Claimed by Shadows (The Shadowmen #2)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“BAD DECISIONS” BY BOBI ANDONOV

HUNTER

U nknown: At 0100 next Saturday, a bomb will go off in Depravity. I need you to keep it open that night but evacuate everyone by 1230 at the latest.

My teeth grind, my knuckles whitening as my hand grips my phone tightly when the text message comes through. Fucking Russian bastard, thinking he can blow up my club in six days time like I’ll just sit back and let him.

Hunter: Why the fuck do you think I’ll help you in any way? Not to mention let you blow up my fucking club?

Breaths pant out of my flared nostrils as I stare at the screen, at the dots, which tells me he’s replying.

Unknown: Because it will help to keep her safe in the long run.

Before I can snarl at the phone, knowing he’s got me by the balls even if I don’t understand the reasons behind his actions, more bubbles appear, followed by another message.

Unknown: Please. I need your help with this.

Huffing out a breath between my lips, I rub my free hand over my face as I sit all alone on our sofa. It’s the same one where I first felt her wrapped around my dick, Roman and Rowan with us.

Hunter: Fucking fine, but you owe me the cost of the refurb. And I’m only doing this for her. I still don’t fucking like you.

I know my grin is feral when his next message comes through.

Unknown: Deal. And I don’t fucking like you either, even if you’re my future husband-brother.

My mouth gapes as the grin slides from my lips.

Hunter: You won’t be my future anything, sweetheart.

I swear those fucking bubbles are going to wish they’d never been invented.

Unknown: Please. We all know you’re desperate to feel my pierced cock balls deep in your arse, Daddy.

A bark of laughter erupts from me at the same time a full-body shiver makes all the hair on my arms stand on end.

Hunter: Not. Fucking. Happening. It’s cute you think you can top from the bottom, but we both know that I’ll put you in your place like my other brats. And if you’re wondering where that is, it’s on your knees, sweetheart.

My eyes widen after I hit send. I didn’t just say that to Nikolai fucking Petrov, did I? I don’t even like the man, let alone want to fuck him, right? My dick twitches, calling me a fucking liar as those blasted bubbles are back.

Unknown: Whatever you need to think to sleep at night, Daddy.

Motherfucker .

A chuckle escapes me as I shut down the message thread, deleting it before opening up the group chat I have with the twins. I roll my eyes at the nicknames Roman has given us.

Big Daddy: I’ll need one of you with me next Saturday. Shit is going down at Depravity, courtesy of our eagle friend, and I need backup.

Evil Twin: I’ll be there. I’ll swap my shift with someone so Roman is still here. Things are fucked up.

I sigh, rubbing my gritty eyes with my hand. When they phoned me about having met Lilly Vanderbilt, telling me their suspicions that she’s being drugged, I wanted to storm that mansion and kill every fucker responsible. What the fuck kind of person drugs their own niece, especially when she’s pregnant? And why?

Evil Twin: Adrian has been sneaking into her room at night.

Bile fills my throat at the message. Rowan doesn’t have to elaborate. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why he’d be drugging her and then sneaking into her room at night. Twisted, sick fuck.

Sunshine Twin: I called Ash. She was hysterical, poor thing. He’s asked us to stay with her at all times, especially at night.

Big Daddy: Good. She stays in your sights until they get there.

I sigh, my mind swirling with images of Iris and another sick fuck taking what doesn’t belong to him. My phone buzzes with an incoming message from Asher, as if I summoned the demon himself, and I rub my face, knowing that this will add to my already heavy load.

Asher Vanderbilt: We’re going in tomorrow evening, Sunday. Have your guys ready. We’ll get Lilly, you detain the dead man walking.

Hunter: Will do. See you there.

Fuck .

What is it about everything happening at once? Saying no to helping the Knights was never an option, especially not after what happened with Iris and with Iris telling us in no uncertain terms that we would help them as much as they needed. I just wish things would ease up, just for once so I can fucking breathe.

Big Daddy: Looks like we’re breaking Lilly out tomorrow evening. Make sure the rest of security isn’t around. We need to minimise any casualties.

