by Vivi Andrews
Five years she’d been waiting for him to say those words. Trust Frost to finally bare his feelings when she felt like her eyeballs were about to explode. “I love you, too, you idiot. But I’m not going to live in a bubble for you.” There were more words. Words about how she wouldn’t be herself if she was playing it safe. Words about how she would try to be more careful for him. Words about forever and promises and things that couldn’t be put into words. She would have said them. Would have kissed him again. But the burnout was riding her hard and instead she fell into the thunderous blackness.
****
Frost managed not to panic when Kim collapsed in his arms. He recognized the symptoms of power burnout when he saw them. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t taking her straight to the hospital to have everything checked out.
Right after he made sure Mathilda wouldn’t be able to touch a single electronic device at the hospital.
That was going to be a problem. If she could access electronics through signals in the air now, they’d be lucky to find anywhere they could keep her where she would be totally cut off. The dark ruthlessness in his soul urged him to take her out. It was the only way he would ever know for sure that Kim was safe. But would she forgive him if he killed Mathilda? Not in self-defense, as he’d been forced to act in the past, but with icy premeditation.
It was a decision that would have to be made quickly. He couldn’t afford to give Mathilda time to regroup. There was no telling how many kidnappers she was already activating. Or worse, hit men.
He stood, gathering Kim up in his arms. Her power was drained now so he couldn’t tap into it to teleport them away. He staggered through the pulverized remains of the warehouse the old fashioned way—one foot in front of the other.
He was halfway across the blast radius when DynaGirl touched down in front of him along with her fiancé, Lucien Wroth. Sirens sounded in the distance, but it would take them longer to arrive.
“What happened?” the red-headed heroine asked, rushing forward, her hands hovering protectively over Kim’s limp form. “Is she okay?”
“Power burn out.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Darla scanned the leveled area. “She did all this?”
Frost nodded and explained about Mathilda Torchwood and her remote minions. He didn’t say anything about his plans for a permanent solution, but Darla must have seen them on his face because the first words out of her mouth were, “You can’t kill her.”
“She’s been harassing Kim for years, plotting to kill her just to hurt me.”
“And that’s evil and she deserves to stay in Area Nine—”
“Where she isn’t secure. She might as well be walking free.”
“Which is why we’ll have Tandy and Eisenmann disable her powers.”
Frost stilled, his brain finally kicking back in to compete with his blindly protective instincts. “The device that neutralizes powers is a machine. Mathilda controls machines.”
“Eisenmann’s device is a machine, but Tandy is flesh and blood. Tandy can disable Mathilda until Eisenmann can point his machine at her and get it up and running.”
“If it ever went down for any reason—”
“There would be a problem, but Eisenmann has been working with the wardens at Area Nine to create entire cell blocks that are covered in power-diffusing waves. Mathilda can be at the top of the list of new residents in that wing.”
He didn’t like it. He really wanted to kill her, he realized. It was pure, undiluted bloodthirst. As simple as that.
“I’ll fly Tandy out to Area Nine right now,” Darla went on. “We’ll get Mathilda neutralized while you look after Kim. Trust us on this, Frost. You don’t have to be the lone wolf all the time.”
Frost grunted, tamping down the urge to argue, to demand a more permanent solution. “Look after my sister. If Mathilda lays a hand on her, I’m taking it out on you.”
Lucien Wroth growled, but Darla smiled sweetly. “Agreed. Tell Kim I want to hear every detail when she wakes up.”
With that DynaGirl and Wroth flew away, leaving him with his entire world in his arms.
Chapter Fourteen: Nothing But Trouble
Kim woke up swathed in a fluffy duvet—and smothering under the worst power hangover she’d ever experienced. She groaned and shoved her face underneath a pillow, wishing she could hide from the throbbing in her skull.
Slowly, the scent of the sheets penetrated her haze of ouch. Frost. His sheets. His duvet. His big bed.
Frost had taken her back to his apartment. She surfaced from beneath the pillow, cracking her eyelids to check the immediate area. No Frost. But there were distinct Frost-like sounds coming from the living room.
It took her fifteen minutes to work up the energy to stagger to the bathroom and another twenty minutes beneath the pounding hot water of the shower before she felt semi-human again. By the time she emerged from the bedroom forty-five minutes later, her hangover was almost under control. At least enough that she could open her eyes all the way without groaning.
Frost was standing in front of what had once been his entertainment center, wrestling with cables. His television, DVD player and stereo were all stacked haphazardly next to the ottoman—along with the microwave and what looked like an electric toothbrush.
“Frost?”
He jerked upright, stumbling over the cables before righting himself and striding toward her. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Like a thousand little elves are trying to tunnel out of my brain. Other than that, great. What are you doing?”
“She was watching us.” He glowered at the stack of electronics. “Tandy and Darla and Eisenmann have some plan to neutralize her powers so she’ll never be able to do it again, but she’s not the only technopath in the world. I figured better safe than sorry.”
Kim frowned, spotting the shards of what had once been her cell phone on the island. “What did you do to my phone?”
