Desert Heat (Complete)

{Deacon’s P.O.V.}

Once we left Miami and were up in the air heading to Tampa’s airport, I had some time to myself to think about what Allie confessed. I was flattered that I was part of her fantasy, but that’s all it was. It’s not like Allie had feelings for me, and I was okay with that. But Amber was right, I needed to let go of my feelings for Allie and fast before my mate accidentally found out. Amber warned me that Heather has a lot of bad habits, and one of them eves dropping. Which meant my brothers and I had to be really careful of what we said around her.

We all agreed that there would be no talks of Allie between the three of us until we were behind closed doors, and I had to promise not to spend any time alone with Allie otherwise Heather would get jealous. Why the f**k was I mated so some self-entitled immature brat? Moon goddess, you have to be punishing me right?

I think you’re being too hard yourself my friend.

Midnight, I’ve told you a thousand times not to peer into my thoughts.

Peering? We share one mind Deacon.

Since you’re here, what do you think about all of this?

I honestly don’t know. I want a mate, but I’ve sensed her wolf and I have to say, I’m not intrigued either.

What? Is that even possible?

Even wolves have preferences. We want our mates, but we also know boundaries.

You would think I would know boundaries, my being an Alpha. My human feelings are in love with another man’s wife.

I have sensed these feelings, and I too wonder where they came from. Desperation perhaps? Jealousy?

I’m not jealous of Dorian, Midnight. I have high respect for him, and I know you have respect for Bandit.

I do, but I do not pine over Bandit’s mate the way you do.

Maybe I am desperate.

You’re lonely my friend. We both are. We thought we found our mate, but we didn’t and that was five years ago.

Do you want to accept Heather and her wolf?

I will need to know more before I can make that decision. Just like you. Remember, I do not want a mate that will harass our friends either. We wolves are social creatures, and Allie is not the only she-wolf that we are close with. We have pack members that we consider friends.

After Midnight settled in the back of mind I had time to think about what he said. Wolves are social creatures, just like humans. My feelings for Allie aside, I need to make sure that Heather can handle the fact that I have more than one female friend. If she can’t this won’t work.

After we landed in Tampa, I ordered a rental and we followed the others to Amber and Ronnie’s packhouse. Amber let us know that their packhouse didn’t have any leftover guestrooms and said we could either stay in condo complex owned by the pack or get a hotel nearby. We opted for a hotel because I honestly didn’t want to be near Heather if I could avoid it.

“Yo, this is a nice house,” Apollo said as he pulled up behind Dorian. As we got out of the car, I saw two older gentlemen and ladies come out to greet us. Dorian and Allie stood to the side of them.

“Alpha Deacon Brown I presume,” the older one said to me. I nodded my head. “My name is Bernard Hamilton, I am the Alpha of the Snell Island pack, and this is my wife and Luna, Corinne. Please forgive her, she is mute,”

“Alpha Hamilton, these are my triplet brothers, Apollo and Lucian,” we all shake hands.

“This is my Gamma, Hank and his wife Melanie, and you already know my Betas,” he said with a smile. I nodded in return. I could already tell this guy was getting ahead of himself. “Please come in,” I looked at Dorian and Allie and they both just nodded.

“I must say, Alpha Brown, we were surprised to hear you reconsidered meeting with Heather,” Hank said.

“I haven’t,” I responded, and everyone just stopped midtrack.

“I don’t understand,”

“I’m not here to meet with Heather, I’m here to meet with Alpha Hamilton and discuss Heather,” the air the house was cold when they heard my response, and I could feel Allie getting uncomfortable.

“Then please, come to my office Alpha Brown, and let us discuss my daughter,” He says and leads the way. “Dorian and Allie, you will not be needed so you two can go rest,” he tells them.

“Alpha Hamilton, my discussions in regard to your daughter directly involve Dorian and Allie, so they will be present. If you don’t like that, then I can just leave,” he just looked at me and stared for a minute, seeing if I was bluffing but I wasn’t.

“Very well then,” he replies. We all go into his office. I sit in front of him at his desk and his ranked members sit at the round table. Dorian and Allie stand in the corner. “Alpha Brown, what is it that you would like to discuss?”

