by Delta James
“Any way?” Dylan nodded. “Hmmm,” she said. “I wonder how they will get rid of all those pesky corners?”
Dylan shook his finger at her. “My mate seeks to tease me. You are very brave.”
She grabbed his finger in her hand and allowed him to pull her into his lap. “I have nothing to fear.”
Dylan rang the buzzer on his desk and one of his men stuck his head inside the door. “Go see if Megan is still awake and if so ask her to join us here.”
The man left the room. A few minutes later, Megan appeared. She looked a bit apprehensive and shot a questioning look to Skylar.
“You have nothing to fear, Megan. You have done nothing wrong. Or at least nothing I know about. Should I know about something?” asked Dylan, seeking to focus her attention on him instead of Skylar.
“No, Alpha,” she said quietly.
“Unless you’re in trouble with me or your new pack expects more formal addresses to be used, Dylan is fine.”
“Then no, Dylan. I have done nothing wrong since the other day. And Nick said once he’d spanked me and let me out of the corner, all was forgiven.”
“And it is. Would you like to sit? Can I have Thomas bring you anything?”
She smiled and seemed to relax as she sat down gracefully. Megan had been a dancer at another time in her life. “We always had plenty to eat at Bae Diogel, but none of our cooking could compare to Thomas’. Wouldn’t you agree, Sky?”
Skylar nodded. “I would indeed. I don’t know what you pay him, Dylan, but it isn’t enough.”
“I agree. But he won’t take more. I’ve offered and tried many times. So, Megan, there is a man who has asked about you and I would like to know what you think.”
“For me? Already? But I’m not nearly the prettiest or the most accomplished at anything.”
Dylan laughed. “Do not sell yourself short. You are quite lovely, and even if that weren’t true, the heart wants what it wants. He has said he feels called to you.” Dylan thought he saw something flash across her face. “What is it? You can tell me. If someone has disrespected you or upset you, I will deal with him.”
Megan looked again at Skylar.
“Tell him, Meg. He really does want to know.”
“It’s just that there are so many alpha males here and they all want mates. And they all seem very nice and are used to getting what they want. And Darby has already been chosen by one…”
“So you had hoped to go to the alpha of New Orleans?”
“No… his beta, but Anna said the Council was already giving you fits about her being mated to Josh.”
“The Council has little to no say in any of this. I am now your alpha and I choose to whom you should be mated. So, you feel something for this man?”
Megan nodded. “I felt something from the moment they got here. And several times today I’ve found myself alone with him. Not that he did anything untoward, but just alone and, well, I think he might be my life mate, but…” The tears that started to slide down her cheeks told them everything they needed to know.
Nick, who was sitting next to her, took her hand and drew her close to him. “There now. Didn’t I tell you nothing bad was going to happen to you?” He looked across at Dylan who smiled and nodded. “If you and the beta from New Orleans are life mates, no one here will stand in your way.”
“But won’t his alpha want to avoid trouble?”
Skylar and Dylan both shook their heads.
“Quite the contrary,” said Skylar. “I rather imagine the alpha of New Orleans enjoys thumbing his nose at those who try to impose their antiquated ways on him.”
Dylan rumbled at her quietly. “Mind your manners, mate. I am not always in agreement with the Council, but I won’t have you bad-mouthing them. Clear?”
“Yes, Dylan. Meg, would you like Dylan to speak to Jean-Michele?”
“Very much.”
Dylan looked to Matthew. “Go out and see if either Jean-Michele or his beta are still up and roaming about.”
“Don’t you think Jean-Michele will have more pressing matters with his own mate?” asked Nick.
Skylar turned to Dylan. “If I may? I don’t know that he’ll do what every instinct in him is telling him to do.”
“Instinct is hard to fight and overcome,” said Dylan.
“Hard, but not impossible. You and I both know you would never have forced your mark on me regardless of how much you wanted it there and Micah’s gone. I could be wrong, but I think he may seek to charm her into accepting his mark. Jean-Michele impresses me as a man who plays the long game.”
