Blade of Moonlight: Midnight Justice Read online

  His size didn’t hinder him. He knew how to move silently and quickly. How could she defend herself against someone this deadly? Sneaky Nick had been right about one thing. She wasn’t strong enough to fight someone like Scythe.

  “What were you thinking going out on a night like this?” The words lashed across the room.

  The tone startled Luna, but she refused to answer. When she saw his lips compress, she changed her mind. Most of all, she didn’t need to make him angrier. “I was thinking I could catch Nick in the act. I knew where he was going to be, and the storm hadn’t moved in yet.”

  “But the moon is barely out tonight.” Scythe was suddenly at her bedside, towering over her. “That’s where you get your power, lightness, isn’t it?”

  Her mouth snapped shut. He could know that from her name, but she refused to give him any more information that could come back to harm her.

  Her heart leapt when he reached out and stroked two fingertips down her breastbone. Softly, slowly…

  “I thought you dusted yourself with some kind of powder or chemical, but it’s your skin, isn’t it?”

  Luna was having trouble breathing, but this time Sneaky Nick’s menacing clutch had nothing to do with it. That touch. A cool, intense kind of heat radiated from Scythe’s fingertips. He was stroking her skin as if enthralled with its feel, up and down her breastbone. The stroking continued, across her shoulder and up her neck. He combed through her hair, but his fingers stilled in the light strands, rubbing them back and forth between his fingertips.

  “You reflect the moon’s light, don’t you, Luminescence?”

  No, that wasn’t it, but he was close. She was one with the moon. As it behaved, so did she, but he could never know that about her.

  His fingers slid down her breastbone again, and her breaths hitched when he traced the line of the sheet, dangerously close to her nipples. He watched the soft material tent, knowing what he was doing to her. Their gazes connected but, still, she refused to give him anything.

  He turned to the hardwood chair beside the bed. She hadn’t even noticed it until he lifted a scrap of material. The bra of her costume dangled from his finger. Her clothes!

  His jaw hardened as he toyed with the skimpy top. “That’s why you run around the city in barely more than a bikini, so you can use your power to its full potential. More skin equals more light.”

  Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth as she struggled not to say anything. He was getting too close to the truth. Her costume wasn’t so much of a style choice, but a necessity. Under a full moon, she could bring down criminals with only her face and her hands bare. But on a night like this—

  Her face. Her head whipped to the side, and she searched the chair, hoping against hope. Her stomach dropped when she spotted her mask draped across its high back. The strip of black material might cover only her eyes, but it had protected her identity. Until now.

  He’d seen her face.

  He dropped the bikini top and picked up the black bottoms. They were made of a synthetic material, giving her the lightness and maneuverability of spandex, but the toughness of leather. Using both hands, he stretched them, watching them pull shorter to compensate, and shook his head in a strange combination of anger and disgust.

  And undisguised interest.

  “And more skin equals more skin. That helps rattle the boys, too, doesn’t it?” His head cocked. “What if you’re going up against a villainess?”

  Some of them were distracted, too, but she wasn’t going to go there. Luna glared at him belligerently. Identify him. He knew what she looked like, right down to the birthmark on her right hip. He’d stripped her of everything she had. She had to find a way to expose him.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to go on. He was big, built and sexy. Her thoughts stalled. She shouldn’t find him attractive—not with the situation he’d put her in—but she did. Adrenaline and pheromones were creating a dangerous chemistry. She had to be careful or she’d get pulled into the reaction.

  He held her belt now, the one she normally kept wrapped low around her hips. Everything she needed was on that belt, and she ached for it. Her serrated knife, her palm unit and her taser.

  Her gaze stuck on the weapon. He’d grabbed her taser for her?

  “The boots,” he said gruffly as he crouched.

  Luna cringed. For some reason, his examination of her belongings was as personal as if he’d been going over her naked body inch by inch—which she wasn’t quite sure wasn’t next. She wanted to pull everything back, to hide from his attention.

