Fated Legacy Complete Collection

Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

M on Dieu. When he opened his eyes, he would be fifty. How the devil had that happened? He was practically an old man. Nestled in the cleft of Darby’s backside, his cock throbbed, reminding him he might no longer be a young wolf, but he wasn’t past his prime. He grinned—perhaps he wasn’t too old after all, if he could still make his beloved call his name when he brought her to orgasm time after time.

He took inventory of his life. His pack was thriving—expanding to the point they’d had to buy the neighboring plantation when he’d returned ten years ago. His eldest son, Jean-Edouard, was twenty-nine and would follow as alpha. His daughter, Skylar, was the spitting image of her mother in both looks and temperament and was a police detective in the Crescent City. He feared for her safety, but knew New Orleans was a safer place with her on the force.

His remaining sons also seemed safe and happy for the moment. Lucien and Octavio were still at home. Rémy, was now twenty-two. Jean-Michel had at one time feared for his future. He too was an alpha wolf and while he was the most like his father, Jean-Michel knew Rémy would never challenge his older brother for leadership of the New Orleans pack. He had feared for Rémy’s future until Rémy and Nick, Dylan Grainger’s youngest son, enlisted in the United States Navy and had both been accepted as SEALs.

“You do know that just because you don’t open your eyes, doesn’t mean that you haven’t turned into a wizened old wolf who’s going grey in the muzzle,” said Darby, his fated mate for the past thirty years.

“Wizened old wolf, am I? I’m not yet too long in the tooth to take my beautiful mate over my knee to correct her attitude.”

Darby wriggled around in his arms until she was facing him, her eyes dancing with mischief. There might be she-wolves younger than her, but none possessed the sultry beauty or inherent sensuality of the one he had claimed so many years ago.

“I would remind you, my mate, that we have guests arriving this afternoon.”

“Which gives me more than enough time to knot and tie you to me. No wolf past his prime could do that to his mate the morning after he’d done so twice the night before.”

“We don’t have time for that…” Darby said in token protest.

“We will make the time,” he said, and proved to her that he was right.

J ean-Edouard was waiting in the dining room with the rest of the pack. Since his father’s dramatic return from the dead, the New Orleans Pack had thrived. His father still ruled as alpha, but he had turned a lot of the day-to-day responsibilities over to his son. Jean-Edouard was sure his parents would be late to breakfast. They were both incorrigible. In some ways he found his parents’ long-standing lust for one another embarrassing and in other ways he found it endearing, intimidating, and comforting. Their deep and abiding love for one another had sustained the pack for more than a quarter of a century. He worried that he might not be able to live up to their example. Perhaps Rémy should be the one who led the pack. He was far more like their father.

It was Jean-Michel’s fiftieth birthday, and an enormous celebration was planned. His parents’ friends from around the globe were either here or would be coming in later today. His sister, Skylar, had promised to be here this morning. She lived and worked in the city—something he and his father had quarreled about. Rémy was in SEAL training and couldn’t attend, but unbeknownst to his father, he’d sent a video message.

“ Bonjour! Bonjour!” called his sister as she breezed into the foyer of the large antebellum mansion. “Mama! Papa!”

“Skylar, keep your voice down and come into the dining room,” said Jean-Edouard as he went to greet his sister. “Our parents are upstairs in bed sleeping.”

Skylar laughed. “Jean-Edouard, if our parents are still in bed, they aren’t sleeping, unless of course Papa has Mama tied to him… again.”

Jean-Edouard could feel the heat rising in his face. His sister tended to be obnoxiously forthcoming about their parents’ amorous activities.

P oor Jean-Edouard , he really had been born into the wrong family. He was so staid and serious, but he’d also been the backbone of the family when her father had been gone. She wondered if he would ever figure out that Brianna Owen was madly in love with him and had been ever since they were children.

Brianna was quiet and studious but was already enjoying a great deal of success following in her mother’s footsteps. Brianna’s erotic romance novels were Skylar’s favorite guilty pleasure, but then Skylar didn’t feel guilt about much.

She took Jean-Edouard’s arm and allowed him to lead her out of the foyer and into the dining room.

“Is Piper here?” she asked.

