Hidden in Darkness

by Nora Ash

  “Yes, and power. It’s a different kind of freedom than what your blogging gives you, but power and money do provide certain liberties.”

  I don’t know what I’d expected from a big-shot CEO during a slow dance, but it wasn’t honesty. I told him as much.

  Elias shrugged, never loosening his grip on me. “There are so many masks and hidden agendas in this city. Sometimes, I just want a beautiful woman to see a real part of me.”

  I flushed at the compliment and looked down to hide my embarrassment. Despite Lightning’s crude comments about my curves and The Shade’s obvious interest in getting naked and sweaty with me, I wasn’t used to being called beautiful or have a man—at least under the age of sixty—pay this kind of attention to me.

  Then his words struck another chord, and I frowned and looked back up at him.

  His gray eyes made my blood warm. Masks. Had he not reminded me so much of the masked villain, I would not have thought there could be a double meaning to that one word, but…

  The music changed and we stopped dancing.

  Elias lifted his hand from mine and touched it gently to my cheek, and the warmth in my veins concentrated just south of my navel in a hot spike of desire.

  “Thank you for the dance.”

  Only two men had ever been able to affect me like that, and one of them was currently across the room, talking to the press. I suppressed a soft moan when Elias’ stroked his fingers from my cheek to my bottom lip, caressing it gently and far more intimately than he had any business doing.

  That was when I saw it. The thin scar stretching across his lip when his mouth curved in a smile as intimate as his touch.

  The same scar I’d seen on The Shade’s lips when he had been as close to me as Elias was now.

  Five

  CEO and charismatic billionaire Elias Shaw was The Shade.

  The Shade was walking around, pretending to be a normal human being.

  That had to mean all the superhumans could assume human identities. What that implied for the rest of us, I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

  I groaned and leaned against the wall in the corridor I was hiding in, trying to still my mind’s wild spinning by rubbing at my forehead.

  I’d… slow-danced with The Shade.

  Elias had asked if he could call me sometime, and I’d agreed, too intent on fleeing to pay much attention to what he was saying. It wasn’t fear that’d made me hightail it out of the ballroom the second I could do so without rousing suspicion from anyone. No, it was the sheer magnitude of my discovery.

  I knew The Shade’s secret identity. No matter how much he claimed to want to protect me, I had no doubt that if he ever as much as suspected my newfound knowledge, I’d be dead. And, undoubtedly, he wasn’t the only one who’d kill me for this secret. If Lightning found out I knew, I was pretty certain he’d do whatever he needed to to get it out of me.

  Oh, God. Lightning’s enemy was posing as his friend!

  And who was Lightning then pretending to be, when he wasn’t dressed up in a mask and a skintight suit? And Bright?

  I rubbed harder at my forehead, wishing I’d never walked into that coffee shop where I’d run into Lightning. It seemed like the harder I fought to untangle the web of deceit and corruption, the more entangled I became.

  There was only one thing for me to do, and that was continue with what I’d come here for. I needed to look for clues that could help explain the mayor’s position in all of this—the rest of this giant headache would have to wait for later.

  I pushed off the wall, intent on at least getting the information I’d come for.

  Finding the mayor’s office without being detected was fairly easy. It was on the first floor by the end of the main hallway, and everyone—including security—was focused on the main entrance and the ballroom, where all the important guests were located. It wasn’t even locked.

  “I was so not born to be a spy,” I muttered as I slipped into the office. It was as lavish as the rest of the mansion, and dominated by a big mahogany desk situated near the tall, curtained windows. The walls were lined with bookcases, and an exquisite sofa set was sprawled across the middle of the room.

  I looked around, wondering where to start searching, when my gaze fell on the mayor’s sleek computer monitor perched on the desk.

  Well, everyone else kept all their information there…

  Unfortunately, everyone also had password protection on their computers. At least everyone who didn’t want others to rifle through their private affairs.

