Hidden in Darkness

by Nora Ash

  I probably shouldn’t have antagonized the hulking mass of a man like that. After all, the reputation I threw in his face was what had had me so scared of him in the first place, even if he did make my body ache and my pussy yearn. But after Lightning’s betrayal—at least it felt like betrayal in the hollow part of my chest, regardless of how it really shouldn’t—I’d had all I could take of overbearing superhumans who thought they could sweep into my life and mess me up with their stupid pheromones and archaic view of women.

  “You of all people should know that things in this city aren’t always what they seem,” he replied, his voice irritatingly calm.

  “Oh, so you don’t murder people for sport?”

  “No.”

  I arched both eyebrows in disbelief. “Yeah? Because when I saw you use those swords, you looked pretty experienced in wielding them.”

  “I am. And I am very skilled at killing people, superhuman or otherwise. It is no secret that I have very little care for your human laws, but I do not murder innocents.” He stroked a hand through a loose lock of my hair, seemingly contemplating the blonde strands. “And in concern to my claim on you… I won’t deny, I have possessive feelings toward you, my feisty little kitten. You are mine, and nothing you do will change that. I am sorry if that upsets you—not for claiming my right, but for any displeasure it may cause you. But if I ever hear you call yourself my whore again, there will be consequences. I do not need to brand my mark into a woman to get between her thighs. I chose you—and you accepted. The magic in that bond is much, much stronger than what your precious hero seems to believe.”

  I bit my lip and looked down from his calm, penetrating gaze in an attempt to get a hold of my swirling thoughts and emotions. I wanted to believe him when he said he didn’t murder innocents, even if it was beyond stupid of me to trust the infamous villain’s word.

  And… I wanted to believe the warm pulsing from the nape of my neck that sent soothing tendrils through my body as he denied Lightning’s claim to what the mark meant. I wanted it to mean more. It needed to mean more. The deep, confusing longing from the very marrow of my bones couldn’t just be my body’s reaction to their pheromones.

  A gentle touch to my chin made me look back up. The Shade’s eyes met mine, and I felt the pull from them like a near-physical force.

  “I am here because I wanted to see you. Nothing more.”

  “It’s the middle of the night,” I said, dazed by the intensity in his gaze. “How did you know I wasn’t asleep?”

  “I didn’t.”

  I frowned. “So, what? You were just going to watch me sleep? That’s really fucking creepy.”

  His face lit up with a wry smirk. “What gave you the idea that I wasn’t planning on waking you up? I believe I did warn you what would happen the next time you saw me.”

  Heat filled my cheeks at the memory of his parting words the last time he’d been in my apartment. “A light bit of nighttime rape, then? That’s not helping the whole creepy-thing, you know.”

  “Oh, Kathryn.” The Shade leaned forward, pressing me backwards until my back hit the seat of the sofa with his mere presence. His eyes glowed with awakening heat. “If you keep calling it rape, I’ll think you have a desire for power play. And I am very, very good at playing, my pretty kitten.”

  Oh. This talk had taken an entirely different turn, fast, and even though my body hummed with appreciation as the large male placed a hand on each side of my shoulders and hovered over me, I found it hard to just let go and forget about everything else that had happened in the past eight or so hours.

  “And Lightning? I croaked. “It doesn’t bother you that…?”

  “That he fucked you?” The Shade scoffed. “His smell on you just makes me ache all the more to replace it with mine.”

  Nope, The Shade was apparently not the jealous type.

  “Well, that and the mark-thing.”

  The Shade paused his slow prowling above me, his wide shoulders going rigid and his blue eyes darkening. “What mark-thing?”

  “Uhm… he bit me again. I dunno, it seemed like marking?” I squirmed in my blanket-cocoon until I managed to twist my neck enough to expose the back of it.

  The growl resonating from the large male on top of me made the first spike of fear hit my nervous system. I turned my head back around, and flinched at the absolutely murderous rage set in his clenched jaw, dark eyes and exposed teeth.

