IRIS
We’ve spent two weeks at this new island, though I’ve not really been able to enjoy it as Dr Shelia thought it best if I stay in the luxury facility, getting as much rest as possible as they continue to monitor my symptoms. I’m not on bed rest exactly. I may move around, although to be honest, the fatigue that clouds my waking moments makes me grateful for the respite.
We had to compromise with me staying here alone. The guys wouldn’t hear of it. So Shelia agreed that only two of them can be with me and stay overnight at once. I’ve even been given a bigger bed so that we can sleep together, not in the fun, sexy kind of way because they are all refusing to give me dick at the moment. They got scared when Dr Shelia told them how high my blood pressure was when we arrived, so I now have blue ovaries, which is making me cranky as fuck.
All has been quiet on the Sergi front, although Nik told me of Alexei’s message about his father, and they’ve been back and forth devising a new plan. I think we won’t be waiting the few weeks until New Year’s Eve to enact it, but nothing is set in stone yet.
I’ve lost track of the days somewhat, but I’m pretty sure we’re heading into December, which is wild considering it’s still so warm and I’m not used to warm winters.
After going to bed with Hunt on one side and Roman on the other, I wake up with a gasp, pain flashing across my stomach, which feels really tight. My heart races, the two bodies on either side of me shifting.
“Peaches?” Hunt questions sleepily just as another pain races through my abdomen and I cry out. “Fuck! What’s wrong, baby?”
Tears fill my eyes, my breathing short as Hunt sits up, Roman doing the same on my other side.
“Talk to us, Princess,” Roman pleads, his hand brushing hair off my face as I lie there, my hands over my stomach.
“I— I don’t know. I— It feels like I’m going into labour,” I confess, watching as his eyes widen, Hunt slipping out of bed and pressing the emergency call button.
“The doctor is on her way, baby,” Hunt assures me, coming back and placing a trembling hand over mind. “They’ll help. Just breathe for me, darling.”
I take a shuddering inhale just as the door opens and several people rush inside.
“What’s wrong, Iris?” Dr Shelia asks, Hunt stepping up by my head so she can come up beside me.
“I— I think I’m having contractions,” I say in a whisper, a lump in my throat forming at the words. It’s too soon. I’m only thirty-four weeks pregnant, so my baby isn’t fully developed yet.
“Okay, let’s take a look, but try not to panic. They could be Braxton Hicks—false contractions—which are really common in the later stages of pregnancy.”
“The others are on their way, Princess,” Roman tells me, and my chest loosens a little at hearing that.
I grit my teeth as another contraction type of pain hits. Fuck. If labour is anything like this, I’m not sure I can do it.
“Yes, you can, baby,” Hunt states, and I peel open my eyes, not even aware I’d closed them or spoken aloud. “You will give birth because you were made for it and you’re the strongest person I know.”
I keep my gaze on his as they hook me up to a monitor that will measure the contractions and baby’s heartbeat. The door opens again, the rest of my guys striding in, and before Dr Shelia can protest, I open my mouth.
“Please let them stay.”
Her eyes soften. “As long as they keep out of the way, just until we’ve established what’s going on, okay?”
“Thank you, doctor,” Nik says, his brown eyes locked on mine. “It’ll be okay, Malyshka.”
The waves of pain keep coming, though not at any kind of regular intervals, and soon they are just a dull ache.
“It’s as we suspected, Iris. Just some Braxton Hicks, the body’s way of preparing for labour,” Shelia tells me, and I can feel the remaining tension leave me and the guys around me. “We’ll keep you on the monitor for longer, but there’s nothing to worry about right now. However, we need to keep you calm, otherwise real labour could begin as baby isn’t quite cooked yet, and stress can make the Braxton Hicks more frequent, so please try to keep as calm as possible. For now, your son is fine, not distressed, so try to get some rest.”
She leaves with the others who came in with her, the only sound the sea from the open window.
“Slava Bogu bliad,” Nik breathes out, finally coming up to the bed and bending down, pressing his lips against my forehead. “Our son likes to keep us on our toes.”
“We’ll all be grey before he’s even born,” Hunt muses, and a small laugh escapes me. His face lights up with a smile, his hand squeezing mine, which he’s held the entire time.
