Page 43 of Run, Little Rabbit

“Fucking son of a dickbag,” she moans as her arms slump.

She’s fucking perfect.

I untie the cords from her wrists and rub the circulation back into her fingers. She hisses and winces.

“Sorry,”I sign.

“That’s okay,”she signs back.“They’re just sore.”

Her signing is a little rough, her fingers blocky and the words a little jagged and unordered, but the fact that she signs formemakes something inside me flutter.

Angel takes a step towards us and reaches out to inspect her wrists. “Let me take a—”

I snarl at him like a feral beast warning someone away from his territory. He holds his hands up placatingly and wisely moves backwards.

“Nikita,” Maxim barks, and my shoulders tense. Great. The man is in full Boss mode. “Let Angel take a look at her wrists.”

“My wrists are fine,” Echo grumbles, pulling them out of my grasp. She steps in front of Maxim and holds her hand out. “So, we’ve set the rules and the boundaries of the race. If I reach the boundary, you have to let me go. Do we have a deal?”

Max wraps his large hand around hers and gives it a firm shake. “We have a deal.”

“Maxim. A word,” Angel says curtly, and the smiling demon walks off to the corner with his precious angel. I wonder what that’s about.

“Stay here.”

She hits me with a flat look. “Where am I going to go, He-Man?”

I roll my eyes at her and join the other two and their agitated whispers.

“—could start a war, Max?” Angel hisses.

“We’re already at war. The Quinns just don’t know it yet.” Max’s voice is low and lethal.

Angel’s face pales to a sickly white. “What have you done?”

“Sent a head to the twins.”

“The fuck?” Angel yells.

I slap his arm and throw a quick glance at Echo. Unsurprisingly, she’s watching us like a hawk. “Keep your voice down.”

“That’show you disposed of the body?” Angel asks, incredulity lacing his words. “You sent Alex’s head to the twins?”

Max shrugs. “I thought it was poetic. I can’t have them thinking I’m an easy mark because I let them have a conversation with one of my men. I needed to send a message, and Niki delivered it for me.”

Angel pinches the bridge of his nose. “And this? This chasing Rory’s daughter through the woods is just forfun?”

“Yes,” Max says. “But if Rory Quinnhappensto turn up to rescue his daughter, I won’t waste the opportunity.”

“He’s not going to turn up himself.”I doubt Rory was the kind of guy to get his hands dirty. He’ll probably send a small team in to get her back.“We need to be on guard.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere, Nikita. We’ll see him coming if he finds this place.” Again with using my full name. Max is starting to get pissed.

“I’m just saying—”

“I hear you.” Max turns the full weight of his stare on me and it sets my insides sizzling. “But having Echo here can only be a good thing. I want to know what Rory Quinn is playing at. And I can use her as leverage to get the information I want.”

His words leave a sour taste in my stomach.