Master of Mine: Masters of Haven Book One Read online

  Master of Mine

  Masters of Haven Book One

  Raven Dark

  Olivia Alexander

  Master of Mine (Masters of Haven: Book One)

  Copyright © 2020 Raven Dark and Olivia Alexander, all rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Please purchase only authorized editions of this book, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials.

  Cover by Raven Dark

  Images courtesy of Depositphotos

  Created with Vellum

  From Raven & Olivia

  For anyone who believes that every woman, regardless of size or walk of life,

  deserves to be safe and loved.

  Welcome to The Sanctuary.

  In all that you do,

  be safe, sane, and consensual.

  Love, light, and happiness to you all.

  Always.

  Contents

  1. Control

  2. Woman In Jeopardy

  3. A Brother’s Duty

  4. Get Over It

  5. Unorthodox

  6. The Game

  7. Too Much

  8. Awakening

  9. Understanding

  10. Epiphany

  11. Where Do We Go From Here?

  12. Madness Waiting

  13. Nervous

  14. Rough

  15. Jerk 101

  16. Making A Deal

  17. Nice

  18. What A Proper Woman Won’t Do

  19. Infraction

  20. Punishment

  21. Nasty

  22. Dark Possession

  23. A Matter Of Protection

  24. Coming Clean

  25. Threats

  26. The Whole Story

  27. An Offer

  28. Listening To Fear

  29. Face To Face

  30. Here And Gone

  31. A Proposition

  32. Cornered

  33. At The Home Of Master Hex

  34. Savage

  35. Endgame

  36. Connections

  37. Psycho

  38. Taking A Stand

  Epilogue: A New Beginning

  Connect with Raven Dark

  Connect with Olivia Alexander

  1

  Control

  “So, Gwen, when are you getting a real job?”

  Gwen nearly choked on her turkey. Why was she even surprised at her father’s remark? This wasn’t the first time anyone in her family had implied her job didn’t measure up, but this was the first time they’d said it at Christmas dinner in the company of guests.

  Reactions went through her head, everything from a glare to a carefully honed retort, but the perfect response never came.

  She glanced around the table, surrounded by her four older brothers, all waiting for her reply. Especially Ace. Her oldest brother’s big shoulders tensed, his large fist tightening around his silver fork.

  The argument in his car on the way over floated up in her mind. Dad’s having one of his military friends over. Don’t embarrass us, Gwen.

  Her, embarrass them? Seriously? Gwen glanced over the General Pakis. The grey-haired soldier forked a big bite of turkey into his mouth, looking from father to daughter, curiosity flashing in his eyes.

  Something unpleasant tightened in Gwen’s chest. She glanced back to Ace. He gave the smallest shake of his head and picked up his wine glass.

  She suppressed a sigh. “Someone pass the cranberry sauce, please.”

  Ace sipped his wine, watching her closely. Waiting for her to screw up.

  Chad passed her the sauce and gave her a covert sympathetic look. Maybe it was because he was only one year older, much closer to her in age than the others, but Chad seemed to understand her when no one else did.

  “You could have done so much more with your life.” Her father swallowed a bite of overly buttered roll. “I don’t understand why you didn’t go to law school or something.”

  Because I don’t like law. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp? She shook her head, but said nothing. And her silence wasn’t because of Ace, much as he’d like to think his speech in the car kept her in line.

  General Pakis looked between them again. “Jack? You haven’t said much about her. What does your daughter do?”

  Gwen stared at her plate, heat spreading over her face. Of course her father hadn’t talked about her. She’d been born a girl and wasn’t worth his praise. Raising two champion karate fighters, one of whom was a cop and the other a Marine, plus a medic and a firefighter, he viewed his boys as heroes, men built and bred to make a difference. To him, Gwen had given up a life of accomplishment to fade into the background in a position of mediocrity.

  “Gwen?” Her father looked at her. “Why don’t you tell him?”

  Shit. He’d primed the whole table to see her as a failure and now waited for her to confirm it. And he wonders why Mom left him.

  She drew in a breath and forced on a big smile she knew looked like she’d been kicked in the gut.

  “I’m a personal assistant, General. To Nick Kincaid, a doctor who works here in Haven.”

  At the bored looks from her father and his one-time superior, she considered telling them the rest of it. He’s also a Dom, and the owner of The Sanctuary. Yeah. That her boss owned a BDSM club would get their attention.

  “Never heard of him.” Pakis turned to her brothers. “Ace. You’re the cop, right?”

  “Right.” Ace grinned with pride.

  “Which precinct?”

  “Second. I’ll make detective soon.”

  Pakis clapped him on the shoulder.

  Ace nodded to his brother. “Chad’s getting his third degree black belt in a couple of months, General.”

  Gwen almost rolled her eyes. Here we go.

