Under the Bayou Moon (11 page)

“Like what you see?”

“I suppose you’ll have to do,”
she said nonchalantly.

In the blink of an eye, he was on the floor next to her, chasing her into the pool by nipping at her tail. Her tail swung, catching him across the face.

“Hey! Watch that tail before you put somebody’s eye out.”

Angel was already floating in the pool, staring back at him.

“Sorry, I guess I have too much junk in my trunk.”
She snickered while paddling around.

It felt good to have the water on her skin. She could smell everything. Hear the sounds of wildlife just outside the grotto.

“I hope to help you unpack some of that junk when we get back.”

“Get back, where are we going? We just got in.”

She swam in a circle before rolling. The sensation was awesome. Bubbles came up and tickled her underbelly.

“There’ll be plenty of time for shallow pool fun. Right now, I want to escort you on your first trip through the bayou. Come on, follow me.”

Jacques entered the pool and went immediately under water. Angel dove, noticing for the first time how clearly she could see. The lights under the water were totally unnecessary. Jacques swam down and then through what looked like a tunnel; green algae and grass were below them. She could feel the stillness of the water as fish passed them by, giving them plenty of room.

“Holy crap! Look at all of the fish.”

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,
cher
.”

The tunnel fell away and she was in a big body of water. It had to be the river outside his house. The indoor pool led to the river. How creative. They could shift without being seen.

“This is great!”
Angel swung her tail really fast and darted out into the water, leaving a tide of foam in her wake. She dove under and saw Jacques fast on her trail. She darted away again, laughing.

“You can’t catch me. Sucka!”

Oh no. All of a sudden he was not just nipping at her heel but on top of her, turning her, nipping her shoulder, and rolling in circles with her.

“Stop, stop, I’m getting dizzy,”
she said seriously.

Jacques stopped immediately and stilled them both.

“Are you okay, Angel?”
he asked with concern.

Angel shook her head and then clamped down on his shoulder and tried to roll him, but he was solid.

“Hey! That’s not right. Why can’t I roll you?”

“Because you’re an amateur”

“Whatever!”

“Listen, until you have a better feel for being a gator, I want you stay near me. If you start feeling ill, let me know. If you feel disoriented, let me know. If you get tired…”

“Right, right, let you know. Okay, I got it, enough with the lecture! Look at the stars. They’re so beautiful out here in the darkness.”

“You should see it in the summertime. There’s no better place to be.”

Angel could only imagine. The beauty of the bayou from a gator’s vantage point was awe-inspiring. Things worked together so naturally. It was easy to see, on a fundamental level, the hand of the creator. The sounds of the bayou held its own allure. From the croak of the frog to the maraca-like rattle of the cicada or the sound of the water, so still, she could hear it roll off her skin if she stayed stationary.

Jacques swam farther away from his home, deep into the bayou. She could tell this trip was more than a leisurely stroll. At intervals he scanned the shore, sniffing.

“So, what are we looking for?”

Jacques sighed and swam away from the bank.

“Traps. Like the one Steven Boucher swallowed.”

“But I thought he was caught in a cage.”

“There are different types of traps. If a gator’s caught in a cage that means the trapper wants the gator alive. The one Steven was in was the kind you set when you want a gator dead. It’s like a fishing line with meat on the end. The gator eats the meat, swallows the hook, causing internal damage. The gator gets strung up.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It’s a painful way to die, that’s for sure.”

Angel swallowed. Here she was thinking the restoration of the
Bayou Moon
was their biggest concern.

“Why does he think it was a shifter?”

“The area where the trap was located was shifter land. I’m sovereign over a lot of territory, but not all of it is legally ours. My grandfather sought to change that over a hundred years ago by buying up large quantities of land and deeding it to a wildlife trust in my family’s name. Each generation adds to the trust and my family manages it. This land is considered ‘trap free.’ His nephew was found on our property. There shouldn’t have been any traps for him to get into.”

“Hmmm. I see your point.”

“My men have been trying to find the coward, but they haven’t gotten anywhere so far.”

“And New Year’s is only a few weeks away.”
Angel stated the obvious.

“So what are you going to do?”

Jacques swam close to her, rubbing his body against her. It felt, for lack of a better word, arousing.

“I’m going to show you the bayou then take you back home and make love to you all night.”

Her heart skipped at the blatant certainty of his words. They both knew there would be no half-hearted requests to wait or feigned coyness. She wanted him and he wanted her. It was elemental.

“Do you promise?”

She swam by him, repeating the gesture he’d just shown her.

“Careful,
cher
, if I mate with you here, in alligator form, we’re truly mated, bound together…forever.”

Angel inhaled.
“Is that how it’s done?”

He slowly swam away, putting some distance between them.

“For the most part. Usually other shifters are there to bear witness, and there’s a particular place where the mating ceremony is held, but that’s just formality. As long as we mate in gator form, we’re bonded.”

The idea was sobering and so inviting. She wasn’t an exhibitionist, so having people look at her while they mated seemed a bit scary, but the idea of mating with Jacques was slowly becoming acceptable.

“So, how does it happen? Is it painful?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never asked. Mating is instinctual to us. Our beasts take over physically. It’s an act of dominance, so I would cover you, but only because you allow it.”

Beneath her feet, Angel could feel the muddy bottom of the bayou; it felt like home. She had instincts she’d never even noticed. She’d always thought of gators as lumbering, but with each swish of her tail and move of her body, she flexed pure muscle. Angel felt powerful, liberated. They wound their way through thick groves of crisp-smelling grasses and plants. Jacques pointed out little markers as they went. He named areas and alerted her to all types of animals, some edible, some not worth their time. She could not only hear but also see other mammals such as ducks and deer from yards away. Before long they were back at his home, going through the underwater tunnel.

