Dark Master (Dark Masters Book 1)

by Shana Vanterpool

  I managed to get to my feet, but my legs gave out. He caught me instantly, lifting me to cradle me to his chest. He walked me over to the bed and lay me down. “Arms above your head.” He tied me to the bed like he had in his bedroom and then left me there long enough for me to catch a small nap.

  When he came back he dumped an assortment of toys onto the bed. I was too tired to look.

  “Nipple clamps.” He straddled me, his jeans undone enough for me to see the top of his penis.

  He was covered in sweat, the scent of sex and lust swirling off him like an erotic cocktail; I was drunk.

  “I wouldn’t normally start you off with these. I’d try something lighter, but you need something to wake you up.” He pinched back on the clasp of metal and then opened it, bringing it over my right nipple and releasing it.

  A blast of pain shot into my shocked system. But it quickly faded and I barely reacted.

  He smiled at my breast. “BDSM, meet Miya. Miya, say hello to your new lifestyle.” He twisted the bolt on the bottom of the clamp, increasing the pressure. Without fear, it was easy to take. He fastened the next clamp, and then he moved down my body, attaching more clamps and pulling the metal string down to rest against my pussy. “I’m not going to put one on your clit. Believe it or not, I’m not into punishing your clit past the wand. Seems wrong to punish your pretty little clits.” He kissed my vulva as he fastened a clamp on my pussy, adding two more amidst hisses from my clenched teeth.

  The pain was waking me up.

  When he was done, he rose, gave me a devilish smile, and then grabbed the clamps on my tits and squeezed. I cried out, pulling violently on the ropes binding me. I growled at the pain, but he didn’t comment, moving on to my left tit to do the same.

  “Ahh!” I pulled on my ropes, wide awake.

  When he did the same thing to my pussy, I absorbed the pain like a sieve, letting it slip through the pleasure still in my brain. I took as much as I could.

  There was a snap of a lighter, and then he placed a red tea candle onto my stomach, the end burning. “Do not move.”

  He got off me carefully, moving to lie beside me and propping his chin on his palm. “Just while that’s melting.” He gazed at me. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” I was in a weird part of my mind.

  “Freeing, isn’t it? To feel so much and not be able to focus on anything outside of these doors.” He kissed my jaw tenderly. “I never thought I would ever know love this … real,” he revealed, so tender as the candle melted on my belly. “Thank you for coming into my life, Miya. For being strong enough to change yourself, to take on my lifestyle. You’re changing my heart.” He grabbed my jaw and turned me, kissing me deeply for a long time. “Candle’s melted.”

  Rising, he straddled me once more, the candle in his hand. “This shouldn’t be too painful.” He poured a large stream onto my stomach.

  I hissed, but the pain was temporary. Cooling and hardening on my skin, the wax was the color of blood.

  He covered my nipples in the hot wax, creating a shape of a rose on my stomach when the wax hardened. Once the rose was formed, he blew out the candle and picked up the flogger.

  He stared at the rose for a long time, his eyes unreadable, before he spanked me on it, destroying the wax rose one spank at a time.

  When he was done, the rose was still there. The red wax colored my skin, leaving a faint pink outline.

  The rose had survived.

  He fell to his knees and sobbed. Deep heart-wrenching wails.

  I was tied down, his. Tears slid down the sides of my cheeks, but I didn’t make a sound as my master broke completely apart. I knew in my heart that he’d become mine tonight the way I became his. His demons crawled from his hell and wrapped around my angel, both falling from the sky as they flew for the sun.

  He crawled onto the bed and held me as best he could, wrapping his entire body around mine in a vice-like forever grip. I could only rub my cheek against his hair.

  We played in his chambers until the sun rose. Until every single part of my body got worked.

  And owned.

  23.

  I rolled over and groaned.

  The soreness in my body was a dull encompassing ache over every inch. My wrists, my ass from his rough unyielding pounding, my pussy was swollen this time, and my throat hurt from my moans and screams. But I had never felt better.

