Desert Heat (Complete)

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

I had never seen a mother slap her own child that hard before. My b***d was boiling. I believed in spanking for discipline, but I did not condone assaulting your own child, regardless of how they behaved. It didn’t help that I already disliked Avery Quinn, to begin with. She tended to act high and mighty just because Dr. Quinn was her mother-in-law.

Everyone settled into my office and even though Celinda finally stopped crying, the tension in the room was palpable and very ominous. I needed to get to the bottom of this and figure out why a fight between mother and daughter erupted in the middle of the hospital. I was irritated because we were going to get Sin’s ultrasound to verify her pregnancy, but instead of being supportive of my best friend, I had to do my part as Luna of this pack.

“Before we get started, I’m going to say this once, and only once,” I addressed everyone. “Avery Quinn, you will know your place in this pack. I could care less if you’re Dr. Quinn’s daughter-in-law. I am the Luna, and you will show me respect. As Luna, this pack is my responsibility, as well as the well-being and safety of everyone in it. I will not tolerate you assaulting another pack member, especially your own daughter. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Luna,” she replied while gritting her teeth.

“Good, now let’s get down to business, shall we?” I surveyed the room before continuing. “Mrs. Quinn, why are you so angry that Celinda is mated to Leroy?”

“I already said why, Luna. He’s nine years her senior. That’s almost a decade.”

“Age shouldn’t matter when it comes to the mate bond, Mrs. Quinn. I would have thought, as someone who lost their mate, you would be thrilled that your one and only child found someone mature with a stable job and high-ranking Omega status.”

“Thrilled? For what? My daughter went and accepted this without my approval!”

“I DON’T NEED YOUR APPROVAL!” Celinda screamed. “I’m 18! I’m of legal age and the moon goddess chose him for me! Who are you to decide otherwise!?”

“I’M YOUR MOTHER YOU DECEITFUL LITTLE b***h!”

“AVERY, THAT IS ENOUGH!!” Dr. Quinn shouted at her. I have never seen Dr. Quinn raise her voice at anyone before. It was actually quite scary. “Celinda is my only grandchild and the only child to my late son. If you call her one more degrading name, I swear on my son’s grave, I will make sure no one ever finds your body!” Normally, threatening to murder another pack member is against the law, but I was going to let it slide because, in all honesty, Avery Quinn had it coming.

“You’re one to talk,” Sin said with complete disgust. I looked over at her, all eyes were locked onto Avery.

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Quinn gritted between her teeth.

“Why don’t you tell everyone in this room the real reason why you’re so pissed off at your daughter for being mates with Leroy,” Sin responded. It was then I knew she read Mrs. Quinn’s mind.

“How dare you read my thoughts without my consent!?” she shouted and stood to her feet. “Who the f**k do you think you are! Just because you’re a blessed wolf and the Gamma doesn’t give you the right to invade my privacy!”

“I have every right to read your thoughts when it comes to keeping to the peace between pack members, family or not! As Gamma female, it is my duty!” Sin shouted standing to her feet as well and getting in Mrs. Quinn’s face. “Now, sit down, and tell everyone the truth, that’s an order,” she growled.

“Avery Quinn, you will do as your Gamma tells you,” Leah ordered. She had no choice but to submit. She sat down and started to huff and puff. It was like dealing with a teenager.

“Avery, what is the Gamma talking about? What are you not telling us!?” Dr. Quinn shouted at her and grabbed her arm to force her to face forward.

“You have three seconds to tell everyone on your own, or I will tell them,” Sin warned her. Whatever secret Mrs. Quinn was hiding must have been pretty bad for Sin to be this worked up about it. I could practically see Mrs. Quinn having an internal battle with herself, and it was not a pretty sight. “Fine, have it your way,” Sin spoke up after giving Mrs. Quinn a moment to decide, who obviously chose not to speak for herself. “Mrs. Quinn is jealous of her daughter.”

“What?” we all replied in unison.

“I’m sorry Celinda, but you’re not a w***e, your mom is,” Sin said directly to her. Celinda’s mouth dropped and everyone was taken aback at her direct insult to Mrs. Quinn. “And you might want to have a conversation with Leroy when all of this is over.”

“Gamma, I don’t understand,” Celinda replied in confusion.

“Your mother is in love with your mate.” Cue the mic drop. No one said anything and all of us looked like deer stuck in headlights. I turned my gaze back to Mrs. Quinn, and if looks could kill, Sin would be six feet under right about now. “Do you want to tell them when this started, or shall I continue?”

“Sin, stop,” I told her.

“What? Why?”

“Because I want to hear everything from the horse’s mouth. And since Mrs. Quinn refuses to talk, let’s get someone in here who will.” Everyone’s expressions changed when they realized who I was talking about. I mind linked Leroy.

Leroy.

Yes, Luna?

Will you please come to my office?

Is everything alright?