“The blast wave did that actually.” He shrugged. “Saved me having to do it. It’ll be inconvenient, not having phones, but better safe—”
“I’m not giving up my cell phone, Frost.”
“I know it seems silly,” he soothed, clearly seeing the feral gleam in her eyes.
A woman could not be expected to suffer the loss of her cell phone, especially while hung over and before her first cup of coffee.
He went on, “These precautions are necessary.”
Okay, the protectiveness was kind of adorable, but she needed to nip this in the bud. “Babe, we can’t avoid technology entirely. You live on the 47th floor. Even if we teleport in and out most days, we’re bound to use the elevator once in a while.”
He frowned. “You’re right. We’re going to have to move. A cabin is probably best. Somewhere remote. Off the grid.”
The adorableness of his protectiveness was quickly wearing off. “I’m not going to live in a cabin in the woods, Frost. I’m a manicures and designer shoes girl. You know this.”
“It’s a sacrifice, I know, but your safety—”
“Frost!” she shouted, finally getting his pale blue eyes to focus on her. “I’m not going to become Bubble Girl for you. You can’t protect me from the entire world and if you keep trying, I will be forced to throw you out the window and it will be justifiable homicide.”
He just frowned. She crossed the last few feet to him, sliding her arms around his waist and pressing against his chest. God, it felt good to be able to do this again. His arms closed around her automatically.
“You’re scared,” she murmured. “I get it. We live in a fucked up world with fucked up targets on our backs. And there’s nothing we can do about that. There’s always gonna be another super baddie coming after us with weapons we can’t predict. But you can’t protect me by being with me and you can’t protect me by walking away. So the question is, can you still love me if you can’t ensure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that nothing will ever happen to me? Because I love you, you idiot, a
nd I will keep loving you through every catastrophe because I know we can deal with whatever life and super villains throw at us if we stay together and always have each other’s backs. But only if you stop trying to control the world and let us live in it. So are you with me? Can you do that?”
“Jesus, you’re not asking for much, are you?” he grumbled.
She leaned back in his arms, meeting his eyes and seeing a promise there. “I’m greedy. I want all of you.”
“Kim…” And there it was. That uncertainty.
She didn’t let him get going. “I’m going to be good now. You’re never going to have to come after me for crossing that line. I’ll be the best damn partner you’ve ever had and I’ll never think for a second about vengeance because I’ve seen Mathilda. I’ve seen what a life lived for revenge will turn you into and I don’t want to be that.”
“She was like that before she became obsessed with destroying me,” Frost admitted.
“Either way, I’m done. No vengeance for Kimmie. I’m staying firmly on the good side of grey. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“But that’s exactly what I worry about. Though not that you’ll be the one who crosses the line.” Frost tucked her hair, still damp from the shower, behind her ear. “I wanted to kill Mathilda. Just to be sure it was over, once and for all, and she could never touch you again. I wanted to destroy her for everything she’s done to you. I still want to. I’m the one who would cross that line, Kim. I’ve always known I would rain down hell if anything ever happened to you. And I didn’t want you to see that part of me and hate me for it.”
It should not have been a turn on, but the words rain down hell made her knees go weak. Kim wound her arms around his neck. “There’s darkness in every superhero. You aren’t just rescuing puppies. You’re doing the best you can to save the day, and sometimes that means beating the shit out of the bad guy. Especially for you, who gets called on to punish those who cross the line. You need to be grey, Frost. And I’m not going to stop loving you because that’s who you are. Honestly, I love knowing that you’ll tear the world apart for me. I’ll do the same for you. That’s what love is. Well, that and sticking it out, even when it can kick you in the face.”
She tugged on his lapels, pressing ever closer.
“Leaving me was the most cowardly thing I’ve ever seen you do. So be brave. Like me.” She grinned. “I’m super brave.”
“You’re super trouble.” But his lips were curving as he spoke and he was bending to catch her lips.
“And you love that about me,” she murmured against his mouth.
“I do,” he agreed.
It was several minutes before either of them spoke again. They were both breathless, tangled on the couch, when Kim lifted her head. “So no more running. No more bubble girl. Partners?”
Frost Nightwing wrapped his arms around the one that he’d let get away. Never again. Now that he had her back in his arms, he was holding on for good. “Partners.”
The world had better brace itself.
About the Author
An Alaskan born and raised, award-winning paranormal romance author Vivi Andrews still lives in the frozen north when she isn’t indulging her travel addiction by bouncing around the globe. Whether at home or on the road, she’s always at work on her next happily-ever-after. For more about her books or the exploits of a nomadic author, you can visit her website at www.viviandrews.com, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Also by Vivi Andrews
The Karmic Consultants:
The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo & the Poltergeist Accountant
The Ghost Exterminator: A Love Story
The Sexorcist
The Naked Detective
A Cop & A Feel
Finder’s Keeper
Naughty Karma
Serengeti Shifters:
Serengeti Heat
Serengeti Storm
Serengeti Lightning
Serengeti Sunrise
Superhero Romance:
Superlovin’
Super Bad
Super Hot
Super Trouble
Stand Alone Novellas:
Ghosts of Boyfriends Past
No Angel
Reawakening Eden
Spinning Gold
Look for her upcoming shapeshifter series launching in June of 2014 with Jaguar’s Kiss.
