Blade of Moonlight: Midnight Justice

by Kimberly Dean

  She loved him.

  His hand cupped the nape of her neck, and he pulled her down for a long, slow kiss. The sensations, the emotions… They overwhelmed her, bubbling up and gaining strength. The moon suddenly made another appearance, and her skin tingled. It all blended together and she came in a burst of glowing blue light. Moonlight radiated from her skin, lightening the corners and all the dark places. The energy collected low in her belly, and her head spun.

  Beneath her, Griffin let out a shout. Hot come filled her and energy crackled in the room. His, hers and the moon’s. But like all nights, the moon had to set.

  Sagging over him, Luna tried to catch her breath. So did her lover. She watched as his muscled chest worked. Weakly, she bent down and kissed his wounded shoulder. “All you all right?”

  “Ask me again when the top of my head is reattached,” he muttered. Still, his hand stroked up her back. “I love when you do that.”

  She disconnected their bodies and cuddled up beside him. “Orgasms aren’t difficult when you’re with the right guy.”

  “Right guy?”

  She blushed, and he kissed her forehead. “I love that too,” he said, “but I was talking about the glowing.”

  She frowned. “The glowing?”

  “You shine like the moon when you come.”

  “I do what?”

  “Your skin starts to glow, and you emit this incredible energy. I can feel it when I’m inside you. It makes me crazy.”

  She looked at him in wonder. “I didn’t know… I don’t really have any control over it.”

  “All the better.”

  Happiness speared through her, and she spread her hand over his heart. She could be herself around him, Luna and Luminescence all in one. “Are we done arguing about whether we belong together?”

  He chuckled under his breath. “Oh yeah.”

  “Will you show me your lair?”

  “I’ll show you anything you want.”

  “Good.” She traced a finger over a muscle in his rib cage. “I won’t have to call Trailblazer back.”

  His head snapped towards her. “Trailblazer?”

  She grinned. It was exactly the reaction she’d hoped for. “I guess I’m not so low-level anymore. Not since I started hanging out with the baddest guy in town.”

  His jaw was so hard, she didn’t know how she hadn’t identified him as Scythe before.

  “That arrogant, tree-hugging prick. I’ll wring his scrawny neck.”

  Delighted, she tickled his five o’clock shadow. “Partners?”

  His arm tightened around her waist. “Partners.”

  She pulled the covers over them. “Scythe, you mow me over.”

  He laughed, the sound almost a bark. Turning onto his good side, he kissed her hard and fast. “Yeah? Well, baby, you light up my world.”

  About the Author

  Kimberly Dean is an award-winning romance author of over twenty books. Her work has been sold around the world and translated into French, German and Japanese. She enjoys the freedom and creativity allowed in writing romance, especially with all the interesting cross-genres that have been exploding on the scene. When not writing, she enjoys movies, sports, traveling, music and sunshine. You can learn more about Kimberly and her books at www.kimberlydean.com and follow her on Twitter at @KDean_writer.

  No super deed goes unpunished…

  Breaking Bad

  © 2012 Jodi Redford

  A Midnight Justice Story

  It’s been twenty-five years since the last Light Guardian was wiped out. Or so it’s believed. Ruby Winston is about to blow the lid off that theory, even though it’ll bring every Shadow Czar minion down on her ass.

  She’s always known she was different from the rest of the evil-dictators-in-training Winstons. Uncovering the secret half of her gene pool proves it. Now she’s out to bring down her late father’s mind-control soda empire—and break the Shadow Czars’ hold on Earth.

  Problem is, becoming a superhero overnight isn’t as easy as it looks.

  Teague Younger has his own secrets to keep: his heritage, and his fierce determination to exact revenge on his friend and mentor’s murderer. So far he’s kept his cover—until he’s forced to use his Light Guardian powers to save Ruby from a sticky situation.

  Thrust together and on the run, Teague and Ruby form a wary alliance as they desperately fight their circuit-blowing attraction. With an army of Shadow Queen minions hot on their tails, they might have a hard time surviving the night, much less ignoring their hearts.

  Warning: This book contains mind-controlling beverages, evil dictators and minions, excessive use of spandex, and enough electrifying sex to melt an ice train.

  She could resist this bad boy…if he wasn’t so darned good at it.

  Superlovin’

  © 2012 Vivi Andrews

  A Midnight Justice Story

  Darla Powers, a.k.a. DynaGirl, is the Jessica Rabbit of crime fighters, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy finding a date. When her latest ex opines she’s not helpless enough to make him feel manly, she flies off to take out her romantic frustrations on a villain dumb enough to pick tonight to break into a secret government vault.

  Lucien Wroth’s father may be a famous supervillain, but Lucien doesn’t see himself as a bad guy. Just one determined to free his baby sister from a supercriminal’s clutches. He’s this close to getting his hands on a vital set of schematics when one sultry superheroine catches him elbow-deep in a top-secret safe.

