by Nora Ash
As if he knew, The Shade pushed me down flat on my stomach and slid a hand underneath me to my clit, forcing sharp spikes of pleasure to mix with the deep sensations rolling through me from my battered channel.
Black dots danced before my eyes when I finally, mercifully, came.
My pussy clutched at the invading cock and I pressed my hips down against The Shade’s hand, rubbing my clit harder against his fingers until my violent climax eased its tight grasp.
I sagged against the bed, completely spent.
The Shade didn’t move. He was still poised above me, one hand clutching my hip hard, the other trembling lightly against my now over-sensitive clit.
I groaned, knowing that he wasn’t done and that I wouldn’t get to relax in the afterglow just yet.
But he surprised me.
He found the strength to release my hip and clit, and though he remained within me, he didn’t move. I could feel his cock pulse heavily inside my sore sheath and knew he had to be close to his own release, but he didn’t take it. For whatever reason, The Shade kept his promise of not climaxing, even though he had manipulated me into begging for sex.
He rested on his fists above me while I slowly came down from my high. His labored breath swept over my neck and shoulders in harsh pants, and I could practically feel his urge to keep thrusting until he came. But he still didn’t.
Instead, he bent his head to the back of my neck to nibble at my mark with his teeth. It was a bit harder than just a sensual, post-sex caress, but not hard enough to sting. The way he near-moaned when his teeth dug gently into my skin, I got the distinct impression it was only his iron will that kept him from re-marking me.
Eventually, he found the strength to roll off.
His still rock-hard cock slid from my sheath, and even in my thoroughly relaxed state, my walls clung to him as if begging him to stay. He flopped to his back with a suffering groan and pressed an arm over his eyes as if to block out the world.
A part of me wanted to release him of his promise. Another, undoubtedly meaner, part enjoyed his suffering just enough that I didn’t. It felt good to be the one with the power, even if it was only mine because he’d given it to me. It was the first time with either superhuman I’d felt like my voice truly mattered, and I wasn’t about to throw that away. Even if the thought of giving in made my pussy clench with longing.
“You okay?” I asked as I rolled over onto my side to look at him.
The Shade breathed deeply through his nose. “I’ll be fine.” Another deep breath, and then he removed his arm from his eyes and reached out for me, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me on top of his chest. His erection strained hard and demanding against me until I parted my legs and let it slip up between my thighs to rest against my puffy sex. He swallowed another groan at the contact, and I smirked against his skin.
Getting handled as easily as if I were a dainty little thing was starting to grow on me. It was completely impossible to feel too awkward, or too fat, when the man wrapping his arms around me was so strong that he could lift me without blinking, and so tall and coiled with muscle that I even looked tiny by comparison.
I propped myself up against his chest and looked down at his masked face. “You’re staying?”
“I’m staying,” he confirmed.
The low rumble of his voice against my chest felt good, soothing. I lay my head back down, just underneath his collar bone, and pressed an ear against his solid pecs. The steady thrum of his heart resonated deep inside of me, each beat of it calming my own. Even the heavy smell of sex and sweat in the air added to the tranquility.
Why did I find peace in the arms of someone I used to think was evil?
And when had I stopped thinking he was the worst villain in the city?
Nine
“Kathryn.”
“Mm?” The deep voice only roused me halfway. I was so incredibly comfortable. I didn’t want to leave my pleasant cocoon of sleep.
“Dawn is here. I need to leave now.”
Leave? Reluctantly, I cracked open an eyelid. Pale light illuminated the loft, indicating that it was, indeed, dawn. A strong jaw and a black mask came into focus next, and I blinked in confusion when I realized that my comfortable bed was a man’s bare chest.
Strong arms constricted around my torso, and I groaned I denial. I was so comfortable.
“Stay?” I begged sleepily, burrowing back down against the thick muscle underneath me.
He brushed a kiss against the top of my head. “I can’t. I need to get back before the streets fill too much, or people will panic if they see my suit.”
Panic? Suit? … Wait, a black mask?
My eyes shot open when I remembered whose chest I was sleeping on. The sudden shock of the morning light hurt, and I squinted up at The Shade.
He smiled softly and released my waist so he could brush away a lock of my hair that’d gotten stuck to the side of my face away. “I’ll be back when I can. Sleep until you’re rested, little kitten.”
I automatically touched my fingers to my cheek where he’d brushed against me and found it wet. Splendid. I’d drooled in my sleep. A glance at his chest revealed that I’d also drooled on him.
Caught between confusion and embarrassment—a mix I was getting unpleasantly used to these days—I rolled off The Shade’s chest and watched as he got out, stretched his bulging body so all the muscles on his back flexed intriguingly, and proceeded to get dressed.
I looked up at the man I’d spent the night with. Yeah, he was a bad man. He was dangerous, strong… and he had been inside of me, worshiping my body as if I was the most precious thing on the planet.
The Shade bent down and brushed his now gloved fingers over my sleep-swollen lips. “Until next time, my kitten.”
I blamed the sleep-dampened rush of excitement at his words on my body, as well. There was no other reason for me to feel anything but dread at the prospect of seeing him again.