  Thankfully, he’d given me a rub down in the tub before he finally let me succumb to my exhaustion. The light outside his glass windows was black. We’d slept the entire day? The clock over his TV said that we’d slept from sunrise to after midnight. It was tomorrow. An entire day gone as we recouped.

  No wonder I felt fine. I’d slept through the worst of the soreness.

  I showered as he slept and dressed in a pair of his boxers and threw on a white cami, venturing downstairs. The dark of the night faded when I turned on the kitchen lights. I made a cup of coffee and poured a bowl of cereal, settling on the sofa and turning on the flat-screen mounted on the wall.

  As I put my empty bowl into the sink, I heard a vibrating sound. I followed it to his office. I picked up his charging cell and read the caller.

  VEGA.

  I glared. It vibrated in my hand and a text message came through. I ached to unlock his phone and read it. His password was a four-digit number. I sat down at his desk and stared at the lock screen. His bookshelf seemed to create larger shadows, right up against the wall where the moon couldn’t touch. His desk was messy, but orderly, like his desk had been in Intro to Psych, scattered with his laptop, black pens, and lesson plans with his sure handwriting scrawled across it.

  And in the far-right corner of his desk, nearly hidden by an empty coffee mug and a psych textbook, was a picture frame. I studied it without touching, my heart lodging in my throat.

  The woman had hair as black as Jaxon’s, eyes just as deep. She looked tired, wearing a loose red and black flannel shirt, exhaustion discoloring the crescent moons beneath her eyes. But she was still beautiful, the light in her eyes struggling to hold on. She looked like she’d gotten caught off guard, her smile partly unwilling and at the same time natural. In the back of her was a little boy hiding behind her legs, his cute little smiling face hidden by her left thigh.

  Jaxon’s mother.

  She was so young. Probably as old as me in that picture. Jaxon couldn’t have been more than two. I wanted to reach into that picture and hold him, save him, and shield him from his abuse.

  A sound overhead startled me. I bolted from his desk. I put his phone back where I found it and left his office, closing the door the way he’d had it, an inch open. I felt incredibly guilty the moment I was back in the living room.

  “Miya!” he called from upstairs, a hint of panic in his voice.

  “I’m down here.”

  He took the stairs quickly, pausing in the middle of the staircase to look down at me. From his perch, he looked distrustful, leery—scared. “I thought you left.”

  “No.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Why do you look so guilty?”

  I sighed. “Your phone was vibrating in your office. Vega called and texted you. And … I saw the picture on your desk.”

  He stared at me silently for a moment, his face impassive.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t snooping.”

  “I know you weren’t,” he said quietly. “Ask me why.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I put my phone in my office every single night to charge. You could have gone in there whenever you wanted. And it’s okay if you do. This is your house now too.” He smiled crookedly. “You’ve never lied to me, Miya. You don’t have a deceitful bone in your body.”

  He took the stairs and disappeared around the corner hall for his office as I gawked after him, his muscular back taut and smooth. He’d put on a pair of tight black briefs before coming down, and they hugged his ass so perfectly I felt my teeth digging into my bottom lip.

 
I didn’t, however, feel my desire everywhere this time. I thought I’d had an overload of orgasms and was sated in a way I had never been. Full up and content. I could think around my lust for once.

  He looked dangerously pissed when he came back out, the anger etched in his brows.

  “What are you doing down here?” he demanded.

  “I was hungry.”

  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t take off without telling me where you went. I went to sleep with you, I expect to wake up with you too.”

  He seemed far less in control of himself. Where I was freer in our relationship after the chambers, he was more trapped.

  Loving me was owning him. His love for me was his new Mistress.

  Warmth spread through me. “I’m sorry, Master.”

  His unease smoothed out. “Just don’t do it again.”

  “We slept an entire day.” I went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and peering through my lashes.

  His hands cradled my face and the love in his eyes turned them into smooth gleaming chocolate. “We needed the rest. You were unbelievably incredible up there. We are truly dom and sub. Man and woman. We’re connected in a way I have never been to another person.” He kissed me, long, hard, and deep. My toes curled and my heart stuttered. I clung to him, completely undeniably his.