  I stared at the taunting message on the screen, asking me to fill in the password. Okay, an unlocked door was probably as much luck as I was due on this adventure. Time to engage my Serious Reporter smarts.

  “Password.”

  Wrong Password.

  “password.”

  Wrong password.

  “Password123,” “PASSWORD,” “pASSWORD,”. “Wrong Password,” “Evil_Overlord2000.” “OpenSesame.” “WhatAmIDoingWithMyLife.” “Who_Is_Bright_And_Why_Do_You_Want_To_Kill_Me?”

  I paused for a moment, considering my last, denied suggestion. I wonder…

  “Bright.”

  I had to bite my tongue to swallow a triumphant cheer when the image on the screen changed to desktop view. Bright, huh? And just why was the mayor using a supervillain’s name as his password?

  I searched through his files and folders as quickly as I could, dismissing the boring and legal-looking stuff. When I found a file labeled “alternative budget” I took pictures of the screen with my phone. The quicker I could get out of this office, the better, and this way I could look through everything in the privacy of my own home—without the constant risk of exposure and death looming over my head.

  There were other suspicious-looking files too, and I snapped pictures of all of them, under the theory that too much material would be better than not enough. I also took pictures of all files that included the word “blue” in them, as per Aaron’s recommendation, even though none of them looked remotely interesting. There were a lot of what looked like blueprints and schematics from city planning projects, but I faithfully photographed them all. Maybe there was some secret code hidden in the drawings, or something that would pop out upon further inspection.

  I was just about to close everything down when a deep, angry voice made my heart leap into my throat.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  My gaze shot up from the screen as a million scenarios of my impending demise flashed through my brain, but the person slipping into the office and closing the door behind him wasn’t one of the mayor’s goons. It was Lightning.

  My breath whooshed out in a relieved sigh at the sight of the superhuman. “Thank God! You scared me.”

  “Scared you?” he hissed, his tall form descending on the desk I was sat behind with supernatural speed. “So you do have some sense of self-preservation? Because I gotta tell you, it doesn’t look like you have any!”

  The unmistakable anger in his gaze was unnerving. I was used to his sarcasm and teasing smirks—not a man with inhuman strength glaring at me like this.

  “I was just looking for some proof, okay?” I turned off the computer and pushed out from the desk. “I needed to see if there was a connection between the mayor and—”

  “You needed to stay out of this!” he interrupted with something resembling a snarl. “I told you I’d take care of it, and here you are—not only traipsing around at the mayor’s fucking ball like a goddamn lamb in a wolf’s den, but also breaking into his office and snooping through his computer! What does it take for you to grasp the seriousness of the situation? If it had been anyone but me coming to look for you, you’d be dead. Do you understand? Dead.”

  I swallowed. His mouth’s angry slant and the rough, gravelly quality to his voice reminded me way too much of The Shade, and I didn’t quite know what to do with it when it came from the normally irreverent hero.

  “Why do you care so much wha
t I do?” It probably wasn’t the smartest question to ask an angry superhuman. In fact, when his eyes flashed and he grasped my shoulder a little too tightly, I knew it hadn’t been the smart thing to ask.

  “I put my mark on you, you little dimwit,” he growled, and something other than anger moved behind his gaze. It was another emotion that reminded me all too well about The Shade. Dark possessiveness. Without my brain’s permission, my panties turned damp.

  Great. Fucking great. Why was I such a slut for caveman behavior?

  “You belong to me. And if another superhuman sees my mark on the pretty little girl who was sneaking around where she shouldn’t be, they’ll assume I sent you. Do you have any idea what kind of ramifications that would have?”

  My own anger rose sharp and hot. It wasn’t even concern for my safety that had him yelling at me like I was a slow child—it was how it could implicate him! When he hadn’t been there to protect me in the first place, even though he’d promised me he would.

  I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but just as I hissed, “Now you listen here, buddy,” in my best attempt at sounding intimidating, Lightning’s head snapped to the side.

  “Someone’s coming,” he mumbled.