“Not yet. She and her parents will join us later this afternoon.”

“Really? I’m surprised. Didn’t Riley plan tonight’s menu and supervise the kitchen staff?”

“She was supposed to, but Travis came instead.”

Skylar rolled her eyes but said nothing before taking a seat at the smaller table, where her life-long friends already sat. The larger family table was being used for seating the various alphas and their mates. She was glad to see Mariah Halsey and Brianna Owen sitting across from her.

“Bre, I just finished your latest book. It was great. I love how you portray your heroines. Your mother’s female protagonists are sassy, but yours are kick-ass. I see myself in them far more.”

Brianna smiled. “I think you, Mariah, and Piper have had a good deal of influence on my writing. I always wanted to be like you three when we were growing up. And then there’s all the women who tried to destroy DeMoncada the first time.”

Mariah laughed. “My mother says she reads your books to see if she can spot who you modeled the characters after. But I know the truth. She reads them to get ideas for her sexual escapades with my dad. Sometimes they think they’re being so subtle, and I just want to say, ‘get a room.’”

“I heard you’re having a showing in London in a couple of months,” said Skylar, taking a bite of the strawberry blintzes she’d been served. They were a particular favorite, like they were for her namesake as well.

Mariah nodded. “I was worried about going into another pack’s territory—you know, one that I hadn’t grown up with.”

“I studied economics in London,” said Jean-Edouard, “and always found the Howards to be most welcoming. At one point I considered taking their daughter, Camilla, to mate.…”

Skylar saw the almost imperceptible wince from Brianna.

“…But we found we had no chemistry whatsoever beyond that of good friends. She’s a quiet, steady girl and I heard she’s being courted by some of the other British packs. I don’t think she would have cared for our fair city. I became friends with her older brother, Simon. I know he’s good friends with Micah.”

“Wasn’t there something between Simon and Abriana?” asked Skylar.

“A kind of friends with benefits thing, revolving around some club. But when Micah explained things, Simon backed off.”

“Not much fight in that wolf,” said Mariah. “But I’m looking forward to spending some time in London.” She turned to Skylar. “Any chance you, Bre, and Piper could come for a visit and attend the opening?”

Skylar grinned. “Weren’t we there for your exhibit in New York? Papa said we can use the family jet, and we’ve arranged to stay at the Savoy.”

“Piper is supposed to be here later, right?” asked Brianna.

“Yes, my parents and the rest of my family should be here for lunch,” drawled the tall, tawny eldest son of Cameron and Riley.

The buzzing in her head had started the moment she turned down the drive to the plantation and now that he was standing next to her chair, the sound and disorientation had increased dramatically.

Travis leaned toward Skylar. “I see you liked the blintzes.”

“Yes. They were very good.”

“I’m glad. I made them for you.” He turned to the rest of the table. “It’s so good to see everyone. Jed,” he said to Josiah Steele, “if I could get some time with you this weekend. I’d appreciate it.”

“I’d be happy to. I was going to see if you might have time before or after the party tonight,” said Jed, Damian and Kenzie Steele’s eldest son. “I just wasn’t sure how available you’d be, with the new location opening up in San Antonio.”

Brianna looked up at the man standing between them. “What does that make, four?”

Travis nodded. “Yes—Galveston, Dallas, Houston, and now San Antonio. I think that’ll be it for Texas.”

“Are you and your mother looking to make a move into California?” asked Skylar.

Travis looked down at her and grinned. “Maybe someday, mais je ne te laisserais jamais derrière . We’re looking at several sites in the Crescent City. Being so close to Galveston, we thought it would be convenient. I thought you might show me around.”

“I’m a cop, not a tour guide,” she snapped with a bit more belligerence than she’d intended.

H is parents had never made it down to breakfast, and their friends were having a field day with that fact. Sometimes it seemed to Jean-Edouard that the parents were all far more immature than their children. As the temporary host, he slipped into the role he had fulfilled when his father was presumed dead ten years earlier. It was his job to ensure that everyone’s needs were seen to. He’d finally cleared the dining room when he looked up to see Brianna directing some of their guests down to the stables where there would be a tour of Rivière Du Loup by carriage. Has she been acting as hostess all along?

