Her Insatiable Dark Heroes

by Her Insatiable Dark Heroes (lit)

  “Prefer it,” Zavier added, a leer in his voice.

  “And here I was tearing my heart out over you three. How donkey-ass silly was that?”

  “We love you too, Wendy.” Zotorro tossed his heart to her, deciding to let his emotions rule his words.

  She lapsed into silence. He closed his eyes, since they required a period of quiet for faster healing. Zotorro smiled to himself, totally grateful. Now he possessed the treasure of time with her, the time to convince her how much he truly loved her. Through the trials, all the horrors he and his brothers had survived, the real depth of his love for Wendy had been revealed, as if a laser knife cut everything else from his heart. Even though his constant longing and pain at not being with her had been carved into his being, the desire for her happiness had always won out. No, Zotorro wanted to see his Wendy happy with him, with all of them.

  Since the first moment he’d seen her shy smile, when he’d asked her to dance at the summer shindig before their educational classes began, he’d possessed the urge to make her happy, to make her smile. Soon after, she’d moved to their neighborhood and he’d known all of his brothers were attracted and intrigued by her. Being the youngest, and because Wendy had never displayed any overt favoritism toward any of them, he’d kept his feelings on hold until their formal education ended.

  Zotorro realized now that first dance had sealed it for him, captivating his heart for her.

  Inwardly, he heaved a long sigh. Despite the vicious ache at losing so many of his friends to the catastrophic weather wars, Zotorro let his memories live again, back to when he’d attended the shindig.

  At the sight and fragrances of so many girls, he’d been stud-prancing eager to dance with as many as possible. He’d burned like blazes to experience each one in his arms, to sample the bountiful feast of femininity before him. What he recalled now was the beautiful and sexy feel of each girl he’d danced with. Yet it was his memory of Wendy that remained the most vivid. She’d been lyrical and scorching against him as she moved in his arms, or as she swung steps with his lead, in time to the heathen-fast music. To this day, every moment lived inside him, etched forever.

  Slowly he revived, strength seeping back into his limbs. His blood flowed with a greater vigor and he gradually regained his powers. His hearing sharp again, Zotorro listened to her dainty breaths grow from shallow to the deeper longer breaths of healing. If he’d understood how much her emerging powers had caused her physical and mental distress, he would have convinced his brothers to bring her to their newly constructed restoration room sooner.

  Yet, if they had sped up the development of her power, she would have been pursued savagely, in danger of being Claimed, as it was called, when the Super Brethren or the Super Bads took one woman as their own. Holy hell, once they’d transformed to the level of knowing that they were altered also, he would have Claimed her despite the danger to her from their growing pains. What halted him over and over, and even recently, was the fact he’d known down to his soul she couldn’t accept them all.

  Now, she had no choice. And Zotorro rejoiced.

  Truth to the Almighty, it was thinking about saving Wendy from the frequency-spawned tornado that had raised his powers and his will to overcome. Once they’d tamed the behemoth twister to its eventual demise, he’d continued circling out of the sheer need to keep her safe. Blind from fatigue towards the end, he’d followed the vibrational path and the flight whoosh of his brothers. For her. Until they’d fallen from the sky, only using the last of their energy to soften the landing.

  God, he loved her. And he lusted like a beast for her.

  Zotorro swiveled his head, peeking at Wendy, Her gaze met his, and the amazing glisten of her eyes transfixed him down to his soul.

  “Better?” she softly asked.

  “Yes, better. You?”

  A small glow of light surrounded her head as she checked him over. “I feel floaty.”

  “Floaty? As if you’re about to float?” Zavier demanded.

  “Floaty as in ethereal.” Her voice matched her words.

  “Insubstantial?” Zent demanded, concern heavy in his tone.

  She lifted her arm as if there was no weight to it. “I’ve never felt like this. I think my hand is shimmering.”

  “Wendy, you may be generating a new or a larger power.” Zotorro kept his tone calm, a warning beneath his words.

  “I don’t feel my fire. This is different.” She raised her other arm, and stared at her hands. “Have you ever felt shimmery?”

