The fireworks exploded all around them. Skylar had always loved the way they celebrated at Rivière Du Loup—ever since she was a child. Laissez le bon temps rouler! That was what life was all about. It was the philosophy she’d been brought up with and was the one she’d adopted long ago.

Let the good times roll! Her father had told her mother when he’d first brought her to Rivière Du Loup that his family celebrated as often and as heartily as they could so that when the bad times came, as they inevitably did, the memories of the good ones would sustain them.

Times weren’t bad. A bit uncertain, perhaps, but certainly not bad. In many ways Skylar was blessed. The Darkness, for that’s how she thought of it now, had eluded them and even Mawmaw Chantal couldn’t seem to find a trace of it. From reading the journals of her famous ancestor, she knew this was its pattern. It would make its way into the world and cause chaos and destruction, only to be contained as it waited for its next chance to escape.

But tonight, wasn’t about any of that. It wasn’t about her work with the New Orleans Police Department and the permanent task force that she’d been tapped to lead. It wasn’t about the opening of Loup De Mer restaurant and the amazing success it had enjoyed from day one. No, tonight was about her and Travis, and celebrating their pairing. It didn’t matter that they’d taken their bonds six months ago, now was the official celebration to honor their being together, being in love, and being fated mates.

Travis wrapped his arms around her as he often did, pulling her back into his front and letting his erection rub against her backside—the promise of things to come while for now they enjoyed the present. His mother had been at Rivière Du Loup for days, pulling together the menu for tonight’s dinner and banishing Travis from the kitchen. He’d taken advantage of the brief lull in their lives to take Skylar into seclusion. It had been everything any she-wolf madly in love with her mate could dream of.

When they had rejoined the world, they’d been welcomed back with news that the celebration of their pairing would be that night. Her body was languid and sore. She’d been fucked, knotted, and tied so many times it should have killed her, but the absolute joy she’d experienced was like nothing she had ever known before.

“Happy?” he asked, nuzzling her neck.

“If I was any happier, I’d be dead.”

“Maybe, but what a way to go.”

She laughed softly. “Do we have to go back to our real lives?”

“This is our real life. If it’s not the one we want, we can change it. I love what I do, but I can do it anywhere. Want to open a restaurant in San Francisco? Grace Steele has been teasing my mother for a while about hiring me away. Want to go to New York and take on the Big Apple? Why not? Or you could take that job with the Justice Department, or even NCIS.”

“What job with the… How did you know about that?”

“I am the fated mate to the daughter of the Alpha of New Orleans. I know everything.”

“Rémy. That rat fink little brother of mine is going to pay.”

“He will not,” growled Travis. “Your little brother was excited about your opportunity, and was a bit surprised you hadn’t mentioned it.”

“You don’t tell me every little thing that goes on in your day either,” she said defensively. She tried to pull away but was held firm.

“It wasn’t just a little thing, Sky. As I said, I’m happy where we are, but I can be happy anywhere. As long as you are safe and in my arms, the rest doesn’t matter a whole lot to me.”

“You do know our fathers are planning to pull you aside for brandy and cigars in a bit.”

“Yes, my mother mentioned it.”

“As did mine. Any idea what that’s about?”

“I hope it’s their Hail Mary attempt to get me to rethink our path. I’m surprised at my father; I thought he’d settled long ago with the fact that I wouldn’t be following him as alpha.”

“So, what’s my father got to do with it?”

“I suspect he’s the force that is egging my father on.”

“Why would he care if you are Alpha of Galveston. He’s never been much of a social climber.”

“No, but if I am Alpha of Galveston, you won’t be running a major task force that takes on all the worst murder cases in New Orleans. If you are at Wolf Meadow as a mistress in training, people won’t be shooting at you.”

“I’ll get him to stop.”

Travis laughed. “No you won’t. I can handle your father.”

She turned in his arms, grabbed the sides of his shirt collar and kissed him. “I’m going to go upstairs, don’t keep me waiting too long.”

He rumbled seductively at her, caressing her backside as she rubbed herself against him. She turned away, only to find both of their fathers waiting—hanging back at a discreet distance, but waiting, nonetheless.

“Don’t get him drunk. I have plans for him,” she said dreamily, trailing her hand across his chest as she walked away and into the house.

She had no doubt Travis could handle both the Alpha of New Orleans and the Alpha of Galveston. After all, he could handle her, couldn’t he?

***

He’d enjoyed the brandy and cigars with his father and his father-in-law. He decided that when he and Skylar returned to the city at the end of the weekend, he was going to invest in a humidor and a stocked liquor cabinet for their own home.

Home, the loft over the restaurant. The place where every dream he’d ever had, had come true. Their fathers didn’t understand her need to be a detective, but even worse, they didn’t understand him either. He didn’t need to be alpha to a pack of wolf-shifters to have purpose, to make his life have meaning.

Skylar’s destiny was to fight the Darkness. The only thing he’d ever been more sure of than that was Skylar herself. Mawmaw Chantal had called her a champion of the light, and she was. She had sent the Darkness back into the primordial gloom where it would rest before it tried again. His job was to care for her, to keep her safe, to spank her sassy ass when she threw caution to the wind, and to fuck her several times a day. He grinned. He much preferred the life they were creating to the one their parents had wanted them to choose.

