by Delta James
“We do indeed,” said Griffin, smiling grimly. “We’ll have a large enough force to repel them when they come at us, but we’ll focus most of our efforts here in New Orleans to turn them back. The thought is we’ll also stage out of Marco DeMedici’s villa and hit them where they live while the bulk of their forces are here. We conferenced in Marco DeMedici, he’s a friend to both Jean-Michel and me, he will lead a force against those we think are behind this plot. We know who the major players are and we mean to move against them.”
“So will Josh be working on making our island, our pack secure?”
“Yes.” Griffin took a deep breath. He knew what he was about to say was not going to go over well. “Josh will send Anna back to Calon Gwyllt and if it becomes necessary to evacuate the women and children to Mason Daniels, she’ll leave with their group.”
“And where do you expect me to be? You don’t really think I’m going to be separated from you and up with Skylar, do you?”
Griffin said nothing.
“You do, don’t you? You couldn’t be more wrong. I will be with you defending our home.”
Griffin shook his head. “You will either agree to stay with Skylar and Dylan and go to Daniels’ place if it comes to that or I will leave you at Calon Onest with Ioan and Bethan. I’m inclined to leave you in Wales. I don’t want to argue with you, cwningen bach, but you will do as I say or your backside will pay the price.”
She nodded; she would revisit this decision at a later time. For now, there were more pressing matters to be discussed.
“So,” she said, “circling back to this marking thing… you’re going to bite me?”
He laughed and looked over to see her grinning. “Yes, mate, I’m going to bite you. Yes, it’s going to hurt like a sonofabitch and yes, it will leave a permanent scar. But alphas have learned over the centuries that when you mark your mate it is best if it is done while she’s being pleasured and at the height of her climax so that in time her memories of the event will be positive.”
“Ah… so do all alphas fuck as well as you do?”
“Madeline Stone, what a highly inappropriate question,” he said with mock severity. “No one, my love, will ever fuck you nearly as well… or as often as I intend to.”
She laughed. “Arrogant bastard.”
“Fated mate,” he said as he kissed her again.
“Yes,” she sighed. “Fated mate. So what do you expect me to do while you’re leading our pack, protecting us from evil and fucking me silly?”
Griffin laughed. “Naughty mate. I expect you to do what makes you happy while helping to lead our pack. Do you enjoy your writing?”
“Very much. And I’ve been very successful. I don’t think it will be hard to keep our distinction from being human a secret, do you?”
“Not at all. You’ll find that you know far more wolves than you ever guessed. But I want you to do whatever makes you happy.”
“Can women be whatever they want?”
“Absolutely. There are no restrictions except for any their mate or alpha might impose.”
“But my mate will also be my alpha.”
“Yes, I will. And I will have you continue to do that which makes you happy and gives you personal satisfaction… with the caveat of not being parted from me and not putting yourself at risk.”
She giggled again. “I’m assuming either of which would provoke that overly protective part of you that feels a need to spank me.”
“Yes, mate, it would. I meant what I told you earlier. Put yourself at risk again, especially when I’ve told you not to, and the spankings you have received thus far will be nothing more than a pleasant memory.”
“Jesus. I must be some kind of pain slut.”
Griffin looked at her with concern. “What makes you say that?”
“My ass is still tender and yet hearing you say you’ll spank me again makes me aroused.”
Griffin chuckled. “It isn’t the pain, love, it’s the power exchange and normally felt most acutely by those women who are used to being in charge. But keep in mind that every discipline spanking will most likely be followed by my taking you just as hard.”
She sighed contentedly. “Yeah, that was pretty amazing.”
“Yes, it was… and ‘tis only the beginning.”
Greg returned and after checking Maddie’s vital signs again pronounced her completely through the change. He advised not pushing herself, but that normal living should not be an issue and that she would find that she was stronger and in general felt more engaged in life and more of an overall state of well-being.
“So, Greg, this sexy beast I committed my life to wants to bite me and then he wants to shove this knot thing inside me. Ever seen the size of one of those things?”
Griffin growled low in his throat. “Madeline, that is not something you discuss with another male wolf.”
She giggled. “Roz was right. Alphas are easy to get a rise out of and have little sense of humor.”
Greg chuckled. “Careful, little wolf, I should also tell your mate, that if he feels you are in need of discipline, you are recovered enough that I feel I can let him know I am turning your care back over to him. As for the other two, I will leave that to him as well.”
With that Greg got up and left the room, smiling as he closed the door.
Griffin seemed somewhat mollified but was still scowling at her. “Have a care, my sweet mate.”
She leaned forward, grasped his face in her hands, and kissed him deeply.
“I’m not afraid of the big bad wolf,” she teased.
He kissed her hard and pushed her back into the bed so that she was flat on her back with him looming over her.
“You might want to reconsider that. Alpha males have a notoriously strong libido and no interest whatsoever in anyone other than their fated mate.”
She smiled and kissed him softly. “And that would be me.”
“Yes, my love that would be you… and only you. I did tell you that wolves mate for life, right?”
She smiled at him, blissfully happy even with everything that was so unsettled. “I was counting on that.”