“Alpha Hamilton, are you aware that your daughter followed Dorian, Allie, and your Betas to Miami?” I looked him in the eyes.

“She did what!?”

“I will take that as a no. Secondly, not only did she follow them to Miami, she was stalking us at dinner our first night,”

“You have got to be kidding,” his Gamma said.

“Ronnie is this true?” Hamilton asks.

“It is Bernie, Allie could sense Heather nearby when we left the restaurant for dinner,” he replied.

“Not only that, but Camden overheard Lacie on the phone with Heather, saying that she had followed us as well,” Amber added.

“So, Lacie knew about this, but said nothing to us,” Hamilton says. I was assuming that Lacie was his other daughter.

“I also do not appreciate the fact that she is disrespectful to Allie,” I tell him.

“I don’t understand,” he replies.

“The first time I ever heard your daughter’s voice was when she was screaming and yelling profanity at Allie, making ridiculous accusations, and being downright immature,”

“Allie, is this true?” Hank asks.

“Unfortunately, it is,”

“I’m sure you can see why I am apprehensive about meeting her and accepting her as my mate,”

“With all due respect Alpha, as his brothers, we are also not keen on Deacon accepting Heather. Her immaturity level and constant need to spy on others is unethical for a future Luna, and the fact that she can’t handle our brother being friends with another woman is more than unappealing,” Apollo added.

“Additionally, half of the females in our pack back home are friends we grew up with, and we all have close relationships with them. Furthermore, we have an alliance with Dorian and his pack, which means we meet with them on a regular basis. If your daughter is constantly threatened by Allie and our friendship with her, then we cannot allow Heather to be the Luna to our pack, or our sister-in-law,” Lucian concluded.

“Alpha Brown, your brothers have quite strong opinions about my Heather, almost as if she were their potential mate and not yours,”

“Alpha Hamilton, my brothers and I run my back together. And it’s not just their opinions that matter, I can tell you for a fact that neither my Beta nor my Gamma would accept someone as immature as your daughter as their Luna,”

“You realize that you are insulting my daughter to my face,”

“We are merely stating facts,” I reply. Before he could reply, I saw the Luna’s eyes cloud over. After a few seconds, she started to sign to him really quickly,

“Oh s**t,” Allie said. I looked back at her. “D, Heather knows you’re here,”

“What? How?” I ask.

“Apparently, she saw us pulling in from her condo,”

“How the f**k can she see that far?” Lucian asked. Allie looked at Corinne who was signing to her.

“She has a tele…oh my god…She has a telescope,” I looked at Allie who rolled her eyes. “D, Corinne says that she’s in the house looking for you, and she is pissed,”

“Why?” I ask. Allie looks back at Corinne who is signing and Allie just scoffs.

“Wow, really Corinne?” Allie asks and she nods. Allie looks back at me. “She thinks that I am hiding you and that I am trying to manipulate you into telling Bernie you’re not interested,”

“Shorty, are you serious?” Lucian asked and Allie nodded.

“I guess we will have to meet her in the living room then if she knows that you are here,” Hamilton said.

“f**k!” I shout and slam my fist on the desk. “Luna Corinne, please let her know that she is not to touch me, as of right now, I want nothing to do with her,” she gives me a sad look and nods and her eyes cloud over.

“D, be nice okay?” Allie asks.

“I’ll try,” we head out of the office and I can immediately sense her. She smelled like cotton blossoms, it was a refreshing scent, but not sweet. When we get to the living room, I see her standing in there facing the backyard. She tensed up, meaning she could sense me. She turned around and smiled. I just stared at her; I wasn’t intrigued at all.

Midnight, what is going on?

Her wolf’s aura is unattractive, Deacon. I am not drawn to her.

Is she our mate?

She is, but…

What are you saying?

Deacon, I feel compelled to reject her.

She kept smiling at me, but then her face darkened. She looked past me and that’s when she saw Allie and Dorian. Without even a second thought, she ran over to Allie and slapped her.

“HEATHER!” Amber shouted. Dorian roared and immediately grabbed Heather by the throat. His eyes were black, and he was outraged.