Dylan nodded. “You could be right. For all his charm, I think the man has a Machiavellian streak a mile wide.”
Matthew left the study and went in search of someone from the New Orleans pack. Within short order both Jean-Michele and his beta, JD, had joined them. JD looked visibly concerned until Megan beamed at him and flung herself across the room and into his arms.
Jean-Michele laughed and clapped his hands together. “I take it, my friend Dylan, that you have granted my request to allow my pack to claim two of the lovely ladies from Bae Diogel?”
“I think it’s that or they run off together.”
“God, I’d hate to have to look for another beta. This one has had my back since we were boys.” He turned to Megan. “I take it the idea of being mated to this great sot you have your arms around is not totally reprehensible to you?”
“No, Alpha. Thank you.”
“Jean-Michele, little one. And ‘tis my pleasure to welcome you into our family. Dylan, would you like to make an announcement in the morning and have them wait until then to have JD claim her?”
“No, Jean-Michele. I would have the girls that were of Bae Diogel know that if their heart is called to someone here, I would see them happily mated.”
JD disengaged himself from Megan. He approached Dylan. “Thank you. I will keep her safe and well loved.”
Nick laughed. “You should also see her well spanked. Don’t let her fool you, she did not exactly settle in without a fight, did you?” he said, grinning at her.
“Perhaps it was the wrong beta who was trying to tell me what to do,” she teased.
It never ceased to amaze Dylan that even though Nick was the primary enforcer for the unmated females in his pack, they all adored him and would tease him respectfully, but unmercifully.
Skylar was headed out of Dylan’s study. “Where are you off to, mate?”
“To see if Thomas has anything with which to celebrate. I’ll rejoin you in a moment.”
Skylar returned with Thomas following with a tea cart laden with champagne and pastries. He smiled at the happy couple. “I think, mistress, I shall have to bake another cake.”
“Why not wait and plan to serve cake tomorrow evening? Who knows, we may have other announcements we wish to celebrate.”
Chapter Eighteen
The following morning there was a fair amount of grumbling before Dylan had a chance to make his announcement about JD and Megan. Megan had descended the stairs with JD’s arm around her and a telltale mark next to her collarbone.
Nick pulled Bianca close. “As I recall, you weren’t nearly that happy with me the morning after I marked you.”
She smiled up at him. “And as I recall, no one here or at my former home asked me what I thought about the idea of being claimed and marked by you.”
He ran his hand down her back and rested it on her bottom, patting it lovingly and possessively. “But you don’t mind so much now, do you, mate?”
She leaned up to kiss him. “Not so much.”
Dylan wanted to wait until Jean-Michele made an appearance before making the announcement official. He and Skylar greeted their guests. Dylan watched her with great pride. She was magnificent. She seemed to know precisely how to deal with each person in the room. They all seemed to be quite taken with her and more than one alpha had teased him about usurping anyone else’s claim to her.
At last Jean-
Michele came down with Darby in tow. And it was in tow. Darby did not look pleased about her circumstances. Had Dylan not witnessed her reaction to Jean-Michele’s call he might have doubted the wisdom of pairing her with him. Jean-Michele brought his mate over to their host.
Darby said nothing until Jean-Michele emitted a low growl meant only for her ears. “What did we talk about this morning?”
She started to retort, saw the look on his face, and thought better of it. Instead she looked at Dylan and said very carefully, “I apologize for the trouble I caused yesterday.”
Jean-Michele kissed her forehead. “That wasn’t so difficult, now was it?”
Dylan spoke. “Do not let it worry you, Darby. Often the best of mates are the most difficult to convince.” He turned to Jean-Michele. “Does she know?”
“Do I know what?” Darby said suspiciously.
“Not yet. I had planned to tell her this morning, but instead of sharing the good news, my mate needed to be reminded who is alpha and who is not.” He patted her bottom affectionately even though it was obvious that the reminder was given to her across her mate’s knee. “Dylan is going to announce that our beta, JD, has been gifted with the lovely Megan.” JD and Megan approached them. “I see Megan is bearing her mate’s mark.”