Sunshine Twin: It’s my day off tomorrow. I’ll come with you when you visit Iris, then head back for my evening shift.

Big Daddy: Okay. Then we’ll sort out Lilly and the Knights, then deal with the Depravity situation. We need to make sure everyone is evacuated before the bomb goes off, yet make it look like a coincidence.

My body already feels heavy with the weight that is on my shoulders, exhaustion leaving my eyes even more gritty as I start mentally planning what we’ll do tomorrow night and then Saturday.

Evil Twin: Maybe we have issues with the sewage? If it starts backing up, we’d have to empty out the club.

I’m nodding, about to agree when another message pops up.

Evil Twin: Then we all visit on Monday. I need to see her in the flesh.

Sunshine Twin: Thank fuck. At least that means we can all visit Iris together again. I’ve missed our puppy piles.

I huff a laugh at the same time my heart twinges, knowing exactly what he means and agreeing whole-fucking-heartedly. Some of the best moments of my entire life were spent in bed, Iris on top of me and the twins either side of me. All of us together. All of us safe.

He’s been watching the cameras at Serene Haven near enough every night he’s not on shift, barely sleeping, but I understand the obsession. I’ve been able to visit almost every day, see her and hold her, talk to her face-to-face. The twins have only got the odd visit in on their one day a week off, always alternated so Lilly isn’t left without them. That was at Iris’s insistence when she found out about the drugging before this latest shit.

Hunter: We have a plan. See you tomorrow.

Swiping out of the chat, I register the time as 4:25am and heave a sigh, knowing there’s no way I’ll be able to get to sleep. Hefting myself out of the comfy leather sofa that holds such wonderful memories, I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and head towards the office.

I sit in the chair, wake up the monitor, and open the app that will show me Iris. Something inside me calms seeing her sleeping peacefully in bed, her blonde hair fanned out across her pillow, her chest rising and falling with her breaths.

Opening the water, I take a long sip as I drink her in, watching her every twitch, noting when her eyes move rapidly back and forth behind her closed lids, all the while wishing I was there to hold her and soothe the frown line between her delicate brows.

She wakes with a gasp, like she does every morning, and my stomach swoops to see the panic in her eyes before she remembers where she is and that she’s safe. It guts me, knowing that some part of her is still trapped in that fucking mansion with Sergi. My blood heats at the thought of the Bratva leader. He’s been messing with our shit, trying to undermine us at every turn and using his connections with the feds to shut down several of our operations. We’ve had to be more discreet and focus on our legitimate businesses while the heat is on us, which has caused a loss in revenue and puts our people at risk.

I blow out a frustrated breath, feeling the sun’s rays tickling my neck as Iris gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. I switch over to the bathroom camera Rowan installed, my eyes glued on her as she goes to the toilet, washes her hands, and then starts the shower.

It’s like the purest form of torture, watching her strip out of her cotton pyjamas, her stunning fucking body revealed to me slowly and making my dick harden in my sweats. Unable to help myself, my hand dips below my waistband and I pull my dick out, giving it a firm stroke as she gets in. Pleasure fizzles up my spine as steam fills the room, but the fan ensures I don’t have my view blocked for long. I continue to stroke myself in a punishing grip, playing with my tip as she glides soap-slicked hands over her delicious curves. Fuck, she’s so fucking sexy it makes pre-cum leak from my slit, and I use that to slick my hand, moving my fist faster and faster.

Lightning races up my nerves, my gaze fixed on her as my balls draw up and all my muscles tense.

“Fuck, Peaches!” I yell in a growl, cum spurting out of my dick and landing on my tense abs, my eyes still open and watching as she turns the shower off and reaches for a towel.

My chest heaves as the last of my release dribbles out of my tip, and I sink back into the chair, closing my eyes for a second just to let the euphoria wash over me. It’s not as good as when I’ve been balls deep inside her, but it’s taken the edge off.

An edge that was started by Nikolai fucking Petrov.

My spent dick twitches at the thought, and I glare down at it.