“Speak for yourself, Daddy,” Roman teases, standing next to Nik and leaning down to press a kiss over my rounded stomach. The baby gives a kick, which almost hits Roman, who laughs and kisses the spot again.
“That’s what you get for being bratty, Baby Boy,” Hunt states, and I giggle again just as Rowan comes up next to Hunter.
“You really need to stop scaring us,” he whispers, taking my face in his palms and staring deep into my eyes. “My heart can’t take it, Lamb.”
He doesn’t let me respond, just leans down and places his lips on mine, searing me with a kiss that tells me just how worried my dark twin was. I kiss him back just as fiercely, my free hand coming up to rest over one of his, holding him to me.
We part slowly, reluctantly, his forehead resting against mine.
“I love you, Roo.”
“I love you too, Lamb, so fucking much,” he replies in a sighs, and warmth fills my chest at being surrounded by my guys and so much love. I’m drowning in it, and I never want to come up for air.
My jaw cracks as a yawn overtakes me, my eyelids so damn heavy I suddenly can’t keep them open.
“Rest now, Peaches,” Hunt commands, Rowan pulling away and tucking me in.
“Will you stay? All of you?” I ask, my eyes already closing as my body gives in to the exhaustion that comes from the massive rush of adrenaline I just had.
“Of course, Solnishko,” Nik assures me, sitting down on the bed as the darkness surrounds me and I drift into sleep.
NIKOLAI
There’s an ache inside my chest, my hands clammy as I watch Iris’s body fall asleep. She’s having to deal with so much of the complications of her pregnancy that our current situation is just making it worse.
“Time is working against us,” I murmur, my hands flexing as if I can somehow hold on to the ticking clock and stop it from moving.
“I know.” Hunt sighs, sitting on the other side of Iris, his hand reaching out and brushing some hair off her face. She stirs but doesn’t wake, settling back down. Poor Solnishko.
“We’re going to have to move up the timeline for Alexei too,” I state, my eyes locked on Iris’s rising and falling chest. I feel the others freeze, gazes fixed on me, but I don’t look up, just forge ahead with the idea that’s been screaming at me for the past couple of weeks. “And I will go alone to deal with Sergi directly.”
“Like fuck you will!” Roman hisses from next to me, grabbing my face and turning it to him. His brown eyes are full of fiery rage, his nostrils flared as he stares me down. “What kind of bullshit is that, Love?”
I heave a sigh, my palm coming up to cup his cheek. “The kind that keeps those I care about, those I love, alive, Lev.”
“Not fucking happening,” Hunt states darkly, his voice low so as not to wake Iris. There’s no wiggle room in his tone either, just fact.
I pull from Roman’s grip, my hand dropping from his face to stare at the leader of the Shadowmen, the man who’s been stealing my heart and making me desperate for his touch.
“If I separate from Iris, Sergi’s attention will be divided, which gives her the best chance of safety.” I will him to understand. He’s a protector after all. We have that in common. “He’ll have to decide to follow me or her, and I’ll make sure his attention is on me. Plus, she can’t really be moved right now. It’s too risky.” Hunt’s jaw works, his teeth grinding audibly. “I’ve already sent our message, undermining him to his captains and lieutenants, making it clear it was me who leaked the information.”
“You. Did. What?” I’ve never heard Hunt so cold, like ice that burns before you’ve even registered it. He gets up, prowling around to my side of the bed. I follow him with my gaze, not daring to take my eyes off this predator who has me in his sights. It’s equally terrifying and arousing. “You want to repeat that for me, Sweetheart?” He stands in front of me, forcing me to look up into his emerald eyes which swirl with anger.
“It’s done, Hunt. He’ll be gunning for me now, taking the heat off you guys and her.” My voice doesn’t tremble. Hunter Anderson isn’t the only apex predator in the room. “And I can deal with him. I’ve been doing it my whole life and I’ll have Dima with me. Andrei can stay here with Iris. Help her.”
Hunt’s lip lifts in a snarl, his mouth opening, but a soft voice from behind me freezes the blood in my veins.
“You’re leaving me?”
All the breath leaves my lungs at her tone of desolation, and I twist back around to see her sitting up, facing me, tears making the green of her hazel eyes sparkle and shine.