Chapter Nineteen
That night there was a lovely dinner with all who had gathered at Rivière Du Loup to plan the downfall of those who plotted against them and to toast to their success in doing so. The men had come up with a solid plan and begun to institute the changes that would be needed to implement them. Anna’s expertise had helped greatly in expanding everyone’s communication and technological capabilities, which all agreed would be crucial in the coming days ahead.
There was to be a large brunch in the morning and then the pack leaders and their people would be disbursing back to their own territories. They entered their room, closing the door behind them.
“Can I ask you something?” Maddie asked as they began to undress.
“Anything.”
“Why is it when you growl, not only do I hear the sound, but it’s like I can feel it.”
“Because you can. That’s the sign of a fated mate. Were you not fated to be mine, the wolf sounds would not affect you that way. You would hear them and they might be arousing, but you wouldn’t feel them. Especially not the way you do.”
“And do you feel me when I make more wolf-like sounds?”
He nodded and said, “And have been waiting to hear them for many, many years.”
“But do they make you feel compelled to…”
“Obey?” Griffin offered.
She smiled. “Yes, obey.”
“No. Alpha males are a law unto themselves. It is our responsibility to keep our mate and our pack safe and happy. But to be mated to an alpha happily, a woman has to be strong in her own right. Without the advantage of you feeling compelled to mind me, I would have to resort to stronger measures to deter you from misbehaving.”
“In other words, I’d spend more of my time face down over your knee getting spanked.”
“See what a clever mate you
are?” he said, dodging her hand as he slapped at him.
Maddie was neither small nor weak. But Griffin had no trouble easily subduing her and pushing her onto her back on their bed. Maddie reached down to fondle him and to get her first feel of his knot. His answering groan as her fingers touched him was half pain and half pleasure.
“Do not touch me there unless you are prepared to be breached by me,” Griffin growled.
Maddie snuggled against him but refrained from reaching down to explore this new addition to his cock. She could feel his hardened staff poking between her legs, seeking the velvet sheath that was now reserved for it. It slipped between her legs, rubbing her clit. Maddie’s sharply inhaled breath and hardening nipples let Griffin know he would find his mate’s pussy wet and waiting. She wrapped one of her legs over the top of his thigh, thus giving him a brazen invitation to do what he wanted to do.
Maddie slipped under the covers and then threw them back so that he could see how aroused she was… how ready her body was to be possessed by him completely. She watched as Griffin took it all in—the flushed skin, the darkened areolas, the hard nipples, the scent of her arousal and perhaps even see the bit of her natural lubricant she could feel starting to drip down her thighs.
“Griffin why don’t you get in bed and bury that thing deep inside me where you know you want it to be.”
* * *
There was no denying she was right. He had been having difficulty getting the knot to release and now seeing her in such an aroused state and her sweet scent filling his nostrils, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.
“You’re sure?” he said quietly, trying to keep his tone neutral.
Maddie took his hand and directed it to between her legs. He could feel her labia, swollen and wet with her need that had been leaking out from her saturated pussy. Maddie watched as he brought his fingers covered in her essence to his nose to inhale deeply and then suck them clean.
“Please, Griffin,” she whispered as she sat up, catching him behind the neck and pulling him close.
“I had almost given up hope that you existed or that I would find you. But you, my love, were more than worth the wait.”
He leaned over her and kissed her gently as he reached back between her legs and began to rub her clit. When her hips began to undulate in rhythm to his caressing, he slid his hand further down and traced her labia with his fingertips, Maddie moaned with need.
Griffin kissed his way down to her breast and began to suckle her in the way he had learned she liked best. He would run his tongue around her areola and across the hard nub at its center before taking hold of the nub itself and sucking deeply. She writhed in pleasure and cradled his head in her hands, holding him close.
“Griffin,” she sighed.
He slid two fingers into her pussy and was rewarded when her sheath clamped down on him and started to throb in rhythm to his caressing. Griffin could feel her body was ready for the invasion of his knot. She was soft, relaxed, and highly aroused. He knew that if he mounted her and stroked her several times with his cock that she would climax and that the best time to breach her with the knot and to mark her as his was at the pinnacle of her pleasure.
“You’re sure?” he whispered again.
Maddie was too lost in her own need to verbalize an answer. She nodded and tried to pull him on top of her. Griffin chuckled and nuzzled her neck, acknowledging her need. He settled himself between her legs and cupped her ass as he lined up his cock with her opening and mounted her, plunging only to the depth of his knot. He stroked her hard as he whispered words she couldn’t comprehend in her ear and then began to growl low and seductively.
Griffin could feel Maddie’s hips trying to break free of his hold and move against and with him. Her body arched up into his and he could feel her orgasm start. He rode her harder and faster to ratchet up the intensity of her response.
“Come for me, love,” he whispered, “let me feel your need. Call to me.”
Maddie’s response was a low, seductive growl of her own, which became a cry of exquisite pleasure as she climaxed. The absolute bliss that he was creating was shattered as he breached her opening with his knot.