  I had just enough time to feel my anger transform into terror before I was suddenly on my back on the sofa with Lightning on top of me.

  “What?” I squeaked. Lightning silenced my protests by pressing his lips against mine. His hot tongue flicked out, licking over the seam of my mouth. I’d like to say that it was sheer surprise that made me part my lips and invite him in.

  He kissed me with such passion and ferociousness that I didn’t realize what his hands were doing until cool air tightened my right nipple and his leather-clad fingers brushed my panties aside.

  I jolted underneath him, shock and—shamefully— desire making me jerk away from the kiss. Lightning responded by dipping his mouth to my fully exposed breast, flicking the nipple once and then sucking it into his hot mouth.

  “Ooh!”

  It was at that point my body decided to take over. Sharp tendrils of pleasure rocked through me as Lightning sucked me deeply and rhythmically, punctuated by the brush of soft leather against my clit. My breath came in short pants under the hero’s ministrations, and I arched my hips and spread my thighs, my wanton body only focused on getting more of this, more of him. When he slipped a single finger down through my soaked folds and up inside of me, I moaned.

  “Ahem.”

  The sharp voice made my brain return, its arrival sending an unpleasant shock of embarrassment through me as I looked up at the three men crowding the doorway. Staring at us.

  Lightning lifted up from my breast, his mouth making a loud, wet pop as it left my erect nipple before he turned his head to glance over his shoulder at the newcomers. His gloved finger stayed lodged in my pussy, drawing light patterns against my walls.

  “Ah, mayor. Do you need the office?”

  “Well, I was planning on showing Mr. Hemsworth and Mr. Billington my collection of antique ledgers, but far be it from me to interrupt a romantic rendezvous. Even a hero can feel in need of a woman’s embrace, I presume.”

  “We can indeed, but I’m sure Miss Smith will be amenable to changing locations. What do you say, Kathryn? Wanna let the mayor get on with his business?” Lightning’s gaze slid back to mine, perfect innocence—as if nothing was amiss—shining from it.

  I only managed a humiliated squeak in response.

  “I think that’s a yes. If you’d just give us a moment to let the lady get presentable?”

  “Naturally. A lady must retain her dignity.” The word “lady” was dripping with sarcasm. “We’ll be in the drawing room, looking at the Monét.”

  The second the door closed behind the mayor and his guests, I pushed Lightning off me, slapping at his arm until he pulled his finger from my pussy. The leather was covered in a wet shine.

  “What the hell!” I hissed, shame tightening my throat. “What do you think you’re doing, mauling me like a lustful bear! I can’t even…! Oh, God, what they must think!”

  “They think we snuck in here for a quick fuck, which is quite a bit better than the alternative, don’t you agree?”

  He had a point, sure, but I wasn’t ready to admit to that—not even close. Instead of answering, I managed to get into a seated position so I could push my bra back over my exposed breast, rearrange the dress’ shoulder strap, and then bend to sort out the wardrobe malfunction lower down.

  I’d just managed to get my panties back in place when a low growl filled the room. It was dark and threatening, and filled with a primal fury. Cold chills ran down my spine and every hair on my body stood on end as I whipped my head around to look at the source—at Lightning.

  His gaze had turned terrifyingly animalistic—and it was fixed on me.

  I gulped, pausing my hands’ attempt at straightening out my skirt. “L-Lightning?”

  “What. Is. That?”

  Before I could ask what he was on about, he’d grabbed the back of my neck, fingers pressing against the place The Shade had bitten me.

  Oh. Fuck. I’d had my hair in curls cascading down my back for the event, effectively hiding the mark from superhuman eyes, but bending down just now had bared it for Lightning.

  “That’s—” I began, intent on explaining how I’d had no choice, but I was interrupted by a deep snarl.

  “I know what the fuck it is! What I don’t know is how The-fucking-Shade’s mark happens to be placed on my woman’s neck! And the fucker had the audacity to place it on top of mine! I am going to murder him!”

