Chapter Thirteen
Jean-Michel and Darby spent the next few days as if they were on their own private honeymoon. Darby giggled that the only piece of clothing he allowed her to wear was one of his shirts and then only when she insisted on going out on the balcony where she might be seen. Other than that Jean-Michel preferred his mate naked and more readily available to his carnal desires. He knotted and tied her numerous times… several times at her instigation. In between the rapture they experienced when so doing, he would mount her with the knot and take long, hard strokes to bring her to repeated orgasms. At one time she casually remarked that her pussy no longer felt normal when his cock wasn’t lodged within it.
Darby began leaving Claudine notes of the things brought up to them that she particularly enjoyed. She and Jean-Michel ate at least one of their meals each day on the expansive balcony off their bedroom. It was private and sheltered but had a one-hundred-eighty-degree view of the river. Darby was fascinated that the Mississippi was still used as one of the major causeways to get from New Orleans to other points along the way.
One afternoon when Jean-Michel retrieved their midday tray, there was a note from JD asking to speak briefly with Jean-Michel at his earliest convenience.
“I fear, ma choue, that reality has finally reared its ugly head and there are matters other than you that need my attention.”
She smiled and wrapped herself in his arms. “That’s all right, beloved. I knew at some point they’d want me to share. Is it all right with you if I leave our room?”
“But of course. I never intended to keep you locked away… forever,” he said, smiling. “You do know how much joy you bring to me, don’t you?”
“I believe you’ve mentioned it a time or two… even before I was ready to hear it.”
“This is your home. You are free to do whatever you wish.”
“Hmmmm… Gretchen mentioned there was great shopping to be had in New Orleans and that my mate was a generous man. As you might recall, I have very few clothes.”
He laughed. “Then if it pleases you, go buy a new wardrobe. Take Megan; she probably needs some things too. In fact, why don’t you plan an outing with all of the women of our pack for some shopping and whatever else you’d like to do. You haven’t gotten to know them, but the women in our pack are a hard-working, fairly frugal lot. Perhaps they will allow you to indulge them more often than they allow their mates or me to do so.”
“All of the women… including Summer?”
“If you think Summer can be trusted. I will get Geoff’s and JD’s opinions on the matter as well. I would prefer she not be segregated and learn to live as a member of this pack.”
“Do you think she’ll always be with us?”
“I do. Geoff all but admitted he felt called to her the day we arrived home. If he hasn’t already done so, this meeting may well be about Geoff wishing to claim her.”
“Let me know if I can include her. I agree that as soon as she can get used to a new normal, the better.”
He kissed her briefly as he finished dressing. “I will leave it in your hands, mate. We do have a car and driver so make use of him if you choose.”
“We have a limo?” she asked, giggling.
“Yes, but just a small one.” He laughed and left her.
Jean-Michel trotted down the steps and was waylaid by the housekeeper, Mrs. Hastings.
“Alpha, is the mistress going to be available today? I have a few things to discuss with her but didn’t want to intrude.”
“She should be down shortly. Do you know where JD and Geoff might be?”
“They were in having lunch. Thank you, sir. She does know we’re so very glad to have her, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, Mrs. Hastings. That she does. Everyone has made my mate feel very welcome and I am grateful for that.”
Jean-Michel entered the dining hall and was greeted by the majority of the pack. He scanned the room and as he got close to Geoff, he said, “No Summer?”
Geoff shook his head. “No, she’s pretty much been in her room since you locked yourself away with your mate. JD and I want to talk to you about her.”
“I am at your disposal and would apologize for not attending to the situation sooner, but I fear I am rather enamored of my mate.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
Both men laughed. Having grown up with his beta and his omega was a decided advantage for Jean-Michel. There was an ease in the relationship between the three of them that rarely existed in ranking pack members.
Jean-Michel looked to JD, who sat with Megan close to his side. He smiled. Megan looked very happy and relaxed in her new home. He crossed over to her.
“Still happy about being mated to this beast?”
She laughed. “Very. Although I’ve been told should I wish to dissolve that pairing there are others here who would take his place.”
“It isn’t funny, Meg.”
She laughed harder. “Yes, it is. They were only trying to get a rise out of you. However, I much prefer the rise I get when I try… and often when I don’t try.”
JD growled at her and she kissed him before he could finish. Jean-Michel was tickled to see JD soften and return the kiss. Megan was good for his beta.