  Or maybe he was the jealous type. Crap.

  “The next time I see him, I’m going to fucking kill him!” he snarled. His hands gripped hard around the edges of my blankets, making the bulging muscles in his arms and chest flex in the process.

  “Why is it so bad?” I squeaked, as my vocal cords were seemingly as tense as the rest of my body, trapped underneath his hulking form. “He marked me before you ever did.”

  “He half-marked you,” The Shade growled. “I claimed you. Me!”

  I wasn’t about to discuss semantics with him, but it did seem like Lightning had managed to piss him off the same way he’d wanted to piss off Lightning—by placing a mark on top of his.

  My contemplations came to an abrupt halt when the fury in The Shade’s eyes shifted, and a heat I’d come to know all too well in the past few weeks flamed in its place.

  With quick movements he ripped the blanket to pieces until I was lying naked in front of him, much like a kid would unwrap a Christmas present. He shed his gloves and then grabbed my breasts in both hands, holding them firmly enough that my nipples peaked at the light graze of his palms. Once they were hard and aching under his touch, he dipped his head and sucked first one and then the other into his hot mouth. I arched my back involuntarily as shivers crept from my aching points down my spine, until they reached my clit and made it throb with longing.

  It was way too easy for him, as well as the man he’d sworn to murder for his trespassing, to turn me on. Shame at my wanton reaction to his advances made me put both hands on his shoulders and push. Hadn’t I just spent a good hour sulking about being fucked and then dumped like yesterday’s trash? Maybe happily writhing underneath whatever man happened to crawl through my window was what’d landed me in trouble in the first place.

  “You need to stop that.”

  A low, disapproving growl was all the reaction I got. The Shade swirled his tongue around the nipple lodged in his mouth and sucked it deeply, making my hips rise of their own accord.

  “I’m serious.” I shoved harder at his shoulders. “I’m not some cum dumpster you can just roll up on whenever it suits you. I’m getting really tired of you two thinking I’m happy to spread my legs because of your pheromones and whatever claim you think you have on me. I don’t like getting treated like a booty call for superhumans!”

  The tongue playing with my nipple stilled. The Shade lifted his head off my breast slowly, until he was once again hovering over me, eyes locked on mine. Some of his previous anger flickered behind the heat.

  “Is that why you’ve been crying? He made you feel these things?” His voice was dangerously quiet.

  “No. Maybe. I just…” I let my hands flop back down on the couch, too overwhelmed with all the emotions running rampant in my head to even know what I was feeling.

  Soft lips brushed against mine in a butterfly-light kiss. “I will kill him, both for the mark and for hurting your feelings. Will that make you happy?”

  I blinked in shock. “No! No killing anyone!”

  The Shade wrinkled his nose at my outburst, but didn’t argue. Instead, he let a hand slip down between my thighs to caress my mound, teasing the slit with a gently probing finger.

  “Will me pleasing your body without finding release myself make you happy, then?” The finger slid in between my lips and trailed up to tap against my clit.

  I fought back a moan and arched an eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry, is the biggest, baddest villain in town offering to get me off without so much as a hand job in return?”

  “Maybe the big
gest, baddest villain in town isn’t so bad after all?” he mumbled as he pushed his mouth to mine once more, this time kissing me more heatedly.

  I was pretty sure he was, indeed, bad, despite something from the depths of my hormonal overload whispering about him being kinder and gentler than I’d ever imagined him capable of. What I wasn’t sure about was why he spent so much time and energy trying to convince me he wasn’t. It should be plenty obvious from our first encounter that I responded shamefully well to his dominance, so there really was no need for him to be so… gentle.

  Unless he really did want to prove himself to me, for whatever reason I couldn’t even begin to fathom.

  I knew I should refuse him—I’d just slept with his archenemy, and no respectable woman offered herself up to a man like The Shade. But I didn’t.

  I’m not sure if it was curiosity, or the aching hollow still tearing at my chest after Lightning’s dismissal that made me ask, “Will you stay with me after?”

