by Delta James
“I’m fine. Last night was amazing and I plan to demand my rights as your mate to be knotted regularly and frequently. I have no idea what it’s like for you, but for me it was something I can’t even describe… and I’m a romance writer and good with words.”
He smiled. “With you, it was beyond compare. Not only did I get to experience the high from the act itself but to see and feel how much pleasure you took from our coupling has to be one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. And you’re sure you’re all right?”
“You’re worried that the most incredible way I’ve ever been fucked may cause me lingering pain, but couldn’t care less that a few days ago I couldn’t sit down without a pillow and you bit me hard enough to draw blood and leave a scar?” she teased.
He grinned at her. “The spanking you brought on yourself by not minding me. And when you earn yourself a trip over my knee, I’ll ensure you feel the consequences for at least a day if not longer.”
“Maybe from now on if you choose to spank me, I will choose to let you sleep on the couch.”
“Would you really want that?” he said, running his hands lightly down her body and smiling as she shivered with desire. “As I recall, my love, your pussy was soaked when I reached between your legs. Remind yourself what it felt like to have to stand in the corner with your bright red bottom and wet pussy on display for me.”
“I didn’t like that.”
“Really? Some part of you did. Your arousal increased the longer you stood there and when I mounted you, you were more than ready for me. Keep in mind, sweetheart, that I let you off lightly the other night. Disobey me again when you could be in danger and you and my belt will have a conversation.”
She laughed. “You’re impossible.”
“We are well suited,” he agreed.
* * *
They joined the others downstairs and were greeted by a round of applause as they entered the dining room. Griffin grinned and Maddie blushed. They went through the buffet and joined Darby, Skylar, Roz, and Megan at their table.
Griffin held Maddie’s chair as she sat down.
“Tell me, Darby, do they applaud every time Jean-Michel knots you?” asked Maddie sweetly.
Darby and the other women burst into riotous laughter while the men spit their coffee or choked on their food.
“Madeline. Behave,” Griffin growled at her.
Maddie’s response was to lean over and kiss him deeply while grinning at him with her eyes dancing. “I was just asking a question. After all, I’m new to all this wolf stuff.”
“Well, you are not new to the consequences for misbehaving, are you, my love?” he said with a smile but in a tone of voice that let her know she was treading on thin ice.
“Sometimes you’re no fun at all,” she teased.
Griffin leaned in and whispered in her ear, “That’s not what you said to me last night as I rocked you to numerous orgasms.”
Maddie blushed and Griffin pulled back, chuckling.
“Are they always this pleased with themselves?” she said to the other women at the table.
“When they’ve spent most of their night with their knot buried inside you? You better believe it,” said Skylar.
It was Dylan’s turn to growl to indicate that his mate too was on the verge of being reprimanded.
Following Maddie’s lead, Skylar kissed Dylan to soothe some of his annoyance. When she drew away he was smiling.
“Naughty mate.”
“Always,” Skylar laughed.
They finished up their meal and once again, the women that had been Bae Diogel and the woman they now considered to be one of them were asked to join the other women of the New Orleans pack. Jean-Michel had some trouble mollifying his mate, who was finally persuaded to take the ladies away with a well-placed swat to her backside.
Darby made a low, grumbling noise, but led the ladies away.
“Ladies, I think it’s time we all sit down for a little chat without those pesky males we’re mated to interfering.”
Chapter Twenty
“There are times I just want to kick him,” said Skylar.
“I’m surprised you haven’t,” quipped Roz.
“I know. Jean-Michel is in a lot of ways very accepting and encouraging about most things, but where women are concerned? Oh, hell, no! He’s all ‘we have to protect you and you could get hurt.’ Damn straight, so why don’t we teach our women to fight back? But he won’t hear of it. If he ever finds out Megan, Summer, and I have been training them to fight and frankly to fight dirty… I may never sit down again.”
“Liza and I have been working with our women. At first most of them were resistant but little by little they’ve come ‘round and most of them have gotten pretty damn good,” said Roz.
Maddie leaned forward, intent of learning all that she could from this group of remarkable women. “So, are you teaching them to fight without the men knowing?”
Darby nodded. “Yes, all of us who were attacked at Bae Diogel feel we have to… that we have no choice.”
Lacey sighed. “I worry though if it’s all for naught. I know that at the first sign of real trouble, my mate will send all of the women and children to safety at Mason Daniels’. Anyone know anyone there?”
Roz nodded. “Sky has been in touch with his mate Dani, and I ran into his beta’s mate years ago when I was still a lone wolf. Alisha is a tough cookie. We’ll have an ally there.”
Skylar shot an incredulous glance toward Maddie. “Have you and Griffin talked about staying with Mason’s pack? I’ve heard from his mate that he can be hard-ass when it comes to women toeing the lines.” She barked out a laugh. “He’s going to hate the lot of us!”
“Griffin would prefer that I stay at Calon Onest.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better. I love Ioan and Bethan dearly, but Ioan will make sure you stay put if that’s what Griffin wants. And Bethan is pretty traditional and will tend to follow Ioan’s lead.” Skylar paused for a moment before continuing, “Although, it might be to our advantage to have someone closer to the fighting over there than just Catherine DeMedici.”
