Chapter Seven
Jean-Michel held her close. Each time she tried to move away from his embrace, he pulled her back. The last time, he growled at her and simply said, “Enough.” He felt her relax and finally settle into a deep sleep. Once assured she was truly asleep, he allowed himself to nuzzle her before holding her close and sleeping himself.
He woke once to make love to her, rolling her gently onto her back and ensuring her sore bottom was cradled on a soft pillow. There hadn’t been a lot of foreplay as her body was more than ready to once again welcome him. He made sure she was aroused and ready and then gently mounted her, thrusting deep and causing her to climax as he did.
His lovemaking, while still dominating, was neither frenzied nor controlling. It was perhaps the most devastating of all. She clung to him and orgasmed repeatedly. He whispered what she assumed were assurances of love and devotion. She couldn’t be sure because they were either in French, Cajun, or Creole… or some combination thereof. But they sounded sensual and hearing them increased her enjoyment.
As the sun came up, Darby awoke and realized that sometime during the night, Jean-Michel had rolled over on his back and tucked her in under his shoulder. One of his hands rested on the small of her back with his fingers just touching her ass. She started to pull away from him. His hand slipped down to cup her ass and gently pet her… a reminder that he was capable of putting additional sting in her tail if needed.
“Let go of me.”
“Darby, do not start. The game is up, you revealed your true self to me the last time I made love to you.” She said nothing. He chuckled. “Shall I remind you of your devotion to me?”
“I’m not devoted to you. I despise you.”
His hand cracked down on her bottom.
“Bastard!”
“Mate,” he corrected her. “And you will stop lobbing insults at me.”
“If you don’t want to be insulted, leave me the hell alone. And keep that thing away from me.”
He laughed out loud. “That thing as you call it gave you immeasurable pleasure yesterday. You ought to be more appreciative.”
“I don’t appreciate having you wake me up to fuck me because you have a hard-on.”
“I think, my mate, you need a little refresher in speaking more respectfully to me.” He sat up on the edge of the bed and dragged her over his lap before she knew what he was about. He paddled her, reigniting the pain in her backside. “You are going to learn to speak respectfully even if you don’t feel that way. Do you understand?”
He peppered her backside until she was squirming and thrashing about. He relit the painful fire on her backside, but the flame of her arousal blazed forth. His spankings were not only painful, they were humiliating. It was hard to reconcile the pain he was causing her with the resulting state of arousal.
“You sonofabitch!”
“Mate. Do you need to have your mouth washed out again?”
“No,” she cried.
He stopping spanking her and put his hand between her legs. She struggled to deny him access to her humiliation.
He chuckled, “As I suspected, you are wet and wanting.”
He pulled her off his lap and stood up, tossing her on her belly over the end of the bed. He mounted her and began pummeling her pussy with his cock. Repeatedly his groin made contact with her very sore bottom and yet her pussy began to pulse in rhythm to his thrusting. Darby felt the beginning of her orgasm despite her trying to deny or stop it.
“Jean-Michel,” she cried.
“Better, mate.” He continued to thrust into her with considerable power and speed. “You, my beloved, are going to yield and call me mate before I’m through with you.”
He settled into a rhythm that brought Darby to repetitive climaxes even though every time he surged forward into her, he came into direct and painful contact with her sore and welted backside. She couldn’t get away from him—either literally or figuratively. Not only did he have a strong hold on her hips but she needed his strength and sexuality. She responded wildly to him.
“Who am I, Darby?”
“My captor.”
He released her hip to swat her behind before taking hold of her again. “Who am I?”
“A sonofabitch,” she cried. Again, he released her only long enough to land another swat on her bottom. “Jean-Michel, please.”
“Please what, Darby?”
“Please come. I’m tired; I’m sore and I need you.”
He slowed his stroking but continued to drive deep. “I know you do, beloved. Who am I?”
“Jean-Michel Gautier, alpha of New Orleans.”
“Who am I to you?”
“No,” she wailed.
“Yes, Darby. Who am I?”
“My mate,” she cried as she climaxed again.
He pressed her down into the bed so that he could have more body contact with her. He increased the speed of his thrusting. “Yes, beloved. I am your mate. See that you don’t forget it again.” His last few words were said as he allowed himself to climax and spill himself deep within her.
He pulled out of her and pulled her into his lap and into his arms. She halfheartedly fought against him. He held her close and rained kisses across her face. “It’s all right, beloved. I am your mate and you are mine. Everything will be fine.”
“No, it won’t.”
He chuckled. “Yes, Darby, it will. Do you want to get ready and come downstairs with me or would you prefer to stay up here and I will have something sent up to you?”
“I can go downstairs?”
