Page 32 of Owned By Shadows

She mumbles something, her eyelashes fluttering closed as she rests her beautiful cheek against me.

The landscape passes us by as we drive, everyone keeping quiet or sleeping. I watch it, the dark of the night, which hopefully aids our escape.

We can’t run from Sergi forever. One day, we will have to face him and he will pay for all the wrongs he committed against my family, Nik included, but for now, I can give Iris some rest. Let her enjoy the calm before the epic storm that will wash over us.

I just have to hope and pray that it doesn’t wash us away.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“CHILLS - DARK VERSION” BY MICKEY VALEN

IRIS

“Peaches, baby, we’re here.” Hunt’s soft voice filters through my dreams and my eyelashes flutter open, my gaze getting lost in his emerald ones. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”

A smile tugs my lips up before I’m even fully awake, and I know that this is what I want, what I need for the rest of my life. To wake up with a smile because one of my men is being too damn sweet to me.

“What time is it?” I ask him, sitting up and seeing that it’s still dark out, although there is a slight lightening of the sky on the horizon.

“Just before five,” he answers, untucking the blanket that he helped wrap around me when we first got in the car. “The others have already boarded.”

I look past him, out of the window to see that we’re on the tarmac, a giant aeroplane looming above us, metal steps leading up to the open hatch. “Urgh, more stairs.”

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got you,” he replies, opening the door, the fresh predawn air waking me up more.

He gets out of the car, then reaches in and helps me out too. No sooner have my feet touched the ground than he’s sweeping me up in his arms again.

“Hunt! I am capable of walking, you know,” I scold, though that doesn’t stop me wrapping my arms around his neck and snuggling into him a little.

“I know, Peaches. Doesn’t mean you should though.” Hunt logic at its finest. I don’t argue further—I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to be in his strong arms ever—and he carries me up the steps and into the plane.

“Wowsers,” I whisper, taking in the interior, which is nothing short of luxury. It’s all cream leather, large seats and even sofas, soft lighting and gleaming walnut wood. There even looks to be a room at the back, separated by a wall with a door for privacy.

“Yeah, those Knights sure know how to live in style.” Hunt chuckles as my gaze lands on the others. Something inside my chest eases, warming at the sight of everyone I care about, who I love, and is important to us being here. We’re all together and it couldn’t feel more right. Our whole family is here, safe and sound. Tears sting my eyes at the rightness of it all.

“Hey, Princess, don’t cry,” Roman pleads, rushing over to us as Nik and Rowan follow him. They surround me, Hunt pulling me close, each of the others touching me, assuring me with their presence that they’re here. That, at least for now, we’re okay.

“What’s wrong, Lamb?” Rowan asks, his tone dark like he’s about to reap destruction on whatever it is that is making me upset.

“Please tell us,Solnishko,” Nik begs when I’m too choked up to tell them why I currently have tears running down my cheeks.

“I— It’s just,” I manage, swallowing past the lump in my throat as I blink away the moisture that’s making their beautiful,concerned faces waver. “I want us to all be together like this, safe, forever. But it’s not going to happen really, not yet, and I’m scared, so scared that I’ll lose you.”

More tears flow as the words fall from my lips, my fears easing a little just voicing them aloud.

“I know, Peaches. I’m fucking terrified too,” Hunt confesses, placing a trembling kiss on my temple. “But we’re hard bastards to kill, and we’ve all got so fucking much to live for now; we won’t make it easy for whoever tries to take us away from you.”

“We will fight them, anyone who tries to tear us apart, Princess,” Roman tells me, his hand brushing the hair from my face as Hunt continues to hold me as if I weigh nothing.

“And we will win,Solnishko,” Nik declares, his warm palm on my leg, his brown eyes hard and unyielding, offering no alternative bar the one he’s decided.

“I promised you their blood, Lamb,” Rowan reminds me from next to his twin, and I twist my head to look at him, his amber eyes sparking like fire. “And I will give it to you, and we will dance and make love in it, just like I said.”

Their conviction calms my fractured nerves a little, and I’m able to take a deep inhale, all of their combined scents doing more to settle me. I guess the last twenty-four hours and the stress of the pregnancy scare haven’t helped at all.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’ll be taking off in a moment and I need you to take your seats,” an older feminine voice states from beyond our circle, and I peer past the guys to see our stewardess, a lady with greying hair and a smart uniform smiling at us. “Once we’re airborne, you can get up and move around as much as you like and I can bring you some food and drinks.”

“Thank you,” I manage to get out, clearly none of the guys remembering their manners.

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