  “The boots are something else, though, aren’t they?” His gray gaze suddenly locked with hers. “They get you off.”

  Under the covers, her toes curled. How did he know that? How could he have figured that out? Low-heeled boots or runner’s shoes would have been more feasible, more practical. They had just looked so stupid with her skimpy costume, but the high-heeled black boots? They’d made her cream.

  She swallowed again, and this time found her mouth wet with saliva. “The stilettos make good weapons.”

  “Meaning they bring down any man with a healthy dick.”

  He knew he was right. There was a hint of a dark smile on his lips as he looked at her, and Luna was frustrated she couldn’t see more of his face. He might have gotten rid of the Grim Reaper cape, but his head and torso were covered with a form-fitted, one-piece spandex shirt and ski-mask type of garment. It covered the back of his head and came down over his nose and eyes. Only the lower half of his face was revealed, showing a strong jaw and hard lips. Those lips mocked her now.

  “Whatever works,” she snapped. The words were out before she could stop them, and they surprised her. She shouldn’t encourage him. She shouldn’t play along—not in this.

  “Oh, they do, sweetheart.” He glanced at the front of his dark jeans and shifted in discomfort. “They definitely do.”

  He took another harsh breath that seemed to fuel his anger. With a curse, he began to stride around the room again. “What goes on in that head of yours? What makes you think you can go strutting around half-naked—hell, three-quarters naked—in the most dangerous parts of the city and be safe?”

  Outrage hit her. She didn’t strut. When she was out at night, she was fully intent on her work. “You know that I have a cape too. It covers me from head to foot.”

  “Until you whip it off and give everyone a good look.”

  Her teeth ground together. That was to shine the attention on the bad guys—not herself. She did everything she could to keep herself in the background. She knew how to merge with the darkness. She’d always been smart and safe.

  Until now.

  He turned on her, looming over the end of the bed where her legs were spread wide under the thin sheet. “Do you know what some of those scumbags would do to you if they caught you?”

  Her stomach clenched, and her outrage dimmed. The real question was, what was he going to do with her?

  She watched him unblinkingly, afraid to move, afraid to say anything that would make him more upset than he already was. His lips might mock her, but his fingers were clenched and his breaths heaved. The stretchy material of his costume clung to a chest that was heavily muscled. In the dark shadows, each hard curve and dip was delineated. His uniform kept him as covered as she was left bared, and the disparity struck her. Dark versus light. Good versus evil.

  Her need to see his face grew to a craving. She wanted to know the color of his hair. Was it thick and silky? Dark and wavy? She wanted to touch that chest, with nothing between her fingertips and his skin.

  And she knew it was wrong. All of it. He hadn’t rescued her. He’d pulled her further into the depths of danger. All that darkness might be seductive, but temptations were rarely good for you. She knew this man was bad for her, right down to his core.

  “I’ll have you put away for this,” she said quietly. “I’ll have you put away for life.”

  His expression went even dar
ker. “You and what army?”

  “The justice system will be enough.”

  A bark of laughter escaped him, the sound rusty and harsh. He moved again and suddenly he was over her, his hands braced on either side of her pillow. “If you believe that, then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

  His body hovered inches above hers, close but still too far away. Her body tingled, wanting what it shouldn’t. Then his hand was fisting in the sheet, his knuckles pressing hard between her breasts. When he ripped the covering off her, it was like being splashed with chilled air. He tossed the sheet aside, baring her all the way to her cuffed ankles and pink-painted toenails. Luna arched, wanting to run, wanting to hide, but there was no escape.

  His big hand covered one breast, and that cool heat poured through her. “Are you out there fighting for truth and justice, Luminescence, or does the danger just turn you on?”

  “You won’t win,” she gasped.

  “The hell I won’t.”