“You can, but you will be at my side at all times. If you misbehave, I will bring you back to our room, give you another spanking, and you will remain here for the rest of the day. Do you want to try coming downstairs?”
She nodded.
“Who are you?” he whispered. She looked at him and shook her head. He nuzzled her. “You can do this. Who are you?”
She sighed and felt silent tears run down her cheeks, only to be tenderly wiped away by Jean-Michel. “I am mate to the alpha of New Orleans.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, smiling. “But more precisely you are the beloved mate to the alpha of New Orleans. Now come, let’s get showered and dressed.”
* * *
Jean-Michel escorted Darby down the stairs, tucking her arm in his. They approached their hosts where Darby was informed about JD and Megan.
Dylan looked to Darby. “And how does the mistress of New Orleans fare this morning? I take it you have not been ill-used?”
“No more so than I have been since you destroyed our home and our pack.”
“Darby,” Skylar growled.
“Shh, cariad,” said Dylan gently. “You know that the women of our pack speak freely as long as it is with a respectful tone. I assume your new mate disciplined you last night for your misbehavior yesterday? But it would appear he chose not to mark you at this time, and I daresay didn’t knot and tie you to him?”
“No, but the bastard…”
“Not respectful, Darby,” cautioned Dylan.
Jean-Michel hugged her close, infuriating her. “What she was going to say was but the bastard put her over his knee and spanked her pretty bottom until it was a deep shade of red and she chose to apologize for her behavior yesterday. Then when the same bastard put his hand between her legs and found her extremely wet and aroused for him, put her on her back on their bed and feasted on the honey he found there until she called for him to mount her and claim her pussy, which he did… repeatedly. That is what you meant to say, isn’t it, sweetheart?”
“You prick,” she seethed.
Jean-Michel gave her backside a hard swat. “Language, mate. We talked about that this morning. We agreed that you would be mindful of both the words you spoke and how you spoke them. Did we not?”
“I hate you.”
“So you told me repeatedly this morning as I brought you to multiple orgasms. But as I recall, after a while you were far more interested in being stroked and pleasured than you were at lobbing insults in my direction. You, my naughty mate, are going to learn to behave if nowhere else than in public. Would you prefer to behave and remain downstairs or do you and I need to excuse ourselves so that you may have a further lesson in minding your mate?”
“No, Jean-Michel. I’ll behave.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She resisted at first, but then her mouth gave way and he deepened the kiss, leaving her breathless.
“Will you behave well enough to declare yourself in front of Dylan and Skylar?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do… you always do. You can behave and do as I’ve asked or I can put you over my knee, give you a good spanking, and then you’ll do it.”
“Not much of a choice.”
“I’m afraid it’s the only one you have. Make it or I shall make it for you. I should tell you my choice will be the latter as my hand itches to spank your pretty bottom again and I grow hard at the thought of mounting you and hearing you call my name and promising to do as you’re told.”
The red on her cheeks deepened. Jean-Michel gathered Darby close and nuzzled her neck. He looked her directly in the eye and nodded with a questioning look. She nodded as well and he hugged her.
She turned to Skylar and Dylan. “I, Darby Callan, formerly of Bae Diogel, formally declare you, Jean-Michel Gautier, alpha of New Orleans to be my one true and lawful mate and alpha.”
Jean-Michel let out a great howl before pulling her back into his embrace and kissing her thoroughly. “You have made me the happiest of men, mate. I will keep you happy, safe, and loved now and forever.”
* * *
Skylar and Dylan laid out various options with which people could enjoy themselves until dinner that evening. It was casual and nothing specific had been planned. The hope was that the remaining women from Bae Diogel would find men with whom they shared common interests.
Jean-Michel kept Darby within arm’s reach at all times. At first, she had tried to remain aloof, but she was slowly but surely succumbing to his charm. A fact that annoyed her almost as much as it pleased him. He was attentive to her and made sure that whatever she wanted, with the exception of her freedom, was granted to her.
Megan spotted them and headed their way.
“Behave, Darby. Megan is happy to be with JD and to be joining our pack. Do not allow your own disquiet to take away from her joy in being mated to our beta.”
“Whatever else you might think of me, you should know I would never want anything but happiness for a friend. Megan is my friend. She was my pack long before she was yours. If she’s happy with him, then I’m happy for her. Unlike alpha males, those of us at Bae Diogel only want what is best for our friends and pack mates. Only we allow them to make the decision as to what constitutes best for them.”
He chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Our pack is blessed to have a mistress who cares for those in her care… as am I.”
“Bastard.”
“Mate,” he admonished as Megan greeted them both.
