Hill, Meagan - Master Me [Masterson] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Meagan Hill

  Masterson

  Master Me

  Five years after being kidnapped, Miranda faces an impossible decision: become evil by kidnapping an innocent girl for a sacrificial rite, or allow her captors to murder her. Then she meets Mitch, who offers her a way out. Miranda and Mitch must work together to release Miranda from evil’s clutches, while testing the Fates to discover if they are mated for life or if Mitch must choose between loving Miranda and becoming head of his coven.

  Becoming as intimate as two people can, both mentally and physically, they must learn to trust each other and those around them as they face death while attempting to rescue the young girls Miranda left behind.

  Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

  Length: 63,390 words

  MASTER ME

  Masterson

  Meagan Hill

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  MASTER ME

  Copyright © 2010 by Meagan Hill

  E-book ISBN: 1-60601-923-6

  First E-book Publication: October 2010

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter from Meagan Hill

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  Dear Readers,

  E-book piracy is a lot like pirating music. Most people think it doesn’t hurt anyone except the publishing/record companies and they make tons of money, right? Nope. Not really. Yes, it cuts into their income, but it cuts into mine as an author and yours as a consumer, too. Every time someone doesn’t pay for the product, the prices increase for those who do pay. That doesn’t sound fair to me, and as someone who does pay and has a set budget for buying entertainment, that’s just not cool. After all, while I don’t expect to get rich writing erotic romances, it’s good to be able to justify all my time on the computer to my family, not to mention maybe one day realizing my dream of writing full-time and being able to quit my day job. So do us all a favor: hit the “Add to Cart” button instead of digging around for a free copy.

  With deep gratitude,

  Meagan Hill

  DEDICATION

  This is dedicated to my best friend, partner, and husband, Jeff. You believed that not only could I write, but I could get it published, too. Thank you for believing in me.

  And for Jordan, who dealt with Mommy working on her computer when you’d rather be playing cars with her. I love you!

  MASTER ME

  Masterson

  MEAGAN HILL

  Copyright © 2010

  Prologue

  Fourteen-year-old Mandy’s head swam as she clenched her eyes together and regained consciousness. Her head hurt, her body ached, and her stomach churned. Apparently, she was coming down with the flu. What she didn’t understand was why it felt like she couldn’t move. She had heard that a bad case of the flu could cause you to feel like a truck had run over you, but this was taking it a bit far. Finally, she was able to pry her eyes open. It took several minutes for her to focus on her surroundings, but when she finally managed to, she was filled with terror.

  This wasn’t her bedroom, or any other room in her house for that matter. Above her was an ornately designed ceiling with a mural of naked people in positions she had no idea people could actually get into. A glance around the room confirmed her first impression. The walls were covered in lush burgundy velvet hangings, with not a single ray of sun peeking around the edges. The only light in the room came from several lit candles placed throughout the room and a bedside lamp.

  Gathering her courage, Mandy finally took stock of her own body. She’d realized almost immediately she was tied to the bed. Her wrists and ankles were tied to each post of the four-poster bed with velvet-lined shackles. She was completely naked, and nothing covered her body from anyone who might come through the closed door. Relief flowed through her when she realized she had not been molested. But the relief was short lived when she forced herself to realize that while she hadn’t been molested yet, her current position hinted that it was coming. She was only fourteen. She knew what sex was, what went where, but she didn’t understand why anyone would be interested in her. Her breasts had only just begun to develop, and she still looked much like her guy friends. She didn’t even need a bra yet, for gosh sakes! She could only assume that that was what whoever took her was after. Would they let her go when they were done? Would she have a chance for escape? Would they kill her?

  Her breath stopped in her chest when the door silently swung open and a figure stepped through it. The man was wearing a black robe, much like the robes those judges on television wore. He had dark hair combed to the side in a style much like George Clooney’s. His nose was somewhat large and hawkish. His eyes were jet black with a ring of red just around the pupil. But the worst part of all was his smile. He grinned widely, showing most of his teeth. It was clearly a predator’s smile, happy with the success of the hunt. Chills ran up and down Mandy’s body as he looked her over before reaching out with one hand to stroke her foot. Mandy couldn’t help the instinctive reaction to jerk away, even though she feared it would anger her captor, thus making things worse for her.

