Kissed by Shadows: A Forced Proximity Dark Mafia Romance (The Shadowmen Book 1)
Kissed by Shadows: Chapter 23

My panicked gaze flies to the doorway, Nik’s hand falling away, to replace all three of my Shadows stepping into the bathroom, quickly shutting the door behind them. Their faces are full of thunder, especially Hunter’s, and all their brows raise when they take in the scene before them, my legs wrapped around Nik’s hips, his trousers clearly undone.

Nikolai looks over his shoulder, keeping his dick buried inside me. “You really shouldn’t let her run off like that,” he comments, and I open my mouth to tell him that now really isn’t the time to bring that up, but he moves his hips and instead, a moan falls from my lips.

Hunt’s nostrils flare, his fists clenched as he takes us in, and I worry at my lip. He’s the most dominant of the three of them, on par with Nikolai, so I’m not sure how he’ll take this. I mean, I made it no secret that I want Nik too, he’s seen me in his arms before, but not like this.

“She didn’t exactly give us much choice,” Hunt growls out, stalking closer. “I was coming in here to punish her for her disobedience.”

I clench around Nik and he groans. “She likes the idea of you punishing her, don’t you, Kotenok?” He moves his hips again, gliding his thick length in and out of me slowly, and I moan again as the lazy pleasure starts to unfurl in my core.

Hunt comes up right beside us, and I flush as his gaze travels up and down my body, pausing when he reaches the apex of my thighs, where Nik and I are joined. His large palm comes up and cups my face, his thumb rubbing my lower lip.

“Is that right, Peaches? Do you want me to punish you for being a naughty little girl?” His voice is low and seductive, and my inner walls clench around Nik at his words. I nod and he tsks. “Use your words.”

I swallow hard, Nik not moving as they both wait for my answer. “Y–yes.”

Hunter’s eyes flare with approval, and it warms me down to my toes. “Good girl.” He strokes my lip again, his look tender. “Don’t let her come.”

A whine leaves my chest as Nik chuckles deep and low.

“I wouldn’t normally take orders from you,” he says, and I move my gaze to glance at him with a pleading look. “But I agree, she needs to learn a lesson.”

He starts to move agonisingly slow, the glide of his pierced dick exquisite as he strokes the deepest part of me.

“Eyes on me, Peaches,” Hunter demands, and I switch my gaze to him just as Nik growls something in Russian that I’m pretty sure is down to having my attention taken from him.

Hunter gives a smug smile, holding my gaze as Nik keeps moving, pleasure spiralling from my core, leaving me breathless and panting. “You know that this is for the best, baby. What you did was stupid and dangerous. Anyone could have been in here,” Hunter scolds, his brows lowering, his smile slipping. But his tone isn’t as furious as I expected it to be. Instead, it’s laced with lust, a heavy promise for the most exquisite torture. “Tell me you understand why this has to happen.”

I shiver as Nik rubs over a particularly sweet spot. “I–I understand,” I stammer, fighting against the urge to close my eyes and lose myself in the pleasure that Nikolai is building. Nik’s hips suddenly move faster, and I start to believe that maybe he’ll ignore Hunt and let me come.

But just as I begin to reach the pinnacle, he stops completely, both our chests heaving, and I whine once more.

“It’s for your own good, Solnishko,” he says, and tears sting my eyes at knowing that they really will withhold my pleasure. He waits until my breathing evens out, then starts to move again, my nails digging into his bare arms, incoherent pleas falling from my lips when he takes me to the edge only to stop again.

“I–I’m s–sorry,” I sob, the tears threatening to fall. I just need the release so badly, I need to forget just how deep my father’s betrayal ran. “I–I won’t run again, I p–promise.”

“Shhhhh,” Hunter soothes, smoothing my sweat-slicked hair from my face as Nik pumps his hips in and out again. “You’re doing so well, but we can’t let you come just yet, baby.”