  He squeezed her nipple hard, but then his touch was gone. It reappeared, lower and hotter. He cupped her pussy and ground the ball of his hand against her. Luna’s thighs quivered. With her legs spread wide, he could touch her however he liked, whenever he liked. Her hips pressed into the mattress as he slid his thumb between her soft, delicate folds. When he lifted it, it was wet.

  “What is it that gets you going?” he asked, his voice going steely. “Danger, or me?”

  She couldn’t respond. What he was doing was shocking, titillating, and she shouldn’t like it. Couldn’t like it. It went against everything she believed in, everything she’d put herself on the line for, but she couldn’t dispute the evidence.

  He bent down over her, his gray eyes turning pewter.

  “Danger?” He swirled his thumb deliberately around her clit. “Or me?”

  She tried to pull away, but the bindings were too tight. Her body was stretched too taut. And that touch! Oh God. The truth was that it was both danger and him that had her body humming.

  He glared at her, his jaw hard as granite, until he finally moved. This time, there was no evading him. Leaning down, he opened his mouth on hers and kissed her like the avenger he was.

  Luna braced herself but sank into the pillow when he didn’t attack. The kiss…it wasn’t hurtful or punishing. It was aggressive, but it wasn’t overpowering. It was…sexy. Oh, God. Sexy as sin and temptation and everything she wanted but couldn’t have. A rumble left the back of his throat, and his tongue darted out to lick the seam between her lips.

  Heaven help her, but she opened them. His tongue filled her mouth, dark and potent. Timidly, rebelliously, she licked her tongue over his.

  The rumble that bubbled up this time was deeper, untamed. The hand between her legs clenched, and her hips surged. A sound escaped her, a hungry, desperate whimper.

  She shouldn’t want this. She needed to fight. He was the enemy.

  When his knee pressed into the mattress and the bed rocked, she knew that she’d fallen into the enemy’s hands. His thumb moved off her clit. It pressed against her opening, slick and strong, and she shuddered. Before she could order him to stop or beg him to continue, it slid up inside her, spreading her and rubbing hard against the side of her pussy’s walls.

  “Scythe.” It was supposed to be a protestation. It came out as a plea.

  That strong thumb worked inside her, pushing her into a state of frenzy. Luna strained at her bindings, her wrists twisting. She wanted to be free. She had to push him off. She had to touch him.

  He shook his head. “Say what you will about the slutty outfit, but you’ve got the body to pull it off. Damn, baby.”

  His mouth closed over her breast, hot and rabid. He suckled her ravenously, and Luna’s neck arched against the pillow.

  “Scythe.”

  “That’s it, say my name as I fuck you hard, little heroine.” His teeth raked against her with enough nip to light up her nerve endings. “Who’s the bad guy, lightness?”

  He was. He was a demon in black. Her nipple throbbed inside his suctioning mouth, and her pussy was on fire. His thumb circled inside her slowly, working her higher and higher. She pressed up against his body, needing the contact, needing to touch.

  She felt the slick, stretchy fabric of his costume as their stomachs touched. The denim of his jeans chafed the inside of her thighs. The only places he allowed skin-on-skin contact were her erogenous zones, and it was driving her crazy. Struggling with her bindings, she rubbed against him, trying to find relief.

  “God, you’re burning up.” His lips swept across her aching nipple before he turned his attention to her other one. “I thought moonlight was supposed to be chilly.”

  Moonlight. Luna opened her eyes and struggled to see the window. The thin shade covered it, and no light came through. She could still hear the wash of rain sliding over the glass.

  And their harsh breaths echoing off the interior of the small room.

  “I’ll find you,” she vowed. Her jaw clenched when his thumb withdrew and he started playing with her with his fingers. He pushed one up inside her, going deep before withdrawing and trying another. “I’ll find you and make you pay.”

  “Not if I find you first.”

  His pewter eyes were intent as he watched her face. She struggled not to squirm underneath him, but her body bucked when one of those slippery fingers slid over her perineum and between the cheeks of her ass. He pressed firmly against her secret bud, and tension hummed in the room like a power line. It sparked just as fiercely when her muscles gave way and that intrusive finger pushed into her anus.