“I think that’s the last of them,” she said.

The buzzing in his head had become pleasant rather than worrisome. He had fought what he’d always known for so long. They all thought he didn’t know, but he did—he always had. The daughter of the Welsh Wolf was his fated mate.

“I must apologize for my parents.”

“There’s no need,” she said. “I find them fascinating. Their love for one another seems boundless and never seems to diminish, no matter how long they’ve been together.”

“However, there are times I think one or both of them go to extremes. This is a party for my father. He should have been here.”

“But he wasn’t. He didn’t need to be, and he knows it. You’ve been his right hand along with his beta since he returned from the dead.”

Jean-Edouard crossed to her. “I never told you how much it meant to me when you stood with me, that day we were told my father was dead. And again when he returned.”

She shrugged. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

“I’m not like everyone else in my family,” he said quietly.

She laughed, the sound filling the room like bubbles in a glass of champagne. “Nor would I want you to be. In case you missed it, even though they’re my closest friends, I’m not like Mariah, Piper, or your sister.”

“I have noticed.” Jean-Edouard frowned in thought. “But I worry about filling my father’s footsteps when he really is gone,”

Brianna placed her hand on his arm. “The best way to do that is to walk your own path. You worry about not being the swashbuckling alpha that your father is, but he belongs to a different time and a different era. We don’t know what the future will bring. Skylar says there is a darkness approaching—maybe not in our lifetimes, but it lays just out of sight like a boat waiting outside the harbor. Maybe what the pack needs is a leader who is strong enough to hold his father’s pack together when he thought his father was gone. Your journey is not his, but my father always says an alpha is only as strong as his mate. I’m quiet, Jean-Edouard, not weak—much like my fated mate.”

Jean-Edouard smiled down at her and knew she was right. His way wasn’t his father’s, but he knew in that moment that the Pack of New Orleans would not fall under his watchful eye. He bent down and kissed Brianna, desire flaring and sizzling along his nerve endings, lighting them up like a fireworks display.

Brianna folded herself into his arms, melting into him and allowing her arousal to speak her truth. Jean-Edouard held her close. He moved his mouth across hers and ran his tongue along her lips until they parted for him, inviting him to deepen his kiss. It was broad daylight in his parents dining room and he didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he truly understood his parents’ passion for one another.

He slid his tongue into her mouth and let it glide and dance with hers—leading, knowing she would follow. Jean-Edouard continued to languidly kiss her until they were both breathless. He raised his head, looking down into the eyes of his fated mate. Her eyes were darkened with lust, her skin flushed, and he could smell her arousal.

“I will speak to your father?” She nodded her consent. “I don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of your innocence.”

Again, her laughter tinkled like silver bells. “My father is pragmatic. Both he and my mother made sure I know how to take care of myself, and my mother ensured I learned about life and love. She always said you can’t write what you don’t know. My father read my first book… he never read another. He is proud of me and my success, but I don’t think he wants to think about the difference between what I’ve experienced and what is pure imagination.”

Jean-Edouard laughed—a rare thing from him. “I think you’re a naughty she-wolf, and it was high time you were brought to heel.”

T he party that night was a grand success. His father was brought to tears by Rémy’s video birthday message.

Papa, I wish I could be there in person to wish you bon anniversaire. The hardest part of our training starts tomorrow at dawn, and I’ll be incommunicado for the better part of two weeks. You’ve always been my ideal of the noble warrior—proud, strong and courageous, not only in body but in heart.

You may be getting a little longer in the tooth than you might like, but you’re still the Alpha of New Orleans with a pack, a family, and a fated mate who would live or die on your word. You’ll always be the standard that I try to hold myself to.

A brave man, Tolstoy I think, once said that time was one of the most powerful weapons a warrior could wield. I believe he was right. Our pack has had the benefit of your leadership for a long time, and you will be followed by Jean-Edouard, who has the patience and honor to lead after you.

I’ll see you soon. I love you, Mama, Jean-Edouard, Skylar, Lucien and Octavio.