No, and I need you to come and sort it out.

I will be right there. Let me get Dingo to take my place at the gate.

I looked around the room, and the tension was even thicker than it was before. I had the strangest feeling I knew where this was going to lead, and I was afraid that by the end of it all, Leroy was going to lose Celinda.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Leroy poked his head in. The moment he saw Celinda with a tear-stained face, he bolted straight to her, without even waiting for me to tell him to enter.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” he asked her as he held her close. “What’s going on? Why were you crying?”

“Leroy,” I called out to get his attention. He looked over at me and saw Celinda’s mother, his face turned dark and his eyes black. It was obvious he wasn’t her biggest fan.

“Is it just me or is there pure unadulterated hate radiating off of him right now?” Leah asked, stating the obvious.

“Leroy, what’s going on? Why does the Gamma think my mom is in love with you?” Celinda straightforwardly asked him. He closed his eyes and let out a deep, frustrated sigh. When his eyes opened, he immediately bored holes into Mrs. Quinn.

“You just couldn’t f*****g let it go, could you? All you f*****g care about is yourself! You don’t give a f**k who you hurt in the process of getting whatever it is that you want! No wonder your mate chose to kill himself rather than be with you!”

“What?” Dr. Quinn gasped.

“I’m sorry, doctor, I should have come clean sooner, but I didn’t know how to.”

“Leroy, what do you mean my son killed himself? He was killed during the rogue attack two years ago.”

“No, Dr. Quinn, he wasn’t.”

“Leroy, what aren’t you telling us?” I asked him.

“Please forgive me, Luna,” he said to me. “Please forgive me, sweetheart,” he said to Celinda. He stood to his feet, walked over to my desk, and immediately got down on both knees. Leroy hung his head in full submission. I looked at Sin and Leah, and they were just as shocked as I was. “Luna, I never wanted it to come to this, but Avery has given me no choice.”

“Leroy, what is going on? Just tell me,” I replied.

“No! Why are you doing this! You promised!” Mrs. Quinn shouted and stood to her feet again.

“SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!” I roared at her. “I don’t want to hear you say another word until spoken to!” She gave me the dirtiest look. “I said, sit.” It took her a solid ten seconds, but she finally sat down. I would deal with her insubordination later. First, I wanted to hear what Leroy had to say. “Please, continue, Leroy.” He nodded his head.

“The night of the rogue attack, I was in an area around the gates trying to fight off any straggling rogues that came in after the battle already started. It was the location all of the high-ranking guards were ordered to be stationed by the Beta. While I was in the midst of fighting off a rogue, I saw Luther Quinn being taken down by a rogue. I dispatched the rogue I was fighting and went to go help him, but when I got there, I overheard him telling the rogue to hurry and kill him.” Dr. Quinn and Celinda gasped. “When the rogue went in for the kill, I tackled him and snapped his neck, that’s when Luther attacked me. He was angry, he shouted and cursed at me for killing the rogue. When I asked him what the hell he was doing, he told me that he was tired of living a double life. I looked at him like he was crazy. He ran off to find another rogue and tried to leverage it to kill him as well. I followed and killed that rogue, and he just kept telling me to back off and let him die. Everyone knew that he was Dr. Quinn’s son, and he was well respected in the pack, so I couldn’t understand why he wanted to die.” He paused a moment and took a deep breath.

“Leroy, why did my son want to die?” Dr. Quinn asked him.

“He said that he was unhappy and that his marriage was falling apart. He told me that his wife was having open affairs with unmated males in the pack.” We all looked at Avery Quinn and she didn’t even show an ounce of remorse. “That’s not all,” we all looked back at him, “he told me that the one thing that made life bearable was his daughter, and even that was all a lie.” I looked up at Celinda who just furrowed her brows. “I asked him who his wife was, and I would help him get the support he needed, but he said that it wasn’t worth it anymore. I felt horrible for him, but it was when he showed me a photo of his wife that I felt personally guilty.”

“Oh my god, you didn’t?” I said to him.

“I did.”

“You slept with my mom!?!” Celinda shouted, standing to her feet.

“I didn’t know she was your mom at the time. It’s not like Luther spoke about her or brought her to pack functions with him. I had no idea, at least, not until your dad showed me her photo. Avery told me that her mate died a long time ago and that she was a single mother just looking for emotional support. It happened because I was drawn to her. I thought it was the mate bond, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t how everyone described it. But when I found who she really was, I broke things off. I didn’t stop sleeping with other women though. I just made sure they weren’t mated and lying to me the way Avery Quinn did. But after the whole ordeal with Lacie, Maya, and Aries, I stopped sleeping around altogether, until I found you,” he told her.

“What happened to my son? Why did he say that Celinda was a lie?” Dr. Quinn asked with tears running down her cheeks.

