Shades of Darkness

by Nora Ash

  “You should have thought about that before you white-washed this kidnapping of our human for the benefit of your fellow Council member.” The snarl came from my other side—from The Shade. “We owe you nothing. Count yourself lucky this is all the repercussion you get.”

  Strong arms grabbed me tight and hoisted me up against a muscular chest. I managed to bite down on my shriek of surprise, but when the air around me erupted in a loud crack and an unpleasant sensation of being yanked backwards by my navel followed, I lost the fight. I screamed and clung to whoever was carrying me as icy mist closed around my body, wrapping chilling tendrils around my naked skin.

  Four

  “Shh, you’re okay.” The shushing was accompanied by a quick kiss on my lips that snapped me out of it as effectively as a bucket of water would have.

  A faint crack from close by us made me jerk and fumble with the blindfold, but the growling voice that accompanied it belonged to The Shade.

  “Give her to me.”

  The strong arms around me—Lightning’s arms—clutched me tighter. “If you want her, you’ll have to take her.”

  I managed to pull the blindfold down just in time to see The Shade’s dark figure step right up against me, close enough for his wide chest to brush against my body. “That can easily be arranged.”

  It was at that point the many sensory impressions since I’d gotten kidnapped finally caught up to me. All the fear, humiliation, degradation, heartbreak, pain and desperate hope crashed together in my overworked mind in one, insurmountable tangle of emotion. Without warning, I started to cry.

  It wasn’t the cute, dainty “a few, glistening tears and a sniffle” sort of crying either. It was open-mouthed, snot-spewing ugly-crying.

  “Now look what you’ve done!” Lightning snarled. “Shh, baby, you’re safe now. It’s over, I promise. Stop crying.” The last part sounded just a little desperate.

  I hiccuped in an attempt at obeying, but the tears kept coming, now that the floodgates had opened. It was such a relief to finally let go of all the tension that my brain seemed completely incapable of keeping itself together. I was safe—against all odds, they had come for me, and I was safe. Despite Bright’s threats and my own lack of trust in the two men who had claimed me as their own, despite the fact that I didn’t know what would happen now that Lightning and The Shade had shown every supe in the city that I was their weakness, I knew I was safe, at least for a little while. And right now, it was enough.

  The Shade stroked a large hand through my hair. “She needs the comfort of her own home. Bring her there. But, if you teleport on me again, I am taking you down.”

  Lightning snorted derisively. “You mean you would try.”

  Despite his argumentative tone, he didn’t do the thing that had felt like being pulled backwards by my navel again—teleporting. Christ. Instead, he shifted me in his grip so I could wrap my legs around his hips and my arms around his shoulders.

  “Hang on tight, Kittykat. And don’t look down while we move, mmkay? I don’t want you to barf.”

  I obviously looked down the second he set off, leaping into the night.

  “Oh my Gooood!” My shrill shriek pitched into a long, drawn-out scream as we dropped toward the ground at nerve wracking speed. But before we impacted, Lightning grabbed a pylon with the hand he didn’t have around my waist and swung us back up into the air, propelling us forward.

  I recognized the dark, abandoned buildings of the industrial quarter behind us before I clenched my eyes firmly shut and dug my fingernails into the back of Lightning’s suit, determined not to watch the rest of what felt like an unhinged amusement ride. It didn’t stop me from feeling the sudden drops, nor my stomach from lurching dangerously each time Lightning changed altitude with a powerful leap, and I screamed nonstop the entire way home. At least I was too preoccupied to continue crying.

  When the wild motions finally halted, it took me several moments to brave opening my eyes.

  I blinked into the darkness, the warmer air against my skin along with the now faded sounds from the city making me realize that we were inside. The faint, familiar scent of my own apartment made my iron-locked muscles release their death grip on Lightning as they practically jellified. I slid down his strong body until I landed on my feet with a thump, and would have fallen straight on my butt if he hadn’t supported my weight.