  “Wendy, close your eyes. Blank your mind,” Zavier commanded.

  “If you wait, and do as Zavier says, you might see an image before your mind’s eye of the power or ability,” Zent encouraged.

  “Then you’ll be more prepared,” Zotorro added.

  He watched her reluctantly follow Zavier’s instructions, her body flowing into position, her eyes closing. Her long lustrous red hair draped to the side beautifully and pooled on the reflective surface of the floor. Zotorro’s loins stirred to life, signaling how far his healing had progressed. Damn, but he wanted her draped on his bed, his princess to pleasure, and his to take in every pleasure.

  Flicking his glance over his brothers, he could see they had also recovered at a fast rate, yet hadn’t caught up to his more advanced level.

  “Nothing,” she told them.

  “Give it some more time,” Zotorro suggested. Several moments of utter peace reigned before he heard her loud gasp. “What do you see, Wendy?”

  “I see...” She halted, her breaths pumping in and out. “I see my hand going inside your bodies, healing places inside you.”

  Zotorro felt his brothers pop open their eyes. “Phase healing,” he spoke wondrously.

  “Why do you call it phase healing?” She lifted her hand again. “Shimmering,” she announced.

  “The type of frequency you’re now producing,” Zotorro answered, his own enhanced vision confirming it. “A few of the Superheroines can heal that way. ThornRose and her cousin, VioletBlade.”

  “Didn’t you have the humping hots for Roselyn, now ThornRose?”

  Her voice sliced him like a serrated knife.

  “You went to our graduation dance alone. Remember, Wendy? After I asked you.” Zotorro frowned at the memory. He’d drowned his ravenous need for her in the feel of Roselyn’s ample bosom, and then between the tall beauty’s more than ample cinnamon-brown thighs. Several times.

  “I don’t blame you,” she offered. “Still, a girl has an ego.”

  “Flaming us must have triggered your ability.” Zavier spoke up, stopping Zotorro’s reply. He figured it was a smart move on his brother’s part.

  “Do you see anything more?” Zent asked.

  “No. Except I seem to know precisely where to touch you inside.”

  “Do you feel compelled to touch any of us now?” Zotorro focused on her with his super vision, observing delicate streams of energy flow lengthwise around her body like loops.

  “No. Maybe it’s for the future. Since you all are determined to keep me captive.” She sourly flipped her last words. “Do I get my own domain? You know, just for my girly things. Or are you planning to keep me tied to your beds? Riding your rods all the time?”

  “Great visual,” Zent piped up, an obvious smile in his voice.

  “Wendy, you know we’ll take care of you,” Zavier swiftly countered.

  “You say that. But, really, what am I to believe?” She paused. “Not to point out the donkey-braying obvious, I doubt any of you know how to take care of me.”

  “Wendy, it has to be better than where you were.” Zotorro halted the rest of his words. Still, he didn’t regret what he’d spoken. She needed to understand the reality of the situation.

  “Yes,” she drawled, her tone soft as mist. “It is. The difference? I still had a measure of independence. I was my own woman, as hellish as it was.”

  None of them replied. Zotorro knew why. They couldn’t give her that kind of ind
ependence. The way of the world had changed too drastically. The dangers were huge now, and constant. It required an entirely different way of life.

  “Have you considered I might just be in the way? You know, all that saving of Chrontropolis. Saving the citizens. Keeping ahead of the Corrupt. Really, what time will you have—?”

  “Wendy,” Zavier interrupted. “Zotorro, if she keeps talking that nonsense, follow Zion’s lead and spank her, since you’re the strongest.”

  The imagined feel of her bare bottom beneath his hand tantalized Zotorro something fierce, making his cock jerk straight and strong.

  “Holy heckfire! So that’s my reward for helping you.” Her words stormed over them. She sat up, looking all too adorable and princess fiery to him. Zotorro hauled in a breath of pure male appreciation.

  “I’ll kiss your sweet butt and make it all better,” Zent drawled hopefully.

