Page 92 of Owned By Shadows

A breath rushes out of me in relief as Andrei rummages through his medical kit, muttering in Russian while he does.

“Thank you, Andrei,” I say as he pulls out a small bottle and a syringe.

“Nik will most likely kill me for this,” he states, sticking the needle in the bottle top and drawing some of the liquid out. “This is Terbutaline, a beta-antagonist that will relax your uterine muscles. Side effects include an increased heart rate, tremors, and anxiety.”

“Okay,” I agree as he brings the needle to the IV that is still in the back of my hand.

“For the record, I’m not happy about this, Iris.” He still injects the medication, and within moments, I feel the band of tightness around my lower stomach loosen.

My heart also speeds up a little, and my hands tremble as I bring them in front of me.

“Let’s go,” I state, pushing up, and Andrei clenches his jaw.

“You have at most two hours, then the baby will come whether or not you want him to,” Andrei tells me sternly as Bubby gets up too.

They help me out of the van, and both take out their guns, looking around us for any threats, keeping me between them. I have the knife Rowan gave me, but that’s it. Though I don’t think Sergi will allow his men to shoot me, not yet anyway.

We quickly make our way to the outer gate, Andrei peering through first before he ushers us through.

“It’s us, Hunt,” his voice comes over the earpiece we all have, and I hear Hunt cursing.

“What the fuck did I say, Iris, about not coming until I tell you to?” he hisses, but it’s a moot point now.

“Well, I’m here now,” I tell him in a sassy tone, my hands still trembling as Bubby covers us from behind and Andrei leads us to the back door.

“Fucking infuriating brat,” Hunt snarls just as we make it to the door, and he storms towards me, his face dark and thunderous. “If you wanted to get punished so badly, all you needed to do was ask, Peaches.”

I shiver, but there’s no time for this. We’re now on a serious deadline.

“Let’s get the door open, and you can punish me later, Daddy.” I skirt past him to find Roman shaking his head.

“I thought I was bad.” He chuckles, bending down to press his lips against my cheek. “Naughty Princess is gonna get spanked so hard.”

Taking a steadying breath and ignoring the heat in his eyes, I reach out my hand, which is shaking badly now. Someone grabs my wrist, and I glance to the side to find Hunt’s gaze burning into mine.

“Why is your hand shaking?”

I open my mouth to tell him I’m just nervous, but Andrei beats me to it.

“Her labour has started. I gave her some medication to slow it, not happily, mind you, so we only have an hour, maybe two before the contractions start and labour progresses.”

Hunt blinks slowly.

“You want to repeat that, Andrei? Because for a moment I thought you said that my wife is in labour.”

Oh shit.

His voice is crisp, more freezing than the air around us that fogs our breath.

“That’s right. I’d estimate we have maybe an hour after the effects wear off before the baby gets here. Though it’s a first birth, which can always be surprising. The baby should be fine,given he’s now almost thirty-eight weeks old, but we will still have to monitor him when he’s born before we get them both to a hospital.”

“So he will be born here?” Roman asks, and my heart rate picks up. I guess I didn’t think about that, so focused on following through with my revenge. Our revenge.

“Yes, especially as Iris refused to abort the mission or leave you all here.”

“Snitches get stitches, Andrei,” I say under my breath, turning to level a glare at him. It would have been a lot easier if he hadn’t told them.

Fingers grasp my chin, turning my face back towards Hunt, who looks like he’s about ready to blow.

---