Claimed by Shadows (The Shadowmen #2)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“NOT AFRAID ANYMORE” BY HALSEY

IRIS

“ H unter is on his way. He said he’ll have breakfast with you in the room you saw him in yesterday,” Rufus informs me as I emerge from my room. My heart pounds as I walk down the hallway, turning at the bottom of the stairs to head in that direction rather than go to the dining hall. My steps are hurried, my sole focus on seeing with my own eyes that Hunter is okay and getting the story of what happened last night out of him. Did Lilly make it out okay? Are they all okay?

Hunt’s had breakfast with me a few times, not something that other residents seem to have experienced much of as it’s outside of normal visiting hours. Though Hunter Anderson seems to have some kind of sway here, allowing him to bend the rules a little, probably because of the generous donations to the centre.

Rufus follows behind me like he usually does, stepping ahead and checking the room before he allows me to enter. Then he waits just inside the door as I pace across the plush rug, the room clean and made up perfectly, as if my tryst with Hunt and Roman didn’t happen yesterday.

I freeze when the door opens, then am rushing at Hunt, throwing myself in his arms with a small sob as my heart thuds wildly inside my chest.

“Shhhh, Peaches. It’s okay, we’re all okay,” he soothes in a deep voice, the sound of the door closing softly behind him reaching my ears. “Lilly is fine. She even got her revenge and was magnificent.”

My lungs expand, a warmth filling my stomach as I take in his words. Good for her. I’m glad she could get that closure and hope that one day I may be able to do the same. Make Sergi hurt the way he made me hurt. I’ve never been a violent person, but I am changed now, and a part of me needs to seek vengeance on those who have wronged me, starting with Sergi Petrov. Perhaps ending with my father, but that is for another day. One step at a time.

I look up and gasp as laughing brown eyes the colour of autumn leaves lock with mine. “Ro!” I yell, releasing Hunt and shoving him to the side, making him huff as I throw myself at Roman, his powerful arms easily catching me and drawing me against his firm chest. I inhale deeply, letting his scent wash over me and go some way to calming the turbulent emotions that are threatening to drown me right now.

“Hey, Princess. Fuck, I’ve missed you so much,” he rasps, burying his face into my neck and inhaling deeply. I chuckle.

“You only saw me yesterday, Ro,” I tease, giggling again when his lips nibble on the sensitive skin behind my ear.

“And the time between was too damn long, love,” he growls, and a full-body shiver has my nerves alighting.

“You going to hog her all to yourself, brother? You were always shit at sharing,” Rowan’s deep voice drawls from behind Roman, and I’m gasping again, shoving Roman aside to pull his brother into my embrace. “I’ve missed you, Lamb,” he murmurs into my hair, and I pull back just enough to slam my lips on his, needing to kiss him more than I need my next breath.

He’s frozen for a second, clearly not expecting the kiss, then with the sexiest fucking groan, he moves his lips against mine, one of his hands coming up to tangle in my hair and tilt my head just the way he wants it.

He’s not gentle like the others were yesterday. No, Rowan devours me, forcing his tongue into my mouth and not waiting for an invitation. His grip in my hair becomes punishing, and rather than being triggered, it fucking melts me.

I need this, this rough treatment that shows me I’m not some broken damsel.

“You’ve kept me waiting too fucking long, Lamb,” he growls against my lips, biting down on the lower one until I cry out, copper filling my mouth as he laps the blood from my now split lip. “I won’t be fucking denied a taste of you any longer.”

My head swirls with his words and the heady lust that is fogging my brain, and I stumble over my feet as he pushes me backwards until the back of my knees hits the sofa arm. My heart races, my breath coming in short, sharp pants as he uses his grip on my hair to spin me around.

“Rowan,” Hunter warns as a hand pushes in between my shoulder blades, forcing me to bend over.

