When she saw us going down the corridor to the hospital, she immediately gasped and began to shriek with excitement.

“SHHH!!!” we both shushed her, and she pressed her lips together. She squeezed my hand tightly and gave me the biggest smile.

“Oh, wow,” Ava said as she saw us walk up to the counter. “Since when do three high-ranking females come to the hospital together hand in hand?” she asked, looking at us quizzically.

“Ava, is Dr. Quinn available?”

“Uhhh … Well, she is, but she’s a little preoccupied at the moment.”

“Preoccupied?” we all asked and then we heard shouting. We looked over and someone came storming out of one of the rooms.

“Isn’t that Celinda?” Leah asked and we all nodded our heads.

“And that’s her mother,” I said when I saw someone behind her.

“CELINDA TIFFANY QUINN!” her mother shouted at her.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking over at Ava. She just shook her head and looked down at the computer, attempting to stay out of it.

“STAY OUT OF THIS MOM!!” Celinda screamed at her, but instead of using her words, Celinda’s mom slapped her so hard she fell to the ground.

“Whoa!” Allie shouted and ran over to them to keep the peace.

“Avery!” Dr. Quinn shouted as she came out of the room as well.

“Mrs. Quinn, what is going on!?” Allie asked as she got between her and Celinda. Leah and I ran over to help Celinda to her feet.

“STAY OUT OF THIS LUNA!!” Mrs. Quinn screamed at her. Allie didn’t take that too kindly and her eyes turned black.

“You will know your place, Mrs. Quinn! I am the Luna of this pack, and I will not tolerate your blatant disrespect!” she growled in her Luna voice. “STAND DOWN!” she commanded, and Mrs. Quinn immediately submitted.

“Celinda, are you okay?” Leah asked as she helped her onto her feet. The cheek her mother slapped was red and there was a clear handprint on it.

“Avery, you need to calm down. Celinda may be your daughter, but this is my hospital, and you just outright screamed at the Luna,” Dr. Quinn said to her.

“Calm down!?! You expect me to calm down, Bonnie!?” Mrs. Quinn shouted at her. “MY 18-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IS A f*****g w***e!”

“MRS. QUINN!!” Allie yelled at her. “THAT IS YOUR DAUGHTER! Who also happens to be the mate to my guard! I will not stand here and allow you to call her such a degrading name!”

“That’s exactly why she’s a f*****g w***e! Mated to a man nine years her senior! What a disgrace! I raised you better than that!”

“Mrs. Quinn, you know as well as anyone else that who we are mated to is not our choice. The moon goddess chooses for us,” I said to her.

“Well, the moon goddess made a mistake! She should never have mated my daughter to someone as old as Leroy! That man is disgusting, and he’s defiled my baby girl!” she shouted at me. “And you should know better than to accept someone I disapprove of! Let alone f**k them!”

“Mrs. Quinn!” Allie exclaimed. “This is not the place for this. Everyone, to my office now! Dr. Quinn, that includes you,” Allie ordered everyone.

“Ava, will you and Savannah please watch the hospital?” Dr. Quinn asked her, and she nodded her head. There was no point in telling her to keep this quiet. It was too late for that as there was an entire audience to the spectacle that just occurred in the hospital.

I tapped into Mrs. Quinn’s mind and read her thoughts. What I read was something that I never would have expected. Oh, s**t.