  Darla is horrified when Lucien’s pretty face—and bulging muscles—distract her enough to let him get away. No one escapes DynaGirl. But somewhere along the way to getting revenge for her public humiliation, she and Lucien become uneasy allies…resisting an all-too-easy attraction. Suddenly she suspects the perfect man for a good girl just might be a very bad boy.

  Warning: This book contains heroes, villains, mind-games, epic battles, bustiers, leather, and an infamous “Women of the Cape” Maxim photo spread.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Superlovin’:

  “You’ll never…escape,” she declared breathlessly, looking rather adorably determined laid out flat on the cement with rubble in her hair.

  He would’ve laughed if he could spare the oxygen. “You don’t know how to…admit defeat, do you?” He couldn’t help but admire her tenacity. Deluded though it may be.

  “What makes you…think I’m…defeated?”

  “The inability to get a full sentence out without gulping for air is a tell, sweetheart,” he grunted, barely getting the sentence out himself without taking a gulp.

  “I’d like to see you fly across the city twice in an hour, one of those times carrying a two-ton delinquent.”

  He arched a brow. “I’m a big boy, but I’m not quite that big, princess.”

  Her eyes narrowed at the suggestive lilt in his voice, pretty mouth pursing. “I was talking about the weight of your ego.”

  “Then you must be constantly exhausted. How do you manage to lift yours, even with the superstrength?”

  She made a face at him. The darling of the press, always poised and perfect, crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. Which, perversely, just made him want to kiss her.

  Not a bad idea, actually.

  He needed something to distract her at the right moment, and nothing was likely to unsettle the Powers Princess more than one of the unwashed masses daring to lay his lips on her. And, yeah, he was a guy, so he’d pretty much wanted to lay one on her since she’d posed for Maxim’s Women of the Cape issue. He’d dreamt about that magazine—dark, steamy, grinding, Technicolor dreams with Miss Goody Two Shoes as their very naughty star. Those pillowy lips were an open invitation, far too wicked for someone so sanctimoniously pure.

  Sadly, DynaGirl didn’t seem to be in the mood to play.

  “What did you take?” she demanded. The very proper Miss Powers was like a freaking terrier when she set her mind to something. She shoved hard on his shoulder
, rolling them over so she knelt straddling his stomach. He let her be on top. For now. Her gaze flicked down his body, searching for a spot he could’ve stashed the papers. “What did you go back for?”

  Lucien kept half an ear out for the sound of the next train and conjured up a lazy grin. He let his gaze linger on the way the dark, stretchy fabric of her supersuit cupped the curve of her breasts. “Would you like to frisk me? Cuz I know I’d like it.”

  “Knock it off. You’re caught. Give it up.”

  “I’m caught, am I? How are you planning to get me back to that lovely holding cell? Flying didn’t work out so well for you last time.”

  She reached to the belt on her hip, pulled out a phone, swiped a thumb across the touchpad without looking and held it up to her ear with a smugly triumphant smirk. A smirk which faded as she pulled it away from her ear to glare at the uncooperative device.

  “No service?” he purred.

  Thank God for the crappy reception of subway tunnels. His abilities were too far blown to handle the cavalry right now.

  “I’ll fly you there if I have to,” DynaGirl declared, but the first waver of doubt edged her tone.

  Supers could do superhuman things—hence the name—but there was only so far they could push themselves before they crashed with a power hangover that would bring the gods to their knees. Lucien was inches from his own breaking point and, from the tremor in her voice, it sounded like his tenacious little sex kitten of a nemesis was right there with him.

  Which meant she was vulnerable. He just needed one more sprint. He could last a few more seconds before his brain exploded into white-hot agony. He had to. For Mirabelle.

  He heard the distant electrical whine of a train coming down the tracks. Three minutes, give or take…

  Lucien let the icy-hot pain starting to spike in his temples show on his face. “I could come quietly,” he said, making his voice tight with strain. “For a price.”

  “I don’t negotiate with supervillains.”

  “Not even for my surrender? My complete surrender.”

  Interest lit her up-tilted emerald eyes, but her jaw remained clenched in an unyielding line. “No deals. I won’t bribe you to play nice when you’ve already lost.”

  “But all I wanted was a kiss.”

  She went motionless above him, as if she’d forgotten the need to breathe.

  “One little kiss,” he purred. “And I’ll go meekly to my jail cell. No tricks. No trouble.”

  He couldn’t read her expression. Something odd and almost hopeful colored the suspicion in her gaze. She hesitated. The train rattled closer. Her fingers eased their death grip on his hair.

  “Why?”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve always wanted a shot at the great Darla Powers. Who hasn’t? That Maxim spread changed my life.”

  Her eyes darkened. “That damn magazine—”

  “Hey, don’t damn that magazine. I could compose sonnets to that magazine. Especially your issue. I think you single-handedly launched a generation of twelve-year-old boys into puberty with that spread.” The picture had become a cultural icon. Darla Powers, the super answer to Marilyn Monroe. “Tell me you still have the bustier and I’ll die happy.”

  She blushed. “That is none of your business.”