“Best be careful, Megan. Not only is he the beta of this pack but your mate. He has the authority to decide in either role to put you over his knee should he decide it would do you some good.”
She said nothing, but kissed JD again.
“I had a note that said you wished to speak with Geoff and me? Should we talk here? Darby should be down in a moment, or does the matter require more delicacy and is best discussed in the library?”
He felt her enter the room before he turned and smiled at her.
“We have a library?”
“Yes. My grandfather loved books, in particular, first editions. My father collected paintings.”
“And what do you collect, my mate?”
“Only a beautiful blonde with whom I shall spend my life.”
Darby rolled her eyes. “Is he always like this?”
“Only since he met you,” teased JD.
Darby scanned the room. “No Summer?”
“Alas, Summer continues to avoid happiness at all cost. Sweetheart, why don’t you stay with Megan and the rest of the pack; I need to speak with JD and Geoff.”
“Anything wrong?”
Both JD and Geoff shook their heads. “Nothing a good welting won’t fix,” said JD.
The three ranking members headed toward the library.
“What the hell was that about?” asked Darby. She reached up to squeeze Gretchen’s hand as she joined them. “With the exception of Summer, are all the women of the pack here?”
“They are,” said Gretchen.
Darby lowered her voice. “The pregnant girl… I can’t remember her name.”
“Lily.”
“Let’s all of us go join Lily for a moment.”
Gretchen gathered the other two female members of the pack while Darby and Megan went to Lily.
“How are you feeling, Lily?”
“Very pregnant and wondering why I was so happy about this all those months ago when I found out. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be complaining.”
“Why ever not? If I’m to lead the women of our pack, who the hell else should you complain to?”
Lily giggled. “My feet are killing me.”
“I have an idea about how to fix that.” Darby waited until all of the women were sitting together. “Here’s the deal. I’m in desperate need of a mani/pedi. My mate, because I’m such a great lay, is in an exceptionally good mood and sort of gave me carte blanche and an open credit card for the rest of the afternoon. Megan and I don’t have a lot of clothes. So, what do you say we all go into town, get our fingernails and toes done, and do some serious damage to his credit card? Gretchen tells me the shopping in New Orleans is fabulous and seeing how well dressed you all are, I’m thinking you must know the places to get that done.”
They all laughed and agreed to be ready to go in a half an hour. Having overheard part of the conversation, Vachon offered to get the car and driver ready for their excursion.
* * *
As the doors closed behind them in the library, Jean-Michel said, “Let me guess… Summer has continued in her naughty ways.”
JD shook his head. “As bad as she was at Calon Gwyllt, she’s been worse. We have a man outside her door and one posted beneath her balcony. After two failed escapes, she has now gone on a hunger strike. Claudine is beside herself.”
“I won’t chastise you for being with your mate. After all, you came downstairs before I did,” Jean-Michel chuckled. “But I fail to see the problem.”
“This one,” JD said, pointing to Geoff, “refuses to claim the brat and deal with her and has made it clear if I take a strap to her, I’m in for one helluva fight.”
“Geoff, she can’t be allowed to continue to misbehave. Why haven’t you taken her in hand?”
“Because we aren’t mated. And because the two of you, who are the only ones to discipline the girls in our pack, were upstairs and not inclined to do anything but pleasure yourselves and your mates. Not that I blame you for that. I haven’t claimed her yet so have no rights to her as her mate.”
“Why on earth not?” asked a perplexed Jean-Michel.
“I didn’t have your blessing. You disappeared upstairs before I could obtain it.”
“For Christ’s sake, Geoff. When have you ever known me to deny a man his fated mate when he’s called to her? If that’s the only problem, go get the brat. I’ll formally name you her mate and then you can deal with her.”
Both Jean-Michel and JD would later agree they had never seen Geoff look so relieved or so happy.
“Thank you, Jean-Michel. For what it’s worth I spoke with the other guys who don’t have mates and they’re fine with it.”
JD snorted. “Of course they are, only Jean-Michel and you are foolish enough to want known troublemakers as mates.”
“As I recall, mon ami, your Megan spent a bit of time over Nick’s knee when she was with Calon Gwyllt.”
“Yes, but I have yet to have to discipline her. My mate is the model of good behavior.”