“HOW DARE YOU PUT YOUR HANDS ON MY MATE!?” He roared. It wasn’t Dorian, it was his wolf.

“Dorian please, no!” Hank’s wife yelled.

“Dorian, I beg of you, put down my daughter,” Hamilton begged. Corinne is shaking in fear.

“Dorian put her down!” Amber shouted pulling on his arm. My brothers and I just stood there. Heather had tears coming out of her eyes and she looked to me for help, but I just glared at her.

“Baby put her down,” Allie said softly and touched Dorian’s arm. He looked down at her, “Put her down,” Dorian let go of Heather and she dropped to the floor and started to cough for air. “Come here,” Allie said, and she made Dorian lean into her neck. He picked her up and buried his face. I could tell he was using Allie’s scent to calm down. Allie looked at me and gestured me to tend to Heather.

I kneeled down about a foot away and looked at her. She still had tears streaming down her face and I could see claw marks on her neck, Dorian was seriously about to kill her,

“Are you okay?” I asked with no emotion

“He had me by the throat, why didn’t you do something?” she shouted

“Because you deserved it,” I tell her bluntly. She gasps and looks at me in shock. “You assaulted another Alpha’s Luna; you do realize that is actually punishable by death don’t you?”

“You’re my mate! You’re supposed to protect me!” she yelled in my face.

“I may be your mate, but you are not mine. I don’t feel the mate bond with you, and it has to do with your poor choices. I know you were stalking us in Miami,”

“How?”

“Allie could sense you at the restaurant,”

“Don’t say her name! Call her Luna, I never want to hear her name come out of your mouth!”

“What the f**k?” I heard Lucian and Apollo say in unison.

“You do not command me. I am an Alpha,” I stand to my feet and keep looking down at her. “Get up and apologize to Allie right now,”

“WHAT!?”

“YOU HEARD ME!” I roared. “GET YOUR A*S UP AND APOLOGIZE TO THE LUNA!” I grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet.

“D, stop it,” Allie said to me. I turned around and could see that Dorian had calmed down, but Allie was not. Allie walked up to Heather and stared at her for a minute and then slapped Heather right back.

“Allie!” I grabbed her wrist and she just winked at me.

“Now we’re even,” Allie said pulled her hand from my grasp and walked away. “Bernie, you will teach your daughter to keep her hands to herself. I will have no problem beating her into submission the next time she lays a hand on me,”

“Deacon, you and your brothers come with us,” Dorian demanded. As a fellow Alpha, he couldn’t actually command me, but I out of respect, I went with them.

We went upstairs to their guest room and Allie made sure the door was closed and fully locked.

“Shorty, are you okay?” Lucian asked. I grabbed Allie’s chin and saw that Heather busted Allie’s l*p.

“I’m fine, it’s just a busted l*p. It will heal in an hour,” she said pushing me off. “D, I’m surprised you reacted to my slapping her back, granted you only grabbed my wrist and yelled my name, but it was still a reaction,”

“Why did you react bro?” Apollo asked

“I don’t know,”

“Bullshit, you reacted because she’s your mate, even if you haven’t accepted it yet,” Allie tells me.

“I don’t think I’m going to,”

“What? Why? And don’t say it’s because of me,”

“No, baby girl, it has nothing to do with you, Midnight doesn’t like her wolf,” Everyone stares at me.

“What do you mean Midnight doesn’t like her wolf?” Dorian asks.

“Midnight can sense that Heather is our mate, but her scent, it’s not sweet, it’s not addictive, it’s a little refreshing, but not enticing,”

“Baby, is that possible?” Allie asks Dorian. “I thought all wolves wanted to find their mates?”

“Not always, there are some instances where the wolf will reject the mate because they don’t feel the attraction. It means that the bond isn’t strong enough, but it’s very rare and almost unheard of,”

“I’m not going reject her just yet, I want to spend more time thinking about it, but I’m already more than turned off by her, both my human side and my wolf side. Midnight senses that her wolf is just as unstable as Heather,” everyone just looks at me with pity and concern. I didn’t know what to think anymore. My feelings for Allie aside, Heather was going to make my life interesting, to say the least, but I needed to make sure that she didn’t attack Allie anymore.