  Faintly, I heard a pounding from somewhere in the house, but I was too wrapped up in Jaxon’s kiss to seek it out.

  He tore himself free and glared at the door. “Samuel’s here.”

  “Oh?” I was happy to hear his name. Master Sam had awakened parts of the sub in me and the woman. They were Jaxon’s parts long before he’d set them free, but there was a place in my heart for him.

  “He texted as I was talking to Vega. He’s … concerned, about you.” He gave me a predator’s grin, all teeth and naughty. “Personally, I’m not sure he’s wrong.”

  He talked to Vega? “I’m okay.” I kissed his chin and let him go. “Should I answer?”

  “Yes. Play with your friend. I have some things to catch up on in my office.” He left me.

  Cold bit at me the moment I opened the front door. Sam was striking in a cream sweater and dark jeans, whiskey-toned hair styled and black leather coat on over his cream.

  “You need a cell,” he said instantly, stepping inside without greeting me. He closed the door and shook off the cold, gaze sliding up and down my body. “You look … well.”

  I wondered what that meant, and decided it was probably best I didn’t know. “Thank you. You look prepared for the cold weather. You want something warm? Coffee?”

  “Sure, My Sweet. Where’s Jaxon?”

  “In his office.”

  “Hmm,” he mumbled absentmindedly, following me into the kitchen. He lowered his voice. “How are things?”

  “They’re good,” I assured him. “I promise.”

  “You’re too forgiving. If my sub cheated on me, she’d still be hogtied.”

  “But he wasn’t my sub.”

  “Interchangeable. Monogamy is monogamy, whether who’s doing the spanking or the screaming.”

  I ached to talk to him about my emotions, my life, but I wasn’t sure I could. It was the first time I wished I had a friend to talk to, and the idea of calling Sally brought a rush of yearning. “Maybe a cell phone isn’t such a bad idea. But I want to buy it myself,” I quickly added when he tilted his head to the side. “You both spend way too much money on me.”

  “What you give us is worth far more. Most women like gifts. We discussed how you’re to accept them.”

  I set his coffee down in front of him and glared. “I’m not your sub. I’m only your friend.”

  “Friend’s buy each other gifts. Speaking of gifts, I had a proposition in mind for you.”

  “Hmm?” I could only imagine where his mind was.

  But he frowned at me, shaking his head. “Not sexual. We’re done there.” There was a loss in his voice, but an acceptance as well. He accepted that we were no longer going to play together. “I’m opening a new business. A BDSM nightclub, so to speak. You can meet like-minded people and play on site. Or even meet and hookup somewhere else. Kind of like the underground training places Jaxon and I frequented in our early twenties. But much safer, less shunned.”

  “Sounds like a brothel to me.”

  “It’s whatever they want it to be, Miya.”

  “Why are you proposing this to me?”

  “Because,” he said, eyes trapping me in place. “You’re who I would want to see if I walked into that place. I need someone I can trust who can run the place when I’m not there.”

  “That’s crossing a serious fucking line, Samuel. You should have come to me with this, not her.” Jaxon stomped into the room, no more dressed than he had been.

  “I’m not coming at her as your submissive. I’m coming to her as a potential business partner. She could work her own hours so she could still go to school. Mostly at night. She’s part of the lifestyle. It’s an incredible investment. Think about the shit we went through to train. BDSM isn’t as publicly shamed anymore. If we do it the right way, we could really have something. I trust Miya, more than I’ve trusted anyone in a long time. Call it intuition.” His sharp blue gaze wouldn’t let mine go. “I have the money to blow. Join me.”

  I could sense all the letdown he’d suffered through, the pain he himself had endured. I didn’t want to let him down too.

  “She is special.” Jaxon’s eyes warmed as they met mine. “But I’m not sure about the environment. Her body is mine.”

  I blushed, shaking their words off. All of them. “Sam, I don’t know.”

