Page 52 of Claimed By Shadows

We pull up to Serene Haven to find Iris on the front steps, bags surrounding her and Rufus at her back with Julia to the side of her.

“Is she coming home?” Roman asks, bouncing in his seat, his voice threaded with excitement.

My lips tug up into a wide smile when I realise that he’s right, seeing her shining eyes and the huge grin on her face. Romandoesn’t even wait for me to stop the car fully, yanking the door open and leaping out.

“Fucks sake, Ro!” I yell, using Iris’s name for him before slamming on the brakes, but he’s already gone, bounding up the stairs like a damn puppy and pulling her into his arms. Her laughter rings out as he spins her around, and I can’t even be mad at the fucker because the joy on her face makes my chest so tight I think it might burst.

Rowan at least waits until I’ve parked, both of us opening the doors and getting out, heading towards Roman, who has his lips fused to Iris’s in a kiss that would make a whore blush. Bloody degenerate.

“So, you’re ready?” I question as I come up beside them, Roman finally ending the kiss.

Iris looks up at me with dazed eyes, blinking like she’d forgotten where she was for a moment, and I chuckle, the afternoon sun hot on my skin.

“If you’ll have me?” she finally asks, her voice like the softest breeze, caressing my skin in a pleasurable shudder.

“As if there was any question, Peaches,” I reply, shoving Roman out of the way so I can take her into my arms. She fucking melts into me, and it’s a feeling that will warm me to my dying day.

“I love you, husband,” she whispers, and I shiver, loving my title on her kiss-swollen lips.

“I love you, wife,” I whisper, lowering my lips to hers and finally giving in to the urge that plagues me every time I’m near her.

She tastes like the sunshine that surrounds us, like home and family and everything that I love, given the scent of Roman clings to her too. I keep it short, knowing that Rowan will want to greet her and I want to get her things in the car as soon aspossible so we can finally bring her home. I can’t wait to show her everything we’ve done.

A fizzle of nerves zaps up my spine, worry that she might hate it floating through my mind, but I tell that bitch to shut the fuck up. There’s no room for negativity right now, not with my beautiful wife in my arms, on her way home.

“Roman and I will load the car while you say hello to Rowan,” I tell her, stepping to the side and grabbing her suitcase and duffle bag. “Rufus, you got your bike?” I ask the tatted gangster, and he nods, looking back over his shoulder into the interior of the building.

“I was gonna stick around here for a bit if that’s okay?” he questions, his brows lowered and shoulders tight as if he’s worried I’ll say no. I know why he wants to stay, him and Joe having formed an attachment to one of Iris’s friends, Johnny.

“No problem, we’ll see you back on the estate tonight?” I wait for his nod, then watch as he heads back inside, a smile tugging up my lips.

“Who knew the great Hunter Anderson, leader of the feared Shadows, would also be a matchmaker,” Roman teases as he grabs a bag and we head to the truck.

“Fuck off,” I grumble, but there’s no heat to my words. I’m glad that Rufus and Joe have finally found a third. They’ve been fooling around for a while, but I know they’re both too dominant to be on their own and need someone to look after. To dote on. I have a feeling Johnny is just the person for that, and if their extracurricular activities last night were anything to go by, both of them requesting the night off to deal with something and coming back bloody but full of dark smiles, they’re in deep. I hope he liked his presents.

Roman and I put the bags in the car, shutting the boot and jogging back to Iris, Rowan, and Julia, who are saying their goodbyes.

“We’ll have weekly catch ups over video calls, okay?” Julia tells us, pinning each of us with a look that tells me she won’t take no shit from us and we will do as she says.

“Yes, ma’am,” I answer for all of us, and her lips twitch.

“Excellent. Now off with you so it’s not too late by the time you get home.” Her voice is thick and there’s a glimmer in her eyes, as there is in Iris’s, so I wrap my arm around my wife’s shoulder, Rowan taking her hand, and we lead her to the truck, helping her inside.

Something inside my chest settles as the twins seat themselves either side of her. My family is back together again and all is right in the world.

Well, a niggle tells me that statement is not quite true. There is one member missing, and before it was just Iris who noticed his absence, but now… Well, now I find myself worrying about the dark-haired Russian, hoping that he’s not doing something stupid that puts him in harm’s way. Again.

Or so help me I will fucking bend him over my knee and spank him until he can’t sit down for a week.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“BORN TO DIE” BY EUPHORIA, BOLSHIEE

NIKOLAI

This is really fucking stupid, Nik, my inner voice tells me as I make my way down to my father’s office. He’s currently in a meeting with his lieutenants, so I have a narrow window to get the information that I need to finally be able to further my cause. Though, because of Sergi’s raging paranoia, the only way in doing so is by going old-school with a USB that bypasses his security and will allow me to download everything on his private computer.

All of his financial records so I can gain access to the many bank accounts he has, personnel files which contain the material he uses to blackmail pretty much everyone he works with, plus historical records that details how he rose from a piss-poor Russian immigrant to the leader of the London Bratva.

---