Desert Storm (Complete) (Book 2 to Desert Series)

Chapter 3

          {Dorian’s P.O.V.}

          As Allie went inside, I couldn’t help but smile knowing she has already impressed Alpha Hamilton and his Luna with her ability to sign,

          “Damn what does Allie have in this thing?” Ronnie asked as he pulled out Allie’s suitcase.

          “Lots of shoes, her entire skincare regimen, and enough clothes to last a month,” I tell him.

          “She’s worse than Amber,” he says and starts to roll it into the house. I just laugh and follow him inside rolling my own. When I get in, it was oddly quiet.

          “Alpha Hamilton, where is your staff?”

          “Please, call me Bernie, and our staff is out buying groceries, Alpha Shaw,”

          “If you want me to call you Bernie, then you have to call me Dorian,”

          “Dorian it is!” he said with a smile. I chuckled.

          “Why are they all out buying groceries?” I asked

          “Because his majesty and the Luna want to throw you guys a welcome party tomorrow night,” Ronnie said.

          “What? Why?”

          “Because Corinne loves having guests over. It’s the easiest way for her to tell you ‘welcome to our home’ without having to actually use words,” the Gamma said. “And please, you can refer me to as Hank if you wish, or if that’s too hard, then you can call me Henry,”

          “Henry it is,” I say shaking his hand. “I apologize for my wife’s reaction earlier,”

          “Please, after hearing of what happened, I don’t blame her for hating the name,” he said. I was glad they were understanding. Allie being as young as she is, came with some pettiness, but no one could blame her either.

          “Where are the pups?” I asked Ronnie, but before he could answer, I heard a stampede coming from upstairs. “Uh oh,”

          “UNCLE DORIAN!!” I was tackled by four adolescent pups. It actually hurt this time.

          “Alright kids, you guys are getting too big to be doing that to Dorian now!” Ronnie said forcing them off of me. When I stood up I was surprised at how tall they were. Even the twins were almost the size of Allie.

          “Cassius, did you have a growth spurt?” I ask him. He was taller than Allie and just last year he was still shorter than her.

          “They all did,” Ronnie said.

          “Where’s Camden?” I asked.

          “Cam is when Aunt Allie and Cody,” Christian answered.

          “Did you kids already greet your Aunt Allie?” Ronnie asked them.

          “Yes, dad!” they all reply in unison.

          “Damn, I think all of you might be taller than Allie,” I tell the pups.

          “We are!” they all answered. All of us just started to laugh.

          “Dorian, how did you end up with such a tiny mate?” Henry asked.

          “She was the blessing the moon goddess gave me,” I answered.

          “Good answer,” I heard an angelic voice come from the stairs. I turn and see Allie holding Cody. “This little fella makes me want another pup,” she said coming towards me.

          “Moon Goddess, I hope this our last one,” Amber says. I chuckle and take Cody from Allie.

          “Whoa, he looks like me,” I say looking at Cody closely. Black hair, green eyes, and strong chin.

          “Yeah, it’s strange that Cody has green eyes. My eyes are grey from dad, and Ronnie has brown eyes,” Amber said.

          “None of the other kids have green eyes either,” Ronnie added. Cody was a good looking pup. He was pretty big too. “Anyway, my parents are going to come by to get the kids, but the rest of us will go to dinner,” he adds.

          “Awww…Why can’t we go?” Camden asks.

          “Because honey, it is for grownups only,” Amber tells him.

          “But Aunt Allie is going,” Christian replied.

          “That’s because I’m a grownup,” Allie said.

          “You’re too small to be a grownup. I’m taller than you,” he said. Allie scoffed and her jaw dropped to the floor. Everyone started to roar in laughter.

          “Christian, being tall doesn’t make you a grownup,” Henry said. “It’s your age. How old are you?”

          “11,”

          “Exactly, so until you are 18, you are not a grownup,” Henry says. All the kids' pout. Allie is still in shock. I give Cody to Amber and hug Allie. She is actually quite upset at the fact her 11-year-old nephew dissed her height.

          After Ronnie’s parents and the nannies came to the packhouse, all of us ranked members went out to do dinner. They didn’t have a large enough pack car, so Allie and I went in our rental and just followed them,

          “Have I ever told you how sexy you are?” Allie said as she leaned over and kissed my neck.

          “Baby, I’m driving,”

          “So?”

          “Allie, we’re not in the desert, there are actually other cars on the road,” I tell her gently pushing her back to her seat. She just giggles and sits back. I grab her left hand and kiss her knuckles where her rings are.

          “So, where are we going anyway?” she asked.