  The Shade hesitated for a moment, pausing his light teasing between my legs. I could practically see the wheels churn behind his hooded gaze as he weighed the risks.

  Finally, he nodded once, and then reached out to fold me into his bulging arms before he stood up, carrying me bridal-style.

  “Yes, kitten. I will stay.”

  Eight

  I moaned as the fingers between my legs got more insistent in rubbing my tight clit, and instinctively spread my legs wider. The Shade dipped into my already soaking depths to lubricate his fingertips, and then returned to my nub. The smooth slide coaxed its hood back, and I jolted at the direct contact when his thumb and forefinger grabbed the exposed pearl. He was gentle, though, and expertly stroked me with short, precise caresses.

  “There are so many things I could do to you, to make you writhe and beg,” he whispered hoarsely against my neck. “I could tie you up and whip your delicious ass red and raw. Put clamps on your nipples and this pretty little clit. Make you take my fist. Why is it that all I want to do is be inside of you, rutting like a simple beast? What magic do you keep between these luscious thighs to make me crave nothing but your cunt’s sweet embrace?”

  Under normal circumstances, I would probably have taken his words as a threat. Now, though, when my head was swimming with the pleasure he rubbed into my clit and the teasing tickle of his featherlight kisses on my jaw, neck and shoulder, it only increased the heat in my abdomen threatening to boil over. My fluids seeped from my core, tattling on my body’s easy surrender to any and all devious plans he might have for it.

  The Shade slipped a finger not preoccupied on my clit down and pushed it inside my opening to the knuckle. I squeezed around him on instinct, and was rewarded when he curved his finger after my g-spot.

  “Ah!” My hips bucked up at the delicious pressure and I grasped at the sheets until the teasing of my clit stopped.

  Frustrated, I writhed and reached down to take over myself, but he caught my hand before it reached its goal.

  “Bad kitten.” His taunting voice wafted over my exposed pussy and lower abdomen, and then he pushed another two fingers into me. I gasped in pleasure at the stretch, and then again when his mouth descended on my still-throbbing clit.

  This was so very different to the night in the alley. The Shade sucked and licked me almost too gently, while his fingers slowly moved in and out of my now soaking pussy. While he had been rough and dominant while having me up against the brick wall, he was now careful and tender… and the difference was driving me up the wall.

  My need to orgasm increased with every flick of his tongue and every lazy circle against my frontal wall, but the stimulation was just light enough that I couldn’t quite reach the point of no return.

  “Please, Shade, more!” I moaned, trying to buck my hips up against his mouth for more pressure. He expertly followed my frantic movements, keeping the exact same contact as before. He didn’t even bother to answer me, just hummed into my frantically clutching pussy and gave my quivering thighs a light squeeze.

  “Please!” I grabbed for his head, forcing him down harder over my aching clit. Like a woman possessed, I ground myself against his lips and tongue, straining against the fire in my abdomen that burst forth now that I was finally getting the pressure I needed. I was so close, so close!

  The Shade let me rub against him and calmly teased my g-spot until I was right on the edge, literally no more than a second from climaxing.

  Then he sat up, easily slipping out of my frantic grasp.

  “No!” The sharp burn of disappointment tore through my body. I slapped both palms against the mattress in frustration, not capable of restraining myself. “Fuck!”

  His finger slipped back in place against my still-pulsing clit. He gently tapped it, shooting tendrils of excitement through my deflated body. “Patience is a virtue, little kitten. The longer I build you up, the more powerful the orgasm.”

  “Fuck that! Just… fuck me!”

  It hadn’t been my intention to ask for it, but the words blurted out of my mouth before I could even think about them. My entire body throbbed with the need to feel him in me—needed the hard stretch and roughness I knew he was capable of, and to hell with any delusions I had of virtue. All I needed was his cock inside of me so I could finally reach the peak my entire being was screaming for.

