Hill, Meagan - Master Me [Masterson] (Siren Publishing Classic) (21 page)

Their bodies moved instinctively for several more moments before collapsing in a heap. They lay there for a while, recovering and fighting to regain their breath, Miranda sprawled across Mitch’s body with her head resting on his chest. His hands continued to rest on her hips, stroking the skin gently on occasion. When she was able, Miranda pulled her head up to rest on her folded arms, gazing lovingly into Mitch’s eyes. “I love you, Mitch. No matter what happens, I will always love you.”

Mitch’s arms moved to wrap her in his embrace, holding her tightly against him. “I love you, Miranda. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, and I’m never going to let you go. I waited a very long time to find you, and I’m going to keep you, no matter what happens tomorrow. Okay?”

“Okay. I’m just worried. I still have a hard time grasping that so many people are willing to take on such a dangerous task for me.”

“It’s not just you, baby. Yes, we’re prepared to go into battle for you, but also for all the other innocents they have damaged. If it was just you, we’d still do it, but we have a much bigger responsibility than that.” Mitch took a moment to focus on their mental connection, searching for whatever it was causing Miranda’s distress. “Baby, you can’t blame yourself if someone gets hurt. You heard what the Merlin and dad said. They had heard rumors about the coven and were about to move against it anyway. You simply gave them the definitive proof they needed. We would likely be getting ready to fight them even if you had never left the compound. If nothing else, you saved whatever innocents that would have been hurt in the delay. We would have never had the kind of information you gave us, making it much more dangerous for us when we attacked. No matter what happens, you’ve done well. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

Miranda thought through Mitch’s words for several seconds, considering them deeply before accepting their truth. “Thank you, Mitch. You’re right. I hope we get there in …”

Miranda was cut off by a quick knock at their door followed by a voice informing them they needed to leave in ten minutes.

Mitch and Miranda looked deeply into each other’s eyes for a moment before closing in for a sweet kiss, conveying everything in their hearts for each other. They both whispered, “I love you,” as they broke apart. Mitch pulled Miranda tightly against his chest before releasing her completely. Miranda moved herself off of him, both hissing and shuddering as his body was dislodged from hers.

Moving quickly, they rose to clean up and re-dress. As they moved, they were very aware of each other, the energy between them pulsing with the strength of their love for each other. Mitch picked up both bags as she finished pulling her hair up in another bun. “I love when you wear your hair up. I can see your crest easily.” Miranda just smiled at him, making him realize it was the reason she’d pulled her hair up in the first place.

They joined the rest of the coven at the airport as they boarded the coven’s private jet. The Masterson coven had been around a long time, and its leaders had managed its finances well. The coven was no longer dependent on the support from its members. The flight to El Paso passed quietly as they all tried to get some sleep and gather their energy for the coming battle. They landed in El Paso just after four in the morning. A small fleet of vehicles waited for them. They piled into them and made their way to the hotel. There, they split up again to go to their assigned rooms. Mitch and Miranda called for room service immediately. After eating their fill, they lay down to get some much needed rest. The plan was to rest until five and then convene in the hotel’s meeting room to go over the information Miranda had given them the prior day.

* * * *

Mitch and Miranda entered the meeting room a few minutes past five. Miranda looked over the people assembled there. All of them were dressed in black. Miranda was the only one dressed in colors. This was important to the mission they were about to undertake. There were eighteen men and six women, not counting herself and Mitch.
“The women are healers that are staying behind, right?”
Miranda asked telepathically.

“No. Two of the men are healers, and three of the women are warriors. With the two of us, there will be twenty-one people ready to do battle and five healers. And don’t worry about the female warriors. They’re all well trained and have plenty of experience.”

“Okay, that’s a load off my mind.”

“Miranda, I should have mentioned this earlier, but you’re going to have to tell the group about what to expect when they get in there. Dad and I will do what we can, but they need to know what to expect. Other than us and the other leaders, the rest really don’t know anything other than we have been given the task of eradicating a highly abusive coven.”

Miranda cast her eyes down as she sighed. After a moment, she raised her eyes back to his and nodded.

With that, they moved to the front of the room where Malcolm had the house layout and her sketches tacked to the wall. Mitch kept her hand clasped tightly in his as he took his place as second-in-command. There were several gasps throughout the room as they saw the mated crest circling their necks, but other than that, the group was quiet.

Malcolm started the meeting off by conducting the blessing ceremony and then introducing them to the gathering. Eventually, he got to the explanation as to why they were gathered. “I know my members already know the reason why we’re here today and have probably already shared that with the rest of the group, but I want to go over it again, to make sure everyone knows exactly why we’ve been given the task of eradicating this coven. The leader’s name is…” Malcolm trailed off as Miranda lifted her hand in the “stop” gesture.

“May I?” she asked of him. At his nod, she turned to face the bulk of the group. She could feel Mitch’s pride and amazement in her, and it gave her the strength to say what she knew she had to. “My name is Miranda. I was fourteen when I was drugged and kidnapped from my own bedroom and taken to the Cabela coven. Once there, I was raped and beaten by Devon Cabela, the leader of the coven. After that day, I was raped and beaten every day, multiple times a day. The only days I was not were when I was too injured and in the hospital. That was three days. Last Friday, five and a half years after being kidnapped, I finally graduated from my ‘behavior’ training. I was trained on the basics of magic but have since learned what I was taught is spotty at best. The behavior training is intense and is meant to completely break one’s spirit. It almost broke mine. I was given my first assignment to find a young female latent, the younger the better. I knew if I succeeded in my assignment, I would turn as evil as Cabela. I also knew if I returned unsuccessful, he’d likely kill me. I wasn’t sure what I would do. I knew, however, that if I didn’t find a way out, I would not survive the week, either by Cabela’s hand or my own.