Later that night, Jean-Edouard sat with his parents and their friends out on the patio overlooking the Mississippi, drinking fine wine and whiskey and reminiscing about the past. At some earlier point Brianna had slipped away, and now he left too. When he searched for her in his mind, he could feel her close—peaceful and content. He would talk to the Welsh Wolf in the morning about taking his only daughter to mate.

Jean-Edouard climbed the stairs and went to his room at the opposite end of the hall from his parents’ room. When the pack had acquired the neighboring plantation, his father had installed JD and his mate, Megan, in the master suite at the other manor house. As his father’s presumptive heir, Jean-Edouard took over the second-largest suite at Rivière Du Loup.

The first things to hit him as he opened the door to his room were the feeling of her presence and the scent of her arousal. He realized that without knowing it, he’d been waiting for her. Not that he was a virgin, but no other she-wolf had graced his bed in his parents’ home.

“ O h, damn! You weren’t supposed to be here yet,” she said with a frown.

“I would point out to you that this is my bedroom. I thought you had gone to the room assigned to you.”

She shook her dark hair, which seemed to glisten in the moonlight that filtered through his windows. “After talking with Skylar…”

“ Mon dieu…”

“Your sister loves you very much and sees you with a very clear eye. And she said since you finally got your head out of your ass, I should embrace the pack’s motto of laissez le bon temps rouler.”

“I should warn you, ma chérie , that following my sister’s advice will earn you a session over my knee. Skylar is the most misbehaved she-wolf in the world. I’ve already decided to gift her fated mate with a beautiful antique razor strop I found in London.”

“You didn’t,” she laughed.

“I did, but should I decide it would be better used across your backside, I can always get him another.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” she said softly. “If you want me to go, I will, but I was really hoping you’d want me to stay.”

Jean-Edouard closed the door behind him and locked it. “I can think of nothing I’d like more,” he said in the same deep, authoritative voice that the alpha males in her books always used.

She wondered if he noticed in the dim light provided by the moon that she had made herself comfortable and was wearing only one of his shirts. She’d planned to greet him as her Aunt Ava had once tried to greet her father before both had found their fated mates, but she couldn’t quite pull off the femme fatale that she’d imagined Ava to be. But the predatory grin on his face was all the answer she needed, in knowing she had succeeded.

“That shirt looks much better on you than it ever did on me,” he said, his eyes raking over her body with a possessive gleam as he closed the distance between them.

“I’m not usually this forward…”

He placed his finger over her lips. “Don’t apologize for showing me your truth and allowing us to start our journey together. My sister is right. I should have admitted what I knew to be true a long, long time ago and for that, ma chérie , I offer my most humble apologies. You are where you’ve always belonged. I fear there may be times when you’ll have to remind me to remove my head from my ass.”

Brianna wound her arms around his neck and moved closer to him, turning her face up to his. The wolfish grin reappeared on his lips as his head descended to hers and he captured her mouth in a dominating kiss that made her toes curl. His arms enfolded her and pulled her close—the heat and his arousal rolled off of him in waves, his erection throbbed between them.

“Why does it feel like I’ve always been with you?” she whispered.

“Because your soul recognized mine long ago and has been readying you to be with me. Promise me you’ll find a way to cajole me out of my studiousness if it ever threatens your happiness.”

Jean-Edouard reached between them, carefully unbuttoning the shirt she wore and sliding it off of her body.

“ Mon dieu , you are so beautiful.”

She had never seen herself that way, but he made her feel it.

He pulled her back into his arms, running his hands down her back and cupping the globes of her ass before gently squeezing them.

“Be warned, my mate, I won’t allow you to forget which of us will be alpha and which will be mistress. You are mine and I will cherish you above all things, but I won’t be your tame pet wolf. I may not outwardly display my passion like my father and my brothers, but as they say, still waters run deep, and you’ll know my full depth.”

Jean-Edouard captured her mouth again, this time allowing what he was feeling to sweep over her as his tongue plunged past her lips and danced with hers in a hint of what was to come. Brianna softened against him and began to unbutton his shirt, tugging it out of his trousers, opening it so she could feel the skin of his chest against her own. Her hardened peaks rubbed the silky skin of his cut chest. Their tongues tangled and his five o’clock shadow lightly grazed the soft skin of her shoulder.

