Page 3 of Bratva’s Vow (Bratva’s Undoing #2)

CHAPTER THREE

WREN

T he moment we stepped inside TagX, I forgot how reluctant Maxim had looked moments before.

The place was a neon fever dream. Dark walls pulsing with streaks of blue and magenta light, upbeat music pumping through ceiling-mounted speakers, and black light-reactive murals of armored warriors battling on alien terrain lining every surface.

It was part nightclub, part battlefield, and somehow exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

“Whoa.” I took it all in. “Okay, this is actually kind of amazing.”

“Told you it’d be awesome.” Jess sounded smug, even though she was as new at laser tag as I was. I knew for sure she hadn’t known what to expect either.

A tall brunette in a sleek black-and-silver uniform greeted us at the counter with a glossy smile. “Welcome to TagX! You guys have a private session booked for six, yeah?”

“Yes, that’s us.” Jess stepped forward, retrieving her booking confirmation from her phone .

“I’m Casey, and I’ll be leading your briefing today.” She looked us over, her eyes lingering on Maxim a second too long, so I sidled closer to him. He chuckled and placed an arm around my waist.

“I’m Jess,” she said brightly, slipping her phone back into her pocket. “These two hunks behind me—Nik and Darius—are mine. Yes, both of them. No, you can’t have either of them. And no, it’s not confusing so don’t overthink it and make it weird.”

Casey blinked, caught somewhere between intrigued and terrified.

I poked Jess in the side. “Don’t think anyone asked you about the kinky details of your life.”

“But don’t you just love how she owns us without apology?” Nik was grinning from ear to ear. Even Darius’s lips were twitching while Sergei rolled his eyes.

Jess turned slightly, flashing her megawatt smile. “This moody snack with a scowl? That’s Sergei. Don’t worry. He only bites if you deserve it. But I have a feeling his bites are good, and he’s totes available, so shoot your shot, sweetie.”

“Please don’t,” Sergei groaned. “I’m only here because Maxim threatened he’d fire me otherwise.”

I gasped. “Maxim, you didn’t.”

He shrugged. “It’s your fault. You told me to convince him to tag along. You’re welcome.”

“And those two lovebirds”—Jess nodded toward me and Maxim—“are Maxim and Wren. They’re the vanilla of the group.”

“We’re not vanilla!” I cried. Where the hell did she come up with this kind of stuff?

“Just kidding, love, but thanks for confirming Maxim has turned you out.”

“Nik, Darius, control your woman,” I growled .

Nik, laughing, pulled Jess back between him and Darius while Casey grinned hard.

“I can tell you guys are going to be a fun bunch,” she said. “Let’s get you all geared up.”

As we followed her through the lobby, I leaned in toward Jess. “Trust you to be the only one who can do a full PowerPoint presentation from thin air.”

“It’s a gift, baby.” She winked. “Darius says I have a way with my mouth.”

I shook my head. “Oh, I bet he did.”

We were led into a low-lit prep room with metallic walls and rows of lockers. A giant flatscreen displayed a looping video of players ducking, diving, and lighting each other up with laser fire. In the corner stood two long racks of futuristic-looking vests and laser rifles.

Casey motioned us over. “All right, this is your base. You’ll be playing three rounds in total—Team Elara versus Team Orion.

Your gear will light up in your team color.

This button on the chest plate reactivates your shield after you get hit, and the trigger here”—she picked up one of the matte black rifles and pointed toward the grip—“fires your laser. Please aim for the vests only. No headshots, and absolutely no physical contact.”

As she went on about rules, zones, and emergency procedures, I was more focused on the equipment than anything else.

The vests were heavy but well fitted, the guns surprisingly sturdy.

Mine lit up a pulsing cobalt blue when I fastened it.

Maxim’s matched mine, and Sergei’s blinked to life a second later with the same icy hue.

“Wow, I’ve never held a gun,” I said. “This absolutely counts, doesn’t it?”

“Sure it does,” Maxim said, his voice tinged with humor. “You’ve never played laser tag?”

“Nope, it’s my first time, thanks to Jess. She always gets me to do the crazy stuff, so both of us will probably die together one day.”

Maxim cupped my face and dropped a kiss on my lips. “Don’t even make jokes about that.”

“Sorry.” I adjusted the vest over my hoodie. Sometimes he could be intense. Didn’t he know I had no plans of dying anytime soon? I hadn’t had enough of the good sex yet.

“Darius and I have played before,” Nik said.

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? But that’s not fair. It means your team has the advantage.”

“Yeah, but Maxim and Sergei are the better shooters, so it evens out.”

I stared at Maxim, my mouth dry. Like actual shooters? Was that what Nik meant? If Maxim noticed me looking at him, he deliberately kept his gaze averted.

Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all.

“Don’t worry.” Jess patted my shoulder. “We’ll go easy on you. For the first round anyway. The only thing my dad ever taught me was how to shoot a gun, but that was, of course, when he still approved of me.”

Jess had that hitch in her throat she sometimes got when she spoke about her family.

Unlike me, she’d had a “good” childhood, including parents who she thought loved and cared for her until she came out as trans and they rejected her.

Behind that boldness of hers, she was still affected by it.

I reached for her, but Darius beat me to it.

“You okay, beautiful?”

My heart melted for Jess. That she had the same thing I did. Men who cared about and respected her. Men who loved her. Men who saw her for who she was.

“I’m fine, love.” She grabbed his face and kissed him hard. “Will be even better when you help me beat your boss and his boy toy. ”

I didn’t bother to correct her that I wasn’t Maxim’s boy toy. I didn’t even mind if I was.

“The game’s mostly about strategy.” Sergei helped me to adjust my vest. “Keep moving, cover your teammates, and don’t panic when someone’s aiming for you.”

“I’m not going to panic.”

“He’s definitely going to panic.” Nik chuckled. “Just don’t cry when you lose.”

I stopped short of stomping my foot in frustration. Why did they all think I was soft? I wasn’t! I’d have to beat them and show them.

Maxim leaned in, slipping his hand to the small of my back. “Stick close to me. Sergei and I got this.”

That touch. That voice. Just like that, my nerves unraveled, and all I could think about was how good it felt to be near him. God, I was hopeless. But I didn’t want him fighting my battles.

“I’m not just a pretty face, Max. I’ll help.”

“Of course you will, baby.”

I rolled my eyes at his patronizing tone. It seemed I had two sides to convince that I was a valuable player in the game.

Casey reappeared. “You guys ready?”

We agreed in chorus, and then we were being led into the arena.

It was cooler in there, the air tinged with that plasticky-sweet smell of fog machines.

The space was huge, probably the size of a small warehouse, but designed like a futuristic war zone.

High platforms, narrow corridors, walls shaped like jagged rocks, glowing towers, and barrels that emitted low pulses of light like radioactive cores.

Overhead, strips of UV light bathed the arena in a disorienting alien glow. Laser lights flickered from above, and the pounding bass of electronic music made everything feel epic.

I was grinning like a kid at Christmas .

“Oh my god, this is incredible,” I whispered, trying not to trip over a curved ramp.

Maxim looked around with a frown, scanning the area too carefully. But then he saw me smiling and visibly relaxed. He stepped closer, brushed a thumb along my cheek. “Glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

Before I could say anything back, Casey’s voice rang out over the intercom. “Team Orion to the red zone. Team Elara to the blue zone. You have sixty seconds to reach your base.”

Nik gave a mock salute and jogged off with Jess and Darius toward the red-glowing tunnel. Jess blew me a kiss over her shoulder. “Prepare to eat my cosmic dust!”

Sergei grunted. “She’s going to be insufferable if we lose.”

“She’s already insufferable.” I adjusted my rifle. “And that’s why we can’t lose. We need to blow them to bits.”

“Damn, Wren. Didn’t know you were so bloodthirsty,” Sergei said.

Maxim chuckled under his breath and nodded toward the opposite path. “Come on. Let’s win this thing.”

With that, we took off into the blue-lit tunnel, hearts pounding, laughter trailing behind us.

I’d never felt more alive.

The game was chaos.

Beautiful, blinding chaos.

The moment the countdown hit zero, lights exploded across the arena. Flashes of blue and red darted between obstacles, bursts of laser fire echoing through the foggy air. I followed Sergei and Maxim toward a stack of glowing barrels, ducking behind cover while my heart thudded wildly.

The first few minutes were absolute mayhem.

Hilarious, ridiculous, joy-filled mayhem.

Once, Jess sprinted past me, laughing like a maniac while Darius chased her with the laser rifle held like a sniper as if they weren’t on the same team.

She ducked behind a pillar and popped out, screaming “PEW PEW!” while firing randomly.

Sergei, of course, was taking it too seriously, already barking commands like we were a real military unit. “Maxim, sweep the ridge! Wren, stop fiddling with your hair and tighten your grip on that gun. This isn’t a beauty contest!”

“Why can’t it be two things!” I yelled back, then deliberately shot him in the vest for being a buzzkill. It blinked red.

“Oh, you little?—”

“Haha! Lighten up, Sergei!” I sprinted off into the shadows, laughing.

At one point, Maxim and I cornered Darius near a glowing tunnel and instead of tagging him, Maxim pointed his gun and said, “Dance.”

“What?”