“I already have an unwanted mark. I don’t need or want another.”
“There will come a time, mate,” Jean-Michele said pleasantly but with an underlayment of steel, “that you will desire the removal of that beast’s mark by having mine replace it.”
“Never. Oh, I have no doubt you’ll do it. Your ego is too big to see the mark of another who had once what you now consider yours.”
Jean-Michele laughed. “I fear I neither spanked nor loved my mate hard enough this morning. She seems to be in the same foul mood she was in yesterday when she made foolish choices. Are you going to make foolish choices today, mate?”
“I will try to get away from you at the first opportunity. I will not be shackled to you.”
“Hmm. Shackles. I hadn’t thought of that. Would you be desirous of shackles?”
“I despise you,” seethed Darby.
Megan embraced her. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Dar, that’s no way to speak to Jean-Michele. Other than Skylar’s and my mate, he’s quite the dishiest man here.” She reached out and took Jean-Michele’s hands in hers and greeted him as her alpha.
Skylar rejoined them and hugged both Megan and Darby. “Good morning, everyone. Dylan, I’m starting people through the amazing buffet Thomas has set out. Do you want to make the announcement about JD and Megan before or after?”
“No time like the present. If you’ll all excuse me.” Dylan positioned himself where he could be heard. “If I could have everyone’s attention. As you might have noticed, another of the Bae Diogel girls has found a mate. Megan, formerly of Bae Diogel, has been mated and marked by JD, the beta of New Orleans.”
There was some applause and congratulations, but a bit of grumbling. One of the alphas from the Midwest asked to speak with Dylan privately. Dylan motioned for Skylar to join them and asked Nick and Bianca to look after their guests. He showed the alpha into his study and closed the doors once Skylar had joined them.
“I asked to speak to you privately, Dylan.”
“My mate and I have no secrets from one another. The women of Bae Diogel once called her alpha and she has great care for them both as friend and leader. What may I do for you?”
“I don’t think some of us are being given a fair chance. First you claim your mate without notice to anyone and then mate one of them to an unranked member of your pack. The alpha of the Hamptons takes another one and absconds with her before anyone else even arrives. Now, two more are going to New Orleans. There are some who think perhaps the Council had it right in that there ought to be a lottery for them or some kind of contest.”
Dylan’s hand on hers stopped her from telling the alpha that her girls were not some prize in a contest. “I see. And who are the others who feel as you do?”
“The alphas out of St. Louis, Nashville, and Miami. We are all entitled to one of these girls.”
Dylan pressed the call button on his desk and Nick stuck his head inside. “Nick, see if you can’t find the alphas of St. Louis, Nashville, and Miami and ask them to join us.” He turned his attention to Skylar and his mark that she wore. “It still looks very angry, is it still painful?”
“Not as much. More uncomfortable than painful, it is healing. Thank you for asking.”
He kissed her mark as the other three alphas entered the room. “Nick? Would you mind staying for a moment?”
Nick closed the doors and glanced at Skylar, whose look let him know she was clueless as to Dylan’s purpose.
Dylan continued, “I understand that you three gentlemen and the esteemed alpha from Kansas City are under the impression that you had been invited here to select a mate from those formerly of Bae Diogel?”
They all nodded. “Yes, and we feel we have not been given a fair bite at the apple,” said one.
Another joined in. “It’s one thing to see two alphas other than yourself make their claims before any of us have a chance, but to see a beta and an unranked male be allowed to claim one. That’s not right, Grainger. I myself thought the one who went to Gautier’s beta would suit me just fine.”
Dylan laughed, but it was a dark and hollow sound. “I invite you to challenge for her… if you dare. JD would seem to be a formidable opponent and she is his life mate. I rather imagine he’d tear you limb from limb in either wolf or human form. Be that as it may, I’m going to invite all of you and yours to leave my home.”