“Turns out that Celinda is the product of one of Avery’s many affairs, and she lied to Luther about it. He said that the timing was near perfect. She apparently had a one night stand with some random wolf, and the next day met Luther, only to find out that they were mates. Luther believed that Avery only wanted to accept their bond because he was your son, Dr. Quinn. Luther came from money, and Avery didn’t.” The room was eerily quiet and all you could hear were Dr. Quinn and Celinda sobbing.

“Leroy, what happened to Luther?” I asked him, trying to fight back my own tears.

“After he caught me off guard with Avery’s photo, he hit me across the head with a rock. He didn’t hit me hard enough to render me unconscious, but hard enough to render me immobile temporarily. When I was able to gather my thoughts, I saw him on his knees in front of one of the rogues, begging for him to take his life, that he had nothing worth living for. I wanted to stop him, I wanted to help, but I was too weak and delirious from his attack. The last thing I saw was the rogue stabbing Luther in the heart with a silver blade.” I watched as tears fell from his eyes as he finished his story.

“Why didn’t you report this sooner?!” Leah asked him with tears in her eyes.

“I didn’t know how. After seeing the hurt in his eyes from the years of betrayal as a result of all of the lies that Avery ever told him, I didn’t want to tarnish his good name by telling everyone he basically committed suicide.”

“So, you slept with my mom while she and my dad, well, who I thought was my dad, were married, and she lied to you about it. I can’t fault you for that. But why did you say she only cares about herself?” Celinda asked him.

“Because even after Luther’s death and my having broken things off, she kept trying to weasel her way into my bed at night. She would torment and bully any she-wolf I would be with. She made up lies about me. I told her that enough was enough and that I would never touch her again. That I never wanted to see her again. I promised that it would stay between us because I didn’t want anyone knowing what really happened to Luther. Her deceiving ways made my stomach churn, and I unknowingly betrayed a well-respected pack member. She didn’t feel any remorse for what she had done. But even though I couldn’t stand her, something about her made me attracted to her. I couldn’t figure out why. I knew she wasn’t my mate.”

“Your attraction to Avery came from Celinda,” Dr. Quinn said. “Celinda was still underage at that time, but you were sensing her whenever Avery was near you.” Leroy nodded his head.

“I wasn’t aware that’s what it was until Celinda and I turned out to be mates,” he replied. The entire time this was happening, Avery looked like she wanted to kill him. He never once spared her any glances and looked like he wanted to vomit after telling us the entire story. “Celinda, baby, I’ll understand if you choose to reject me because of what I’ve done. I won’t be angry with you. You’re still young, and you deserve a better mate.”

“I’m not going to do that,” she responded immediately. He looked up at her in shock. “I know you didn’t lie to hurt me. You lied to preserve my dad’s good name, and his reputation. I can’t be angry at you for that,” she said with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I love you, and we’ll get through this. But you,” she turned her anger towards her mother. “HOW DARE YOU!!!” she roared and tackled her mother to the ground. “YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED MY FATHER! YOU’RE THE f*****g REASON HE’S DEAD! YOU ARE! I’M GOING TO f*****g KILL YOU!!!” she screamed and started to punch her mother across the face.

“Celinda!” Leroy got up and immediately pulled her off of Avery. “Don’t, sweetheart! She’s not worth it. Don’t stain these innocent hands of yours because of her,” he said to her cupping her face and pushing her towards the corner by the door away from Avery.

“Wait, I don’t get it. Leroy had an affair with a mated wolf, and he got a mate. Why wasn’t he deemed impure?” Leah asked.

“I think it’s because he was deceived. He didn’t intentionally try to break the mate bond between Luther and Avery. Avery lied to him. He’s technically the victim.” I replied.

“Now I understand why she didn’t die with my son,” Dr. Quinn said. Her voice was broken, and her face laced with tears for Luther.

“Grandma?”

“Don’t call me that.” Celinda looked taken aback. “I’m not your grandmother. You are not of my b***d.” Celinda’s eyes flooded with tears at how cold Dr. Quinn was being towards her. “Luna, I am requesting a leave of absence until further notice. I will transfer all of my duties to Dr. Boyd and will find a temporary replacement.” She didn’t even wait for my response before slowly turning her heel and leaving my office. Celinda’s softly sobbed as she watched the only family she had left walk away from her.

“Leroy, take Celinda to your room. Take a few days off.”

“Yes, Luna,” Leroy took the still-crying Celinda and led her out of my office.

“What do we do about this b***h?” Sin said pointing at the unconscious Avery Quinn on my office floor.

“Get Sylvester and Joel to take her to the pack hospital for treatment. And have her arrested for insubordination. I need to talk to Dorian and legal counsel to see what we can do about her,” I replied, and she nodded.

“So much for today being a happy day,” Leah frowned.

“After we handle this, we’ll go back down and have Dr. Boyd set up an ultrasound for Sin,” I told her, and they both nodded.

Will the drama ever end?