“DeMedici? Griffin’s mentioned them. In Italy, right? She’s not shifter born—like Roz and me, she was turned.”
“But unlike my experience, both you and Catherine were willingly turned by your mates,” said Roz.
Skylar glanced around. “Here’s the thing, I think we need to make sure the communication stays open between the lot of us. Having Maddie in Wales wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Anna could bounce it to her and then she could get it relayed to Catherine and the other women in the coalition throughout Great Britain and Europe—although that’s not a large group either.”
“I’m not going to be left in Wales. I’m going to get Griffin to let me stay with him.”
Skylar, Roz, and Darby looked to each other and then started to giggle.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” said Roz, grinning.
Darby smiled at her. “You would be the woman he put over his knee for wandering away from the house on a perfectly safe estate, right?”
Maddie paled and then grinned. “Yeah, that would be me. And he said if I endanger myself again he’ll make that spanking feel like a fond memory.”
“They get cranky when they feel they have to spank you a second time for the same thing,” said Skylar. “Do it a third time, and generally they feel inclined to take their belt or a strap to your ass.”
Maddie stared at her. “So I have been informed.”
“You think his hand hurts? Wait until you really piss him off and he decides to lay welts across your backside.”
“Remind me again why we don’t just rise up against them?” asked Maddie, only half teasing.
“Because that’s a spankable offense,” said the rest of the women in unison.
The women spent the rest of the afternoon discussing how they might get around being sent away if and when trouble arrived on their doorstep.
As the day wore on, one by one various packs departed until all that was left was Calon Gwyllt, the Hamptons, New Orleans, and the Outer Banks.
Darby, Skylar, Roz, and Maddie were sitting out on the patio watching the river and enjoying each other’s company. It was comforting to Maddie to realize how quickly she had been accepted by these women that she had come to admire.
“Darby,” said Maddie. “I’m not sure long-term what we’re going to do with my townhome in the French Quarter, but let me leave a key with you. That way if you need it, you’ll be able to access it.”
Darby grinned. “Thanks, Maddie. That might be a handy place to have. But let’s not tell the boys. It might be a good place to bolt to if we need it.”
“So, Dylan tells me Josh and Anna will be joining the two of you?” asked Skylar.
“Yes, Griffin and I feel really good about that. Will it put you in a bind?”
“We’ll miss them, but Josh is young and strong and there’s really no way for him to move up in the pack. Griffin might want to consider him as a beta at some point. Nick has been really impressed with him since he joined our pack and has worked with him. And Anna is the best,” said Skylar.
“Will it upset Anna to be back where Bae Diogel used to be?”
Skylar thought a moment and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. What we had there is gone… literally. But she is extremely happy with Josh and I don’t think he’d have talked to Griffin or Dylan before ensuring she’d be okay with going back.”
Roz looked at Maddie. “Has Griffin talked to you about what’s going on over there?”
“A little. He doesn’t want to upset me.” She made a sound of annoyance. “That is so irritating.”
The other three women laughed.
“Get used to it,” said Darby. “The only reason we know as much as we do is that they’ve had to keep Anna clued in. She’s got them convinced they can’t run it without her. Ever our resident techie; Peter doesn’t think he can do much with her system.”
Roz giggled. “Knowing Anna, she deliberately made it convoluted to keep herself in the mix.”
“So, you’ve got one of them up in the Hamptons? One of the mutts who attacked us?”
“Yes. The Ruling Council is demanding we turn him over as the Council in Europe is making noise. Oliver isn’t letting anyone go until this is over. At this point we have several of them cooling their heels in our dungeon. Let a couple go to spread the word, we were on to them before they could do anything and that the alpha of the Hamptons doesn’t care much for trespassers.”
Darby grinned at her. “The way I hear it, they’re also spreading rumors about the mistress of the Hamptons pack being something of a dominatrix, including being dressed all in black with tall, black leather boots. Jean-Michel thinks they’re more afraid of you than Oliver.”
“They should be. He’d just be all honorable and stuff and have them executed… I’d want to torture them first,” Roz said, returning her grin.
Skylar laughed and turned to Maddie. “And you wonder why we scared the shit out of the Ruling Council?”
Maddie laughed. “Oh, no, that’s become abundantly clear to me.”
At last the four remaining couples began to get ready to leave. Oliver had hired a private plane to take everyone from Calon Gwyllt and the Hamptons back to their homes. Jean-Michel had made his plane available to Griffin.
The plan was for Griffin to fly to the DeMedici estate in Italy, meet with Marco DeMedici and the few packs from Europe before going to Wales to brief Ioan and the other United Kingdom packs.
Griffin and Maddie were headed toward the house when they saw Josh and Anna.
“Josh?” called Griffin.
“Yes, Alpha?”
Griffin grinned. “Griffin or Griff will do. I wanted to thank you again for being willing and capable to take the lead on getting things started on the island. I hate to just dump it on you.”