“What?” they said almost in unison.
“You heard me. You are no longer welcome at Calon Gwyllt. As my mate likes to point out to me, these women are not some kind of prize to be gifted to anyone who wants one. There are far fewer of them than are needed. But I will not see them mated to a man not of their liking. My thought had been if there was no one who called to one of them as a life mate from among those gathered here that I would place those that remained unmated in packs where they would be allowed a voice in their pairing.”
“That’s absurd. I find it difficult to believe that the Council agreed to this.”
“They didn’t… mainly because I didn’t ask them. These women are a part of my pack and I don’t ask for permission on how I run my pack or how I place unmated females within it. I’m not sure why you thought this little gambit of telling me you didn’t like my decisions was going to improve your chances, but it has failed. I would see you remove yourselves and members of your packs from my home before noon. Nick, I’ll leave you to supervise their removal. If they are not on their way down the driveway at that time, let me know. I’m sure between the pack members of Calon Gwyllt and New Orleans we can persuade them that following my request is their best and only option.”
Nick ushered the four alphas out of Dylan’s study. As he turned to close the doors, he grinned at Dylan. “Way to kick ass and take names.”
Dylan laughed. Skylar wrapped her arms around him and silenced his laughter with her kiss. “I think I quite like when you get all alpha bossy with those other than me,” she purred.
He pulled her close. “I never thought of them as chattel, Sky. I only want what’s best for them. Those four are not worthy of our girls. Those girls are special. Those who are lucky enough to be mated to one need to understand that. Obviously, I misjudged those four unmated males… I will not call any of them alphas.”
There was a knock on the door. Jean-Michele opened the door and entered with Darby still in tow. “Trouble?”
Dylan smiled. “Could be. I’ve asked four of the packs represented to leave. They had some misgivings about some of my decisions.”
Skylar snorted. “Forgive me, mate, but that’s a bit of an understatement. Those four were weak, narcissistic alphas who don’t deserve that designation. Dylan told them so and kicked their asses out of here.”
Dylan grinned. “I did invite the one who said he wanted Megan to challenge JD for her… he declined my offer.”
“Good thing,” said Jean-Michele. “JD can be a nasty piece of work when someone tries to take something that’s his. And watching them this morning, I think it safe to say that Megan is most definitely his… as he is hers.”
Dylan looked to Darby. “And how does the mistress of New Orleans fare this morning? I take it you have not been ill-used?”
“No more so than I have been since you destroyed our home and our pack.”
“Darby,” Skylar growled.
“Shh, cariad, you know that the women of our pack speak freely as long as it is with a respectful tone. I assume your new mate disciplined you last night for your misbehavior yesterday? But it would appear he chose not to mark you at this time, and I daresay didn’t knot and tie you to him?”
“No, but the bastard…”
“Not respectful, Darby,” cautioned Dylan.
Jean-Michele hugged her close, infuriating her. “What she was going to say was but the bastard put her over his knee and spanked her pretty bottom until it was a deep shade of red and she chose to apologize for her behavior yesterday. Then when the same bastard put his hand between her legs and found her extremely wet and aroused for him, put her on her back on their bed, and feasted on the honey he found there until she called for him to mount her and claim her pussy, which he did… repeatedly. That is what you meant to say, isn’t it, sweetheart?”
“You prick,” she seethed.
Jean-Michele gave her backside a hard swat. “Language, mate. We talked about that this morning. We agreed that you would be mindful of both the words you spoke and how you spoke them. Did we not?”
“I hate you.”
“So you told me repeatedly this morning as I brought you to multiple orgasms. But as I recall, after a while you were far more interested in being stroked and pleasured than you were at lobbing insults in my direction. As I said to Dylan earlier this morning, I may need to take you back upstairs for another spanking and/or fucking. You, my naughty mate, are going to learn to behave if nowhere else than in public. Would you prefer to behave and remain downstairs or do you and I need to excuse ourselves so that you may have a further lesson in minding your mate?”