“Moye Solntse,” I plead, reaching out and gathering her into my arms, then guiding her onto my lap. I cradle her face between my palms, our eyes locked. “Not forever, Malyshka. Just to eradicate my father so he can’t hurt you or our baby.”
“But he can hurt you, Nik,” she replies, her voice thick with tears, and it’s like a stab straight into my heart. “And if you’re alone, even with Dima, the odds are stacked against you.”
I can’t deny her words, because she’s right. Even with the rest of the Shadows, the odds are against us. My father is head of the Russian Bratva in London, and although I’ve been working to gain the loyalty of his men, some are still on his side and there are so many unknowns. We don’t know what we’ll be up against, but there will probably be more of them than us.
Though none of that matters if there’s even a chance to keep her safe.
“I need to keep you safe, Malyshka, our son too, and with your condition, it’s become too dangerous to wait much longer.”
“And what about me? What about the fact that I need you, all of you? And our son? He needs all his daddies too,” she chokes out, tears tracking down her cheeks and scalding my skin when they hit my hands.
“I’ll go with him.” Rowan’s voice has us all looking at him, resting at the end of the bed. A T-shirt covers his bandaged shoulder, but his face is set in a hard line. “I’ll go, and we’ll take Dima as an advance team. We’ll draw Sergi’s attention to us. Then, when it’s safe for you to follow, you guys can come via a separate and safer route.”
“You’ll keep in contact and keep us up to date with the plan to confront Sergi. You won’t do that without us,” Hunt decrees, and I can feel the tension in Iris. She wants to argue, but she knows that at the moment, she needs to focus on herself and keeping her stress levels as low as possible.
“We can do that,” I reply, turning my gaze to Hunt but keeping Iris’s face in my palms. “The important thing here is to divide Sergi’s attention, split his focus so that Iris remains safe.”
“You need to check in every day, twice a day,” Iris tells me, and I turn my focus back to her, my thumbs swiping over her damp skin.
“I promise we’ll keep in touch,” I tell her, and some of the tension leaves her.
“Twice a day,” she insists, a serious look on her beautiful face, and I smile. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have a woman such as Iris Anderson love me, but I’ll never stop thanking the fates for it.
“Twice a day,” I assure her, using my grip on her face to bring her lips closer to mine.
She comes willingly, which has my dick twitching in my shorts, but I ignore him and press our lips together. It’s exactly as it has been since I first kissed her, like coming home. And not the home I had growing up, but the kind that is warm and inviting, full of love and laughter, and my chest tightens with the need to make this my reality.
Her entire body sighs into mine as my tongue probes her lips, and she opens to me like she needs me as much as I need her. Then her hands tangle in my open shirt, which I didn’t bother to do up because I was in such a hurry to get here and make sure she was okay. Now I’m grateful because her small hands are roaming over my skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake and my blood heating.
“Nik,” she breathes against my lips when I let her take a breath. “Please.”
I don’t stop her when her hands find the buttons of my shorts, undoing them as my lips come back over hers, desperate to keep tasting her. She wastes no time in pulling my hard cock out, and as she’s already straddling my lap, knees either side of my hips, it doesn’t take much for her to pull aside her knickers and line my tip up with her wet opening.
We both groan, pausing our kiss when she sinks down onto me, and fuck. This is home, being buried inside her damp heat.
“Jesus, Kotenok,” I rasp, my head falling back as she takes control and rides me. Her hands find purchase on my shoulders, and her gasps and moans are the sweetest music. She’s so fucking wet, gliding up and down my cock in a way that I know will have me coming in mere moments, especially as I’ve not had a release since we came to this damn island.
I open my eyes as her hands leave my shoulders to pull her T-shirt over her head, leaving her in just the knickers that are tugged to the side. Her beautiful, full tits bounce in my face, and I can’t help but lean down to capture one in my mouth, sucking on it.
“Fuck, Nik!” she gasps, her inner walls tightening around me, liquid soaking me as she comes with a deep, feminine cry.
It’s enough to have my climax ripping through me, and I swear it’s like all my nerve endings have imploded and exploded at the same time. I don’t even have the time to be embarrassed by how quickly I just came because it feels too damn good. She keeps riding me, like she’s trying to drain me of every last drop, every shot of pleasure that’s threatening to undo me.
Finally, we both come down from our highs, chests heaving, and I blink my eyes open to find emerald eyes burning into mine.
