Fated Legacy Complete Collection

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“ J ean-Michel, our people are waiting…” sighed Darby.

“I am Alpha of New Orleans, and they can wait. I cannot.”

She grinned at him. “While that is true, we have guests for the anniversary party you insisted on throwing.”

“You didn’t think I’d want to remind the world that I have been mated to you for a decade? Non. That was never going to happen. You have made me the happiest of alphas and we will celebrate.”

“But a masked ball?”

“Did you not once tell me that you dreamed of being mistress of a masked ball with costumes and dancing when you were a little she-wolf?”

“Well, yes, but I left all those foolish dreams behind when a certain big bad alpha ran me to ground and took me to mate. I love you.”

“And I you, ma choue. Our pack, our guests, and the whole world will wait until I have taken my pleasure from you this morning.”

“Didn’t you do that last night?” she teased. “Several times?”

“But today is a new day.”

Darby lay back and tossed the covers off her ripe body, allowing her blonde hair to fan out on the pillow. She raised her arms over her head.

“Yes, it is. And if anyone is upset, I’ll blame it all on you. I’ll tell them you forced me, and if they know you at all, they’ll believe me.”

Jean-Michel chuckled, his golden eyes darkening with lust as he growled seductively at her. He lifted his torso until he was supported by his arm, looking at her while he ran his finger down the centerline of her body.

“You, ma choue, are the most beautiful she-wolf that ever lived.” His grin became feral and possessive as he watched her nipples pebble with arousal. “Your nipples are like fresh raspberries and the scent of your arousal is sweet.”

Darby ran her hand down his chest. Jean-Michel took it in his and drew it down, but not to his cock as he was sure she had assumed he would do. Instead, he directed it between her own legs, spreading her labia and settling it on her clit.

“I’m feeling lazy this morning, I want you to play with yourself and get ready for me.”

“You perverted pirate. You’d better not be lazy when you get to fucking me.”

He leaned over to kiss her, removing her hand before swatting between her legs and twisting her clit.

“Change that to… you miserable, evil pirate,” she hissed.

“Would you care to try again?” he crooned, replacing her hand.

She shook her head. “There are times I wish I’d been able to evade you that afternoon.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. If it hadn’t been that day, it would have been the next day, or the day after that. Eventually I’d have run you to ground, and you would have become mine. I never would have stopped.”

She laughed softly before brushing her long, manicured nails around the swollen nub between her legs. She circled her clit and ran the tip of her finger over it, moaning from the pleasure she was giving herself. She slowly stroked down to the opening of her core.

“Dip your fingers in and give me a taste,” he purred.

She pressed two of her fingers inside, catching the abundant honey that awaited him. She brought them up to his mouth, and he clasped her hand and sucked the slick from her fingers, savoring the sweetness.

“You taste even sweeter than you smell, but you didn’t give me nearly enough,” he said as he leaned over to kiss her. He allowed his tongue to dance with hers and gave her a taste of her own desire.

Jean-Michel whispered kisses along her mouth and all across her face and throat, stopping to kiss his still prominent claiming mark next to the hollow of her throat and continuing down to her breasts. He traced the outline of her areola before sucking one of her pert nipples into his mouth. He loved the way her body responded to his as she moaned and became restless, writhing in need. There were times she was content to let him play and worship her body all he wanted, but this morning Darby growled low in her throat. Apparently, this was not one of those times.

After giving her other breast the same attention, he licked, nipped, and sucked his way down her body until he was nuzzling her sex, breathing in her fragrance, and spiking her arousal with his tongue. He covered her pussy with his mouth and settled in to make a feast of her, enjoying the trembling of her body.

Darby’s hands came up and fisted his hair, pressing his mouth harder against her. Normally, he would have drawn back, teased her and made her wait, but this was their anniversary and she had been such an obedient mate of late. That would never last, but still she deserved a treat. Luckily for him, that meant he got one as well.

He licked either side of her labia, drawing each of her lips into his mouth to suck and tease with his teeth. Darby hissed again, but this time it was not followed by words. She was primed and ready for his possession. He could have moved up her body and mounted her in a single thrust, but it was his anniversary too, and he wanted to enjoy her.