“Shut the fuck up,” Rowan snarls, finally letting go of my hair, and I twist my head in time to see him drop to his knees, his fingers tugging down my leggings and knickers in one go. My entire body tingles, half from terror and half from arousal. “You had your turn yesterday, and I’m not one of your fucking brats you can order around.”

Rowan wastes no time, grabbing handfuls of my arse and wrenching my cheeks apart, his face diving in between my legs and licking a long line from my clit to my arsehole. A low, shocked moan falls from my lips, my head tipping back as my eyelids flutter. It feels incredible, my legs already trembling as he repeats the move again. And again. And again.

My body freezes, my mind taking me to a bedroom full of nightmares, Nikolai in between my thighs and trying to get rid of any trace of his father inside of me?—

Thwack!

The sharp pain across my arse cheeks shocks me back to the present, to the furious voice of Rowan behind me.

“You dare to fucking think of someone else when I’m giving you pleasure?!” His voice is a threatening roar, and I shake as he doubles his efforts, his finger dipping inside me, only to pull out and thrust inside my puckered hole.

“Roo!” I cry out, part in pleasure and part in pain, but I don’t ask him to stop. Instead, I beg him by thrusting my hips backwards to keep going, to never stop.

“That’s it, Lamb. You are mine to fucking sacrifice how I see fit, and don’t you dare fucking forget that fact,” he purrs, adding another finger, his other hand reaching around and sinking three fingers inside my sopping pussy. “I’m going to finger fuck these holes until the only memories you have are me being inside you, controlling your pleasure.”

“Fuck, Roo,” I moan, my eyes closing as heat sweeps over me, dotting my skin with sweat. My head drops, landing in a lap, and I open my eyes, rolling them up to find Roman in the seat, his jeans unbuckled, his large cock hard and in his fist. The head glistens with a dot of pre-cum, and it’s right fucking in front of me.

“Suck on his tip, use it like a dummy, and it’ll keep you in the moment,” Rowan demands. There is a gentleness to his voice now, and my mouth opens and closes just over Roman’s bulbous head.

“Fuuuuck, baby,” Ro groans, his salty taste bursting on my tongue as I do as Roo said and suck on him.

“That’s it, Peaches, suck him just like that. I bet the little slut will come from just that, he’s desperate for you,” Hunt commands, and I roll my eyes to find him next to Roman, his hand tangled in the other man’s hair, his grip tight as he twists Roman’s face towards his and kisses him hard.

I moan at the musky taste of Roman, the visual, and the confirmation of Rowan’s words. It’s comforting sucking on Roman, using my tongue to tease his head but not trying to sink lower. Rowan moves his hands faster, the sound of his fingers sinking into my body obscene and loud in the room, accompanied by their heavy breaths.

My body winds tighter, my climax fast approaching, threatening to buckle my knees.

“That’s it, take what I’m giving you, and when you come, I’m going to wrap my messy hand over my dick and jerk it until I’m coating your filthy cunt with me, just like they did yesterday,” Rowan grits out, and his words are my undoing.

With a muffled scream, I come, liquid squirting out of me and coating my inner thighs and Rowan’s hands. I suck harder on Roman as the waves of pleasure roll over me, and his dick jerks, his salty cum filling my mouth as he comes with a deep groan.

“Such a good cumslut, Baby Boy,” Hunt praises, and another pulse beats through me, my body on fire for these men, my Shadows.

“Make sure you swallow, Lamb,” Rowan orders, electricity still flowing through me as he removes his fingers from my arse and pussy, making me cry out as more liquid seeps from me. The sound of his breaths becomes heavier, and I swallow all of Roman’s release, keeping his still hard dick in my mouth as Rowan jerks off behind me.

His tip brushes up against my entrance, sending shivers over me. It’s like it almost sends me spiralling back into painful memories of Sergi, but I keep sucking Roman, whose thighs tremble, and that’s enough to keep me here.

Warm liquid hits my pussy, sending another shock through me as I experience a mini orgasm while Rowan comes all over me with a manly moan, covering me as he promised. He seems to wring every last drop out of himself, and then suddenly he’s pulling up my knickers and leggings, covering my pussy and keeping his cum against me.