A broken sob falls from me when Nik stops again, and I seek out Roman’s chocolate eyes, begging him with my gaze to make the punishment end. Smiling, he saunters over, Rowan still by the door, watching us all with a banked heat in his eyes, his knife in his hand as he plays with it. The sight of the blade shouldn’t turn me on so much, but I can’t help whimpering when I remember his threat to use it on me one day.

“I taught Iris how to give a blow job,” Roman says when he reaches us, and my already heated cheeks burn, my desperation heightening when I recall that first night with the Shadows and getting on my knees for Hunter. “Why don’t you let her show you what she learned?”

My brows dip, and I wonder how this will help me, but then I remember the way Roman played with me until I came when Hunter did, and I’m nodding my head. “P–please let me show you, Nik. I want to know what I taste like on you.” Four groans echo around the room at my words, Nik’s irises almost entirely swallowed up by black.

I gasp when he pulls out of me, the wet sound loud in the room. “Fuck, I’d forgotten how pretty your pussy was,” Roman rasps, and my blush deepens at the praise.

“On your knees, Solnishko,” Nik commands, stepping back. I look at his face, his cheeks flushed, his eyes hooded, and my pussy pulses at the sight.

“Turn to the side so you can watch her in the mirror too,” Roman suggests, and Nik’s gaze flicks to Roman, a naughty grin pulling up his lips and making him seem younger. He does as Roman suggests, turning to the side as I hop off the vanity, sinking onto my knees in front of him.

“Wait, Little Lamb,” Rowan says quietly just as my knees hit the tile, and I look at him to see he’s grabbed a cushion off the chair and is crouching down next to me, just like he did when I gave Hunter his blow job.

“Thank you,” I whisper, lifting my knees to let him slide it underneath them. He stays next to me, his amber eyes boring into mine, his undivided attention both a comfort and making my blood heat even more.

Nik’s pierced dick is right in front of me, glistening from my own arousal, and I dart my tongue out to lap at the tip, a deep groan sounding from him at the touch.

“That’s it, darling, start off slow, just like I taught you,” Roman purrs from behind me, and I swear moisture drips from between my legs at his words. My hand comes up to grasp the base of Nikolai, guiding him to my mouth, and I lick his head, his hands flexing at his sides. He tastes like me with an underlying musk, and I lick again, enjoying the combination of our flavours. Roman’s hand comes up to wrap over mine, and I moan at the sight just as Nik hisses. “I bet he likes a firmer grip,” Roman says as he tightens our fists, and Nik makes a feral noise that goes straight to my aching core. “See.”

I roll my gaze upwards, watching as Nikolai stares down at us, his jaw clenched and his nostrils flaring as Roman and I jerk him off into my mouth. Keeping my gaze on his, I open my mouth wider and take him inside, Nik’s tongue coming out to lick his lips as I suck on his head.

“Suka!” he curses, one of his hands tangling in my hair and pulling me down more until he hits the back of my throat and I gag. He eases off, and I hollow my cheeks, sucking as he pulls me up by my hair.

“Let him use that pretty mouth,” Roman instructs, his hand moving ours up and down the base of Nik. Then he takes my other hand in his, placing my fingers against my clit, his over the top of them. “They said they wouldn’t make you come, but nothing about you making yourself come,” he whispers conspiratorially in my ear, and I have to hold back the moan when he moves our fingers together, heady pleasure sending tingles racing across my body.

I keep my eyes focused on Nik, who starts to pump his hips in and out of my mouth, using me for his pleasure as Roman and I keep jerking him off and playing with my clit. My body starts to shake, the pleasure building in a way that I know I won’t be able to hide my orgasm from the others. I’m pretty sure Rowan must know what’s going on because he’s still right next to me and I can feel his eyes on me.

But my watery gaze is focused on the way Nikolai is unravelling, his movements getting faster, sweat beading his forehead. I’m in a similar state, tears streaming down my face from his rough handling as my body trembles with my impending orgasm.