It was Jean-Michel’s turn to snort. “Give her time. That’s just the whole newly mated glow talking. Geoff, I believe Darby is going to take the rest of the girls for an outing into the city. Let’s make this formal and final before they leave. That way you’ll have the afternoon to sort things out with your mate before they return.”
“Thank you, Jean-Michel. I’ll go get her.”
“I’ll go round up the rest of the troops,” offered JD.
Jean-Michel let them go and was going to go find Darby when she entered the room. “Problem?”
“With Summer. But one that is soon to be remedied. She is to be mated with our omega, Geoff.”
“What if she doesn’t want to?”
“At the risk of having you rise up to protect one of your own, she doesn’t have a say in it. Geoff believes he is her fated mate. And like other members of the notorious Bae Diogel pack, she refuses to heed his call.”
“I don’t like it, Jean-Michel. She has a right to decide her own fate.”
“No, my beloved, she does not. For one, she is Bae Diogel and the Council has spoken on the matter. For two, she is much safer mated than not. And although you do not know him well, I believe you know that Geoff would never be part of a coerced pairing if he wasn’t absolutely sure. If you want to make a silent protest and not be in the room when I make the announcement, I will allow you to remain here in the library until after it’s done. I would prefer that you and Megan be present, but I will respect and understand if you choose not to be.”
“He won’t hurt her, will he?”
“Do you mean will he be mean to her or abuse her? No. But apparently, she’s been even worse than she was at Calon Gwyllt. Her first few days with her mate will most likely be more like yours than like Megan’s. JD believes, and he’s usually right about these things, that she needs a good welting before she’ll settle down. And as it did wonders for you, I’m inclined to agree with him.”
“Can I at least try talking to her?”
“No, beloved. We’ve gone past that.”
They could suddenly hear Summer screeching in the upper hallway as she fought with Geoff, resisting his attempts to bring her downstairs peacefully. Jean-Michel quirked his eyebrow at his mate.
“You may be right. And I will stand with you, mate. I don’t know that I think you’re right, but I don’t know that I think you’re wrong.”
The pack had assembled in the great hall of the mansion. Jean-Michel entered with Darby at his side. He whispered to JD that if it was going to upset Megan that she need not be present. JD indicated she would stay.
“Let go of me, you overgrown shaggy dog,” snarled Summer as she tried to extricate herself from Geoff’s grasp.
Jean-Michel laughed. “I think, mon ami, your mate is going to need to be instructed in the ways of our pack.”
Summer rounded on him. “I’ll say whatever the hell I want to say… however I want to say it.”
The pack had gone very quiet. While Jean-Michel was a very loving alpha who took the care and responsibility for those of his pack very seriously,, he was not one to tolerate open hostility or disrespect.
“Summer, that’s enough…” started Darby.
“Jesus, Darby. Help me. Shake off whatever sex-crazed haze he has you in and help me.”
Jean-Michel growled and Darby put her hand on her mate’s arm. “Is he great in the sack? You better believe it. Does he have me in some kind of thrall to his power? Perhaps when he’s knotted inside me and I’m tied to him for hours at a time. But I assure you that no one has or ever will have control over my thoughts or feelings. Bae Diogel was never about being able to be a bitch. It was about taking care of one another and finding our own way. Maybe that’s what led us all here. I get that you’re not happy about this. I wasn’t happy when Jean-Michel ran me to ground and pinned me underneath him. I sure as hell wasn’t happy with him the first time he spanked me and I really hated him the first time he used his belt. But you know what? For every time I was a complete and total bitch, I got punished and forgiven. He never disciplined me harder that he was willing to love me.”
“Great. You’re well laid and don’t mind being beaten again. But I want no part of it. I will not be forced into a pairing not of my own choosing.”
“The females of our kind have always been forced into pairings. Some by ranking members in their packs and some by being given the opportunity to run and make a fight for it. Do you really think there’s anywhere you could go that there isn’t someone who’d be willing to track you down and claim you?”
“I’d rather take my chances out there.”
“Really? What if the one who catches and claims you is some alpha who truly didn’t believe females were good for anything but knotting and fucking to try to breed them for an heir? Want to know what happens when you don’t conceive and you get a period? I’ll tell you from firsthand knowledge; you get the shit beat out of you. Not spanked or welted, but some guy twice your size takes his fist and pummels you. Then he throws you over the back of something and fucks you without any kind of foreplay. And if there are other male members of the pack around? So be it. They get to watch and cheer him on. And if he’s really drunk and can’t get it up, but one of his ranked buddies can, they step in and do the job for him.”