  Chin tilted up, she smoked her gaze over Zavier and Zent. “I’m starting to feel staticky. Do I have your permission to leave?” The strength of her sarcasm could have sliced them all in two, even when they were super-powered.

  “Zotorro?” Zavier inquired.

  “She’s close to being healed.”

  “Your status?” Zavier turned his head, gazing at him, a good sign that he healed rapidly now.

  “Starting to feel the prickles, big brother.”

  Wendy rolled her eyes. “Why not just put a lead rope around my neck?”

  “Darlin’.” Zent’s voice appealed to her. “It’s not safe for you here until you learn how everything works.”

  “So, you keep saying.”

  “Bill Beau?” Zavier asked.

  She huffed an irritated breath. “Zion raided his power plant, stole bundles of his energy to save us, to save your home. Your big building empire here. He couldn’t find any other power source. And the copters were ganging up on us like a pack of evil dragons. Since you...you three were exhausted from battling the tornado.”

  “Got the picture,” Zent soberly spoke.

  “Yeah, the bare bones.”

  “Zion will give us the blow-by-blow details later.” Zent swiveled his head to look at her. The longing in his eyes stunned Zotorro. Evidently his own love and desire for Wendy had made him myopic to his brother’s tender feelings for her.

  “I’m certain the large-screen version will be far more enlightening,” she quipped, then shook the waves of hair like a haughty princess.

  “God, it’s good to have you here,” Zotorro burst out, his heart and soul speaking.

  She flushed deeply and looked down as he straightened, swinging his legs to the floor. He knew she could have cut him off at the knees with a retort about being their sexual plaything. Instead, she realized he’d meant her intelligence and personality, who she was to him.

  “It’s your sleep rotation, little brother.” Zavier cast his no-nonsense gaze at Wendy. “Take her with you and make certain she rests. I’ll look in on you later.”

  She jumped up, shaking her whole body as if electric sparks leapt out of her skin. Scorching Zavier with a glance, Wendy marched the short distance to the exit. Zotorro couldn’t help the small grin on his lips as he followed in her wake. He had a good feeling, even with all their horrific tribulations, past and present and probably in the future, that he was about to do a lot more happy singing inside.

  Once they were out of the cubicle, he snatched her wrist from behind, swinging her around to face him. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t come into his arms either. After their eyes met, glowing at each other for a moment, she dropped her gaze.

  “Wendy.” He combed his fingers into the silky curtain of her hair, and then gently captured the back of her head. “You’re here now.” He encouraged her closer and touched his forehead to hers. “I know everything is different. Very different.”

  “You’re different,” she whispered.

  “Yes.” Zotorro nuzzled the tip of her adorable nose with his. “I am. How much I love you isn’t different, Wendy.”

  “It doesn’t feel right. I don’t care if everything is different.”

  The stubbornness in her voice both pleased him and concerned him. He lifted a length of her silky irresistible hair, stroking it. Pleased him because her spirit lived, despite being crushed constantly and so did her willful resistance to him, to them all. Zotorro figured it was wiser not to directly confront her about belonging to them right now. Sliding his hand over her back, he caressed her, bringing her flush against his body. The feel of her amazingly round curves pressed against his frame eased his fiercest cravings to take her.

  “Wendy, I need you to help me sleep.”

  “How?” she petulantly demanded. “By pillaging me with your super anatomy?”

  “Well, there is that,” he teased. “No, it turns out that once a Claiming has happened—”

  “Claiming,” she spat.

  Zotorro heard not only her defiant fury, but her tears. “Wendy, I just need you to cuddle up with me.” Rubbing her back, he continued, “It will enhance my metabolic rate and help stabilize my powers.” He slid his thumb over the rim of her ear, enticing her with what he knew sensually pleased her. “And yours. That’s the way it works.”

  “I don’t have a choice anyway, do I?”

  “I can’t let you sleep alone. One of us has to be with you to protect you.”

  She nodded, sniffled. “I have heard some stories about—” She halted abruptly.

  Zotorro traced her jaw with his thumb. Coaxing her, he asked, “Women being abducted away from other super men?”