  “Think about it. I’ll send over the proposals, my solidified business plan. It’s perfect for you and for me. I’d like to go in business with you, My Sweet. Who better than you?”

  “A lot of people.”

  “But I don’t trust a lot of people. I seem to trust you.” He rose, putting his hands in his pockets, countenance sad. “Don’t let me down again.” He let himself out, nodding at Jaxon before he left.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Jaxon mumbled, staring after him the way I did. Confused.

  “Is he your friend?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” He went over to the fridge, peering inside with his back to me.

  “I mean you insist on me having friends, but you don’t have many either. Tied up submissives make for terrible conversationalists.”

  He smirked. “What do I need friends for? I didn’t even have time for tied up subs until the one I was in love with got me fired.”

  I gasped, outraged. “I didn’t get you fired. Vega did. Who, by the way, you’re not supposed to be talking to anymore. What did she want?”

  He rose, coming away with a carton of eggs. “Go sit down while I make breakfast.” There was an undertone of Master in his order, the good layers peeling way slightly to reveal his dominance. He didn’t want to talk about Vega.

  But I did. “It’s not fair. What if I cheated on you and insisted on talking to that person?”

  He stood before me, fists crushing the carton of eggs ominously. “Go sit down.”

  I sighed, falling into a chair at the table. A thought filtered into my brain. How could we be in love and still be dominant and submissive? There was growth in love, but there wasn’t an ounce of growth in submission. They were two different things. We’d never come together the way we did in his chambers if he didn’t accept the fact that I submitted out of love, not out of subservience.

  “First and foremost, you wouldn’t cheat on me. Monster and light, Miya. Know your fucking role. I let Vega go when I told you about my past. As far as I’m concerned, she is no longer a threat. She’ll go away eventually.”

  I hid my fist beneath the table. “You’re doing it again.”

  “Doing what?”

  “You’re being a dickhead.”

  He shrugged, uncaring. “I am what I am. Scrambled or over-easy?”

&n
bsp; “I’m not hungry anymore.”

  He sighed heavily, setting a pan on the stove he plucked from the drain. “Miya, I don’t want to think about Vega anymore. I have no room in my mind or heart for anyone but you. Please let it go.”

  “What did she say?”

  He remained quiet for a few seconds, cracking eggs into some hot olive oil. “Quote unquote: ‘Pyper called. Seems like I have a new ally.’”

  Now I knew why he hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Vega and Pyper were against me. A sick hot feeling filled my stomach and tears burned my eyes. The anger and hurt were so instant, my stomach turned. I clutched it, glaring at his back as he cooked us breakfast in the middle of the night.

  He didn’t comment about my mood as we ate. He ate without worry, skimming through his phone at the table like I wasn’t seething across from him. But why would he care? He wasn’t the one who was the bad guy here, and he’d pick Pyper’s side anyway. I wondered if our age difference really was the issue, or would no woman be good enough for Jaxon because Pyper knew that inside of his man, there was a monster too damaged to love?

  The fear plagued me, but I kept it down. After breakfast, we went back to sleep; I curled into his arms and found solace in his heat and hold. We woke up in the afternoon, the snow so thick the forest outside his house was drenched in thick white sheets. We spent all day Wednesday in bed touching and watching terrible movies. He seemed to favor the gory action movies, and since I favored him, I didn’t mind.

  I kissed down his throat, taking my time tasting and nipping at him. He hadn’t shaved in days and his stubble had become a dark shadow on his face and throat. I loved the feeling of my soft lips on his course hair. I brushed my nipples over his chest as I found his thrumming pulse and sucked hard.

  He moaned, his hand settling on my lower back. “You’re distracting me.”

  My orgasm meter had drained over the past two days to crave more. I rubbed his chest, his abs, trailing my fingers over his V’s as my tongue traced his jaw up to his earlobe. “You taste so good,” I purred, feeling the haze of him take over. My hand dipped to cup his bulge through his boxers. “Can I give you oral sex?”