          “Cuban place,”

          “Really!? I’ve never had Cuban cuisine before!” she said holding her hands to her face in excitement. Allie was always excited about food. “What’s the name of the restaurant? I want to look at the menu,”

          “It’s called La Taraseeta,” I tell her, and she just looks at me.

          “I’m going to assume you meant to say, La Teresita,”

          “I don’t speak Spanish Allie!” she just started to laugh at my horrible pronunciation.

          “I don’t either, but I still know how to pronounce s**t!” she said while still laughing. She was laughing so hard that she was starting to cry. “Oh f**k, hahaha! I have to tell Sin this when she gets home,”

          “Stop laughing!”

          “Why?! You all laughed at me when Christian made fun of my height!”

          “That’s because that was funny,” I said and started to laugh with her.

          “Well, you suck at Latin American pronunciation, and that’s funny to me,” she replied. We ended up laughing the entire drive to the restaurant.

          {Allie’s P.O.V.}

          When we get to the restaurant, we park the car and meet at the front. Amber had already made a reservation, so we were seated fairly quickly. It was this really cute small-town restaurant in the middle of nowhere, but these places usually meant it had the most authentic food. Thank god Amber told me to dress down. I was about to wear a blouse with jeans and heels, but Amber told me to be even more casual than that, so I opted for my signature tank, shorts, and chucks. Even for older ranked members, everyone was in pretty much a shirt, shorts or jeans, and comfortable shoes.

          I was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one attached to their husband. All of the other ranked females were holdings their mates’ hands, and it brought a smile to my face. Bernie loved Corinne, and I could feel it. Same with Henry and Melanie. Amber and Ronnie never ceased to amaze me even after 19 years together. I hoped that Dorian and I stay that much in love for the years to come.

          “Hola, welcome to La Teresita, my name is Mariela and I will be your server tonight,” she said with a strong Cuban accept. “What can I get for you to drink?” everyone ordered water and soda, but I ordered the Guava juice.

          “Refills for the Guava juice is an extra charge, is that okay?” she asked me, and I looked at Amber

          “That’s fine,” Amber replied for me

          “Perfecto, I will be right back with your drinks,”

          “Sorry, I didn’t realize they charged for refills,” I said apologetically

          “No apologies needed Allie, dinner is on us, so please feel free to get whatever you like,” Bernie said. I looked at Dorian, giving him my face of disapproval. Neither one of us likes to bum off of others.

          “Bernie, please allow us to pay for dinner. You’re already hosting us and throwing a big dinner tomorrow night, the least we can do is pay for dinner tonight,” Dorian said.

          “Please, Dorian, you and your wife are our guests,” Bernie says.

          “But…Ow!” I was about to protest, but Amber kicked me. “Did you just kick me?”

          “Yes, little sister, I kicked you. Stop being weirdos about it and just let Bernie treat you guys. You two can pay for your tourist crap while we’re out having fun throughout the week, but the food is on us, no matter what,” she said. I pouted. Dorian nudged me and shook his head. I gave up. Corinne waved her hand at me, and I looked up,

          Allie, please think nothing of it. You can do the same for us whenever we go to visit you in Las Vegas. She smiled. I smiled back and nodded my head before signing back to her,

          You have to promise to come to visit so we can host you as well. You can also meet our twins. She gave me a look of shock when I signed I had twins. I pulled out my phone and showed her pictures of Daisy and Demarco. She gave me the ‘aww’ face as she flipped through my photo album of the twins.

          You have beautiful pups. She signed while handing me back my phone. I mouth ‘thank you’ to her.

          “Here we are,” Mariela our waitress said as she brought out the drinks. “Are you all ready to order?” we all nodded. Everyone ordered an appetizer so we could share. Dorian ordered the Cubano sandwich with French fries as his entree, and I got the whole fried snapper.

          “Can I get yellow rice and black bean soup for my sides?” I asked.

          “One of those is an extra charge,” she replied.

          “I understand, that’s fine,” I replied with a smile. She smiled back and got everyone else’s order.

          As we waited for our food, we shared on we each met our mate. Corinne and Bernie have known each other since high school, and he realized she was his mate before she had even turned 18. He said that her being mute was never an issue because he went out of his way to learn sign language when he realized she was his mate. Corinne had signed that she was going to reject him because she felt she wouldn’t be good enough being a mute, but he didn’t let her. It took her a while to accept he really loved her, but she eventually came around.

          Henry and Melanie met at a party when they were in college in Miami. Melanie was from a pack in Jacksonville, Florida. So, they had to do the long-distance thing until she graduated. Henry is two years older, so he was a senior when she was a sophomore. Two years long distance must have been hard.