Then Nik’s dick becomes a solid rod of steel in my mouth, his Russian curse filling my ears as he thrusts deep, giving me no choice but to swallow his cum as he pours it in hot spurts down my throat. At that moment, a sharp sting across my breast is accompanied by Roman pinching my clit, and with a throaty cry, I explode. Wetness coats mine and Roman’s hand, and my body tries to curl in on itself with the force of my climax, but Roman’s arm is banded tightly around me, keeping me upright along with Nik’s punishing grip on my hair, his dick still down my throat.

Just when dark spots start to dance in front of my eyes, Nik pulls out, and I slump in Roman’s arms, gasping.

“You taught her well, Lev,” he murmurs, and I feel Roman shudder at the praise and nickname. I make a note to ask Nik what it means, but the idea that he’s given Roman one doesn’t bother me. In all honestly, their interaction together was hot as fuck.

“Thank you,” Roman answers, and I sigh, snuggling into him as Nik’s grip on my hair loosens, his fingers brushing the side of my face.

“You came, naughty Kotenok,” he chides, but when I look up at him, he has a gentle smile on his plush lips.

“I won’t run away again, I promise,” I whisper, and he looks down at me, giving me a nod.

“Looks like I have two brats on my hands.” Hunt sighs, and I roll my head on Roman’s shoulder to look at upside down Hunt, who looks at us both with an exasperated fondness.

“You cut her?” Nik’s angry hiss has my head snapping back, my brows lowered to replace him crouched in front of me, his glare on Rowan.

I hiss a sharp breath when Rowan reaches out and traces a thin red cut that’s on the top of my breast. Blood trickles from the slice, but it’s not deep. My breath stills when Rowan, ignoring the seething Russian next to him, brings his finger up to his mouth and sucks it clean, and a small moan falls from my lips at the erotic sight.

“I–I don’t mind,” I whisper, tearing my gaze from Rowan’s to stare into Nik’s brown eyes. “I–I enjoyed it.”

His nostrils flare as he looks at me, and I’m not sure if he also likes the idea of cutting me or if he’s still annoyed that Rowan did.

“It will probably leave a scar, Kotenok,” he tells me in a measured tone, and I swallow again. The idea of having a mark permanently on my body that Rowan has given me leaves butterflies fluttering around my stomach, my core heating as something in my solar plexus settles.

“I don’t mind that either,” I say, turning my head to face Rowan as they are all still around me. “I like the idea of carrying your mark.” One side of his lips lifts in a half smile that is blinding, giving me the confidence to say the next thing. “But I want to leave one on you too.”

His gaze turns molten, and he’s pulling down the neckline of his vest in the next second, holding out the knife that still has a little of my blood on it. With trembling fingers, I reach forward, taking the blade and placing its keen edge against his pec, a mirror of the place he cut me. Swallowing, I press it into his flesh.

“Deeper,” he rasps out, and my gaze darts to his, to his clenched jaw as he stares at me with fire in his amber eyes. Nodding, I look back down at the blade, pushing it deeper into his skin, ruby blood welling as I drag it along, parting his flesh. My heart beats fast inside my chest, but my hand is steady as I cut him, pulling the blade away when I think it’s about the same size as mine.

Hands tangle in my hair, Rowan pulling me to his lips with a feverish intensity, and my grip tightens around the handle of the blade as he destroys me with his kiss. He tells me everything that he doesn’t say out loud with his lips and tongue, and having the others here too just feels so right.

Sudden tears spring to my eyes, knowing that this can’t last, that Nik will have to go and we will be incomplete once again. Rowan pulls away when a small sob falls from my lips, and Roman’s arms tighten around me as I take a shuddering inhale.

“I don’t want this to end,” I confess, looking into Rowan’s eyes, which soften as he registers my meaning. I see the way people look at him like he’s a psycho, like he doesn’t feel things, but he feels so keenly. He always knows what I’m thinking, sometimes before even I do.