He climbed the stairs, walked down the hall, and opened the door to their room. The bedroom was cloaked in shadow, illuminated only by the moonlight and the lit candles that had been placed on every available surface. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the low light, but when they did they were riveted to the sight before him.

Skylar was in the middle of their bed, her ass presented to him in an undeniable invitation to finally claim that last vestige of her individualism. He’d been forcing her to wear a plug to get her ready for him; he wanted to be sure she took as much pleasure from it as he knew he would. It wasn’t just about making use of all the pleasure portals her body had, it was about dominance and submission. She would find power in her submission while craving his dominance and realize her own power would be her ability to submit.

“Have you done something bad I don’t know about and are offering your glorious backside for my discipline?” he asked in a seductive tone.

“No, Sir. I have been the epitome of a very obedient fated mate the entire time we’ve been visiting. I am offering my ass—not to be punished, but to be pleasured. I understand from this wanton, sadistic chef I know that I’m missing out on something. So far, he has yet to steer me wrong.”

He had planned to finally fuck her ass in the next week or two, but now that she was offering it to him of her own accord, it would make the taking far sweeter. Unlike being knotted, which she had embraced whole-heartedly, anal sex was not something that had appealed to her libidinous and hedonistic nature yet. But he knew he would change her mind.

Travis rid himself of his clothes and crawled onto the bed behind her. He could feel and see the tension in her body. He rumbled soothingly to her. It never failed to gratify him that she succumbed so easily to the comfort he offered. He leaned over her, letting her reconnect with him in a very primitive way—skin on skin. He allowed his weight to remind her he was there, and she could take shelter with him.

His cock was swollen and hard with need for her. The party that night was the longest he’d been outside of her for days. Now he wanted back in and was inclined to take the path of least resistance—the one that meant sinking his shaft into her wet heat, feeling it close all around him as he stroked both of them to ecstasy.

Travis ran his hands down either side of her spine, growling low, trying to entice his mate. He reached between her legs, penetrating her gently with two fingers and dragging his fingers through her arousal. She moaned as she began to soften.

“There’s my good mate,” he crooned as his cock thumped against her pussy.

He ran his fingers through her wetness, using it as a natural lube to coat his cock. Skylar appeared to be wildly aroused, and he didn’t want her to start to think too much about what was happening. He wanted her to feel submissive, craving both his dominance and his cock. He brought his finger up to her dark rosette and slathered her honey all around it, pressing down until the tight ring of muscle flowered open for him.

Travis pressed the engorged head of his staff against the entrance of her dark hole. He spent some time rimming her until the tension in her body began to wane.

“Flatten your back, sweetheart, and rock toward me as I push in. Give to me, Skylar. Submit.”

She sighed and did as he commanded. Gently, but relentlessly, he began to push forward. He had no intention of giving up any ground he gained as he began to impale her sweet ass. He held her hips in a vice-like grip, not allowing her to retreat. When she began to stiffen under his hands, he stopped and allowed her to adjust before pressing his advantage again. Each time he surged forward, the stranglehold of her powerful muscles around his cock increased.

“Oh God, Travis…”

He hesitated. “You can do this Skylar. Don’t fight me. Give over. Let me have all of you.”

She groaned, not in pain or discomfort, but from a newly found pleasure. His mate had a hedonistic nature that allowed her to push past all of her concerns or societal constraints and embrace all that they could share.

He drew back only to fuck his way in again with small thrusts that forced her dark channel to adjust and accept. Travis focused on nothing other than the physical and emotional connection between them. Yes. he wanted this for himself, but he wanted it for her too.

“Breathe, Skylar. Submit. Let me in. Can’t you feel how much I want and need you? Do you know how much I love you? How much your submission means to me? Let me serve you. Accept my dominance in all things, knowing that you can let go and revel in it.”

“God, yes,” she moaned, writhing on his cock. He ran his hands over her body, making her quiver with need.

He groaned and growled as he drank in the sweetness of her submission. He continued to work himself into her back passage until at last he was balls deep. She pulsed all around him, threatening to strangle his dick and steal his cum before he’d had a chance to fully enjoy her. He drew back until only the head held her open, then pushed himself back into her. He began to lose himself in the glory of fucking her dark hole.

Travis knew that this had been the last thing she’d withheld from him and her surrender of it to his mastery meant her capitulation to him was complete. He knew that they would never be complete without the other ever again.

Skylar’s body tensed and shuddered as a powerful orgasm washed over her, making her call his name. Rapture overtook them both and he pumped his seed deep into her tight channel as it spasmed around him, milking him dry.

Travis collapsed on top of her, allowing her to bear his weight before he gently withdrew and went to the bath to clean himself and bring back a warm, wet cloth for her to do the same. When he returned to their bed, she was lying on her belly, replete. He disposed of the washcloth, blew out all the candles, and crawled into bed with her, wrapping her in his arms.

“You’re mine you know,” she whispered as the moonlight surrounded them. “I’ll never let you go.”

Travis chuckled. “I’m going to hold you to that.”