“Same rules as yesterday, Lamb,” he purrs next to my ear, his voice all breathless and husky. “Don’t wash until tonight.”

He pulls me off Roman’s dick with a wet pop sound, and I open my eyes to find Roman slumped back against the sofa, his cock semi-hard still as his chest heaves, Hunt whispering in his ear and stroking his face in a tender gesture that makes my eyes burn.

“Shit, baby. I’ve never come from someone just sucking my tip like that, and it was…intense,” he breathes out, tucking himself into his boxers and jeans, doing the latter up and looking at me with a sated look in his beautiful brown eyes.

“That’s because our Lamb is fucking perfect,” Rowan praises in my ear, his voice a low timbre that has me shivering. “Now, crawl onto Hunt’s lap and he will fill you in on what happened last night while I fetch your breakfast.”

He places a soft kiss against my temple, stepping away as I round the sofa on shaky legs and drop into Hunt’s waiting arms and lap. He makes an oof sound, and I can’t help giggling as I snuggle into his embrace, his arms wrapping around me and making me feel so fucking safe.

“What happened last night?” I question, and his chest takes in a deep inhale as his grip tightens slightly.

“Everything went exactly as planned, Peaches,” he tells me, Roman’s warm palm coming to rub soothing circles along my legs, which he pulls onto his lap. “We arrived just before sunset, captured and tied up Uncle Adrian, who turns out is not Lilly’s uncle at all.”

“What do you mean? Who is he then?” I question, going to sit up, but Hunt’s small growl has me sinking back down.

“He was her mum’s fiancée way back,” Roman says, his hands starting to massage my legs in a way that has me melting under his touch. “He was an abusive arsehole back then too, and when Lilly’s mum was pregnant with someone else’s baby, she ran.”

“Wow, shit…that’s crazy,” I whisper, and murmurs of agreement come from the guys. “But he was…” I can’t finish the sentence, unable to voice the trauma that she must have gone through finding out that it was her mum’s old dickhead of a fiancé who was abusing her.

“It gets worse, Peaches,” Hunt says, his voice soft and almost pained. Then he takes a deep inhale. “Lilly’s mum hid her for eighteen years, but then he found them.”

My stomach rolls, chills making me shiver, and Roman pauses in his massage to draw a blanket around me. “Tell me, Hunt. Please?”

His arms pull me closer, my head on his chest, his steady heartbeat a reassurance. “He murdered her mum, it turns out she had stolen some things from him, important shares in a company, and when she refused to tell him where they were, he lost it, stabbing her repeatedly with a kitchen knife. Lilly found her not long after.”

A gasping sob leaves my chest, the horror of what Lilly must have gone through that day overwhelming me. I’ve always keenly felt what others have, been sensitive to emotions and my environment, and this guts me.

“Shhh, baby, it’s okay. It’s all over now, darling,” Hunt soothes as Roman draws closer and Rowan abandons the plate of food he was carrying over on a side table, crouching in front of me, also somehow getting his arms around me as I cry for a complete stranger.

But she’s not a stranger. I feel like somehow I know her, that we share things that no woman should have to.

“I’d like to meet her one day. Lilly,” I tell them, my voice thick, and my hand flutters underneath the blanket, stroking my stomach. We have more in common now than just our shared trauma, and I think that maybe becoming friends is something that might help us both.

“Of course. When you’re up to it, we’ll arrange it, Princess,” Roman says, pressing a kiss on my forehead.

“Now, eat your breakfast, Peaches,” Hunt orders, and I give a wavering laugh at his bossiness.

“You, Hunter Anderson, are a feeder,” I tell him as Roo pulls away and retrieves the plate from the side table with a variety of fruit and pastries on it.

“I will always look after you, Iris Anderson,” he tells me softly, placing a gentle kiss on my head. “Now be a good girl for Daddy and eat your breakfast.”