  Dear God, she still has it. Unwholesome interest stirred below Lucien’s belt. He’d been joking, but now he couldn’t get the image out of his head. Her incredible figure overflowing the snug black lace with a shimmering red D curled under one breast in a parody of her suit. Maybe she still wore it. Maybe she put it on for the schmuck boyfriend who’d let her walk out on their date. Jealousy gave his gut an ugly twist, but he ignored it. She wasn’t with her schmuck boyfriend now.

  “One kiss,” he said, the words coming out as more of a demand than he’d intended, his voice so dark and hungry he barely recognized it. “One kiss and I’ll do whatever you want.”

  The words were supposed to be a lie, but at the moment he almost believed them himself. Darla Powers was a woman who could own a man’s soul if she put her mind to it. If she could let herself be that bad…

  She leaned over him, and he sank his hand into the curls at the base of her skull. “C’mon, princess,” he coaxed, his gaze locked on her pillowy lips. “Even good girls get to be bad sometimes.”

  She went rigid in his arms. “No. We don’t.”

  The train was nearly there now. Ten seconds… Darla began to resist his hold, but Lucien had run out of time for persuasion. Now or never.

  He sat up and twisted abruptly, using a pulse of superspeed to get her sprawled on her back before she realized negotiations were over. He caught her startled gasp on his lips.

  The kiss was a sneak attack—quick and fierce and designed to startle and unsettle her. It wasn’t supposed to sear across his nerve endings with unexpected heat. He wasn’t supposed to be tempted to fall into the taste of her and abandon his will to fight. Soft, warm, luscious—the definition of a dangerous woman.

  Her hands fell away from his hair, shoving at his shoulders without any real strength as she made the most deliciously wanton noise in her throat.

  In a different world, he would stay here and finish what they’d started, explore this incendiary chemistry, coax that sound from her again and again. But she was still a hero and he’d long since been cast in the villain role. If he wanted any future for his sister, he couldn’t waste time playing doctor with DynaGirl.

  The first train car thundered into the abandoned station.

  He threw himself off her. “Sorry, princess.” The last of his reserves went into a surge of superspeed as he leapt onto the tracks and sprinted down the tunnel in front of the engine. The racing train sealed the tunnel entrance behind him before DynaGirl could gather herself to follow.

  He didn’t have time to thrill at the victory of escape. He was too busy trying to maintain his speed until he reached the next platform so he didn’t end up a bloody smear on the tracks.

  Lucien ran, his head slowly exploding, the stolen papers crinkling in his pocket with the sound of success, Darla’s taste still sweet on his lips.

  Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.

  Blaze of Glory

  © 2010 Sheryl Nantus

  Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.

  When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.

  Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.

  Warning: Contains superhero in-jokes, Canadiana and large alien craft shaped like avocados. Really.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Blaze of Glory:

  “When we arrived at the training facility we were given a choice—to be heroes or villains.” My smile appeared, despite the mood. “Couldn’t pass up the chance to be a star.”

  “Who would decide to be a villain?” David pressed his lips together tightly as he helped himself to one of the sandwich triangles.

  I shrugged. “People with issues. People who didn’t want to play nice. It was a whole psychological thing, I didn’t ask.” My hand went to the back of my neck, to the scar tissue. “Long story
made short, the Agency controlled us with this. Gave the power to our Guardians to blow our heads off if we started getting ornery or if we tried to run away.”

  “Your Guardian?” both Jessie and David asked at the same time.

  “Mike.” A dull ache started in my chest as I spoke. “He was my Guardian. Had a special wristband that could set this thing off.”

  “But he’s…” David paused, probably out of concern for my feelings.

  “He’s dead.” The words sounded flat to my ears. “I know. But the Agency can still activate it long-distance, which is why I need you to turn this damned thing off. The bastards thought of everything—well, except for this, obviously.”

  “Right.” Jessie walked back to the computer. He rested his elbows on the desk, smirking. “We’ve got the GPS figured out. Jammer is on the way courtesy of a friend of mine.” He threw me a saucy wink. “Used to work in a chop shop. Until you find the chip to toss it out you have to jam it.”

  “Don’t tell me too much.” I chuckled. “And the plug itself?”

  His face went solemn. “Well, that’s another whole different ball of wax. I’ve got some ideas, but let me check out some things before I present them to you. Don’t have that many surgeons on my list, but I’ve got the word out.” Jessie’s voice dropped an octave. “Do you think they’d really kill you?”

  “They’ve already been popping heads today.” I nodded towards David. “I saw the news reports of heroes and villains dying without even getting into the fight. That’s not from the aliens, that’s the Agency.”

  David frowned, biting down on his lower lip. “Why would they do that?”

  “Because no one wants to fight a battle you’re going to lose. Even the villains aren’t that stupid.” The mental image of Tan, lying there gasping his last breath, came to the forefront of my mind’s eye. “They must have said no and their Guardians pulled it. You refuse to fight, you get your plug pulled.” I waved a hand in the air. “And don’t get any ideas about us being patriotic or anything like that. It’s one thing to go into a fixed battle and another to go to what looks like certain death.” My throat felt tight. “If I had known what was going on before we left, I might have tried to talk Mike out of it.”