Prologue
High up in the wildest part of the mountains, far from any town or city, is a group of hot springs surrounded by caves. Werewolf shape-shifters have lived there for hundreds of years practicing their own brand of BDSM love. The Master’s word is law and he holds the key to a woman’s pleasure.
Chapter One
Nevis Greenway leaned against the metal railing on the roof of the pack building on Hot Springs Mountain, and watched as Andorra had her first helicopter lesson with Trenton. Trenton’s most notable feature was his long hair, which was unusual for a werewolf shape-shifter. Right now though, he was being very patient with Andorra as he explained the various knobs and dials to her.
Nevis hoped Trenton would let Andorra have a turn flying the machine. Because this was her first lesson, maybe he wouldn’t agree, though. Either way, it meant Andorra was getting her life organized, and moving forward. Andorra had just mated the Alpha of the Hot Springs Mountain Pack, Master Kingston, and his best friend Master Raleigh. Andorra wanted to learn to fly the helicopter and it was smart to have a reserve pilot for any time Trenton was ill or wanted to go on vacation. Mostly, she’d do office work for the pack, but a second pilot would be of value to the pack as well.
Nevis’s life, on the other hand, was still stuck in a rut. She sighed. She’d come here a few months ago to rest and soak away all her tension and stress in the hot springs. She was a burned-out speech therapist, exhausted from trying to help people with acquired brain injuries who didn’t want to be helped. Too many of these people would prefer to either play the victim card all the time, or simply wallow in misery and helplessness.
Nevis shook herself. No, that was unfair. Some of her patients had been desperate to learn to speak properly again and had worked very hard. But it seemed that the unhappy ones had leeched all her time and energy until there was nothing left inside her. A friend of hers had dated Master Kingston for a while, but had shied away from the pack’s taste for lifestyle BDSM and some ménages. Nevis, on the other hand, longed for a Master of her own, and wouldn’t mind finding out what a ménage felt like either. So when she’d wanted to find a place to escape and relax, where no one could reach her, this mountain top building, accessible only by helicopter or a damn hard walk up the mountain, had seemed perfect.
And it was a wonderful place of stunning views and genuine peace. Besides, she’d met Andorra and made a good friend. But time had passed and she was still no closer to getting her own life back on track, unlike her new friend.
She focused her gaze on the helicopter. Trenton was showing Andorra how to turn the engine on. Hastily Nevis sat on the ground, not wanting to be too close to the propellers when they began rotating. She was hard against the railing, so likely well out of their way, but decided being lower to the ground would be a bonus, especially if Andorra was allowed to take her first flight as pilot.
From down on the ground the helicopter looked even larger, and when the engine roared into action it was also deafening. Reverting to childhood, Nevis stuck her hands over her ears, and tilted her head back wanting to see the moment Andorra took off. As long as the damn machine didn’t come toward her.
But Andorra must have known what she was doing, obeying Trenton’s instructions, as the machine rose straight up into the air, before turning and moving slowly south. Nevis stood up again watching as they gradually disappeared, only occasionally lurching this way or that.
She leaned her forearms on the rail, watching as she thought. She was thirty-five and needed to get back to work and start saving for a deposit on a home. A single woman had to have a way to support herself, and while vacationing here had relaxed her and restored her somewhat, it was slowly chipping away at her savings and it was time she went back to work.
She’d had vague hopes she might meet a Dom who appealed to her while she was here, but that hadn’t happened either. Nevis was interested in York, the company IT guru. He was delicious to look at, with very curly dark hair cut short against his head. They were both part of a group that played the card game Scumbags and Warlords together once a week. And while he was always friendly and polite, he’d never made the slightest attempt to date her, which had to mean she didn’t interest him. Unfortunately.
Nevis remained looking out over the surrounding countryside. Hot Springs Mountain was the tallest peak around here, although the mountain range extended for hundreds more miles and other, taller peaks were undoubtedly scattered along its length. But from the roof of the three-story pack building here, she had a panoramic view for miles in every direction, across steep cliffs, wooded valleys, and other rocky peaks. It was incredibly beautiful and she was grateful to have had the opportunity to come here.