          Amber and Ronnie I knew somewhat. I know that Amber was on vacation with friends in Tampa when she met Ronnie. I finally got all the juicy details when I heard that Ronnie worked as a male stripper to piss off his parents. Apparently, Ronnie was just as bad as Dorian when he was in his early twenties. He slept around and had a lot of one night stands. But when he met Amber one night when working at the club, it was game over for him, but she actually rejected him at first because she didn’t want to be associated with a man-w***e.

          Ronnie said that he flew up to Vegas to win her over, which after a month of wooing her, she gave in and rescinded her rejection. It was then she found out he was a Beta, and he found out she was the daughter of an Alpha,

          “Wait, how could you not tell she had Alpha blood in her?” I asked Ronnie.

          “I figured she had ranked blood in her, but I never thought it was Alpha blood,” he replied.

          “I didn’t know that you could take back a rejection,” I said looking at Amber.

          “Yeah, it happens on the occasion. Some realize that they made a mistake and are able to rekindle their bond buy taking it back. Some try but are too late,” she says.

          “What do you mean by too late?”

          “On the off chance mates reject each other, one of those mates can be blessed with what we call a ‘second chance mate’,” Bernie says.

          “Oh, wow, I had no idea,”

          “Getting a second chance mate is rare, but it happens,” Henry chimes in.

          “I’m glad we never had to go through that,” I say to Dorian holding his hand.

          “I have a question for you, Allie,” Melanie says. I look up at her and smile. “Why are you on your husband’s left? Shouldn’t you be on his right?”

          “Um…” I start to giggle. “Dorian prefers me on his left, so he can put his left on hand on my leg while he eats,” I say to them and they all look at Dorian. He just shrugs his shoulder.

          “I don’t understand,”

          “It’s because Allie is normally on his lap when they eat at home,” Amber says and then everyone looks at me and I just smile. Melanie was about to say something when our food came out.

          We were all excited to eat because we were starving. Dorian got his sandwich and I snagged a fry off his plate. I realized that everyone got chicken or beef and I was the only one that got seafood. We started to dig in, and I moaned after taking one bite of the snapper.

          “Good?” Dorian asked. I nodded my head.

          “Want a bite?” I asked him and he opened his mouth. I got a big chunk with my fork, checked for bones, and fed him.

          “So, Allie, Amber tells me that you were once human, is that true?” Bernie asks.

          “Yes, it is. I’m technically still a newborn. I’ve been a wolf less than two years,” I respond while taking a bite of my yellow rice. I moan again and everyone laughs.

          “Please forgive her, she loves food,” Dorian says taking a bite of his sandwich.

          “Allie, what are you doing?” Amber asked as I started to pick at the head of the fish.

          “I am getting the cheek meat out,” I respond.

          “Cheek meat?” they all ask in unison. I pulled out a big chunk of meat and showed it to them.

          “Wow, I had no idea that there was meat in the head of a fish,” Melanie said.

          “This is the best part,” I said and stuffed into my mouth.

          “Thanks for not sharing,” Dorian whined, and Amber rolled her eyes.

          “There’s another side, hold on,” I say and flip the fish over. I dig out the other cheek and give it to him.

          “Damn, that is good,”

          “Now you know why I was pissed off that the harbormaster wanted the fish heads when we were in the Bahamas,” I said to him. Dorian went back to his sandwich, but Corinne waved her hand at me,

          Allie, you eat weird stuff, don’t you?

          “Corinne!” Bernie scolded her for her question. “Don’t be rude,”

          “No, it’s okay. It wasn’t rude at all. I actually do eat weird stuff. It’s the Korean side in me. Even though I grew up an orphan, I made a habit to eat the foods of my culture because it was the only way I keep my heritage without having any family,”

          “Allie, you were an orphan?” Henry asked.

          “Amber, you didn’t tell them?” I asked.

          “Not my place to tell, sweetie,” she replied. I smiled. I explained my past and how my parents were killed in a car accident when I was only two. That I had grown up in the foster system, having never been adopted. I also told them how my grandparents in Korea didn’t want me, so I was left to grow up alone. Poor Corinne and Melanie were on the brink of tears.

          “For someone so young, Allie, you sure have been through a lot,” Bernie said. “I never would have guessed you went through such an ordeal. You seem like such a happy-go-lucky person,” he continued.

          “I honestly used to be a dark person and only saw the negative things in life. But after meeting my best friend Sin, our Gamma female about six years ago, she really turned me around and helped me see the brighter things in life. Then I met Dorian, and that just turned my entire universe into a roller coaster ride. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Dorian gave me the most important things in life- true friends, family, and love,”

          “You never did tell us how you and Dorian met,” Melanie said. I looked at Dorian and we both just smiled.