“I’m humbled to think you’ve entrusted it to me. I’ll make sure you have no need to regret it.”
“You’ve got my cell and I’ve set up an estate account. You’ll have access to it for expenditures. Don’t hesitate to call me. Both the DeMedici vineyard and Calon Onest have excellent reception. We should be at Marco’s for just a few days and plan to spend a few days to a week in Wales.”
“Then we’ll be home to pitch in and help,” said Maddie.
Griffin growled low. “We,” he said, emphasizing the pronoun, “may or may not be. I most definitely will but depending on what we learn in Italy, I may opt to leave Maddie with my family in Wales. You should check with Anna. It may be she’d be better off with Maddie than up with Mason Daniels and his pack.”
“I think keeping our pack together as much as possible is the best way… for whatever my opinion might be worth,” said Josh.
Griffin grinned. “It’s worth quite a bit and becoming more valuable to me by the day.”
* * *
The four couples left Rivière Du Loup in the late afternoon. The plane flew directly to the closest airport to the island where they rented an SUV and headed out to see it for themselves. Griffin noticed that Josh kept a close eye on his mate to ensure she wasn’t becoming distressed. They arrived at the site that had once been Bae Diogel.
It had made an amazing comeback. Granted, Dylan had helped it along by clearing all the rubble and reseeding areas that had been lawn and encouraging dune grasses and some hardier wild flowers to grow here.
“Anna, if you’ve changed your mind, Dylan said we were always welcome to stay or go back to Calon Gwyllt,” said Josh, clearly concerned for his mate.
Anna got out of the car with a very serene countenance. Everything in her body language said she was happy and content to be back.
“I always loved this place,” she said, inhaling deeply. “I think it’ll be wonderful to be back.”
They all walked to the beach and were astounded by the beauty of the view.
Anna pointed to a stretch of water located between two sand spits. “And that’s where we sank one of the cabin cruisers,” she giggled.
Josh laughed. “I was too stoked on adrenaline at the time to feel the call of my mate. But they were really incredible. They torched the old house that was here and then lit fire to a gorgeous little sailboat and rammed a cabin cruiser with the most obnoxious jackass at the wheel. Dylan had us go pick them up while he chased a zodiac full of naughty she-wolves intent on getting away.”
“And we almost made it,” Anna teased him.
“Yes, you did. Dylan always said it was a good thing we had luck on our side that day, or we’d have played hell tracking them all down. But we would have done it. There was no way you and your friends were going to get away.”
“And if it hadn’t been for that pesky fated mate call thing, Darby and I might have been able to escape later than night.”
Josh chuckled. “Yes, that pesky fated mate thing. I called to her and in the end she couldn’t deny me.”
Anna leaned over to Maddie. “At least you had a day or two for your backside to lose a lot of that sting before your mate made you his for the first time.”
“Actually not,” said Maddie. “The SOB gave me a spanking for not minding him and then seduced me onto my back, into his bed and spent a considerable amount of time between my thighs.”
“Madeline!” Griffin growled at her.
“What?” she said with mock innocence. “What do you expect from an erotic romance writer? If you wanted the Harlequin version of our love story, you got mated to the wrong girl.”
Griffin laughed in spite of himself. “No, I must admit I’m rather enjoying being mated to a woman who writes about steamy erotic shifters.”
“We’ll see if he says that when my next set of dragon shifters have knots.”
Griffin rolled his eyes. “If they do, their creator is not only going to find herself face down over her mate’s knee getting her fanny blistered but won’t be getting his knot until the ne
xt full moon.”
“Kill joy,” Maddie said.
“Beloved mate and alpha,” replied Griffin.
Josh and Anna both laughed.
They walked the island and outlined where things should be situated. Griffin instructed Josh that once basic shelters had been completed, he wanted them to focus on both defensive and strategic offensive systems to keep them safe, provide early warning to the others, and to repel any who thought to make landfall and get a foothold in America on their island.
Griffin had arranged to put Anna and Josh up in a nearby bed and breakfast. The two couples enjoyed an early dinner and then Griffin and Maddie once again boarded Jean-Michel’s plane and headed to Italy.
The flight itself was a little over ten hours and another eight hours from Rome to Marco’s villa at the foot of the Italian Alps. They would take a train from Rome to Milan where Marco would have a driver waiting for them.
Griffin had encouraged Maddie to rest and she had found much to her dismay she napped for most of the flight. However, once on the train in Rome she came fully awake. Griffin had arranged for a private compartment.
Once the purser had ensured their comfort and left them, Maddie turned to Griffin. “I don’t remember Rome smelling that bad when I was here a few years ago.”
Griffin laughed. “That’s because, my love, you weren’t a wolf a few years ago. All of our senses are heightened and more acute than those of humans, which is why it is easy for me to tell when you start to become aroused.”
Maddie giggled. “Well, your snout must be on overload because it’s rare that I’m anywhere around you that I am not in that state.”
Griffin leaned across to her and ran his hand up between her legs.
“Griffin,” she said with a lack of conviction at being annoyed. “Someone might see,” she continued as she felt her legs part for him.