“You can fuck right off,” I tell him, reaching over and grabbing some tissue to wipe myself down.

Throwing the used tissues in the bin next to me, I focus back on Iris, following her as she cleans her face and then puts about a million products on it. A few days ago, she gave me a list of all the products she wanted, telling me she wants to get back into a skincare routine, whatever the fuck that is. She looked aghast when I told her I just used this peach kernel scrub and cocoa butter in the shower, spouting nonsense about it ruining my skin because apparently you shouldn’t use a physical exfoliator, whatever that means.

The routine seems to bring her some comfort, and I can understand the need to bring order to the chaos in your life. So I will get her more when she runs out and may have even started using some products of my own, which have left my face feeling pretty fucking soft. It also makes me feel close to her when she’s so far away.

She finishes up with brushing her teeth, then heads back into the bedroom and gets dressed in leggings and one of my T-shirts, which has my chest heating. As much as I love watching her on the cameras though, I want to see her in the flesh, so I close the app and lock the screen, heading to get ready and grab some more of my clothes to give to her.

“LET IT ALL GO” BY RHODES

IRIS

I shake off the feeling of eyes watching me as I make my way to the dining hall for breakfast, Rufus following me like he does every morning. I’ve now met Joe. He escorted me last night when I met Johnny in the dining hall for a midnight snack. There’s been several nights where I couldn’t sleep, and apparently Johnny suffers from restless nights sometimes too, so we have an unspoken deal that we will head to the dining hall when we can’t and share snacks while drinking hot chocolate. Over those sleepless nights, I’ve found the confidence to confess some of what happened to me at the Petrov mansion, and Johnny has sat there, holding me while I let it all go. It’s been cathartic, telling someone who understands some of what I went through.

And those nights usually end with me feeling lighter, especially as Johnny has made it his mission to not only capture the heart of Rufus but also Joe, who apparently sets his Gaydar off too. I’d feel sorry for the two hulking Shadows because I can only imagine Johnny is a handful, but I’ve seen the way both men cast glances his way when he’s not looking. He has them by the balls and they don’t seem mad about it at all.

When I mentioned it to Hunt, he grumbled he didn’t want them distracted as they’re meant to be focused on me. He suggested he might swap them out for some of the other guys, to which I replied that if he removed them, I would refuse his visits. That shut him up pretty fast, even though both of us knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. His daily visits are the highlight of my day, even if the secret that I’m holding in my womb feels like it’s growing bigger by the day. I mean, it is. That’s what babies do after all, but I haven’t decided what to do about it yet. The thought of keeping it leaves me feeling nauseous, but equally, the idea of getting rid of this innocent baby leaves me trembling and almost in tears.

I find Johnny missing at our usual table, then remember he had an early session with Julia, so I grab myself some pastries, a fruit salad, and some tropical juice before taking my seat. I’m just about to sip my juice when someone walks in, and my stomach swoops just like it does when you’re on a rollercoaster about to free fall.

I haven’t seen Ember Everly in years, not since I got sent to Wyndham’s and she went off to college. I take her in as she looks around, body tense and her fingers clasped together in front . A pang runs through me at how fragile she looks and knowing that her being here can’t be anything good. It means she’s experienced something that no person should have to, and it breaks my heart even as a part of me is happy to see her face after all this time.

“Ember?” I call out softly, and her head spins in my direction, her eyes widening as she takes me in.

“Iris?” she replies, her brows furrowing as she stares back at me. My cheeks flush, knowing that I must look very different from when she last saw me. Gone is my beloved Boho style, replaced with an oversized hoodie that belongs to Roman and leggings. I just want to be comfy, and what I wear isn’t high on my priority list right now, although maybe that’s something I should look at—reclaiming my style again.

“Hey,” I reply, getting up from my seat and slowly approaching her. I stop in front of her, both of us knowing that the other is here because things have gone to shit, but neither of us wanting to say it out loud.

“Hi,” she answers, nibbling her lower lip as she glances down and then back up. “Long time, huh?”