  “Well. Good for you, boy.” Pakis nodded to Chad.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ace.” But Chad beamed. “I have to pass the test first.” Then to Pakis, “Master Archer says I should do well, though. You’d like him, sir. He’s impressive.”

  Gwen bit the inside of her cheek. Archer. Of course. The fifth son her father wished he’d had instead of a daughter.

  She cleared her throat. “Ace, why didn’t you invite Shelly to dinner?”

  “Gwen.” Her father. “Don’t interrupt.”

  “I didn’t —”

  “We aren’t together anymore. I told you.” Ace’s voice was tight.

  “No you didn’t. I—”

  “Yeah. Thanks for bringing that up.”

  The look Chad shot her wasn’t sympathetic this time. “Way to go,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Funny.” Ace looked at her. “I don’t see anyone with you, either. Why is that?”

  “I didn’t mean it that way—”

  “Oh, yeah. You don’t do the dating thing, right?”

  She swallowed, her cheeks turning to fire when everyone stared at her. “Ace,” she hissed, “don’t start.”

  Ace shrugged and turned to the others. Damn it, he knew how awkward and tongue-tied she was around guys. How hard it was to relax and be herself.

  She looked around the table. Her father wore one of his scowls, the kind he gave her when she was about to make a fool of herself. There was nothing she could say without a blowout starting. In front of Pakis…

  Gwen considered excusing herself, but she knew what would happen if she did. Her father would make some remark about needing the attention on her. And after dinner when General Pakis was gone, he’d complain about her inability to
control herself.

  Instead she quietly pushed her chair back from the table and slipped away while everyone was listening to her father tell some war joke. Virtually unnoticed.

  Gwen walked into the living room to the window. Snow drifts rose high and white in the night. The snow sparkled as if sprinkled with tiny diamonds under the moonlight.

  In the distance, almost invisible against the night sky, shadows of the mountains rose outside the town as if protecting Haven from some unseen force the inhabitants wished to keep out. The highest peek, Mount Seraph, loomed like a sentinel.

  People in this town seemed to want to pretend anything they didn’t understand didn’t exist at all.

  A draft from somewhere made her shiver and she pulled her sweater closer, folding her arms around herself. Laughter drifted from the other room. Her stomach tightened. She’d hear about her departure later, but what did they expect? Gwen lifted her eyes to the sky, velvet black, scattered with stars. Huge and solitary, Mount Seraph stared at her. Weighing. Judging. A feeling of insignificance washed over her.

  I won’t let them tear me down this time. I’ll tell them I don’t need their approval.

  Oh, but she knew she wouldn’t. Inevitably the argument would arise, but like always when it came time to say the words, they wouldn’t come. Either she’d be whisked away by Ace before she could get it out, or her brain would freeze. Again.

  Gwen pulled out her phone and turned it on. She whistled. Thirty missed calls. Nick’s contacts, probably, looking to make appointments. Hopefully some would be people looking for her to do artwork for them, but no way would she have gotten that many calls from the few paintings she’d sold.

  Heaving a sigh, she stepped outside, letting the chill in the air rejuvenate her. She’d always loved winter, the beauty of a new snow, the festivities.

  Sighing, she went through the calls. All the same number. A chill passed over her. Shit. He’s back.

  Months ago when she’d started getting the calls she’d chalked it up to a prank caller. She’d changed her number, and the calls stopped. For a while. Then a car began following her, only to vanish when she tried to identify the driver.

  Then a few weeks ago, it all stopped. No calls, no messages with dead air, no more car. She’d convinced herself it was nothing. Time passed, and she’d begun to relax. Only here it was again, a caller ringing her at all hours of the day.

  The first bite of real fear in weeks tightened her belly. She looked up at the house. As a cop, Ace would know how to deal with a stalker. Yet the idea of telling her family made her muscles clench.

  If he was back, what did he want? Who was he? She shivered, and not from the cold.

  The phone rang, making her jump. Heart racing, she stared at the same number. The shrill ring filled the night.

  “Hello?”

  Nothing.

  Gwen swallowed. “Hello? Who is this?”

  Her heartbeat pulsed in the back of her throat. She swore she could hear breathing that wasn’t’ hers.

  A soft click cut the call off.

  * * *

  Gwen swatted white flakes off her shoulders and marched across the street a few blocks from her apartment. Memories of her family’s behavior tonight reared up, hot and painful, and she shook her head. She should have turned down Ace’s invitation to dinner as usual. Even turkey dinner alone was better than the way things had ended.

  Typically, when shed gone back inside after the guests had left, her dad had launched into one of his spiels. She was only in the situation because she’d never applied herself like her brothers. As if being a personal assistant was a job people took when they were out of options. Why was it so hard to believe she was happy where she was?