  I was home.

  “Don’t start crying again.” The note of panic in Lightning’s voice made me bite my trembling lip. Right. No more crying. I’d played the role of a damsel in distress enough for a lifetime tonight, and if there was anything I desperately needed right now, it was finding my own strength again, after having been treated like I was nothing more than an item. That, and food. Bright hadn’t exactly bothered to keep me fed.

  I stepped back from Lightning’s embrace, gingerly testing my legs’ strength and finding that I could hold my own weight.

  “Kathryn…”

  I held up a hand, silencing the superhuman. “Not now. I need to eat something, and then I need to sleep.”

  “We need to talk—”

  “I don’t want to talk!” I snapped. Unexpected anger rushed through me and pounded in my temples. Irritably, I rubbed at them and stalked to the fridge. He—and The Shade—had saved me, I knew that, and yet my suddenly flaring temper had me itching to lash out at him. What I needed was to get my blood sugar up. “I want to eat and sleep. And if you’re still around in the morning, then we can talk.”

  I ripped open the fridge door, hoping my dig at his abandonment had gone through loud and clear. However thankful I was for them showing up to save my ass, it didn’t change the hurtful things he’d said before leaving me after having slept with me. Nor the fact that all this supernatural crap I’d face-planted in was all thanks to him and The Shade.

  I grabbed some cold cuts, cheese, mayo and lettuce and slammed the door shut instead of giving voice to my—possibly unreasonable—anger. I was midway through sandwich making when The Shade swung in through my kitchen window as easily as had it been a wide open door.

  “Jesus Christ!” I snapped when I dropped the knife I’d used to spread mayonnaise onto my sandwich with a loud clank. “Stop doing that!”

  “Kitten—”

  “I am not your fucking kitten!” I whipped around to glare at him, fists clenched at my sides. “I am not a thing, I am not your property, and I am not a weak baby animal! I am a human being, I am an actual person, and right now, you need to not speak to me!”

  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best way ever to thank the men who had just faced off against their own kind to ensure I lived to see another day, but all I needed at that moment was to not be reminded of the terrible, humiliating Council meeting and Bright’s invasive questioning.

  The Shade grunted, and I was pretty sure no one ever spoke to him like that—at least, no one who got to live. Right then, I didn’t care.

  I turned back around to stare at my half-made sandwich. My hands were shaking so bad I couldn’t even put the bread on top of the ham.

  Strong, muscled arms slipped around me from the back, steading my trembling body. Lightning pressed his head lightly against mine until my body slowly relaxed, surrendering to his soothing scent and warm presence. I was still angry, but the fight seeped out of me with every calming breath he exhaled against my ear.

  The Shade moved from the window with feline grace, bent to sweep up the knife I’d dropped on the floor and proceeded to assemble my triple-decker sandwich with measured, precise movements that resembled the ease with which he handled his swords. The thought of The Shade spending time in a kitchen on a regular basis, making sandwiches, made a helpless little giggle burst out.

  Lightning kissed my temple and lifted me up. I thought about protesting, but my limbs felt too weak to keep me upright anyway. He carried me to my sofa and plopped me down before wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. The Shade placed a plate with the sandwich on the table in front of me,
and ghosted his lips over the top of my head.

  I glanced up at the two superhumans, who were both watching me intently from opposite ends of my designated living room area. It possibly should have felt intrusive to be stared at like an animal at the zoo while I was eating, but it didn’t. It felt… oddly comforting.

  I didn’t bother to try and work out why, and instead grabbed for my sandwich. My stomach growled appreciatively, and I think I moaned around the first, delicious bite. I didn’t look up again before I’d eaten the entire thing and a pleasant lethargy overtook my body and brain.

  I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes, daylight filtered in through the windows, illuminating my apartment.

  I was on my back on the sofa, and someone had pulled my only surviving blanket up around my body. Who knew supes could be so… cuddly.