  Her movement amused the man, who chuckled darkly. He walked to the foot of the bed, centering himself between her feet, taking a long look at her body. Again, he smiled at her ferally. “I love seeing the fear in the new children brought to me, to see them shaking before me, knowing I hold their very lives in my hands. Your old life is over, Mandy. From this moment on, you belong to me. I am and will be your master for the rest of your life. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be for you. But know this. You will never get away from me. I will even be a part of your soul. There is no place you can hide, and you cannot escape. You are mine forever.”

  By then, Mandy’s sobs had made it difficult for her to hear what she was being told. She knew
whatever was coming was going to be bad, really bad. Her fears were confirmed when he shrugged out of his robe, revealing his naked form beneath. From that point forward, she kept her head turned to the side, fighting to push her mind away from her body. She created a mantra in her mind, focusing on the words as if her very life depended upon it, and possibly it did. She repeated the words in her head, going round and round, until they were all she focused on. “I will live. I will not be broken. I will escape.”

  Chapter 1

  Five years later, Mandy woke up suddenly, bathed in sweat from her memory-laden nightmare. She didn’t often think of her first rape anymore. It had happened too many times since, and remembering her innocence and the way it was stolen from her was painful. Unfortunately, she knew exactly why her subconscious was dragging it up again. She’d been sent on a hunting mission to find a young female latent, exactly what she had been when she was taken.

  There were different classes of Gifted Ones. The people who were marked with the sign but who were not trained were called latents. These people had no idea they had any additional abilities beyond that of a normal human being. Latents were born with a sign, generally known as an ankh, somewhere on their bodies. Mandy’s ankh happened to be at the base of her spine.

  Mandy knew very little of the hierarchy and rules governing the Gifted Ones. Males who had completed their training were called Noveos, while females were Novices. Men who mastered every nuance of their powers would become Masters and immediately quit aging. Women couldn’t achieve Master status, no matter how much they worked to master their powers. Mandy suspected there was more to their world, but Cabela didn’t want his members to know anything other than his own rules so as to ensure his dominion over them.

  Mandy was a Novice, having completed her power training almost two years ago. Her behavior training, however, took much longer. Mandy was naturally a strong-willed person with a dominating personality. Such a personality does not learn submission well. She was forced to endure an extra year of behavior training, with six months of that as a personal slave to Cabela, the head of her coven. Cabela was the first man to rape her, and as of last week, the last. He was also the one who had given her the worst beating, actually requiring hospitalization for several days. The members of Cabela’s coven must learn submission to his many wants and desires. Disobedience was punished severely using physical and mental torture. Mandy couldn’t count the number of times she’d been raped and beaten by the various men within the coven, and she preferred not to remember.

  Members of the coven who made it through training were expected to perform tasks for the coven, in addition to the financial support demanded. The members of the coven worked for several companies owned by Cabela, ensuring them the ability to take off work when Cabela had a mission for them. The women were given less than competitive wages, and half of their meager salary went to the coven, ensuring they would never get enough financial means gathered to get away. The financial aspect of it wasn’t the worst part of being part of this coven, though. Cabela was an incredibly smart man and knew that in order for him to maintain his power over his members, he had to taint and brainwash them into believing in and following his instructions. Anyone who was innocent when taken did not remain innocent long. Training for the proper behavior often included abusing other trainees or assisting with the punishment of coven members being disciplined. By the time a coven member was old enough to go out on his own, he was usually so blackened by his association with the coven that he no longer wanted out.

  Mandy knew she was at her breaking point. She had somehow maintained a small spark of goodness within herself during the five years of hell that happened after she had been kidnapped, or “liberated from her prior influences” as Cabela liked to call it. She had finally made it through her training, both with her powers and behavior modification. She’d actually enjoyed learning how to develop and control her powers, and she had developed more than what she’d allowed the coven to know. Unfortunately, the behavior modification training had just about broken her spirit.

  Unlike most of the Novices, Mandy had to spend an additional six months as Cabela’s personal slave. Those six months were the worst of the time spent in the coven. She’d had to submit to forced sex several times a day, not just for Cabela, but any male coven member or visitor. She was often beaten for failing in some way or other, or just because Cabela felt like it. He loved to see her flinch away from him, to quail before him on her knees, and to beg to be released from whatever torture device he’d dreamed up. The final result was a Mandy who hit her knees with just the hint of unhappiness, cowering before him. It got to be a joke for him to do it in front of others as a show of power. He would laugh at her fear and submission. He had no way of knowing, but it was his laughter that generated the anger that kept that small spark alive in her soul.

