Page 91 of Owned By Shadows

“Let’s go,” Nik states, leaning forward and kissing Iris before he opens the back door. Rowan does the same, leaving Iris alittle dazed looking before Dima leaves the van and they all head towards the front gates.

“You know the rules,” I state, leaning in for a kiss myself. Her lips are soft, so fucking warm, and a part of me wants to do nothing more than lose myself in them. But I need to rid this parasite from our lives first, and only extermination will do the job. So reluctantly, I pull away, leaving the van and waiting for Roman in the cold December night.

Roman joins me, and I shut the door silently before loping off towards the manor with him on my heels. We don’t talk, just add the silencers to our guns as we approach, punching in the security code to get through the first gate. We don’t need to worry about the camera, Bubby having looped the footage, so it looks all quiet on the western front.

I huff a laugh as we enter, adrenaline making my body sing and my blood light up as the thrill of the hunt enters my veins. Spotting the first guard, I take aim, shooting him with silent efficiency. Roman takes out another before they even know what’s happening. We dispatch a few more before a mighty boom from the front of the estate makes the ground shake.

“He always was so dramatic,” Roman jokes under his breath, which fogs in the chill of the winter night.

“Fuck off,” Rowan’s reply comes over the comms just as Russian shouts reach our ears and we see dark shapes running towards the front of the estate.

Roman and I take care of anyone who passes us. After all, why should the others get all the fun?

“West service entrance clear,” I say as our side goes quiet.

This is why we wanted to cause the diversion. We need as many of them away from the mansion as we can, and I know Rowan, Nik, and Dima will have great fun dispatching everyone who comes their way. I instructed members of my Shadows to join them too, just to help keep things clear as Nik will needto come with us for the final stage of the plan, aka ridding the planet of his scum of a sperm donor.

A shot rings out, and the plaster near my head fractures.

“Shit!” I duck behind a planter, Roman going to another as more shots are fired our way. Looks like I spoke too soon.

I lower my infrared goggles over my eyes, able to make out heat signatures in the dark and spot the sniper on the roof, his rifle pointed at us.Sneaky fucking bastard. Taking a slow breath, I use the planter to hide most of my body while I take aim. Pulling the trigger, my mind is calm, and I watch with a sense of victory as he tumbles from the roof, his body crunching on the hard ground.

Another shot rings out, another body falling to the ground as Roman takes out one of the other snipers. We wait, but no other shots come towards us, and a quick scan with my goggles tells me we’ve eliminated the last of them. For now anyway.

I give Roman the hand signal we always use for moving forward, and we both make our way to the door that leads into the kitchen of the mansion. We stick to the shadows and take cover where we can, but no one else tries to shoot at us, confirming that we’ve eliminated the threat for now.

We reach the door, and I move my goggles off my eyes to look at what should be a keypad, which I have the code for. However, it’s not there. In its place is a fingerprint scanner, and I curse.

We’re going to need Iris now, because none of us has the access, and looking at the door and knowing the plans, it’s fucking bombproof. It would take too long for us to get in, plus give away our position and ruin our element of surprise. We want them thinking we’re all at the front, not attacking them from all sides.

“The door is biometric,” I mumble into the comms, knowing they will understand which door.

Nick curses in Russian, the sounds of guns firing in the background as he answers. “So you need Iris.”

“Yes.”

“DON’T LET ME GO” BY RAIGN

IRIS

A contraction hits just as I hear Hunter’s words, and I can’t stop the hiss from leaving my lips, the way my hand tightens on the seat next to me as I breathe through the pain. Shit, they’re getting worse, and I’m not sure how long I can keep convincing myself that they’re Braxton Hicks.

“Iris?” Andrei asks as the pain subsides. “Are you having contractions?”

I bite my lower lip, and then nod. “I think they started before we left, but I thought they were just Braxton Hicks.”

“You should have told me, Iris,” Andrei scolds, though he’s still gentle, as is his way. “We should tell the others and abort the mission.” He reaches to tap his ear to speak into our comms.

“No!” I rush out, holding my hand out to stop him. “We can’t, not now. We’ve come so far, and we may not get this opportunity again, Andrei.”

He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Can’t you just give her something to, you know, slow it down?” Bubby interjects, and I turn to look at him.

“Yes! Can’t we do that? It’s just for a couple of hours,” I rush out, pleading with Andrei to help me.

He blows out a breath, looking upwards as he thinks. “Fine, but this will only work for an hour, maybe two.”

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