  Whoa. While I’d been pretty certain Lightning wouldn’t be thrilled about The Shade metaphorically peeing on his property, I’d had no idea the response would be this violent.

  “Calm down, he—”

  “He had no fucking right!” Lightning interrupted me with a hiss. “And you! Parting your legs for that scumbag! Did you like being fucked like a common whore? Is that why you let him mark you? Because I didn’t give you the cock you so desperately crave?”

  And just like that, my instinctive fear turned into explosive anger.

  “No, I let him mark me because I didn’t have a goddamn choice!” I just about managed to keep my voice low enough that we wouldn’t be overheard by the mayor and the two men he’d been with, but oh, how I wanted to scream into the arrogant idiot’s masked face. “He saved me from the mayor’s men when they tried to rape and kidnap me, and this is what he wanted in return. If it’s such a big fucking deal to you, maybe you should have been around to protect me like you said you would! He was there—you weren’t. So yeah, you know what? I’d much rather fuck him than you—at least he keeps his word and actually gives a shit whether I live or die.”

  I got up off the couch, snatched my clutch off the floor, and stomped over to the door, too furious to care if my clothes were ruffled or not. The anger still boiling in my gut, I spun around and snarled, “And it was really fucking good!” before I left the office, slamming the door.

  Six

  I was still so angry I was shaking when I sat down in front of my computer to write a fluff piece about the ball. As much as I wanted to spend the night raging about how unbelievably rude Lightning had been, I needed to get a blog post about all the pretty dresses and expensive paintings up as soon as possible. Doing so would go a long way to placating the mayor, if he was still suspicious of me, and it might help me get some more blog traffic, too. As unimportant as the Autumn Ball was for the general population of St. Anthony, people still loved to look at pictures and gossip about all the important people who attended. And who was I to say no to free money?

  After losing my heels and changing into my faithful footie pajamas, I’d managed to get absorbed in my work when one of the pictures I’d uploaded made me pause.

  Elias Shaw, CEO and elusive billionaire stared back at me, champagne glass in hand.

  Somehow, the blow-out with Lightning had made m
e forget what else I’d discovered that evening.

  The question was, what was I going to do about it?

  He had protected me and gone out of his way to ensure the mayor didn’t find me suspicious, and my body yearned for him whenever he was close, whether he wore his disguise or not. But The Shade was also a very, very bad man. Even if only half the rumors about him were true, the city as a whole would be safer if he was locked up somewhere. Hadn’t I seen with my own eyes how he could kill without thinking twice?

  Of course, I had only seen him murder someone to defend me. The mark throbbed, as if in agreement.

  I cursed the part of me that instinctively came to his defense and rubbed the back of my neck. That blasted mark had caused enough trouble for one night.

  Maybe I could talk to him about it. Not the fact that I knew who he was posing as during the day, obviously, but about the rumors circulating about him. If I knew for certain that he was evil to the core, then perhaps I could think more about revealing who he was to someone who could take him down. Even if the part of me mind-controlled by my ovaries protested violently at the thought.

  Sudden tendrils of awareness tickled down my spine, and I stiffened in my seat at the now all-too-familiar sensation.

  Someone was in my apartment with me. Again.

  I snapped my head around to glare over my shoulder at the kitchen.

  “Really? Again?” I huffed, fully expecting to see The Shade emerge from the shadows. “Can’t you use the goddamn doorbell like a normal person?”

  “This is easier,” came the calm answer from somewhere behind my counter. A red-and-charcoal-clad figure stepped into the faint light cast by my desk lamp, and I bit my lip to avoid voicing my surprise. Lightning probably wouldn’t take too kindly to the fact that I’d expected his enemy.

  “It’s also ruder,” I snapped. His comments from earlier still rang clear in my mind. Masked asshole. “What do you want?”

  “I came to apologize.” He moved smoothly across the floor and sat on my desk, ignoring the daggers I was glaring at him. “I was… surprised, and I said some things I shouldn’t have.”