Page 94 of Owned By Shadows

“Sounds like it’s coming from the west, where Hunt is,” Rowan comments quietly, and my heart thrashes inside my chest, a sinking feeling in my stomach.

The noise stops suddenly, and my pulse continues to pulse loudly in my ears as I wait.

“Take that, you bastards!” Iris’s triumphant voice comes over the comms, and all the blood in my veins freezes.

“Solnishko?” I question, knowing that she needed to be part of this, but not until we’d basically cleared the danger.

“Hi, Nik,” she replies, far too cheery for the situation. “We’ve cleared this bit and are making our way to the security centre. Are you guys okay?”

I have to let out a breath, my mind in conflict. On the one hand, it’s so fucking good to hear her voice and know that Hunt and Roman are protecting her. On the other, this is so much more dangerous than we thought, especially with military-trained enforcers running around. The risk to her is too high.

“We’re all good, Lamb,” Rowan answers before I can, giving me a nod and resuming our slow walk into the depths of the mansion.

“You’re letting them protect you,Dorogaya?” I ask, taking up position behind Rowan and keeping my voice low so I can scan our surroundings.

“She doesn’t have a fucking choice,” Hunt all but snarls down the comms, and even I wince. She must have disobeyed him. I guess now we get to see his punishment once this is done. Something to look forward to.

“Oh, and FYI, her labour has started, so we have maybe a couple of hours before our son gets here,” Roman adds, and I freeze as I almost crash into Rowan.

“What?” It’s a hissed sound, my pulse racing in my veins.

“What is it with you guys all telling on me?” she huffs out, and I can just imagine her glaring and crossing her arms.

“Lamb, you are going to need to explain exactly what’s happening, otherwise I’m coming right for you to take you to the hospital,” Rowan states, and there’s no question of his intentions. He will absolutely abandon the entire mission, as would I, if we need to get her to a hospital.

“I thought they were just Braxton Hicks, but then they became regular and more painful and I realised they were actual contractions at the same time Andrei did, just before we joined the others,” she says, her voice almost apologetic. As it should fucking be given she knew something was happening. A thought occurs to me, the fact I noticed something was up before we left.

“Did they start when we were at home,Dorogaya?”

I hear her sigh. “Yes.”

Silence.

My jaw clenches so tightly I think I will crack a tooth.

“But I thought they were false ones, and Andrei has given me something to pause labour for an hour, maybe two, so we best get a move on.”

I huff a humorous laugh. Even now she’s showing her fire, her spirit that was forged because of my father.

“You are in so much trouble, Lamb,” Rowan promises darkly, and I’m nodding my head, even if she can’t see it.

“Well, get in line, and it all has to wait until we’ve killed Sergi and I’ve birthed our son,” she sasses back, her tone exasperated, and I want to laugh because I’m liking this side of her, giving as good as she gets.

“Deal,” Rowan replies, and he takes a deep breath before he signals we move forward.

“I’ll look forward to it,Kotenok,” I whisper, because all that worry and violence swirling inside me has morphed into a violent sort of lust that only she can sate.

“SHADOW (FROM NETFLIX’S ‘THE DEVIL IN OHIO)” BY JOHN MARK NELSON

IRIS

Hunt and Roman lead us down the service corridors, the main lights off, although there are low emergency type lights that illuminate our way. My shaking doesn’t improve, though it doesn’t get worse either, so that’s a bonus. My heart stillthrashes inside my chest and anxiety fills my veins, making me fear every shadow and worry about what’s coming.

“Almost at the security centre,” Ro murmurs through the comms from his position in the lead. My heart rate kicks up a notch, and I wonder if this will have an effect on the preeclampsia. I guess if it does or not, it’s too late now. What’s done is done.

There’s a relief in them all knowing, even if I could feel Nik’s and Roo’s rage through the comms like it was a palatable thing.

It’s taken us longer than I expected to make our way through the sprawling mansion, and I’m just glad we’ve not passed anything familiar, because I’m not sure how my trauma would cope with it. I did a lot of work at Serene Haven, but I don’t know how I would react to seeing the mansion I was imprisoned in for all those weeks. At seeing the monster of my nightmares in the flesh again. I guess I will see soon enough.

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