He turns my face back to Nik, releasing his grip on my hair, Roman unwinding his arms so that I can go into Nikolai’s. I bury my face against his neck, breathing him in deeply as if I’m trying to stock up, and I am, because who knows when I’ll get to be in his arms again. And I fucking hate it, hate that we have to be apart when all of us being together feels so right.

“It’ll be okay, Solnishka,” he soothes, kissing my head and pulling me closer. “We’ll be together one day, I promise.”

“It’s almost time for your set, Roman,” Hunter says, and the grief that was threatening to drown me eases as curiosity filters in. “And you two should clean those cuts, put a plaster on them or something.”

Roman sighs, getting up along with Rowan, and then Nik helps me to my feet, still holding me as the feeling returns to my legs after kneeling for so long. I turn in his arms so my back is to his front, but I keep them wrapped around me for a little while longer.

“What set?” I ask, taking a deep inhale when Nik kisses the side of my neck.

“You’ll see, Princess,” Roman teases, a twinkle in his eyes. “You staying?” He nods to Nik, who shakes his head against me.

“I have other business to attend to tonight.” His hot breath pebbles my nipples when he sighs. “I just wanted to see Iris. I needed to see her.” His voice is soft against my skin, so I’m not sure the others heard his last words.

“And Sergi?” Hunt asks, though it’s more of a demand as he looks at us, his jaw clenched. I can’t tell if it’s the mention of Nik’s father or seeing us wrapped together, though he seemed okay when Nik was fucking me.

“Will be pissed when he discovers the estate empty,” Nikolai states, and all the guys tense, my pulse racing. “He won’t stop. He sees Iris as belonging to him and only misplaced for a short time. He’s planning something. He’s here tonight, so he knows you came, though I don’t know if he knows you brought Iris.”

Ice coats my insides at his words, at the fact that Sergi is keeping such a close eye on us. At the fact that he’s here, somewhere, waiting like a grim reaper, ready to steal me away.

“We won’t let him get to you,” Roman tells me, his tone fierce. “And maybe the news of your nuptials will help,” Roman hedges, and Nik freezes behind me.

“Fake nuptials,” I amend quickly, glaring at a smirking Roman. “It was a joke that kinda got out of hand.”

“It might add another layer of protection, make him hesitate,” Nik muses, his body relaxing slightly against my back. “But he’s taken men’s wives before, so I wouldn’t count on it.”

“We’ll keep her safe,” Hunt assures him, his green gaze hard as he looks at me. “Provided she doesn’t keep running off.”

“I won’t,” I rush, shaking my head. “Not again.”

“Good. Let’s get back out there. The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can go home,” Hunt states, holding out his hand, and part of my heart sinks at knowing I have to take it and walk away from Nik.

Before I can reach out, Nik spins me, slamming his lips onto mine and kissing me senseless. My fingers grasp his skin, tracing over the lines of his muscles as he kisses me, his tongue demanding entry, which of course I give him willingly. It’s bittersweet and full of longing, tears springing to my eyes at knowing that once it ends, I’ll have to leave him for fuck knows how long.

He ends the embrace slowly, reluctantly pulling away and pressing our foreheads together.

“Soon, Solnishko,” he whispers, then with a sigh, he lets me go, stepping back. Fingers tangle with mine, and I look to the side, my vision wavering, to replace Hunt there, his expression soft as he looks at me.

“We’ll take care of her,” he assures Nik again, who takes a deep inhale and loosens his grip on me.

I swallow the lump in my throat, biting my lips to stop the sob that wants to rip free as I allow Hunt to pull me away. Rowan opens the door and checks, stepping out before Hunt pulls me through, Roman following us.

I glance over Roman to see Nik still standing there, shirtless, his jaw tight as he watches me leave, and my heart cracks, pain radiating across all my limbs and in my very soul. Soon is too far away.