“Good morning, Jean-Michel. Darby?” Megan searched Darby’s face to try to ascertain her well-being.
Darby made note of JD’s mark on Megan. “Did you want that?” she asked quietly but loud enough so both JD and Jean-Michel heard her. Both growled low and menacingly.
“Yes, Darby. I did. JD called to me and unlike your obstinate, stubborn, and obnoxious self, I answered and without a lot of melodrama.”
There was silence while the two male members of the New Orleans pack watched their mates with caution. Darby shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you always did have lousy taste in men.”
There was an awkward silence, at least to Jean-Michel and JD, until both women started laughing and embraced each other. Megan whispered in Darby’s ear, “I’m so happy. Please let yourself be too.”
Darby whispered back, “I’ll try.”
“I don’t know, Jean-Michel, I think they may be conspiring against us.”
Megan beamed at him. “Always, and we’ll conscript all of the other women in our pack to rise up against you.”
“Good thing we have far more men than women,” laughed JD.
“Speak for yourself, mon ami,” said Jean-Michel. “I have no need of help in seducing my mate into her rightful place beneath me, do I, mate?”
Darby shook her head but she was smiling. “Unfortunately, that is all too true.”
“Do you understand even half of what he’s saying to you when he fucks you? I swear I don’t know what he’s saying, but I like the sound of it anyway,” giggled Megan.
Darby laughed. “I know. It bothered me the first few times. I’ve decided now, I don’t really care what the words are, but I like how they make me feel.”
“You will learn, my beloved. Just keep listening with your heart and you will come to know their meaning.”
Darby looked at Jean-Michel and snorted. She turned to JD. “Does he always talk like this?”
JD laughed. “Only to those who have stolen his heart.”
Darby and Megan both rolled their eyes as their mates laughed and hugged them close.
Jean-Michel watched as Megan coaxed Darby into feeling better about their future. Darby began to relax and laughed more easily. The two couples wandered down to the beach and walked with the two women in front followed by their mates.
“I think your Megan being with us will be good for my Darby.”
“I believe you are right. But I think Darby would have settled with or without Megan. You may be too close to see it, but she already has softened to you. I believe our pack will be better with both of them as members. Do you think there’s a chance we may be able to bring back one of the Bae Diogel girls who isn’t already mated?” JD laughed as he said the last part.
Jean-Michel chuckled. “I know I’m going to try. I don’t think any of the men we brought with us feels called to any of the remaining girls, but we have five unmated men at home. With or without another of the Bae Diogel girls, we need to start finding them mates.”
JD nodded in agreement. “But that is a discussion for another day. For the rest of the day and evening, I plan to enjoy my new mate… and I would suggest, my friend, you do the same.”
“That, mon ami, is an excellent suggestion.”
* * *
As the two couples headed back to the main house, Jean-Michel reached for Darby’s hand and was delighted when she didn’t pull it away. He brought it to his lips and kissed it before drawing her in for a kiss on her lips. JD and Megan watched them and then smiled at each other. They split up with JD and Megan heading down to the secondary residence in which they were staying and Jean-Michel and Darby heading up to the main house.
“You’re not too terribly unhappy, are you, mate?”
Darby stopped and looked at him. She could see the concern on his face. “No. I suppose if I had to get auctioned off, you’re not the worst one with whom I could end up.”
Jean-Michel smiled at her. “And I feel I am the luckiest of men to have found my fated mate and made her mine.”
Darby touched the mark left by her old mate. “But you haven’t, have you… made me yours?”
Jean-Michel drew her close and said, “You are mine in every way that counts. You will always be mine. Never doubt that. I would eradicate his mark from your body as I would the bad memories you have of your time with him. But in time all will be as it should be.”
“But what if I can never bear the thought of you forcing your knot into me…”
He laughed. “That will not last. You enjoy the pleasure I bring you far too much. Once you trust that I will never hurt you, you will be a greedy mate for my knot.”
“Look, Jean-Michel, I really do understand how kind you’ve been… the five welts I have on my ass notwithstanding. I just wish there was something I could give you to let you know that without feeling I’ve capitulated completely or…”
“How about a small concession… say a promise that you will behave yourself until midnight.”
She giggled. “Uhm, I don’t know, that’s an awfully long time… unless, of course, you plan to take me back to your bed.”
He smiled. “Our bed, beloved. I think my mate is finding pleasure in my arms, n’est pas?”
“I could say no just to be difficult, but we’d both know I was lying.”
“Yes, we would. So, are you willing to give me your word?”
“Yes. I will not try to escape or shorten your life and in general will behave until at least midnight… provided part of that time is spent with you in bed.”
