Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

T he weather remained perfect for their party and the staff had done an amazing job of decorating the grounds. Twinkle lights were woven in and around the entire yard and landscape of the common area. The ballroom, which served various functions at other times, had once again been pressed into use for its original intent—a grand ball, complete with costumes and masks. Their friends from around the globe were in attendance. But more importantly to Darby was watching her children, her pack, and her beloved mate all flourish.

"You better not have me dressed up as some French fop," Jean-Michel growled, watching her dress as he came out of their bath wearing only the skintight breeches she had given him for his costume.

"Would I do that to you, my beloved pirate?" Darby said in a sultry tone left over from her rendezvous with her mate after the she-wolves had returned to the plantation. "Come here and help me get into this corset."

Jean-Michel crossed the room as Darby grabbed onto one of the large posts of their ornate four poster bed.

Wrapping his arm around her and pulling her buttocks into his groin so she could feel his erection, he crooned in her ear, "But I am so much better at getting you out of them."

She laughed. "And you can do that when the party is over. Besides, who's to say what might happen in the darkness of the grottos and the maze?"

Over the years Darby had painstakingly brought back a maze that had been part of the original landscape when Rivière Du Loup had been built before 1812. Into it she had secreted various small grottos equipped with benches and handholds so that they and their people could use the spaces to indulge their love of trysting.

Jean-Michel brought his other hand up to cup her breast, squeezing it and giving her nipple a delightful pinch. "I will look forward to it," he purred.

He cinched her in and then grabbed boots to put on with his breeches, watching her add the various layers of her elaborate time-appropriate, although she suspected somewhat romanticized, costume.

" Non, " he said. "Loose the pantalettes. You've never been allowed to wear panties and that won't change tonight."

"Don't be silly. They're a part of the authenticity."

"I don't care. If you aren't careful, ma choue, you will attend our party with a freshly spanked bottom. Remove them."

"You really are impossible," she said, smiling as she acquiesced. She knew arguing with him would have no effect. "It'll be easier for you to have your way with me out in the maze without them."

He grinned at her, allowing her to feel his lust, which was as strong now as it had been more than a decade before. " Oui . Now hand them over."

" Oui, mon capitaine."

Jean-Michel took the surrendered garment from her before finishing dressing in his own costume. He looked resplendent in the most commonly depicted outfit worn by his ancestor, the pirate Jean Lafitte. He looked dashing and sexy, and he still took her breath away. Tall and muscular like most alphas, his hair was a bit longer than some wore, and was a tawny mix of golden brown with darker streaks. Although they wouldn't be on display, Darby knew all too well how cut his chest was and he still had a set of chiseled abs that made her drool. His lips were full, and he had a sensual mouth and eyes that most often laughed in merriment.

"Are you pleased?" she asked.

He laughed. "I'm not sure I will remain decent in these things, for you, my beloved, are glorious."

She looked below his belt and could see the outline of the cock that had kept her sated and happy all these years and shrugged. "So? All the women will know why I smile all the time."

He laughed again. She was glad. He'd been in something of a pensive mood when they'd returned from the spa. But enticing him up to their bedroom so she could have her way with him had restored his good humor.

"Shall we join our guests?" he said, offering her his arm.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

He kissed her gently. "What could be wrong? I have you by my side and a party to celebrate our love awaits us downstairs. Come."

They descended to the main floor to a chorus of congratulations and appreciation. Their three children were waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase and together as a family they entered the main hall.

The staff had outdone themselves. The room was aglow with dozens and dozens of candles, and the crystal and silver shown at the place settings. Everything was beautiful. Jean-Michel had made sure her dream of a grand, masked ball would be fulfilled.

Dinner was nothing short of spectacular and when he led her onto the dance floor for the first dance, she was surprised when the band struck up an elegant waltz. She felt herself gliding around the dance floor—Jean-Michel had always been a wonderful dancer and had taught her over the years not only to dance, but to trust his lead in all things.

They whirled around and around, laughing and enjoying one another's company and the good wishes of those around them. When the song was finally over, others amongst their guests joined them. The dancing was joyous and the good cheer plentiful. Their children and those of their friends had been included at dinner and then were allowed to attend the dance with the adults.

Earlier in the evening, Darby had discussed with each of their children the costumes she had procured for them. It had gone as she had expected it might.

"I don't want to wear a costume, Mother," Jean-Edouard argued. "It's silly."

"Everyone else will be in costume, don't you want to fit in?"

"Not if I look like a fool."

"Your father will be wearing one."

"Of course he will. Papa would do anything to make you happy."

Jean-Michel entered Jean-Edouard's room and interrupted them, shooing Darby out to return to their room to begin her own preparations. She was unsure of what had been said between father and son, but Jean-Edouard appeared for dinner in his costume.

Rémy was neutral about having to wear something from the period.

Her daughter, Skylar, was enchanted.

"It's absolutely beautiful, Mama. Will we match?"

"Not so much match, as go together. The bodice of your dress has been made from the same material as mine, but the skirt is different."

Jean-Michel laughed. "There will be no mistaking whose daughter you are, sweetheart. You are your mother in miniature."