He grazed her clit with his teeth as he dipped his finger into her wet heat and groaned as he did so. Ten years of being knotted and tied to him and three children later, she was still as tight as the first time they’d been together. Her muscles clamped down on him and Jean-Michel stroked her with the same rhythm he was using on her clit, curling his fingers up to massage the most sensitive spot inside her.

Darby’s body shuddered as she climaxed, her arousal coating his fingers and filling the air with her sweet perfume. He quietly rumbled his need for her as he drew up along her body and allowed his cock to press into her. They were the perfect fit. He groaned into her mouth as he burrowed into the end of her sheath. Her body arched up into his and she climaxed a second time. His mate was the most responsive of creatures.

From the moment he had known she was at Calon Gwyllt, she had been as necessary to his existence as the air he breathed. He’d caught her scent as they’d passed through the gates. Even after all these years, he reveled in the sense of vertigo that had accompanied being near her that first time. She could still keep him off kilter, but the memory of that initial awareness was one he treasured. Anytime they had to be parted was pure torture for both of them. He always made sure she knew he was the most important thing in his life and she did the same with him.

Jean-Michel dragged himself back, the muscles in her sheath trying to prevent his staff from leaving the place that had been made for him and him alone. She was tight and yet so soft, wet, and warm. Although driving his knot into her was the most glorious feeling in the world, it was the resulting tie and the intimacy it brought that he cherished. Repressing the knot, he tunneled into her, slowly, reveling in her response. He would have preferred to have spent the entire day in bed with her, fucking her over and over, but as she’d pointed out they had a masked ball to prepare for and children who would soon be demanding their attention.

He began to move more powerfully inside her, increasing the rhythm and speed with which he fucked her. Each time he thrust home, she nuzzled his neck and clung to him. And each time he retreated, she growled and sank those elegant nails of hers into his back. When he felt her body stiffen in anticipation of another orgasm, he began to pound into her, fucking her hard and fast, losing the iron control he normally exhibited. He knew she liked it best when he was feral and primitive.

Darby cried out as her pussy contracted all along his length, milking his cock. He felt the familiar tingle in his spine as his balls drew up and he came, flooding her with his seed. Pleasure and peace suffused his being, and he was one with her. He let her take his weight for a moment; it was something she needed. He buried his face in her neck and she stroked his hair and his back, purring in contentment and satisfaction.

S he lay nestled against him, wondering again how she had ever thought she didn’t want to heed the call of her fated mate. He had made her so happy over the past decade—fulfilling every dream, wish and fantasy she’d ever dared to have. Even when he made her so angry, she wanted to bludgeon him, she still loved him. Even when he turned her ass bright red from his discipline or imposed his will on her, she still loved him—maybe then most of all.

The peace of the morning was broken as she heard scuffling outside their door. Jean-Michel reached down and pulled the sheets up to cover their bodies. Darby was certain one of their children, Skylar most likely, was trying to open the door while someone else, probably their eldest son, Jean-Edouard, prevented her from doing so.

She smiled down at Jean-Michel, who grinned as he rolled from her. “Remind me again why we wanted children?”

“Mother? Father?” called Jean-Edouard from the other side of the door. “May we come in?”

“How the hell did you sire such a serious, well-mannered son?” she whispered.

Jean-Edouard was one of those beings who seemed far older than his years. It was as if, from the time of his birth, he had known what awaited him. He had understood as far back as anyone could remember that he would be alpha and had pestered his father from his earliest years to teach him. Darby had wanted to give him the time to just be a child, but Jean-Michel had encouraged his son’s dedication to the pack he would serve—those who one day would call him alpha.

“He must be a changeling. Certainly, he cannot be your son,” replied Jean-Michel with a grin.

There was a pounding on the door by an enraged, small fist. “Mama! Papa! Jean-Edouard won’t let me in. I want to say good morning and happy anniversary. Tell him he has to let me in,” demanded a young voice.

“Ouch!” cried Jean-Edouard.

The door to their bedroom flew open and Skylar and her younger brother, Rémy, barreled into their parents’ private suite and launched themselves at their father, who caught them up, tickling them.

“I’m so sorry, Mother. I tried to make them wait, but Skylar kicked me in the shins… again. She’s such a brat. She better hope you two live forever. When I’m alpha, I will have my beta take a strap to her backside to ensure she behaves.”

“Ah, but what will you do when her fated mate comes to claim her and steal her away from Rivière Du Loup ? ”

“Who would have her?” Jean-Edouard persisted.

