Page 16 of Owned By Shadows

My eyes snap open at his words, my breath quickening at the implication.Fuck. To have Nik and Iris together, our bodies wrapped around each other...that really would be too close to a dream.

“Rest first,Lev,” he says firmly, and my cheeks flush at his commanding tone.

“That’s his no-nonsense tone,” Iris whispers, mischief in her eyes as she glances up under her lashes at me. I rasp a laugh.

“Guess we best do what he says,” I reply, watching as Nik’s nostrils flare at our teasing and talking about him as if he weren’t here.

“Yes, you best do,” he chides, moving his hands away to slide his arm underneath my good one. I don’t realise how much my body was aching, pleading for rest until he takes some of my weight.

“I should have slapped you harder,” Iris grumbles as Nik helps me to the stairs. “Not sure I’ll ever forgive you for shooting him.”

I catch the flare of pain in Nik’s eyes, the guilt that makes his shoulders draw up.

“I forgave him already,” I state, and he stops, his eyes wide as he looks at me.

“You did?” he asks, his voice just louder than a whisper, as if he can’t believe that I would.

“I do,” I confirm, staring into his dark eyes. “You saved my life, Nik. Brought me back to her, to Hunt, and my brother. To you.”

His breath stutters out of him, his eyes glistening as he swallows. I hate that he fights the emotion which so clearly wants to break free. That he feels like he can’t show it, can’t let himself experience it. Sergi has a fuck ton to answer for.

“Then I suppose I’ll forgive you too,” Iris tells him softly, climbing up on the step next to him and pressing her lips to his cheek. “After all, I love you, Nikolai Petrov.”

His entire body shudders, even as his jaw clenches. “I told you to wait to say those words,Moye Solntse.”

“And life is too short to wait, my love,” she whispers against his skin, her eyes on me, the pain making them shine. Then she presses a quick kiss on his lips before sauntering up the steps, her leggings-clad arse swaying in the most delicious way. She looks back at us. “Which one is ours?”

“The one at the end of the hall,Malyshka,” Nik replies, slightly dazed.You and me both, dude. He shakes his head as she continues up. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Only because you ask so nicely, sir,” I sass, and his steps falter as he curses in Russian. My lips tug up into a smirk.

“You both will be the death of me,” he mutters under his breath as we make our way up the stairs after Iris.

“I have to disagree with you there, sir,” I reply as we reach the top. We pause, which allows me to take an inhale and alsolook into his deep brown eyes. “We will be the life of you, Nikolai Petrov.”

CHAPTER TEN

“CONSTELLATION - SLOWED DOWN” BY JADE LEMAC

IRIS

Delicious warmth envelops me on both sides as my eyelashes flutter, sunlight shining around the edge of the curtains and giving the room the hazy feel of a dream. My hand reaches out, my fingers finding a hot body in front of me. The scent of peppermint, lavender, and lemon fill my nose, assuring me this is no dream.

Roman is alive.

And he’s here, in bed with me, Nik on our other side and the others on their way. At this moment, all's right with the world, and I don’t want to waste another moment of it.

I blink my eyes open to find Ro deeply asleep on his back, his arm in a sling over his bare chest. His skin shines in the beams of light that brush it, his chest moving up and down with his deep breaths. My fingers trace a delicate path down his sculpted muscles, the covers low on his hips and exposing that delicious V, which leads to what I know is a beautiful cock.

“He’s at your mercy right now,Kotenok,” Nik’s deep, sleep-roughened voice whispers behind me, and I shiver. “And I bet he’d been dreaming of you, of your pretty lips wrapped around his dick.”

My breath hitches, the image flooding my mind of Roman waking up buried down my throat.

“He won’t mind?” I ask, part of me knowing that I rarely get the chance to experience dominance over Roman, not like this.

Nik chuckles lowly behind me, his hand splaying on my rounded stomach, then moving lower until he’s cupping my pussy, which is only covered by a thin layer of cotton. My thighs clench, heat rushing through me like the moment a match is lit.

“I can’t think of a better way to be woken up...unless...” his fingers stroke up and down my slit, the cotton adding an extra layer of friction that has me biting back a moan.

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