Darby smiled as she stood within the circle of his arms, swaying to the music, watching her children and their guests enjoy themselves. She watched Travis Nichols asking Skylar to dance, but she was far more interested in bedeviling her older brother and talking to Riley Nichols, who alternated between dancing and playing fiddle.

When the clock struck midnight all the children were sent off to bed with a great fanfare and much grumbling on her daughter's part.

She watched as the alphas of the coalition seemed to be trying to pass some kind of information between each other without attracting the attention of their mates.

"What's going on?" she whispered to Jean-Michel.

"We are having a party… Oof!" he said, as her elbow connected with his solar plexus.

"Don't you play that bullshit game with me, you obnoxious pirate."

"It's nothing that should concern you this night."

"Jean-Michel."

"Non. Darby. I will not have our night marred by anything. You will enjoy the evening lest you find yourself knotted and tied on a well punished backside." He kissed her neck. "Let it go, my beloved. There is time enough to talk of less than pleasant things over the next few days. And keep your suspicions to yourself. I will not have you causing trouble amongst our friends."

"You and your arrogant alpha buddies will not shut us out. If you believe that, my darling mate, you'd best think again. The women of Bae Diogel took a vow to protect one another and all we hold dear long before you lot came into the picture."

"Enough," he growled low. "Don't make me take my strap to you… although it has been some time since I last laid my mark across your beautiful bottom."

When the party had wound down and their pack had sent them to their room, she watched Jean-Michel closely as he began to undress. There was now no doubt in her mind that something serious had occurred, something that had them all worried. Threat or no, she would speak with the others in the morning, but tonight she would offer what comfort and solace she could to her mate.

J ean-Michel helped her out of her costume. He was under no illusion that Darby would defy him and seek the counsel of her oldest and dearest friends. She had become more and more suspicious that something was worrying him. So far, he'd been able to reassure her and brush aside her concerns. But he worried, surrounded by her friends, the lot of them would put it together for themselves and react rashly. He would speak with the other men in the morning. It would be best to tell the women as a group and deal with what they knew head on. In some ways, at least for him, it might make keeping her safe a lot easier.

When she was down to her corset, he unlaced it slowly, enjoying how her breasts bounced free of their confinement. She was the most beautiful thing in the world. Something had changed between when they'd watched the others dancing, and when they had come up the stairs. He didn't fool himself into thinking that she would let the matter go, but for tonight she seemed intent on pleasing him.

Darby pulled the shirt over his head, rubbing her nipples that were becoming more and more erect against his chest and allowing her feelings of arousal to come to the fore. Everything about her spoke of her desire and he meant to see her well sated this night. She pushed him back to the edge of the bed where she tugged his breeches down past his rump, allowing his hard cock more room to entice her lust. His beloved was enamored with his cock and loved to look, touch, and suck it whenever she could.

She pushed against his chest, and he sat down while she kneeled in front of him to remove his boots, stripping the breeches down and off of him and rendering him as naked as she was. The knot that had wanted to form all night in her glorious presence now would not be denied.

Jean-Michel knew he should spend time preparing her, but he was in a fiercely primal mood. He was Alpha of New Orleans, and she was his fated mate. She could, and would, take whatever he gave her. He pulled her up onto the bed and laid her out.

"Please don't make me wait, Jean-Michel. I love you so much."

He smiled and kissed her lips. "I have loved you longer."

She shook her head, grinning. "Not true. Even back then I knew you were my destiny."

He would show her she was wrong. He leaned down and briefly sucked her nipples while his hand roamed between her legs, ensuring she was ready for him. His knot was fully engorged and needed to be inside her. Jean-Michel rolled over, parting her legs and making a place for himself. He rose up on his forearms, nudging the entrance to her core with the head of his cock.

She wound her arms around him and whispered, "Breach me my mate. Knot and tie me to you now and for all time."

He stared down at her and reveled in the love and trust he saw shining in her eyes. He captured her mouth with his as he surged up into her, breaching her with the ring of muscle that had formed at his root. She gasped and then sighed as her pussy clamped down on him, tugging him into the place only an alpha male wolf would know with his mate. As he settled, he groaned at the exquisite pain that accompanied the knot swelling even further to seal him to her.

"Are you all right, beloved?" he asked.

"I am more than all right. God, I love being mated to you."

She was his perfect mate in all things and in all ways. She fit with him as if she had been custom made for his entire body. He made short, sharp thrusts deeper into her, awakening the joy that overtook her as she began to climax repeatedly, one orgasm coming immediately after the other. His iron control was back in force as he rocked her, steadily taking her higher and higher. Her nails dug into his back as he burrowed inside her.

The longer and harder he rocked, the wilder and more abandoned her response. If his dominant possession of her was primitive, her reaction to him was every bit as feral. Harder and faster, he moved until he couldn't forsake his primal need to release his seed into her. Fire flashed through him as he began to spill himself in her. Her pussy contracted rhythmically and greedily milked his cock.

When he was through, they were both replete, and their bodies glistened with sex and something so much more. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled to his back—her body trapped to his by the tie that held her.

"Whatever it is, my beloved, we'll face it together," she said, before sighing and resting her head on his chest.