Jacques chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”
she asked
.

“You’re a noisy gator, that’s what.”

“Am not! You can barely hear me.”

“Oh no,
cher
, every creature in the bayou tonight knew you were there.”

Angel came up into the large pond in the grotto. She moved in the water and heard a swish. Okay, so she wasn’t silent and deadly…yet.

“Okay, oh great sovereign of bullshit. Why don’t you show me how it’s done?”
She laughed and splashed around.

“I’d be happy to…oh most beautiful sovereign heffa.”

“That’s not funny!”
she fumed. Once again cursing whoever decided to call female gators cows.

“Oh really? But saying I was the sovereign of bullshit was a riot.”

“I was just playing,”
she grumbled.

Jacques swam near and rubbed his jaw alongside hers in what she inherently knew to be a mating gesture of fondness. She couldn’t stop the tremor that ran through her crocodilian frame.

“So was I,
cher
.”
He chuckled as only a Cajun could.

Here he was, getting her all aroused again.

“Will you show me how to make less noise?”

Jacques swam up to the steps leading into the pond and shifted into a standing position. Water ran down his body, caressing his pecs, abs, groin, thighs, and legs. The man was perfection. Shallow water lapped at his waist as he sat on the second step looking at her. His long, stiff cock jutted up to lay against his stomach as he reclined on his elbows in the tepid water.

“Helping you make less noise wasn’t really what I had in mind.”

The look in his eyes was pure animal magnetism.

“Shift for me, Angel.”

Angel didn’t even need to ask how. It was as if all she needed was the request and she was in front of him, naked and just as wet, in more ways than one.

Angel waded toward him slowly, allowing her hands to skim the water as she approached. When she was in front of him, Jacques reached forward, grasped her by the neck, and slowly dragged her toward him until she straddled his thighs and covered him from pussy to chest. His lips connected with hers with a slow, building heat that threatened to drive her mad. Oh, how she wanted this man. Angel grasped his shoulders as his lips trailed down the long column of her neck, leaving goose bumps in his wake. She gasped in pleasure and trembled at the contact. Jacques’s body was warm and solid beneath her. She moved her hips, wedging his cock between the folds of her pussy. Moving them back and forth along his length, she was able to tease them both. Jacques grasped one of her breasts and began to suck and lick with abandon. The sensation was tantamount to lightning striking in her core and she had to have him. Without missing a beat, she reached between them and aimed him at her throbbing opening. Angel sank down on his cock with a groan. She couldn’t take all of him the first time, so she tried again. This time she was able to take just a bit more.

“Allow me,” Jacques grunted.

He grasped her hips and surged up twice in rapid succession. The second thrust had her seeing stars.

“Jacques!” she shouted in ecstasy, taking all of him in a pleasure that was absolute. Her body yielded to his as he rocked into her. She met his upward thrust with a downward roll of her hips that had him connecting with her G-spot internally and her clit externally. She’d never felt so many warring sensations before. His lips were on hers again, his tongue sweeping through her mouth in an effort to completely consume her, and she was happily going up in flames. Water lapped against them from the force of their movement. Jacques sat up straight and Angel got into a squatting position for better leverage. They were able to increase their movements and pick up the pace.

“Lord, Angel, I want you so fucking much.”

“Yes!” was her only reply.

She felt it too, but she doubted she could articulate anything at the moment. Jacques enveloped her into a tight embrace and hammered into her. She could feel the walls of her sex pulse and squeeze his cock, causing them both to moan.

“Goddamn it,
cher
, goddamn it! You feel so fucking good. So. Fucking. Good.”

Each word was punctuated with a dizzying thrust as he rubbed her markings. Angel tossed her head back and shouted to the ceiling. The sound echoed off the walls and came back to her in waves. She screamed his name as her body pulsed around his member in excitement. Jacques stroked into her three more times before his own body stiffened and convulsed.

She could feel his warm seed spurt deep inside her womb, triggering another milder orgasm. All she could do was whimper at the added pleasure. Her arms were around his neck and her head was buried there. Jacques’s contented grunts next to her ear were comforting, letting her know he’d enjoyed their lovemaking just as much as she had.

“Do you still want me to teach you how to move silently?”

Angel pulled back and looked into his sleepy eyes. She held his face with her hands and kissed him seductively.

“Silence is overrated. You got a proper bed, Cajun?”

“Maybe. Why, the pond’s not good enough for you?”

Jacques was still buried inside her, and even in his flaccid state, he was still a good size. She flexed her vaginal muscles, and he hissed before swatting her rear. The sting both surprised and excited her.

“I like the pond, but its hell on a lady’s knees. Plus, I’m going to need a drier surface for what I want to do to you.”

Jacques gave her a lopsided smile.

“Well, in that case,
laissez les bon temps roulette
.”

“Lay-zay lay bon ton rule-ay,” she repeated the hallmark saying of Louisiana.

“Let the good times roll, indeed.”

Jacques woke up with a hard-on like a lead pipe. It seemed impossible that he could even think about having sex with the marathon of acrobatics he and Angel had performed from last night until early into the morning. Jacques moved, but his arm was pinned under Angel’s head. She seemed to enjoy her first shift and adventure into the bayou. He loved seeing her so free and playful. Oftentimes she was serious and focused while working on the
Bayou Moon
. The Angel he’d seen last night was the one he wanted to see every day. Angel’s warm back was pressed to his front in a spoon-like fashion. She ground back against him in her sleep, and he knew she was half awake.

He moved her now curly hair away from her shoulder and kissed it reverently before moving to her back.

Angel reached back and ran her fingers through his hair, moving with him as he kissed more of her delectable skin. She had his scent all over her, and his gator wanted to bellow with pride.