He cradled her body close to his, allowing her to feel his hard length against her belly. He released her mouth, fisted her hair, and gave it a tug to bare her throat to him. If he wanted to mark and claim her as his, she would offer him no resistance. She’d been waiting for Jean-Edouard for as long as she could remember.

She loved the feel of his hands on her skin as he stroked her, feeling the warmth of his touch as he explored her body. One arm stayed wrapped around her as the other hand came up to cup her breast, tracing the areola before rolling her stiffened nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He gave it a pinch before lowering his head to take it into his mouth. He swirled his tongue all around it and latched on to begin suckling.

Brianna leaned back and offered him whatever he wanted to take. She was his and had always been. He nipped the distended peak, making her gasp, before turning his attention to the other one. Slowly he inched her toward the bed, until he laid her out on it, moved over her body and parted her legs, resting his lower torso against her, his cock almost reaching her navel and resting in such a way that it throbbed against her swollen clit. She could feel her pussy weeping its need.

She knew what to expect. Her mother had raised her to know not only the mechanics of being mate to an alpha wolf, but the joys and intimacies to be had. Her parents were deeply in love, and she had grown up watching her father call to her mother in the way of their kind and seeing her mother’s entire body shudder with anticipation in response.

Jean-Edouard stared at her nakedness, flush with need and desire, and rumbled to her seductively. Her body shivered and trembled in answer to his call, in a way only his would elicit. His hand slid between her legs to part her labia and caress her sex. He rimmed the opening to her core, gathering her honey and drawing it up to play with her clit before skimming back down to her cunt. He worked his finger up inside her, stroking her deeply and making her breath catch. Her breathing sped up, and the noises she made became little whimpers as her orgasm barreled down on her in a way that was unfamiliar and yet seemed so right. Her entire body stiffened in anticipation only seconds before he pressed his thumb against her swollen clit, and she felt herself careening over the edge into an ecstasy she had never known before.

He soothed her with touch and words, not all of which she understood. He allowed her to drift in a place of feeling and sensation, tethering her to this world with his strong but gentle hands. When she sighed and looked at him, he didn’t bother to hide the predatory gleam in his eyes. She rather liked this side of her mate—a side she knew he would share only with her. Skylar had long ago warned her that her older brother resembled their father in more ways than most would ever guess. Jean-Edouard had hidden his core being behind a very civilized fa?ade, much like Oliver Halsey had.

“You are so beautiful and so very responsive. You are every dream and fantasy I’ve ever had, all rolled into one. If you want no part of my life, we need to end this now. Once I have possessed you, I will never let you go. I will not mark or knot you until we’ve spoken our vows, but if we proceed, I will not let you go and will force your vows from you if I have to.”

Time to shake him up. Her very serious alpha needed to learn she was not going to be the ever-obedient mate .

Wrapping her arms around him, she purred, “Shut up and fuck me.”

Jean-Edouard growled and rolled on top of her, settling himself between her legs. Reaching under her, he took hold of her ass to steady her before thrusting himself deeply into her wet heat. Brianna had not been expecting such a dominant and powerful possession and her body arched up, her pussy spasming as she climaxed in response.

He dragged his cock back until only the head remained inside. He began to take long, deep, slow strokes to her very depths, then pulled back again, making her moan in desperate need. Normally, she would have used her body to encourage her partner to take her more swiftly, but he held her in place as he plunged in and out. His cock was larger both in length and girth than any she had handled before, and it rasped her inner walls as it moved, filling her completely.

Over and over again he pounded into her. Heat and need rose in her again, radiating out from her core until her whole body felt on fire. She shuddered from the depth and strength of his claiming. She knew that it was not merely his cock making claim to her pussy, but rather Jean-Edouard demanding the surrender of her heart, mind, body, and soul. Instead of fear, she felt there was a rightness to it as her entire being shifted to a different rhythm that would align with his and make her whole.

Relentlessly he pummeled her pussy. Brianna’s legs intertwined with his as she clung to him, her arms wrapping around him to clutch at his back. Her final surrender was imminent, and she knew he could feel it as her nails sank into his flesh. She raked his skin from the muscles in his back down to his powerful flanks. He continued to surge in and out, and she had no doubt she’d leave him marked from their first coupling. Jean-Edouard either didn’t care or was too far gone in providing her with as much pleasure as possible.