Did you miss the rest of the Superlovin’ series? Read on for excerpts from Super Bad (#2) and Super Hot (#3).
Super Bad
When your mind is a prison, love can set you free.
Ever since her supervillain father experimented on her as a child, Mirabelle “Mirage” Wroth has been able to project unbreakable illusions into the minds of those around her. But when a run-in with an evil Mind Bender snaps a delicate thread in her psyche, she loses control of her gift and can no longer tell where reality ends and illusion begins. Only sanctimonious superhero Captain Justice is immune to her gift and can help her find the truth again—if Mirage can trust another man to define her reality.
Justice is sick of saving damsels in distress—he just wants someone to look beyond the cape to see him—but he can’t turn away from the hauntingly vulnerable Mirage. Suddenly Justice is helping her hide from the police, willing to be downright villainous to be her hero. But as they work to save Mirage from herself, other forces are circling to threaten them both. Tangled in illusions and mind games, can love be real?
* * * * *
“Easy now,” he said, his deep voice surprisingly soothing. “My senses won’t lie to me, so your power doesn’t work on me. Understand?”
She shook her head, a denial of the idea that her powers didn’t work more than an indication that she didn’t understand him. Her powers worked on everyone. Always. She could do this.
But even as she focused, concentrating harder than she’d had to since she was thirteen, nothing happened. He just sat down next to her, not touching, but close enough to be strangely companionable. Just two supers hanging out in a bank vault. No biggie.
Wrong. Everything was wrong.
She shot him a look out of the corner of her eye—as if she could be invisible to him if she avoided looking at him head on—only to find him watching her, eyes intent, from a distance of inches. He saw her. Even when she was invisible to the rest of the world.
Oh God, the entire time she’d been ogling him when he first walked in the room, he’d been able to see her. A flush burned her cheeks. Captain Justice had the grace to pretend not to notice, though as pale as she was, everything showed in Technicolor.
“You wanna tell me what you’re doing in a bank vault at three in the morning?”
“I appear to be having a nervous breakdown in the middle of a heist. What are you doing here?”
His lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. “Your brother sent me to get you.”
Lucien. Something tight in Mirage’s chest unraveled. She recalled with crystalline clarity the look of disappointment that flashed across his features whenever he looked at her now. “How long have I been missing?”
“You don’t know?”
“Right now the sum total of my memory for the last few days is coming to in this vault about fifteen minutes ago.”
Justice frowned. “You aren’t lying.” He sounded confused.
“Not much point in it.”
“Three days.”
“What?”
“You disappeared three days ago.”
Her heart stuttered. God. She could have done anything in three days. Flown halfway around the world or slept in a gutter. Where had she been? How many minds had she bent? Dear God, what had she done?
“Mirabelle? Stay with me here.”
She turned her head, looking at Justice full on. His blue eyes grounded her. “I’m okay.”
He almost smiled again, this time with a rueful twist. “Liar.”
She gave a low huff, a dry, mournful shadow of amusement. “Fine. I’m not o
kay. I’m going crazy in fits and starts and it’s slightly disconcerting.”
Then he did smile and something warm and wanting twisted in her chest. He wasn’t the type of guy she’d ever be attracted to. Too wholesome by half. She liked her men with an edge. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to enjoy the scenery. It wasn’t every day a girl got up close and personal with Grade A Premium Beefcake. Even if he was dating Kim Carruthers.
Not that she cared who he was dating. Mirage had gotten more than her fill of dating when her last boyfriend had mind-fucked her into stealing a catastrophic weapon and then tried to use it to kill her brother. After that, she’d just as soon stay single for a good long while, thank you very much. Like for the rest of her life.
But if anyone could tempt a sinner back to the dark side, Blondie here could.
Read More SUPER BAD.
Super Hot
He’s on fire for her… literally.
Superhero research scientist Dr. Eric Eisenmann always secretly wanted to be super himself, until he was abducted, experimented on, and woke up pyrokinetic—the least stable of all the super abilities. Suddenly he’s lighting everything around him on fire whenever his emotions get the better of him and desperate to turn his super powers off. Unfortunately, Eisenmann’s only hope for a cure lies with a woman who wants nothing to do with him—and fires up the very emotions he needs to keep in check.
As the only non-super daughter in a superhero dynasty, Tandy Nightwing has been poked and prodded for years in an attempt to find the cause behind her defect. Now that she’s finally found a way to be happy with her normalcy, the last thing she wants is to subject herself to another super scientist’s tests—but she can no more resist Eisenmann’s plea for help than she can resist the good doctor himself.
Deep in his underground lab, Eisenmann tries to maintain rigid control of his feelings, but Tandy is his personal kryptonite, constantly testing his restraint. Powerless or not, she just might be the one woman brave enough to stand close to his fire—provided they both survive when their experiments unleash a passion that burns hotter than sin.