“Look, it’s still early, how about we change into our swimsuits and go for a swim. We can invite the kids and have a barbeque. I’m sure being on neutral grounds and having fun will be a good way for everyone to let go and relax,” Allie suggested.

“I like the sound of that,” Lucian said. Apollo and I nod in agreement.

“Great, you guys are more than welcome to change in our bathroom,” she said. We went downstairs and out to the car to get our bags and headed back up to change. When we got there, Allie and Dorian were already in their swimsuits and had told Amber and Ronnie.

By the time we were changed ready to head down, we could hear screaming and laughing. I could see Allie being chased by this kid and a bunch of other kids running around and jumping in the pool,

“Deacon, why are you just standing there for, come on,” Ronnie and said led me out to the back.

“Where’s Heather?” I ask him.

“She just went to get her swimsuit back at her condo, she will be back,” he replied. I nodded and went to join the others.

{Allie’s P.O.V.}

“D, there you are!” I shouted when I saw him coming out. f**k, he was so fine. Stupid fantasy.

“Watch out Shorty!” Lucian shouted and did a cannonball into the pool. He splashed so much water all the kids were laughing.

“Really Luci?” I said to him and he just smiled. I rolled my eyes.

“Luci?” the Calleigh and Cassie asked.

“That’s a girl’s name,” Cassie said while giggling and Lucian just scowled, and I laughed.

“This is your fault Shorty,”

“Why does he call you Shorty Auntie Allie?” Calleigh asked.

“Easy, little mama, because your Auntie is short,” Lucian said, and I scowled at Lucian.

“You got that right,” Dorian said and put me on his neck in the pool. “Calleigh how about a round of chicken against your Aunt?”

“Okay!”

“Come here little mama, you can be on my neck,” Lucian said and put Calleigh on his neck. “You can swim right?” he asks her.

“Of course, I can,”

“Alright, let’s beat your aunt,”

“Yeah!” Of course, I had to let Calleigh win, but I still made her work for it. She was so happy when I went down into the water. She high fived Lucian and had the time of her life. Apollo ended up getting Cassie on this neck and the twins battled each other. Everyone was having an amazing time. Eventually, the big leagues came out, and it was me against Amber, which was totally unfair because she had the height advantage.

After about thirty minutes, Heather came back and had on the most inappropriate swimsuit,

“Amber,” I pointed to Heather.

“Oh my god, you have to f*****g be kidding me,” she said. “What the f**k is she wearing?”

“Nothing, apparently,” I reply. Her bikini covered absolutely nothing. It was one of those that barely covered your n*****s and was a thong bottom. She had the body for it, I won’t deny that, but the fact that she wore something that revealing in front children is what pissed off Amber and me.

We both out of the pool to go confront her while she laid on the lawn chair. Amber took a towel and threw it on her,

“Heather, what the f**k are you wearing?” Amber asked.

“What the f**k Amber?”

“Go change your bathing suit!”

“Why?”

“Because there are children here, Heather,” I said to her. “What you’re wearing is highly inappropriate,”

“I don’t care, it’s my house,” she said and threw the towel at back Amber. We both just scoffed at how immature and inconsiderate Heather was. Just then, Apollo came by,

“A word of advice for you Heather, my brother hates girls that dress like sluts,”

“Did you just call me a slut!?” Heather said standing up and sneering at Apollo.

“No, I said you’re dressed like one. If you want my brother’s attention, I suggest you start acting your age and start respecting your elders and those that outrank you,”

“I don’t care about your opinion whoever the f**k you are, I only care about Deacon’s opinion,” Heather spat.

“Wow, with an attitude like that, you’re just begging to get rejected,” he said to her and shook his head. “Come on, Shorty, Amber,” he turned and walked away. Amber shook her head and left too.

“You know what, I’m trying to help you, Heather. You want Deacon to accept you don’t you?”

“I don’t need your f*****g help, Allie. What I need is for you to stay away from my mate! I don’t even know why the f**k you’re still here anyway. You delivered my mate to me, so your job is done. Now get the f**k out of my packhouse!” she shouted in my face.

“HEATHER!!”