“Jean-Edouard, please,” she whimpered.

She climaxed again as he held her still and increased the strength and speed of his thrusting. It didn’t feel like this was her first time with him. There was a familiarity and recognition that they’d been together before, would be together now, and would remain together in the future. Jean-Edouard fucked her hard and long, giving her little respite as her body surrendered itself to his mastery.

He thrust into her, scraping her inner walls and ensuring that she felt each and every plunge. She clutched his back, her nails digging into his muscular torso, which only seemed to spur him on more. Her mate might appear to be a domesticated being, but inside his soul there beat the heart of a wild wolf who would claim her as his once and for all in the next few days.

She could feel her body stiffen, approaching the center mass of the storm he’d created, and her body, heart, and soul all capitulated to his will as he raced toward his own release. Jean-Edouard plunged deeper still as she arched up into him and clutched his powerful buttocks. Her pussy contracted all up and down his length and his cock pumped his seed into her, flooding her core with his cum.

When finally he was spent, he lay on her for a moment, letting her bear all of his weight. His mouth claimed hers a final time, tongues dueling lazily before he rolled from her and withdrew as he did so. He eased his body from hers and moved onto his back, bringing her to lay half on top of him and half off. Brianna was completely sated and at peace. She rested her head on his shoulder, one of his arms wrapped around her while hers was thrown over his body, holding him close. The fingers of his other hand were laced through hers and her leg rested between his.

“You are mine, Brianna Owen, and tomorrow I will speak to your father. I love you, ma chérie. I will ensure neither you nor anyone else ever doubts that.”

“My quiet, savage wolf. I feel, at last, I am where I was meant to be.”

He made love to her twice more that night, each time more earth shattering than the last. Before the sun had begun to brighten the sky, Jean-Edouard lifted her out of his bed and returned her to the room she was supposed to have been in the night before, promising to speak to the Welsh Wolf before the sun had reached its zenith for the day. Tucking her into bed, he kissed her lingeringly and then crept out of her room, returning to his own.

“ C ’est bien,” said Jean-Michel with a smile, hugging Darby close, as they watched their eldest son return to his room after delivering his beloved back to her bed. “I’d begun to worry about him.”

“I never doubted him. He’s far more like you than people realize. They should do well together.”

“The pack will be in good hands.”

“But not for many, many years to come. I swear, if you leave me again, I will hunt you down in hell and take my revenge.”

He shook his head. “My fierce mate. Even if I must leave this earth before you, I will wait for you just on the other side, and we will transition to the next plane of existence together.”

N ow that you are all caught up on the past. Are you ready to read Skylar and Travis’s story? Click here to ready Touch of Darkness

She lives by her own rules. He's bound by destiny to protect her. Can they stop a killer before the darkness consumes them both?

Skylar Gautier prides herself on her fierce independence. Defying her father's wishes, the wolf shifter forges her own path as a New Orleans detective, determined to bring criminals to justice. Ignoring the age-old traditions of her kind, she's sworn off the idea of a fated mate—until a dangerous investigation forces her to confront a destiny she can't escape.

Travis Nichols gave up the chance to lead the pack for one reason: to safeguard the woman destined to be his. A talented chef with a protective streak, he's spent years watching over Skylar from afar. But with a sadistic killer on the loose and a shadowy evil rising, he must step out of the shadows to stand by her side.

As a sinister enemy closes in, Skylar and Travis must navigate their smoldering attraction while battling threats both human and supernatural. Her refusal to accept their bond tests his resolve, but when she experiences a chilling premonition, they realize time is running out.

Can they embrace their shared fate before malevolent forces tear them apart forever?

Touch of Darkness is the thrilling first installment in the Fated Legacy paranormal romance series. If you crave irresistible chemistry, pulse-pounding action, and a love that defies all odds, you'll be captivated by Delta James's spellbinding tale.

T urn the page for a First Look into TOUCH OF DARKNESS, the second book in the Fated Legacy Series.