He laughed out loud. “If all it takes to make you behave is spending great amounts of time daily with me in our bed, then you shall be the best behaved mate of all.”
She giggled again. “I see Skylar. Would you mind if I went and talked with her for a moment?”
“Not at all. But keep in mind that I expect you to be pleasant and respectful to our hostess.”
Darby kissed him and headed toward Skylar.
As she approached, Skylar greeted her. “Hey, Dar. How are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you at all today without Jean-Michel in close attendance.”
“This morning I refused to give him my word that I wouldn’t try to bolt at the earliest moment, but once I gave him my word I would behave at least until midnight he seems to have relaxed.”
“Midnight? Afraid his carriage will turn back into a pumpkin?”
“I’m no Cinderella and he sure as hell isn’t Prince Charming.”
Skylar raised her eyebrow in question.
“Okay, so maybe he’s pretty damned charming.”
They both laughed and then Darby turned sober. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“The only choice any of us have is whether or not to be happy. Jean-Michel is your fated mate. You heard him call to you. You know that.”
“I don’t want a fated mate.”
“Neither did Roz, and I didn’t want another one, but here we are.”
“One thing he’s got going for him is he’s pretty great in the sack.”
Skylar laughed. “At one point he told Dylan that no woman had ever refused his knot or not found happiness in his bed.”
“That sounds like him. Although he hasn’t pushed the whole knot thing.” A dark shadow crossed her face. “That won’t last, will it?”
“No. Nor will the not marking you. I think he’s trying to be understanding and considerate of your feelings, but that mark has got to bother him tremendously and not being able to knot you is painful. Do you have bad experiences with being knotted and tied?”
“Nothing like Lacey, but not good.” She touched the mark from her former mate. “He wasn’t overly considerate about forcing that thing inside me. Some of the time he let me catch my breath long enough to relax and accommodate it, but then some short jabs and it would feel like he just gushed into me. But once he was done dumping his load in me, he was done and he’d yank that thing back out.”
“That’s not what it’s supposed to be like. They do need to give you time to adjust to the knot and then in order to avoid hurting you or themselves they need to wait until it goes down.”
“How long does that take?”
“In human form anywhere from one to three hours. In wolf? Thirty to forty-five minutes.”
“Is it every time they fuck you?”
“Not usually. But it can, if it’s pleasurable for both of you, be a couple of times a week, but at least monthly. I really think you could be happy with him if you gave it a chance.”
“Meg thinks so too. But then she’s gone daffy on JD and he is nuts about her. She tells me it’s because she yielded to his call as his mate.”
“She’s right. Dylan is hoping all of you will be called… and that all of you will answer,” she said pointedly.
“All right, so I heard him. God damn alpha roll and that call knocked me off my feet, literally. And I thought that SOB beta of yours had a hard hand. Christ, when Jean-Michel connects with my ass, it hurts like there’s no tomorrow. But damn, he makes up for it afterward. I swear he knows just how to get me where he wants me.”
Skylar nodded. “I think it comes with the fated mate thing. Dylan has a power over my body and my responses that are amazing.”
“What’s he going to do about the rest of them?”
“He’s trying to figure that out. He’s talked to not just the men, but to our women as well. If you can, encourage them to talk to him or me.”
Skylar saw Darby shiver. “You’ll get used to that… and they can feel your presence as well.”
“Which, my beloved,” said Jean-Michel, coming up behind her, “means I will always be able to find you. In addition to being able to detect your life sign, I always have your scent in my nostrils. So, run if you must, but I will run you down. And remember that your first spanking was for running from Dylan, not from me. I will not be as lenient should you choose to test me again.”
“You had to threaten me. Here I was thinking maybe you weren’t so bad.”
“Not a threat, mate. A promise. You are the one who refuses to yield, to accept my mark and ask me to knot and tie you. Instead you threaten to leave me and/or to shorten my life.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her. “But you will come around, mate, and we will be deliriously happy.”
“You’re already delirious. How about if I offer to extend the deadline on not trying to leave and actually trying to behave until after dinner tomorrow?”
He kissed her again. “That would make me very happy. Is that what you’re doing?”
She nodded. “I know I haven’t been very accepting of all of this and I do know it’s an honor to be mated to you…”
He pulled her close and rubbed her back to comfort her. “I know, beloved. I know how hard it’s been, but ‘twill get better. I think we’d best head upstairs so you can change for dinner.”
Skylar looked around. “Dinner isn’t for hours.”
“Perhaps, but I’d like to take advantage of my mate’s largess and lure her back into our bed.”
Darby laughed at him. “You’ve had worse ideas, mate.”
Jean-Michel looked over her head at Skylar. He tried not to overreact to Darby calling him mate for the first time.