Nate Belen wasn’t a damsel in distress, even if he was currently tied up on top of a bridge waiting for Shadow Star to save him. As he regained consciousness, awareness seeping in, all he felt was pain. He groaned lowly. Everything hurt. His neck. His legs. His right hand.
And his heart.
His heart hurt worst of all.
Because it had been broken into tiny shards.
The words that Shadow Star had growled at him echoed in his head.
I care about you, Nate, but I can’t be with you. Nova City needs a hero. And I have to be that hero. I can’t take the chance of my enemies finding out how much I care about you. They could use you against me. This is over.
A single tear tracked its way down Nate’s face. Not that he was a crier! No, he didn’t cry over anything. He was strong and brave and never cried.
Except when his stupid superhero almost-sort-of boyfriend broke up with him.
“I see you’re awake,” an evil voice said.
Nate opened his eyes.
And gasped.
The wind whipped through his thick hair. He tried to struggle against the binds wrapped around his body, but it was no use. He was trapped.
At the top of one of the spires on McManus Bridge, the biggest bridge in all of Nova City.
Birds flew by. The stars were bright overhead. And in front of him, black cape billowing, was Pyro Storm.
His mask covered his face, leaving only a slit for his mouth. His eyes were covered in red lenses. His costume was tight—black with red piping—and showed off his strong, muscular body. He had an eight-pack. His chest was really strong. His thighs were thick. His boots were killer. On his chest was a symbol that caused the good people of Nova City to cower in fear: a tornado made of fire.
Nate felt his heart start to race, but he would never let Pyro Storm see he was scared. No way. He struggled against the binds that held him. “What do you want with me?” he snapped courageously at the supervillain.
Pyro Storm tilted his head back and laughed. “Oh, Nate. It’s not you I want.”
“Then why am I here?” Nate asked heroically.
Pyro Storm flew a little closer to Nate, eyes narrowing behind his mask, cape billowing. “You know why.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do,” Pyro Storm retorted. “Everyone knows to whom your heart belongs. And since I have captured you with my diabolical scheme, we both know who will come to your rescue. He always does.”
Nate felt a trickle of sweat drip down his forehead. “He doesn’t care about me.”
Pyro Storm shook his head. “You’re wrong about that. You mean everything to him. Even though he could have anyone in the city, man or woman, he has chosen you. You must be something extraordinary for him to have fallen the way he has. And now I know how to strike at him. How to get him to his knees.”
“You’ll never win,” Nate snapped valiantly. “Villains were only made for one thing: to be defeated.”
“Wow,” Pyro Storm said, sounding really impressed. “Did you think of that all on your own?”
Nate nodded. “Yes.”
“That was pretty great. I can see why he likes you as much as he does.”
And then a voice growled, “You shouldn’t have touched him.”
“Shadow Star!” Nate gasped.
Because, yes, it was. Shadow Star had come.
He looked as amazing as he always did. He wasn’t as buff as Pyro Storm, and his costume wasn’t as obscenely tight, but he still was the most handsome Extraordinary that Nate had ever seen, even if he couldn’t actually see his face, given that it was hidden behind a black mask that covered his entire head except for his mouth. His costume glittered like a starry sky, and no matter what the haters said, it absolutely did not look like it was sequined. Instead, it was as if he were covered in tiny jewels.
Shadow Star had once pulled Nate close, and just when Nate was sure he was about to be kissed for the first time in his life, Shadow Star had turned and run, climbing up the side of a skyscraper quicker than Nate could follow.
But he was here, now, hanging off the spire across from Nate by one hand, his other hand a fist as it dangled toward the river hundreds of feet below. Shadows grew around him like they were sentient, thick bands of tentacled darkness that whipped back and forth. Nate wished he knew Shadow