Page 3 of Kissed By Shadows

Her lips part but no words come out. I watch as the betrayal sinks in, her beautiful, hazel eyes fill with tears, making them sparkle like jewels.

“He promised he would never leave, that he loved me,” she whispers, her voice rasping and broken, and my control snaps. Striding over to her, I pull her into my embrace, wrapping her in my arms as her entire body sags and she sobs into my chest.

“He really didn’t have much choice,Solnishko,” I find myself saying, her sadness making me desperate to take it away and fill her with something other than pain. She’ll need her light to face what’s to come, and her father really didn’t have much choice because Sergi weaves a tight web of entrapment with no choice but to bow to his wishes. My father has been working on Iris’s for years, funding his lavish lifestyle, investing in his company until Mr Montgomergy was so deep there was no way to get out. I always wondered why my father was so interested, was willing to go so deep, and the way he was so quick to suggest Iris as the payment leaves my skin crawling. He’s never been so…obsessive before.

“There’s always a choice, Nikolai,” she murmurs thickly against my chest, her fists clutching my suit. I don’t give a fuck that she’s causing wrinkles. I should as it’s something my father always beat into me, presentation is fundamental to who we are, but she makes me not care about inconsequential things like pain.

“Not always,Dorogoi,” I murmur, placing my lips on top of her wavy blonde hair and dropping a kiss there. It feels like silk against my skin, and I take a huge inhale of her honey and cocoa butter scent. It’s like the best cocaine, loosening my muscles and leaving me almost dizzy. “We don’t have a choice.”

“We?” She pulls back, just enough to look into my eyes, hers rimmed in red and the green in the hazel stronger, leaving me speechless for just a moment. “What do you mean?”

I heave a sigh, knowing that the next thing will be another blow, only this time I’ll be the one to deliver it.

“Your father said you are a virgin,” I tell her, watching her eyes widen once more and her cheeks flushing the most beautiful rose. I suppose he didn’t exactly volunteer the information, but more confirmed it under duress. Then again, he’s not had the training I have, so how could he withstand the small amount of pain that Sergi’s goons made him endure for that tidbit? “It was your biggest selling point.”

“What the fuck, Nikolai?” she hisses, trying to pull out of my grip, but I just tighten my arms. Now that I’ve finally got her pressed against me, I’m not letting her go. “Let me fucking go!”

“Solnishko, if we don’t show them bloody sheets, he’ll give you to his men.” My tone is unwavering because I refuse to let my father or his disgusting men have her.

She’s mine. She has always been mine and I proved my worth when I fought for her. My father looked at me with a single raised brow as I stated my claim, then told me to prove it against his best enforcer. It was a test that I could not fail, and so with the years of training, the years of pent-up aggression, and having to take his punishments, I unleashed my inner beast for her. My father’s man barely got a hit in. My cracked knuckles are proof of my devotion, the taste of copper in my mouth as I ripped his throat out with my teeth, my love letter to her.

My body and soul are stained in the blood of my victory, my claim to have her first won with the death of another, and I’d do so much worse, kill so many more to keep her safe.

The fight drains from her then, her eyes racing back and forth as her mind tries to figure out another option. There isn’t one though. Blood needs to be paid to secure my claim. At least for tonight.

“That school of yours prepared you to accept your fate as a wife or partner, this is just a different step but the same rulesapply,Solnishko,” I tell her, and her eyes narrow, her nostrils flaring and a fire blazing in her eyes that I want to burn in. “I’ll make it feel good. Trust me?” Her gaze softens, her pale cheeks heating as she searches my face. Then her eyelids flutter, cutting me off for a moment, and my chest tightens.

“Always, Nikolai,” she breathes out, her sweet breath fanning against my lips in a teasing caress. “I have always trusted you.” Her shoulders slump once more, her head giving a small nod of resigned acceptance, and my jaw works at having to be the one to take away her fight, dousing her bright flame. Her lips suddenly tilt in the smallest of smiles, sending butterflies flying around my stomach. “Always had a crush on you too…”

My lips split into a grin, the first genuine smile that has crossed them for months, fuck, maybe even years. This woman is so strong, facing this horrific situation with grace and finding the silver lining like she always used to do. She’s stronger than when she left, fiercer too if her fight with me earlier is anything to go by. Good. She’ll need that too for what lies ahead.

“You did?” I tease, and her lids open, narrowed on me once more, but this time there is a playful edge that makes my breaths speed up.

“You know I did, I hardly hid it well. God, I used to go red as a fucking tomato every time you came over.” She chuckles and the sound is the sweetest music, my mouth going dry as all my nerves tingle.

One of my arms come up, my hand cupping her burning cheek again, and the way she rubs her face against it sets my fucking soul on fire.

“I always wanted you, Iris. You are mySolnishko, my sun,” I confess, her lips parting, and I lean closer to her. “The days I didn’t see you were like the darkest night. The years spent apart like living in Hell, my soul keening for its mate.”

“Nikolai…” My name is a whisper against my lips, my heart pounding at having her so close after all this time.

“You were always mine, Iris,” I tell her, then close the breath of distance between our lips, coming home after years of being left out in the cold.

CHAPTER TWO

“LOSE CONTROL” BY TEDDY SWIMS

IRIS

My lungs stop functioning, my entire being pausing as if time has stopped. Nikolai Petrov, the boy I fell for years ago, is kissing me, holding me like I’m the last thing on earth that will keep him tethered to the world.

His tongue probes my lips, and with a sigh, I open them, unable to deny him entry. He tastes like dark shadows, the kind that hides you from the monsters and keeps you safe when the world around you burns. I tighten my grip on his soft suit jacket, pulling him closer as he consumes me.

A sexy groan leaves his throat, his kiss deepening until I’m lost in all things Nikolai. All I can feel is him as he presses his hard body against mine, forcing me to start moving backwards and towards my bed.

My heart races so fast that it threatens to pound right out of my chest, and I freeze when the back of my knees hits the softmattress. This is wrong. My first time shouldn’t be because I’ve been sold to the bloody Russians like a piece of property. Though a part of me revels in the fact it’s with Nikolai, it’s a mindfuck to have the man I would have chosen be forced upon me.

“Trust me,Solnishka,” he murmurs against my lips, his voice fifty shades of husky that has dampness slicking that place between my thighs.

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