  Gwen kicked at a snow bank. Next Christmas, she’s take Nick up on the offer he made every year and spend the day with him and Zoe. Or she’d go to Florida and see Mom. Who cared if Ace gave her the third degree and she never heard the end of it from Dad?

  Gwen shook off the snow in her hair and walked faster. Her phone buzzed and she ignored it. Him again. Or Ace, calling to rip her a new one for stomping off in the middle of Dad’s rant. She didn’t know which was worse.

  Ringing again. Okay, the stalker was worse.

  An engine rumbled behind her and Gwen spun. A car sped up, swooshing passed her. Shit, she was getting paranoid now. She turned down another street, not caring where it led.

  A car—the same one?—slowed down behind her. She glanced back. It looked black or dark blue in the moonlight. She couldn’t see the driver at this distance, except that he wore dark glasses.

  Throat dry, she turned and continued down the street. Gravel and salt crunched under tires. The phone blared from her pocket. Gwen’s fists tightened and she quickened her steps.

  She threw a another glance back. The man in the car held something to his ear. Her phone kept ringing. Jesus. She swore she could feel his eyes on her.

  Fuck…

  She broke into a run.

  The car raced after her. She heard it bumping into snow banks, sliding in the slush as it went. Gwen panted and bolted down the street, turning corners this way and that. She raced into a parking lot and across…

  She stopped and looked around. An alley, Smooth, Gwen. Run into an alley with a car after you. Stellar move.

  She looked at the opening that lead to another street, then back the way she’d come. Was he gone?

  The car pulled into the alley, blocking it. The engine rumbled. Her phone screamed.

  Gwen bolted toward the end of the narrow passage. Her legs cried out for rest, but she pushed onward. If she got trapped here, he could drag her into that car and no one would ever know.

  She glanced back again. The car sped toward her, its silver fender a sharp flash in the night. She raced for the opposite end of the alley. The exit couldn’t have been more than two hundred feet ahead, but it seemed to stretch for miles. Lungs burning, she pushed her legs until they threatened to fold under her.

  Across the road, an all-night diner’s neon light flashed. She bolted for the entrance. At the door, she threw a last look back. The car raced past.

  The ringing from her phone stopped and she thought she heard someone laugh. The car’s taillights disappeared as the vehicle turned the corner.

  Gwen leaned against the doorframe, gulping in air and clutching her side. Her head pounded, her whole body trembled.

  Was he trying to kidnap her? Who was he? She groped for answers but her brain spun too fast. She closed her eyes. This had to stop now.

  Gwen snatched up her phone from the pavement where it must have fallen. A crack ran across the screen. She dialed the police, but nothing happened.

  “Great.” She tossed the phone aside. One of her heels was broken. She kicked the other shoe off and half ran to the street, ignoring the cold and ice that bit into her feet. A cab whizzed past and she hailed it.

  “You okay, Miss?”

  She slid in and shut the door.

  “Where to?”

  “The police station, please.”

  With any luck, Ace would be starting his nightshift soon.

  2

  Woman In Jeopardy

  She pushed out a breath. Archer Drake. Of all the people Nick could have recommended.

  Gwen pushed open the front door of the dojo wishing her heart would stop racing.

  Last night when her conversation with Ace had gone nowhere, she’d let Nick talk her into turning to Archer for help, but now that she was here, everything in her told her to bolt.

  Drawing a deep breath, she walked across the front hall of the dojo to the window at the back, looking in on the class. Rows of students filled the room, fists lancing out in perfect unison, each one punctuated by a loud yell.

  Wow. They’re like an army.

  The thought of deliberately hitting another person made her queasy. From the front of the classroom, Archer’s voice rang out. Strong, Commanding, All male.

  “Break off into pairs.
Practice those maneuvers we went through last week until the end of class.”

  The students obeyed, spreading out across the room in pairs, kicking and punching at each other. She caught a glimpse of Archer and swallowed hard.

  When she was a teen, he’d come over to her dad’s house often enough that she was no stranger to him, but she’d not seen him in at least five years, except a few times when he and Ace had gone out. He looked different now. Tall. Relentless.

  Jesus. Every part of him moved with fluid grace that belied his huge size. Long limbed with impressive hands and feet, his face was too harsh to be handsome. Dangerous was a better word.

  Had he always looked that hot, that lethal?

  Once inside the large classroom, she joined the rest of the spectators sitting on the benches. She set her purse in her lap and clasped her hands to stop their shaking.

  Archer strode toward two sparring students. Without warning, her grabbed one of the men’s arms and threw him easily to the mat. The student, nearly Archer’s size, stared up at him.

  “Never take your eyes off your partner.” He put his face nose to nose with the student. “How the hell are you a champion fighter?”

  “I...It was an accident, Sensei. I only looked away for a second.”