As the knot passed her opening, Griffin’s canines elongated and he sank his teeth into the delicate spot between the hollow of her throat and her collarbone. He felt the mark take hold, released her and bit down again. He sucked as the blood he had drawn seeped out of the wound.
* * *
Maddie had a sharp intake of breath from the pain and felt herself stiffen. Before she could mount any kind of resistance, Griffin left the mark and leaned down and began to suck her nipples once more and forced himself to be still within her.
“It hurts,” she gasped.
“I know, love, just try to relax. Give your body a moment to adjust and accept the knot. The worst is over.”
Griffin continued to nuzzle and pay homage to her bravery and love. Maddie nuzzled him back and took comfort in his concern for her. Gradually she felt her body relax and accept him, and as he had said she could feel her body pull him the tiniest bit forward and the knot drop into the floor of her heated core, resulting in her feeling tremendously sated.
Maddie felt the knot begin to swell and could tell that it was painful for him.
She giggled. “I know I should be as solicitous of your pain as you were of mine, but there’s a part of me that thinks it’s only fair.”
He shook his head and then began to rock forward into her. As he rocked back, she felt her body contract orgasmically as she cried out his name in ecstasy.
Griffin growled in a low, seductive manner and Maddie answered with one of her own. He rocked within her for what seemed like an eternity. He was right. It was a rocking motion and not a stroking one, but each time he rocked forward Maddie would swear later she could feel the head of his cock touching her cervix in the most amazingly pleasurable way.
Griffin held her close and refused to allow her to move except with the power with which he rocked her. Maddie felt she no longer had control of her body, he had mastered her completely. Repeatedly her pussy spasmed in orgasms that seemed to come one right after the other. She clutched at his strong forearms as he continued to move deeply within her being. She wrapped her arms around his torso and flexed her fingers into his strong back and then began to dig her nails into him when merely flexing her fingers did not provide enough relief.
Griffin never once appeared to be in any pain from her clutching and clawing at him. Instead he alternately crooned to her in a language she could only guess was Welsh and growling the low seductive growl that always seemed to call her to climax for him.
When she finally felt she had nothing left to offer him and simply clung to him, he rocked harder and she could feel the knot harden and then felt his seed shoot down to the head of his cock before spilling into her—sending what felt like thick ropes of his cum deep into her pussy. To her astonishment, her pussy responded by contracting around him in the same syncopated rhythm that he released himself into her.
They finally stilled. Maddie had never felt so loved and so sexually sated in her entire life. Even the other times Griffin had made love to her paled in comparison to the exquisite sensations that enveloped her and brought with them a peace and contentment she had never known.
Griffin nuzzled her again. “You’re all right?”
“Jesus, Griffin, I’ve never been this… this… whatever the hell is beyond blissed out in my life. You, mate, had best be prepared to endure the pain when your knot swells to seal me to you because if you think I’m going to settle for once a month on a full moon, you’ve lost whatever sense you may have ever had.” Maddie sighed as she settled herself underneath him.
“Do you want me to roll over so that you don’t have to bear my weight?” he said, smiling down at her.
“No, this is perfect… absolutely perfect. This feels so right… like we’ve always been together, like we always will be.”
“
That’s the nature of a fated mate, we go through many lifetimes together. It’s the reason the bonding is so quick and so strong. Wolf shifters are raised to believe in fated mates and to try to find her. Very few alpha males will mate unless they find their fated mate.”
“I’m so glad I’m going to be a wolf with you. I rather like the idea of fated mates.” Maddie sighed contently again.
Griffin chuckled. “And I, my love, am the happiest I’ve ever been. You complete me.”
* * *
Griffin had only reached for her one more time during the night, but he had knotted her a second time. The breaching had been just as painful but was briefer as Maddie knew what to expect and her body accepted his invasion more quickly. Maddie woke feeling a bit sore in that place between her legs but emptier than anything else. Even though she was lying on her side with Griffin spooned around her, she missed his physical presence inside her. She giggled to herself, trying not to wake him.
“And what tickles my beautiful mate this fine morning?” he whispered.
“I was just thinking with the metabolism thing and that knotting thing, I’m surprised there isn’t a lineup of women wanting to become shifters.”
He chuckled. She wriggled away from him and was off the bed before he could stop her.
“Come back to bed…” he muttered.
“It’s late and we have to be downstairs.”
As she walked back toward the bed, Maddie couldn’t help but notice the expansive grin on Griffin’s face.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m just smiling at my good fortune,” he said. “You are beautiful, smart, good company, seemingly fearless, and the sexiest, most sensual creature I have ever encountered.”
“Are all Welsh wolves so charming or did I just get the best of the bunch?”
Griffin paused to consider his answer. “I would say yes and yes.”
They shared a shower. Before leaving the bath, Griffin saw Maddie looking at and fingering the wound that was healing rapidly and forming its raised scar. He came up behind her, wrapping her in his arms as he pulled her back into his body. He turned her in his arms, bent and lightly kissed the wound and then brought his mouth up to capture hers in a more passionate kiss. As they got dressed, Griffin watched her carefully and asked Maddie several times if she felt up to going downstairs.