          “Well…”

-------------------------------------------

          “Oh, my goddess,” Melanie said, and Corinne was in pure shock.

          “Wait, hold up! Dorian, you never told me that’s how you guys actually met! You just said you met her at Brandon’s club!” Amber exclaimed.

          “Like I was going to tell you I met my tiny human mate because of her murderous ex showing up, Amber,” Dorian said defending himself. “Add on the fact that he was a rogue wolf, yeah, that was not going to happen. You would have come up yourself to kill him,”

          “Uh yeah! I would have!” Amber says crossing her arms in annoyance. I just smile at her. She’s an awesome sister-in-law. Corinne waved her hand at me,

          I can’t believe how much you have gone through, Allie. You were a strong human, which is why you are a strong werewolf and Luna. The moon goddess really did right by allowing you to be one of us.

          “Thank you, Corinne. That means a lot,” I reply.

          “How was everything?” Mariela asks us.

          “Amazing!” I reply

          “Delicious,” Bernie says.

          “Excellent, as always,” Amber responds.

          “Did you all want dessert?” Mariela asks.

          “May I?” I ask Bernie.

          “Please, be my guest,”

          “Mariela, may I get the sopapillas and the pastel imposible,”

          “You want both?” she asks, and I nod. “Anyone else?”

          “Yes, may I have the churros, with ice cream?” Amber orders.

          “Make that two,” Ronnie adds.

          “My wife would like the papaya please,” Bernie says. “I will have just the ice cream,”

          “We’re good, thank you,” Henry says for him and Melanie.

          “Fried Ice cream for me, please,” Dorian says.

          “Perfecto, I will put this in. Will this be all one check or split?”

          “One, please,” Bernie says.

          After we ate our dessert, Bernie paid, and we headed back to the packhouse. It was late, and all of the kids were already in bed,

          “We’re beat, goodnight you two,” Amber said as she and Ronnie head upstairs.

          “Yes, we are too,” everyone else said and went up. “Feel free to stay up as late as you want. You can also go for a swim if you like. The water stays 75 degrees year-round,” Bernie said.

          “Oh wow, thank you. I think we might just do that,” I tell him and smile. Sure enough, Dorian and I decide to go for a late-night swim. Their pool wasn’t as big as ours, but it worked just fine,

          “Wow, that food was so good,” I said as Dorian held me close.

          “It was. I think you’re going to have to start teaching me about Korean cuisine,”

          “You eat Korean barbeque,” I tell him.

          “That’s different, Allie. I only eat the meat and the salad, I don’t touch the other stuff because I don’t know what it is,” I started to giggle.

          “If you really want to learn, I can teach you. We can start off easy, and work our way up to the big leagues,”

          “Big leagues as in what?”

          “The stuff that smells funny but tastes good. Because our sense of smell is heightened, some of the stuff may smell really bad to you,” I tell him and scrunch my face.

          “I guess I will just have to prepare myself,” he says, and I nod. We swim around a bit and I dive under and stay down a bit. Of course, Dorian still can’t figure out how I hold my breath for so long. I started to help him stay down longer by giving him some oxygen via mouth to mouth. It shortens my time, but it’s worth it. It gives me an excuse to kiss him.

          I came back up and swam into Dorian’s arms and kissed him. I stopped mid-kiss when I felt another presence,

          “Why did you stop, baby?” he asked.

          “Shh…I think someone’s watching us,” I whisper. I concentrate and can feel someone’s soul, but a familiar one. I think a little and realize who it is, “Camden, I know you’re there,” I say out loud.

          “Camden?” Dorian says.

          “Aww… How did you know it was me, Aunt Allie?”

          “Remember, I’m a blessed wolf that can sense souls, and I could sense you. Why are you up this late?” I ask him as he comes out of hiding and walks towards the pool.

          “I can’t sleep,” he replies. His tone was off, and he seemed burdened by something.

          “Cam, is everything okay?” I ask.

          “I actually wanted to talk to Uncle Dorian,”

          “What’s up kiddo?” Dorian says. Cam takes off his slippers and sits on the edge of the pool dipping his feet in the water, while Dorian and I just stand and look at him. He seemed so sad.

          “I overheard mom and dad the other day talking, and they were saying that I would be the next Alpha of our pack when I turned 18…” Cam said and frowned. “… That’s in four years,”

          “Cam, is there a problem?” Dorian asked. Cam avoided eye contact with both of us. Something was up, but I couldn’t tell what.

          “Uncle Dorian, Aunt Allie…I think I’m…Gay,”