  She’d finally completed her training the prior week and was on her first mission as a Searcher. Searchers were the members who went out looking for latents to take and train. Cabela liked to use young women as Searchers because the kids were more likely to trust them and come with them willingly, unlike Mandy, who’d been drugged and kidnapped from her room in her family’s house. He also preferred that the Searchers concentrate on finding young female latents. Young females were easier to train in submission and a lot more fun sexually, though Cabela wasn’t terribly picky about who was pleasuring him. He enjoyed raping men as much as he enjoyed raping women.

  Shaking off her gloomy thoughts, Mandy crawled out of bed and headed for the shower. She’d been given several target locations to check out, and the nearest was about two hours away. She would get ready and get some breakfast before getting on the road. After her shower and morning grooming, Mandy stopped to take a long look at herself. Most men considered her beautiful. Her honey blonde hair fell just below her shoulders in layers, framing her face in soft waves. Her hazel eyes were mostly green, with flecks of gray. When she was using her power, her eyes turned almost completely gray. This marked her as different from the rest of her coven, and she had learned quickly to hide her eyes whenever possible. Those who had turned evil had black eyes when using their powers. Cabela was so evil that his eyes were always black with a ring of red around the outside.

  Her facial features were delicate, giving her a very fragile air. Her nose had remained straight, despite having been broken three times. Her mouth was a perfect bow shape and a natural dusty pink shade. She was petite at five feet, two inches, and her servitude, coupled with a lack of regular nourishment, had guaranteed a slender build. If she ever actually got regular meals, her curves would probably fill out beautifully.

  Mandy hated how she looked. It brought too much attention to her from the men in the coven. She had been raped and beaten more often than most of the other female members combined. Mandy applied her makeup, doing her best to conceal the fading bruises around her left eye and along her chin. She’d dropped a decanter of wine three days ago and had been punched several times in punishment. When she decided she had done the best she could, she pulled on a light sundress and her sandals. The day was already warm, and because her target location was a children’s day camp, she figured anything heavier would make her stand out even more than she normally would.

  Three hours later, Mandy’s head was pounding, and she could swear she was lost. She was slowly motoring along a two-lane road that wound through the trees and hills, periodically crossing a nice-sized river. The camp was supposed to be on this road, but she hadn’t seen another car in over fifteen minutes. Just as she was about to turn around, she came around a curve and saw the sign for the camp. Shaking her head at the isolated location, she wondered if anyone even knew about the camp, much less sent their kids there.

  Pulling up to the entrance, she was surprised to see a small shop right next door. According to the advertising signs scattered over the walls, the shop offered candles, potpourri, handmade goods, crystals, and a plethora of other “girlie” type stuff. What c
aught her eye, though, were the crystals. She hadn’t been allowed to bring any of hers with her, and she hoped to find an amethyst to help with her headache.

  Mandy was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door to the shop. The shop smelled wonderful due to the wall full of candles in every imaginable size, shape, color, and scent. The back wall was dedicated to alternative “New Age” lifestyle needs, including aromatherapy oils, incense, and the crystals she was seeking. The rest of the shop was filled with beautiful handmade items. She made her way to the back of the store and looked over the selection of crystals carefully. They actually had a very thorough selection of crystals, and she could feel the power radiating off them. Just being in the shop had already eased her headache, but she decided to go ahead and get a couple of crystals anyway, just in case it should return once she left the shop.

  “Can I help you find what you need?” asked a soft voice just behind her shoulder. Mandy flinched sharply. She hadn’t heard the shopkeeper walk up behind her. “Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “It’s okay. I must have really been concentrating hard,” Mandy stuttered out. A hand pressed against her chest where her heart was still pounding. She couldn’t explain to the shopkeeper it was actually a response she’d developed over the past years to anything that might be considered a threat, including someone walking up quietly behind her. Finally getting her heart under control, Mandy turned to face the shopkeeper. She appeared to be in her mid-forties, with kind eyes and a soft smile. Wisdom, peace, and acceptance radiated off of her.