Page 57 of Run, Little Rabbit

“How do you know I wasn’t planning your funeral?”

He steps closer, his eyes level with mine, and I’m suddenly lost in their depths. Those pale blue chips of ice that see so much but say so little. “Because you look at me like you don’t know what to do with me. I intrigue you. Kai just pisses you off.”

My brows deepen as I stare deeper into his eyes, annoyed that he can see right through me. The mandoesintrigue me. I don’t even know his real name, yet at the touch of a button, he can know practically everything about me.

“I agree with you, though. If I get the chance, I might just put a bullet in him myself,” Sphinx says with a chuckle, his black-rimmed eyes sparking with mischief. “Or let the twins have some fun with him.”

“What’s that about the twins?” Kai asks as he straps on his bulletproof vest.

Sphinx rolls his eyes and heads to the back of the Jeep to gear up, leaving me to deal with this idiot.

“Nothing,” I grumble.

“Yoh, Sphinx, did you hear about the head that got delivered to them?” Kai asks with a snort.

Sphinx’s bright white mop of hair pops out from behind the Jeep. “What? Who sent that?”

“The Volkovs. Probably Nikita,” Kai says with an appreciative grin. “Message came through on the group chat.”

The group chat I’m not part of. I might work for the Quinns, but it was clear that I’m not welcome in the inner circle. Probably another reason that Kai pisses me off.

“Whose head was it?” Sphinx asks as he comes towards me. I do a quick scan of his gear, and I’m surprised he’s managed to put it all on correctly. Perhaps he’s more capable than I thought.

“Alex McLoughlin. It was hand-delivered to the twins’ apartment with a note that said, ‘To Conor and Cillian, I hereby return your rat, his head severed with love’.” Kai checked his guns and holstered them. “Guess we’re getting ready for war.”

Well, shit. This gives Echo’s kidnapping a whole new meaning. Whether it was planned or not, Maxim Volkov has handed Rory Quinn a solid reason for joining in a war. No wonder he doesn’t want me to kill them straight away. He wants the satisfaction of tearing the Volkov Empire down first.

“Come on, let’s move.” I don’t bother waiting to see if they follow. If they know what’s good for them, they’ll stay the fuck out of my way. “And Sphinx, put a fucking hat on.”

We reach the edge of the tree line, and I slow our pace down to a silent, barely-there step. I drop to a knee about five feet from the open field and pull my rifle up to view through the scope.

That’s when I see her. And I can’t seem to process what I’m looking at.

“Is that… an orgy?” Sphinx asks as he kneels down next to me, binoculars pressed against his eyes. “Jesus, fuck. It is. It’s fuckinghot. I didn’t know Echo was into th—”

I slap the back of his head. “Stop watching.”

He looks at me with a pout and puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Why?” He grins widely. “Is it having an effect on you?”

“Yes,” I reply, and his eyebrows fly upwards. “It’s making me want to punch you in the face.”

He scowls at me and looks back through the binoculars, and I do my best to ignore the sound of Echo orgasming from across the field. What the fuck is she doing? Buying time? I thought she’d been kidnapped. Was this her plan all along? Was she already involved with them?

My mind runs at a thousand miles a minute, trying to come up with every goddamn reason under the sun to explain what I’m seeing, but nothing makes sense.

Why is shewiththem? And why all three of them?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I look up and find Kai staring at Echo with a sneer of disgust on his face. His jaw is clenched, and his fingers are twitching by the holster on his hip.

“You can’t kill them,” I remind him, even though I very much want to.

He looks at me, his honey eyes full of anger and pain. Maybe it’s a good thing he’s seeing her with someone else. Maybe now he’ll move the fuck on.