Summer looked like someone had punched her in the gut. “Darby, I…”
Darby waved her off. “So don’t tell me about taking chances. I don’t know Geoff hardly at all, but look around you, Summer… do any of these women look abused or haunted or like they are anything other than happy? No, they do not. They are all loved and cared for. Get the fuck over yourself, Summer and count yourself fortunate that my mate has a big enough heart to love you and call you pack and family in spite of how bloody awful you’ve been. And that even though you have treated him abominably, that Geoff has the strength of heart and character to listen to his heart when it says you are his true mate.”
Geoff took Darby’s hand and rubbed his forehead and cheek against it in an age-old show of respect and loyalty.
She turned toward Jean-Michel. “I’m sorry, my love. I should have told you. If you don’t want to be mated to me…”
He folded her in his arms. “Shhh,” he said soothingly as her kissed her gently. “I suspected the entire story was worse than you let on, but figured you’d tell me when you were ready. You are home now. You have me and the rest of our pack. No one will ever hurt you again.”
A comforting and supportive cry went up from the group and they gathered around her.
“Never doubt that nothing you ever did before or was done to you could make me waver in my devotion or the depth of my love for you. You are my fated mate… and I am yours now and forever.”
Summer made a sound of disgust. “That’s all fine and well for you, but it won’t happen to me. I can fight for myself.”
“Can you?” piped up Megan. “As I recall when the Serbs came, you were being dragged back to their boat by the roots of your hair until Darby killed the two trying to take her and attacked the two that had you. The way I remember it, if it weren’t for Darby, you’d most likely have ended up with that bunch of losers with the whole lot of them breeding you repeatedly.”
The pack all looked at their beta’s mate questioningly. She smiled and nodded. “Trust me, our alpha doesn’t ever really want to piss his mate off… especially if there’s a sharp knife anywhere around. We buried six of them at sea… Darby killed three of them, Skylar two, and Roz, our beta, took out the last of them. The rest we sent home licking their wounds and, I’m sure, plotting their revenge.”
“That was different,” stammered Summer. “We weren’t prepared for an attack…”
“Enough,” said Jean-Michel calmly. “Like it or not, Summer, you are a member of this pack and subject to my authority. Within that authority I have made the decision to honor Geoff’s request to claim you. You have a choice to make. Do you want to accept that perhaps others know what is best for you and accept his claim or do you prefer to run?”
“He could take her into the library and give her the welting she needs to force her acceptance,” JD offered. “That seems to have worked for Nick and Bianca of Calon Gwyllt.”
“Yes, he could. But I worry that it would be distressing for the other women of our pack. Offering a woman a chance to run is a time-honored tradition in wolf society.”
“What are the parameters that allow me to win?” asked Summer, knowing that Skylar’s original mate had chased her down for two days.
“Tradition says that for as long as he wants to chase, you must run. I do not feel that offers a woman anything more than the illusion of being able to break free of her pack. So, I will set the parameters at twenty-four hours or the boundaries of our home here at the plantation, whichever is first achieved. Do you have the clothing and footwear that you feel you need to be successful?”
She nodded.
“Then we will gather and you can start your run when the rest of our ladies return from a trip into the city. Until then you will be returned to your room. Geoff, I give you leave to try to persuade your mate that this is not the course she wants to pursue, but you may not discipline her for her naughtiness until after you have caught her or she has accepted your claim, whichever comes first.”
JD moved forward and took her by the upper arm to take her back upstairs. “I don’t suppose, Jean-Michel, you’d be inclined to let me punish her in the way she needs?”
“No. She is Geoff’s and he can see to providing her the structure and correction that she seems to need.” Jean-Michel turned to Darby. “Beloved, while you are shopping, please ensure that all of our ladies get several things that please them and start rebuilding Summer’s wardrobe as she doesn’t have many things either.”
“Yes, Alpha, your wish is my command.”
He laughed. “Yes, but only because it was what you planned to do anyway.”
She giggled. “But, of course. Summer, I’d rest and plot my best way out of here. My money’s on Geoff.” She reached out and squeezed Geoff’s arm. “Now, ladies, there’s a car waiting for us and our alpha’s money to spend.” She kissed Jean-Michel and headed out to the car waiting to take them into the city.