Page 56 of Kissed By Shadows

When I discovered who had hurt my sister, some wannabe gangsters, the twins and I swiftly showed them the error of their ways. Safe to say, that gang no longer exists, their name scrubbed from history, and no one is left who may avenge them. That is the lengths I will go to protect what is mine, and now Iris falls under that category, no matter how short the time is that she’s been with us.

The woman in question comes straight over to me, not even hesitating as she wraps her arms around me and places her head on my chest. Tension drains from my body, my arms automatically coming up to surround her, pulling her closer. She fits so well, like she was always meant to be there, and a fissure of panic has my heart thudding painfully when I think about anyone taking her from me. From us.

“Let’s eat, Peaches,” I tell her gruffly, only releasing her enough to wrap an arm around her waist and guide her to the table, seating her next to me so I can make sure she eats enough.

I’m not foolish enough to think that I can let her go far yet. She’s become my latest obsession, and I know it’s the same for the twins. It’s about so much more than just protecting her now, we plan to keep her, even if that means Petrov is included at some point. I guess it won’t hurt to have friends in the Bratva.

And we’ll need all the friends we can get if my hunch about Sergi is correct. He seems just as obsessed with Iris as I am, and I can’t help but wonder why. Is it just because he sees her as something that belongs to him? Because her father gave her to him? Or is there a deeper motivation at work? He did let his son take her virginity after all, which would be unusual if he wanted her for himself because men like Sergi don’t like to share. I can feel his net tightening, the unseen threat looming over us like a thick, toxic cloud. He’s been watching us, I’d be a fool to think that he hasn’t, but what he plans to do next is still a mystery.

“So,” she starts, interrupting my inner musings as she brings a forkful of the salad up to her mouth and moans when she takes the bite. Fuck, this girl can give me a boner quicker than Rowan can whip his knife out. “This is so good, Hunt.” She pauses, chewing some more before swallowing. “Where is this club night?”

“At Depravity, our club, Princess,” Roman replies before I get the chance to.

“You own Depravity? It’s like, the best club in the West End,” she exclaims, looking at me, excitement making her eyes sparkle.

“Yes, we do. We have to clean the dirty money somehow,” I tell her, watching her brows dip.

“The money you make from selling drugs and stolen cars?” Her hazel eyes don’t leave mine, and stronger men have quaked beneath my stare, but she doesn’t flinch. She just holds it like she has no fear of me, and something inside me eases, knowing that she trusts me on an instinctual level.

I suppose she doesn’t know the extent of what we do, we told her about the cars and drugs, but it takes a certain level of violence to keep people in line, to show them that they can’t take our turf, and whereas the job of reminding them usually falls to Rowan, he has the need for it, the rest of us indulge in letting our beasts lose from time to time. I can’t help wondering if she’d still trust us, trust me, if she knew of the things I’ve done to my enemies.

“Yes,” I tell her, watching her face as she takes this new information in. We are not good men, we do bad things and I won’t pretend otherwise. She nods slowly, her eyebrows releasing to their normal position, accepting what I’m telling her with no judgement or censure in her beautiful eyes. There’s just a calm acceptance, and it’s like my whole body becomes weightless as she accepts me, accepts us, for who we are.

“It’s the best fucking club in London, baby,” Roman tells her, breaking our stare as she turns to look at him. “The DJ tonight is world-class, one of the best in the business.”

“Oh really? Would I have heard of him?” she asks, taking another forkful of salad. I eat and watch her, making a note of how much she needs to eat before I’m satisfied.

“DJShadowMan is his handle,” Roman informs her, a twinkle in his chocolate eyes. Little fucker. I’ll let him keep his secrets for now to surprise her later.

“Oh my god! I love his stuff!” she exclaims, her fork clinking on the plate as it drops from her fingers. Frowning, I pick it up, spearing some salad and chicken, then bringing it up to her lips.

She glances at me, her face softening for a moment as she opens her mouth and takes the bite. I watch intently as she chews and swallows, then I get more for her, deciding that it’s best if I feed her so I can make sure she eats enough.

In between bites, she gushes about DJShadowMan, how all his stuff is saved on a Spotify playlist and how she loves his mix of classical and techno beats, and Roman is practically preening like a fucking peacock by the time I’ve fed her the final bite of salad.

“Good girl, you ate it all,” I whisper into her ear as she takes a sip of her peach iced tea. Willow mentioned once that it was a favourite of Iris’s, so the first night she came to stay, I made sure to stock up, ensuring there’s always some in the fridge for her.

She shivers. “You didn’t exactly give me much choice, but it was delicious, thank you, Daddy.”

I take in a sharp breath, the honorific going straight to my cock. Dipping down, I press a kiss to her pulse point, which is racing just as much as mine is.

“You’re welcome, baby,” I murmur, pulling back and standing up before reaching for her plate and ignoring my hard dick that is pressed against my sweatpants, which is obvious to the whole room. “We’ll be leaving about nine, so there’s a few hours to relax, maybe nap before you need to get ready.”

I grab the rest of the plates, taking them into the kitchen and placing them in the dishwasher. Taking a deep inhale and leaning my hands on the countertop, I try to get a hold of myself. All I want to do is hoard her away like a dragon does with itstreasure. I don’t want her to leave this flat because she’s safe here, but she’s also safer if she’s with me, with us, and we can’t be here tonight. I fucking hate that she’s coming with us, that she’ll be exposed. Never mind all the men that I know will be staring at her no matter what she wears, because she’s just that fucking beautiful.

I hear soft footsteps before I feel her arms wrap around me from behind.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me, Hunter,” she whispers as she rests her cheek on my back. My racing heart calms a little at having her so close. Being parted from her for those couple of days was nothing short of torture, and I developed more than a little sympathy for Petrov having to leave her with us.

“You can’t leave our sides tonight, Iris,” I tell her, twisting in her arms so that I can look into her beautiful face. My hands come up to cup her cheeks, the peachy colour reminding me of why I gave her the nickname I did. “I’m serious, you don’t even go for a piss without at least one of us by your side, okay?”

I expect her to argue, but she just nods, her face soft. “Okay, Hunt.”

My breath rushes out of me, though tension still tightens my muscles.

“I wish we could just stay here, or fuck, kill Sergi so that we wouldn’t have to worry about your safety so much,” I confess in a whisper, knowing that even with no threats, I will always worry about her now. She’s part of the people I have to take care of now, and that list never changes. I’ve never had cause to change it. Once someone is on it, they stay there, and only four people are currently on it, three of whom are in this flat right now.

“Why can’t you kill him?” she asks, swallowing as her eyes go a little wide, like she can’t believe she just said that out loud.Pride at her ruthlessness fills my chest though. She’ll need to embrace it if she’s to survive in our world.

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