I didn’t wake up again until well past midday—a habit that seemed to come with too many run-ins with superhumans.
I stretched, my body protesting the move with a tenderness I’d recently learned was an inescapable side-effect of being well-fucked, and then spent the next twenty minutes sprawled out in bed, giving serious consideration to just staying there for the rest of the day.
When I finally did manage to pull on panties and a t-shirt, it was with the knowledge that I’d need to finish up my article to maximize the traffic. As much as my invitation to the event had been a ruse, I still needed the money it would bring in.
I spent the early afternoon finishing up little snippets of observation, complete with fawning over pretty dresses and famous faces, and uploading the appertaining pictures while drinking coffee, eating waffles, and doing my very best not to think about Lightning, nor The Shade.
Nothing good would come of dwelling too much on the night’s events—nothing but a demanding throb from between my legs and a hollow feeling in my chest. I had absolutely no desire to work out what the latter part meant—not when Lightning had made it plenty clear that there was nothing between us apart from the mark, and The Shade… well, he was The Shade. Allowing myself to fall victim to his pheromones was one thing. Anything more… No. No, I was absolutely not going down that path.
I stared hard at my computer screen until my thoughts swerved back from the edge of insanity to once again focus on the picture of a smiling Leonora Ridgebane standing next to the mayor.
Life was a funny thing. A month ago, I would have been as excited about attending a party with the starlet and other members of the jet set. And now, when I’d actually been given the opportunity, I resented the hell out of it. Perhaps that came with having firsthand experience with how sick and corrupt it all was, and that the mayor and, undoubtedly, many others of the rich and influential people used their power against those of us in the less affluent section of the population.
It was with relief that I finally pressed “publish” on m
y blog post before I turned my attention to the other pictures on my phone—the ones I’d taken in the mayor’s office.
I took a sip of my refilled coffee and unplugged my phone from the computer. After the near-miss with Lightning last night, I didn’t want any trace of the pictures accidentally left behind anywhere once I’d deleted them off my phone.
It didn’t take me very long to realize that bad guys don’t keep entries conveniently labeled “Receipts of Evil Doing & Miscellaneous Underhanded Services” in their records, and that this whole venture would have been a lot easier if I knew exactly what I was looking for.
I stared intently at blueprint after blueprint of what looked like sewer systems and housing developments without seeing anything remotely interesting or suspicious. If there was some secret code hidden in these schematics, then clearly I wasn’t bright enough to spot them.
After four cups of coffee, my eyes were starting to cross from looking so fixedly on my screen for what was nearing on six hours straight, and the many lines and curves looked more and more like the last set of lines and curves I’d searched through. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t notice anything amiss with the thirtysomething schematic I was perusing before I, by complete happenstance, glanced at the small print at the top right corner of the picture listing the name of the blueprint.
Blue Arrow.
I paused, finger poised over my screen to swipe left to the next image.
Aaron had said to look for a file named something along the lines “Blue Sparrow” or “Blue Jay.” Blue Arrow was the closest thing I’d gotten.
I rubbed my eyes and looked at the schematics again, and frowned when the blurry lines sharpened for my tired gaze. What had looked like some high-tech thingamajig for a larger construction after page upon page of blueprints slowly took form into something… entirely different.
It took me a good few moments of staring at my phone before I realized what I was looking at.
A weapon. A large, scary-looking weapon.
I didn’t fully understand the ins and outs of the little symbols scribbled along the margin, but even to my untrained eyes, it looked like a high-tech gun.
I put my phone down, chills suddenly making their way up my back and down my arms. Knowing the mayor was corrupt was one thing. It was another entirely to suddenly see hard evidence that he was involved in something this dark. Weapon development. Christ!
That’s when I remembered the article by Peter Miller, which had resulted in his death. In it, he’d mention the mayor funding a weapon used by Bright during a bank robbery. Was this it?
And if so, were there any links in the financial records I’d pulled to show me where the money had come from?
Hastily, I flicked my screen to the pictures I’d taken of his “alternative budget.” It only took me minutes to find an entry labeled “Blue Arrow.” It showed several million dollars at the expense entry. Quickly, I wrote down the reference number listed next to the amount and began searching through the pictures I’d taken of the appendix linked to the alternative budget.
Fifteen minutes later I was staring at the name neatly lined up next to my scribbled down reference number.
Shaw Industries.
As in Elias Shaw, the billionaire who hid behind a mask when he saved me from the mayor’s thugs, claimed me to protect me, and then took me so thoroughly I could still feel the ghost of his cock inside of me now.
The Shade had helped fund the mayor’s horrific-looking weapon? Even if by some absurd twist of fate it wasn’t the same weapon, why had The Shade funded it?
My stomach churned as bile rose in my throat.
He was as corrupt as his reputation predicted, completely unrepentant and evil to the core. Why he had lied to me about his involvement with the mayor, I couldn’t fathom. To trick me into believing he wasn’t evil? To get me to trust him, so I would surrender my body willingly?
My heart throbbed unevenly and unexpected tears blurred my vision. I was such a fool. Such a goddamn fool.