“Two days later, I went to check out a children’s day camp, specifically, Mitch’s camp, that was on the target list I was given. He quickly figured out the situation I was in and decided to step in to rescue me. We conducted the allegiance ceremony on Wednesday, which turned into much more than was anticipated. Mitch and I were mated during it, even though we hadn’t had sex yet. During that event, all of the scars I had carried from being in the coven were removed. There were a lot of them. You can ask the Masterson coven members if you’re curious. The only scars I carry now are where Mitch donated two strips of his own flesh to help heal the wounds left behind when the brands Cabela gave me were excised.” Miranda stopped a moment, regathering her focus on the present instead of the memories from the past. “I spoke with a Cabela coven member yesterday morning, trying to keep them from realizing I’d left the coven until we could initiate our attack tonight. He shared some important information with me.

“Cabela is conducting a ceremony tonight at midnight. It must be extremely powerful. The Cabela member I spoke to bragged he’d found exactly what Cabela wanted for the ceremony, a ten-year-old latent female. The whispers about the ceremony are he will be conducting either a sexual sacrifice, in which he will rape the girl on the altar during the ceremony, or a full sacrifice, where he’ll likely rape her and then kill her. Either way, we have to get in there and stop that ceremony before they can hurt her.” Miranda stopped for a moment, glancing about the room again. The majority of the group had expressions of shock and disgust, which eventually hardened into resolve. The remaining people, mostly the healers, seemed to be stuck at horror.

“All of the coven members are required to be at the ceremony, so we will have a chance to get them all at one time, but that also gives us more people to fight. There are fifteen coven members, not counting myself or the latents. The latents will likely be chained in their room here.” Miranda pointed to a room on the layout Malcolm had had blown up large enough so everyone could easily see. “They may also be in the various ‘discipline’ rooms here, here, and here. Brace yourself when you enter these rooms. They are bloody and rancid and have unimaginable stuff in them. The ceremony room is here, and these are Cabela’s private chambers. I’ve heard rumors there are secret passages and doorways, but I’ve been all over that house trying to find a way out and never found anything. Then again, with Cabela, there’s no telling.

“I’ll tell you a bit about Cabela and his main group of men. His full name is Devon Cabela. He was not yet a master when he turned to the dark side, but he has gained incredible powers from his willingness to hurt and destroy. He deals with the devil, so don’t underestimate his powers or his willingness to do horrible things. There were five latents that were brought in after me, not counting the new girl. Two of them died from beatings they received. Two more are fighting their training, as I did. The last one broke quickly but hasn’t finished her magic training yet. They are regularly beaten and raped, just as I was, by every member of the coven, not just Cabela. It wasn’t unusual for me to service Cabela, his top six guys, and anyone who was visiting him and wished it on any given day. Like I said, their goal was to break the spirits of the people they took. It gives them power and a new minion. The longer a person is with them, the more destroyed the person’s soul becomes, until at some point, there is nothing left of his old self, and he becomes just as evil as Cabela is. With that said, do not trust anyone who comes from that compound. They will not be able to renounce their loyalty and obedience to Cabela until their brands are removed, just as I wasn’t.”

After that, Mitch and Miranda moved off to the side and allowed the leaders to conduct the remainder of the session. They were all given assignments based upon their strengths and the information Miranda had given them. John briefly attempted to assign Mitch and Miranda to different teams, but Mitch stopped him immediately, making it clear he wasn’t going to be moving away from Miranda at all. John smiled good-naturedly at his brother, saying, “I wondered how fast he would object,” and causing the room to erupt in laughter. They desperately needed that moment of levity to ease the stress of preparing for the battle to come. When everyone had calmed down again, Miranda could literally see the difference in the mood of the room. It had gone from tense and worried to relaxed and focused.

At nine, everyone was confident they knew exactly what to expect and what was expected of them. They spent the next hour eating a late dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. Everyone wanted to make sure they had built up as much energy and power as possible. At ten thirty, they all piled into their assigned cars and headed toward the compound.

Chapter 9

Mitch held Miranda’s hand tightly as he drove her beat-up old car toward the compound. He’d had one of the guys from the camp get her car and drive it to the hotel as soon as it became clear Miranda would have to return to the camp. He could feel the tension rolling off of her, but she managed to stay focused and calm.

When they were less than a mile from the compound and just around the last curve before they could be seen, Mitch pulled over. He hated this part of the plan, despite knowing that it was imperative. They sat there in silence for a few seconds before they both reached for the door. They met in front of the car, wrapping each other in their arms tightly.
“You’re going to be okay, baby.”

“I know. I’m just scared to go back in there. I never wanted to go near that place again, and I hate that I’m dragging you back here, too.”

“Hey,”
Mitch admonished her as he lifted her face up to accept a soft, reassuring kiss.
“Where you go, so do I. You know that, Miranda. Just be careful, and stay low until we can get in there, okay? I hate that I’m letting you go in there alone.”
Mitch sighed heavily, wishing once again they had come up with a plan that didn’t include Miranda having to return at all, much less going into the compound by herself.