  Something gleamed in his blue eyes, and when I saw his small smirk, I knew he’d played me to get exactly this result—me begging for his cock.

  I didn’t care.

  “Now!”

  “Anything you ask, lover.” The Shade easily straightened up on his knees and stripped out of the top half of his suit. I couldn’t help my eyes from following the defined path of his muscles down to where his hands were opening his pants and sliding them down powerful thighs.

  His cock sprung free, thick and heavy, and I bit my lip from voicing the sliver of concern the sight induced. He was roughly the same size as Lightning, and despite the intimidating view, I knew I could take him. My pussy clenched in agreement.

  When he was completely naked, save the mask, he climbed back onto the bed and looked down on my naked and splayed body. The heat in his eyes washed over me, setting my already smoldering desire ablaze.

  He fell on top of me, catching his weight in his hands, and I whimpered at the delicious press of his thick cock against my eager pussy.

  At that point, it really didn’t matter that I’d already been fucked by another that same night, and it didn’t matter that the man between my widely parted legs was supposed to be the most dangerous man in the city. All that mattered was his strong body and its ability to sate all my desperate needs.

  I wrapped my legs around his hamstrings and dug my fingers into his broad shoulders, mewling with need.

  The Shade took it as the permission it was intended. He slid his hand over my left breast, squeezing it gently, before trailing down my stomach to slip between my folds.

  I arched into him as he played with my clit. “Please, I need you inside of me!”

  With a grunt, he grabbed his thick shaft and guided it to my entrance. I bit my lip at the near-painful strain as my pussy stretched to accommodate him, but thanks to my escapades in this very bed with Lightning only hours earlier, I could take The Shade in one smooth push. My overworked muscles protested a little, but it only added to the thrill.

  He bottomed out in me, and the ache in my chest brought on by the memory of the night with Lightning vanished in a rush of pleasure.

  “Oh! Yes!”

  His rich growl answered my call, the pleasure in its low rumble echoing my own.

  “More!”

  The Shade snapped his hips in response to my demand, forcing my pussy to cling to his girth as he pumped me just the way I needed.

  I cried out, moaned, panted and whined underneath his body’s forceful thrusts, lost in pleasure. My orgasm crashed over me after what felt like only moments trapped in this blissful state of rutting.

  I screamed my pl
easure out and dug my heels into The Shade’s hamstrings in an involuntary attempt to still his movements while my pussy milked his length in euphoric spasms.

  He drove into me a few more times, showing my body who was in charge, before he mercifully stilled and let me ebb from the powerful rush.

  Once pleasant lethargy finally replaced the convulsions, I flopped down fully on my back, my arms and legs splaying open. “Wow. You superhumans really know how to fuck.”

  I don’t know why I said that. The words just slipped out of my mouth as my blissed-out brain relished in the second dose of endorphins for the night, not caring one iota that the powerful male still buried in my pussy probably wouldn’t appreciate the reference to my other lover’s prowess.

  The aggressive growl rumbling from The Shade’s chest confirmed as much. My eyes popped open in shock at the threatening sound, but before I could react to it, he’d pulled out of me and grabbed me by the hips, and suddenly I was face-down on the bed.

  I squealed in surprise, and then grunted when he re-entered. Roughly. My used muscles protested, but The Shade’s previous gentleness was gone, swept away by my reference to Lightning.

  He drove in hard and set a punishing pace that had me clawing at the sheets every time he bottomed out. But I didn’t object.

  Not only did I have it coming, after my unfortunate slip—some sick and twisted part of my most primitive self also loved to be physically dominated and put in my place by a man strong enough to make me.

  A tug on my hips pulled my ass in the air, but when I tried to raise up on my hands to ease the angle he was thrusting into me with, The Shade pushed me back down on the bed with a heavy hand on my neck.

  I whimpered but didn’t fight as he once again grabbed both my hips, giving me every inch he had in long, rapid thrusts.

  I stayed on my knees with my ass thrust up and my pussy open wide to his continued assault until another orgasm began to build deep in my core.