  Yawning, I sat up and stretched, cringing at my sore muscles. It wasn’t like I’d done any strenuous activities, but my body felt like it'd been through a meat grinder.

  “Feeling better?”

  The calm voice cutting through the silence made me jolt in surprise and look in the direction of the speaker. Lightning sat on the other side in my armchair, stretched back with his boots on my coffee table. The Shade was perched on my office chair, arms folded over his chest like a great, looming shadow against the gray light from the rainy day visible through the windows.

  I don’t know if I’d expected them to leave or not, but it was still pretty odd to wake up to both of them just hanging out in my home while I’d been fast asleep.

  “Yeah. Thanks. I need a shower, though.”

  I did feel better—as in, not on the verge of either tears or angry outbursts. Instead, I felt grimy and gross from not having had a change of clothes or a shower, and mildly ashamed at how I’d treated the two men who had risked everything to save me.

  “I’m… I’m sorry about yelling at you,” I said, glancing from Lightning to The Shade. “”I didn’t… Thank you.”

  “Go shower.” The Shade nodded toward my bathroom with his chin. “We’ll talk after.”

  The water was a blessing against my skin, washing away not only the sweat and dirty of the past few days, but also helping me clear my head. As scary as last night—and the time spent as Bright’s prisoner—had been, it wasn’t time to be a fainting little virgin who couldn’t handle herself. More than ever, Bright needed to be stopped, and I quite possibly had the key somewhere in the files I’d taken pictures of in the mayor’s office.

  And then there was The Shade and Lightning.

  My stomach did a flip-flop at the thought of my two lovers. Against all odds, they had come for me, humiliating themselves in the eyes of their peers and even managing to put their differences aside to save me. That had to mean something—it had to mean that, whatever it was I felt about them, it wasn’t completely unrequited.

  Warmth blossomed in my chest, even though a small, pragmatic voice at the back of my mind reminded me that if that was the case, there were entirely different issues to deal with—like the fact that there were two of them, and one of me, for starters.

  My pussy clenched unexpectedly, and heat flushed my cheeks at its unwelcomed input. There was no way those two would be okay with sharing me, and I needed to get my mind completely out of the gutter—there were much more important things to consider, other than their sexy bodies and thick cocks.

  My nipples tightened with arousal at the memory of the feel of their hard lengths inside of me… Dammit!

  I turned the shower on ice cold and forced myself to remain under the freezing spray until all thoughts of sex were gone.

  Then I hurried out of the shower so I could start toweling myself warm again. The fact of the matter was that neither man was particularly great boyfriend material. Lightning had made it plenty clear he wasn’t looking for any sort of romantic connection, and he was a bit of a jerk to boot, and The Shade… I bit my lip, hard, when I recalled “Shaw Industries” noted down next to the funding of the blueprints for the scary-looking weapon in the mayor’s files. The Shade was most definitely not a good guy.

  Right. So that had to be my priority. Warm, fuzzy feelings would have to wait until I knew just how much of a threat The Shade was to me, to Lightning, and to the city. But I couldn’t reveal that I knew his identity—no matter what had made him come get me at the Council meeting, I had no delusions of the length of my lifespan if he got so much as a hint that I knew who he was. Which, by the way, wasn’t really something to build a relationship on.

  Wait, relationship? Okay, someone clearly needed a reality check, pronto. No one had said anything about relationships. They had, however, called me “theirs” on numerous occasions, which didn’t equate to love. Affection, sure. I couldn’t really argue against that, after what they’d both done for me, but people with pets were usually also quite fond of them. Didn’t mean they were in a relationship with their dog. Or kitten.

  I finished getting dressed and made my way back to where my two, sexy problems waited, mouth set in a grim line.

  “We need to talk,” I said as I sat back down on the sofa, arms folded across my chest.