  She nodded, her movement soft as a kitten, his kitten.

  “It happens. Can happen.” He let his thumb pad flow down the satiny skin of her throat.

  “Like RedMaverick?”

  “Believe it now or not, my fire princess, you need all four of us to protect you.”

  She raised her face, meeting his gaze, her eyes sparkling with tears. It was his undoing. He always melted for her, gooey as molasses.

  She swallowed, nearly choking on her tears, and then murmured, “Fire princess. I can’t remember the first time you called me that. It’s been so long ago.” She leaned into his hold, vulnerable and soft, reminding him of how the first breezes of Spring had felt, before the weather wars.

  He wrapped her closer. His Wendy had always been like a bewitching caress that begged him to follow. He’d even written that to her as a teenager, and never given her the love note. Yet he’d always kept the words engraved in his heart.

  Her tentative breaths touched his throat as she rested her cheek against the hollow of his shoulder and neck. “So much has happened. I...I blanked out a lot of the memories.”

  “I kept every memory of you.”

  “It was all too unbearable. It’s been too painful to remember the good times. I think I just didn’t want to know it was gone forever.”

  Zotorro understood. “Knowing you were alive, Wendy, gave me the courage to endure despite the horrors.”

  She sniffled, her delicate hot tears landing on his skin where his flight suit ended.

  “Facing things the way they are—” Her voice trailed away and she molded her body more closely against him.

  “I remember the first time I called you fire princess.” Zotorro slipped his palm upwards, cupping her head. He splayed his hand, stroking gently. “The gown you wore to our first Autumn Dance together. That was the first time, Wendy.”

  She nodded, a softer than soft movement. “Red with gold threads, and slinky. I was in the mood to try out my seductive wiles.” She giggled a bit through her weepy little voice.

  “You looked like a fire princess to me, and you felt like it in my arms.” Zotorro bent his head, his mouth near her ear. “I whispered it in your ear at the end of our third dance.”

  Subtly, briefly, her body danced against him, the sensual SlashFlame Kitten she was on stage. “I do remember. I tingled and thought my wiles must be working.”

  “Working beyond my
happiest dreams, Wendy.”

  She swallowed hard, stilled, then trembled. “I’m sorry...”

  “Don’t say it,” he interrupted, trapping her head against him. “I never wanted you to love me unless it was real for you. Until you felt ready.”

  “I know. I’ve always respected you for that. Oh, God, this has never been easy between us. Once—”

  “Once I decided I wanted to be your husband.” Her fragile nod between his palm and shoulder caused tears to well up in his eyes.

  “I never wanted to hurt you. I do love you.” Sniffling, she gathered her courage. He felt it in the tightening of her body. “I just, just wanted to experience life. Then I felt confused. Then—" she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, making him tremble inside, “our world exploded. And everything changed to a permanent nightmare.”

  “Come on, my fire princess.” Zotorro slid his arm beneath her legs, lifting her into his arms. “We both need our power-up rest.”

  “I am tired. I wonder why.” Her soft little voice barbed him.

  Zotorro carried her toward the room they used whenever they needed to watch over each other. He allowed himself to think of her as his wife for a few precious moments. Only his. As he’d longed for when he’d been caught between the heaven and hell of wanting her for his own.

  Weary, she nestled her head against him, trusting him. His heart soared ridiculously, until it felt like it swelled his chest. Entering the room, he spoke on the amber illumination, just for her comfort since he could see in the dark once more.

  “What? Do you have super pajama parties in here? That bed can only be described as colossal.”

  Laying her down on the edge, he leaned over planting his fists on either side of her shoulders. She yawned and stretched, supple, graceful as a grasslands cougaress. Her glorious red waves of hair glistened golden in the light. Lazily she fluttered her eyes open, gazing up at him. Her eyes glowed like aqua lightning, beguiling his senses and hitching his loins. He’d never felt more masculine, and awe coursed through him like his own blood.

  “We use this room to watch over each other. To take care of each other.”

  “Do you mean when your powers are fluctuating or emerging?”