I breathed through my nose to try and calm myself down. It would do me absolutely no good to fall to pieces right now, and I needed to work out what I could do next. I had his mark on my neck, and after Lightning’s comments last night, I couldn’t exactly count on him to be the white knight who swept in to save me. I needed a plan to deal with The Shade, and I needed it now.
It took me a few moments, but slowly, my heart’s rhythm began to even out again, and I could finally focus on suppressing the panicked swirl of thoughts and emotions. There would be time to deal with my feelings of betrayal later.
I glanced down at my phone again, willing my brain into action. I couldn’t confront The Shade with what I’d found. Partly because that would reveal that I knew his identity, and partly because I doubted he’d take kindly to being outed as working with the mayor, while pretending like he was trying to take him down. No, I couldn’t—
An eerie tingle at the back of my neck, where my mark was located, made me pause mid-thought.
Someone was in my apartment. Again.
Panic bubbled up in my chest, completely overriding my sensible brain. I fumbled at my phone for what felt like an eternity before I managed to turn it off and slide it behind my computer, where it was hidden from view.
Okay, I could do this. I could face The Shade and pretend like everything was fine. If he wanted sex again, I could turn him down by saying I was too sore, or that I needed time to deal with everything from last night. Just a few sentences and he would be on his way.
“I know you’re here,” I called before turning toward the kitchen. “There’s no need to lurk.”
A beat’s silence, and then…
“Well, then, I guess I better stop lurking.”
The cold voice sent shocks down my spine, but it wasn’t until he stepped forward from the shadows that my heart leapt into my throat with an entirely new sense of dread.
The masked man calmly striding across the floor toward me wasn’t The Shade.
It was Bright.
My limbs felt leaden, as if they knew I could never outrun him, and trying would only make things worse.
I stared at the superhuman named after the bold, yellow streaks on his high-tech suit. He wasn’t as infamous a villain as The Shade, but a high-profile robbery last December had put him squarely in the camp of bad guys. And here he was, in my apartment, looking at me with cold, glowing blue eyes.
I resisted the urge to check that my phone was properly hidden and kept my gaze on his masked face. He couldn’t possibly know that I was on to whatever his connection was with the mayor. Please, God, he can’t know.
“I hear you know an acquaintance of mine.” I blinked at the unexpected comment. “W-what?”
“There’s a rumor swirling around certain circles that you and Lightning know each other rather intimately.” He sent me a sickly smile. “Which your little demonstration before seems to prove. Did you expect him to come through your window, little mouse?”
I gaped at him for a moment, completely stunned. “I… what? Why do you care who Lightning sees? What do you want?”
His nostrils pulled up in disgust. “I hate humans who think they can talk to me like equals. I’ll be asking the questions tonight, and you will answer. One way or the other.”
I gulped when he touched a nasty-looking gun at his belt.
“Got it?”
I nodded, holding both hands out in front of me in a useless attempt at shielding myself from the danger. But as I stared half-paralyzed up at the superhuman, I remembered that I did have a shield against harm from him and other supes.
With fingers shaking from relief I pushed my hair out of the way and turned my neck. “I’ve been marked! I am protected.”
A look of surprise flickered behind the black and yellow mask before Bright dropped his gaze to my neck. A noise left his throat as he zeroed in on the place I’d been bitten.
In what seemed like one, smooth stride he was by my chair, a gloved ha
nd closing around the back of my neck, just above the mark.
“So you have.” His voice was cold and dangerous, and he increased the pressure on my neck until my spine objected. I bit down hard on my lip to not give him the satisfaction of hearing me whimper. “By nothing less than two supes. How curious. How very, very curious.”
A pained groan escaped me when he yanked me up from the chair by my neck, seemingly not caring how much he was hurting me.
“I wonder if they care enough about you to explain to the Council how this oddity occurred. What do you think, little mouse? Do you think they’ll come and claim you, for the world to see their shame? Two enemies, bound together by the same, worthless human girl! Somehow, I’m not so sure they’ll be too eager to broadcast this. And if they don’t show… well, I guess that means no one will mourn your death.”
Ten
Lightning
It was an unshakable itch, rooted somewhere in his chest and spreading through his entire body like a stubborn weed.
He’d tried to ignore it and had failed miserably. The first time he’d marked the human girl, constant, circling thoughts kept bringing his mind back to her, and he had more than once found himself halfway to her apartment before it dawned on him what he was doing.
It had been annoying as all fuck, but he had gotten through it without showing up on her doorstep and demanding she part her lush thighs for his cock. Doing his job with a constant erection had been very unpleasant, though. His suit just wasn’t made to conceal a boner.
But now… Oh fuck, he was so fucking screwed!
He should have known better. He’d never taken things past a casual flirt with a girl while in his disguise before, and he should have stuck with that conviction. Even if seeing The Shade’s mark on her creamy neck had unleashed a hurricane of hormones and possessive instincts like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Even if she was everything he yearned for… Fuck! There his rampant hormones went again! It was like being possessed by a very horny, very needy demon.