  “Yes, we do.” Lightning glanced darkly at The Shade for a moment, before returning his gaze to me. “You need to be kept somewhere safe, Kathryn. Somewhere no supe will find you. I have a couple of safe houses—”

  I opened my mouth to cut him off, ready to tell him exactly what I thought about being “kept somewhere,” but The Shade beat me to it.

  “She is not going to any of your ‘safe houses.’ I will hide her in one of my safe locations.” It was a low growl, and I could have sworn he was flexing his muscles in some primitive display of strength.

  “The fuck you will.” Lightning’s hands tightened around the armrests on his chair. “There is no chance in hell I’m letting a glorified pickpocket take off with my woman. She is under my protection—she stays at my safe house.

  “She’s under my protection too, you fool,” The Shade growled. “And I trust you to not steal her from me as much as I trust Bright’s good intentions.”

  Jesus Christ. This was getting more and more infuriating by the minute.

  “That’s enough! You both need to stop this crap right now!”

  Both supes’ heads snapped towards me, their unnerving eyes locking on mine. I felt some of my gusto-brought-on-by-irritation fade at the sheer weight of their joined attention, but gave myself a mental shake. Now was not the time to get all self-conscious and wet-pantied.

  “I have had enough of being treated like something you own. I get that you’ve got different ways of doing things than the rest of us, but I am human. And I’m not going to be some prize you fight over. Got that?”

  Neither answered. I took that as consent.

  “And before either of you go any further with this whole macho competition you’ve got going on, we,” I gestured between them and myself, “need to talk. I am very thankful you didn’t leave me to get murdered by Bright, don’t get me wrong here, but that leaves the question as to why?”

  They both looked at me as if they were questioning my mental capacity.

  “You’re ours,” Lightning said, speaking slowly and carefully. “We will protect you at any cost. I thought I’d made that perfectly clear.”

  I blushed as warmth spread from my chest at the memory of how he’d declared he’d protect me “with his own flesh,” if need be, before taking me to bed. Then I recalled what he’d said after the sex, and my blood cooled significantly.

  “Yeah? I also remember you saying that you weren’t my boyfriend, and that you made it more than clear that you have no feelings for me. You know, after you got into my pants. And according to Bright, coming to get me together like you did was supposed to be the ultimate humiliation—in fact, he seemed pretty damn convinced that there was no chance in hell you’d show up. So excuse me for being just a little bit confused.”

  The way Lightning’s eyes darkened, I was pretty cert
ain he was frowning behind his mask. “It’s not that simple. The mark…”

  The fucking mark again. I threw up my hands in disgust. “Great! So you’re spellbound to sacrifice life and reputation by a mark you put on my neck even though you’d rather not, and I can’t keep my thighs together because of it. Marvelous! And I take it it’s the same for you?” I leveled an annoyed glare at The Shade.

  His scarred lip pulled up, either in amusement or annoyance. “Not exactly. I have no ambivalent emotions when it comes to you, kitten. I don’t know why the mark influences me as it does, but I am smart enough to go with it when my magic calls out like it does for you. You will be by my side by the end of this, no matter the cost.”

  Great. I paled a little as I looked into his determined gaze, realizing just how seriously he meant it. And that, despite some traitorous parts of my body heating pleasantly at that realization, being by The Shade’s side—no matter the cost—didn’t promise any other emotion than possessiveness, nor did it spell out a future that I got any say in. Especially not considering the photo on my phone taunting me with its existence.

  I glanced at Lightning, who was glaring daggers at The Shade. He needed to know—and the sooner, the better.

  “Right. Well, what girl hasn’t dreamed of those words? ‘Magic made me do it.’ Christ.” I scrubbed my face with both hands and took a deep breath to clear my head. There were more important things to worry about than my wounded ego and confusing feelings-that-shouldn’t-even-exist. “Maybe we better start focusing on Bright and how we can unravel this mess instead.”

  The Shade narrowed his eyes at me as Lightning pressed his lips into a firm, disapproving line.