  “Scythe!”

  His weight lowered onto her. “If I find you first, we’ll end up right back here, but it won’t be my fingers you’ll be taking.”

  Fingers? She only had one inside her, but she felt it retreat and him come back with two. Her eyes pressed tight, and she saw stars again, different ones this time. White, exploding bursts of light reflected in her head.

  “Oh,” she gasped. She let out another whimper. “It hurts. It… You can’t.”

  “You shouldn’t want this, lightness, but you do. I can feel it in the way you’re clutching at me.” His head dipped and his forehead rested against her chest. “Fuck, what do I have to do to scare you into stopping walking the streets at night?”

  “I’m not walking the streets!” She bit her lip hard when those naughty fingers slid another knuckle deep.

  “No?”

  Luna watched him through slitted eyes as he raised his head. She pressed her arms tight against her ears, trying to hold herself together. Her legs strained against their hold, but there was no way she could fight him. No way to escape the wicked things he was doing to her.

  And they both knew it.

  Friction filled the room and lust clouded the air.

  Emotions and sensations pummeled Luna. Her backside was filled. She’d never engaged in this kind of sex play before. Never wanted to, never thought she’d like it. But like was such a delicate word, and there was nothing delicate about the penetration. Her anus burned, spread wide to take both his fingers. They plunged and retreated, spending more time inside her than out. And he was right, the clasp was hot. She didn’t know how they fit, but those curious fingers of his burrowed deep. Then his thumb was snooping around again, looking for tender flesh.

  “Oh!” She gasped when it pressed into another hungry opening.

  He filled her front and back with only his hand, and an orgasm rushed towards her. The spandex of his uniform rasped against her stomach as he slid lower, suckling her breasts and licking her abdomen. He was still fully dressed while she’d never felt more exposed.

  His weight held her down, and when that insistent mouth closed over her clit, the white stars burst before her open eyes. She watched, struggling to say his name, a curse or even a prayer as his lips tugged on her clit and his thumb and fingers fucked her hard.

  “Scy… Scy… Scythe,” she screamed.

  The or
gasm burst inside her. Heat, tension and dark pleasure rolled through her until she could take no more. Collapsing back against the pillow, she clenched the silk that tied her to the bed. It was the only thing she had left to hold on to.

  “Damn, you’re sweet.” He reared up from her, but his fingers were gentle as they pulled out of her. In the darkness, it was hard to tell, but it appeared as though his hand was shaking as he reached for the zipper of his jeans.

  The rasp of the metal was harsh in the tiny room, though, and Luna had to believe she’d imagined the weakness.

  She wasn’t imagining it when he pushed his jeans over his hips and his cock sprang out from hiding. He was going commando and, like the rest of him, his erection was big and strong. Determined. The rough denim brushed against the inside of her thighs as he slid his hands underneath her, clenching her bottom in both palms.

  He lifted her, positioning her. Then, leaning forward, he found her heat. Like every other motion he made, he pushed into her silkily and lethally.

  Luna groaned as he thrust all the way in. He was going to be the death of her. He was thick and long, filling her until she couldn’t take any more. Couldn’t want any more.

  But she did.

  She wanted this. She wanted him. When he started moving, she began whispering his name in rhythm with his thrusts.

  “Scythe,” she moaned.

  “Who’s the bad guy fucking you, lightness?”

  “Scythe.”

  “Who should you stay away from, pretty girl?”

  “Scythe.”

  His hips jerked and his cock pressed deeper. “Get a partner, damn it. Take someone with you to protect you.”

  She didn’t want someone else with her. She wanted him. “Scythe.”

  His groan joined hers, and he began humping her hard and fast. He’d barely retreat before jamming his cock back into her pussy. His fingers bit into the soft globes of her ass, and then one was touching the tender rosebud it had plundered before.