Darby marveled at the way even now Jean-Michel was teaching their son how to lead their pack as alpha. There was no doubt that he would bear that title, as he could be nothing else, but she prayed he would be called to a fated mate who would lighten the load he seemed determined to carry.

“I fear, my son, you and I will be fighting her suitors off. Many an alpha wolf will try for your sister’s hand.”

“But I can reject them all,” Skylar said, standing defiantly in the middle of the bed.

Jean-Michel shook his head. “ Non, ma bichette. If you are called to a man and he is your fated mate, you will take your place at his side.”

Skylar, who reminded Darby of her namesake, shook her head. “No. It is my life, and I will live it as I see fit.”

Jean-Michel rolled his eyes. “This is your doing,” he said to Darby.

“Yes, Mother, I love you, but you really are a bad influence on her,” agreed Jean-Edouard.

“Your mother, my son, is a bad influence on many she-wolves.”

“She won’t be on mine. I’ll ensure my fated mate is sweet and biddable—nothing at all like Skylar.”

Darby and Jean-Michel looked at each other, thinking of all the wolves they had known who had made similar statements and ended up with hellcats. Perhaps he would break that mold.

“When you find your fated mate, Jean-Edouard, you will fall madly in love and there may be things you once found abhorrent in a she-wolf, you find endearing.”

“Is that why mother and her friends are forever getting into mischief?”

“ Oui . Your mother is blessed with friends that pledged their lives and their fortunes to one another long ago and they have held to that vow. They are among the most celebrated she-wolves of our kind. Pray your fated mate has half of your mother’s courage, intelligence, and beauty,” said Jean-Michel as he lifted Darby’s hand to his lips. “And what of you, Rémy? What will you be doing while Jean-Edouard scours the earth looking for this paragon of virtue?”

“I suppose I will be protecting the pack in his absence. But he’d best not take too long, or Skylar and I will lead them all astray—won’t we, SkySky?”

His older brother glared at him, and Rémy fell back on the bed giggling in the way only the dearest and sweetest of little boys could. Jean-Michel tossed Rémy up in the air, causing the little boy to explode with even more riotous laughter.

“Now shoo, all of you. We have guests coming. Go downstairs and have breakfast. Your papa and I will be with all of you shortly.”

Rémy and Skylar scrambled off the bed, joined hands, and ran toward the dining hall.

“We really did want to wish you both a very happy anniversary,” said Jean-Edouard.

“Thank you, my son. Now, go on downstairs. I promise to leave your mother alone so we can join you.”

Jean-Edouard shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Father, I don’t know why she puts up with you.”

“I am blessed to have your father as my fated mate. I only hope you and yours will share half of the love and happiness we do… and that all of your children take after your sister.”

“Mother,” he said drawing the title out as he left their room, closing the door behind him.

Darby closed her eyes. Last year they had lost a child and sometimes, at the oddest moments, the sadness caught her up.

“ Non, ma choue. We will try again, but if three is all we are blessed with, it is more than enough. Besides I’m not certain that if we had any more that they wouldn’t wear their poor papa out and then I would have nothing left at the end of the day to keep their mama happy.”

God, she loved him. He always knew how to say exactly what she needed to hear.

Darby rolled her eyes. “You’ll be long dead and gone and your ghost will still haunt my dreams and fantasies.

Jean-Michel shook his head as he left their bed. “A changeling, but mine. He will lead this pack and keep his siblings safe.”

Darby joined him, wrapping her arms around him. “It was just a nightmare, Jean-Michel. Children have nightmares.”

“No. I am telling you, Skylar has the Gift. They say it always skips a generation. My grandmother had it.”

“Skylar hasn’t seen anything. She just had a bad dream. Even if she does have some kind of foreknowledge, she is the daughter of the Alpha of New Orleans and the beloved little sister of the next one. Our children, for all their squabbles, adore one another. They will band together and fight whatever darkness may come their way.”

“I know it isn’t the norm for our kind, but I want you to teach Skylar. Teach her how to fight, how to use weapons, and how to keep herself safe.”

Trying to lighten the worry that had fallen on him, she teased, “You do realize that means she’s going to punch her fated mate right in the nose.”

He turned in her embrace and brushed his lips against hers. “He’ll be lucky if she doesn’t kick him in the nuts.”