Page 20 of Run, Little Rabbit (Blood & Bonds #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Angel

T he ground crunches under my feet as I track her through the woods. She was careless, and tracking her is easy, even in the early morning light. But maybe that’s the point. Is she leading us into a trap?

Those first five minutes felt like the longest five minutes of my life.

I might have been against this from the start, but there is something a little thrilling about chasing her.

I was glad that Max agreed to the rules.

It wasn’t that I needed rules, but the illusion of safety settles my anxiety.

Especially where the Quinns are concerned.

Conor and Cillian had been great in bed, hands down, some of the best sex I’ve ever had, but they were scary.

Like, I’d rather die than stick around something scary.

They didn’t have rules, and they didn’t have any morals to hold them back.

They calculated odds and risks and did what they wanted without a care for anyone that might be caught in the crossfire.

Max was different. Yes, he was dangerous, but he at least felt empathy and guilt—I was pretty sure I was in love with the guy.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. Speak of the devil.

Max:

Any sight of her?

Nikita:

Nope ??

I snort. Niki hasn’t been this obsessed over anything, and I really hope he’s not the first one to find her.

Me:

I’m tracking her but not found her yet.

Max:

Keep your eyes peeled.

Nikita:

??

The guy cracks me up. He barely uses any words to text, instead preferring emojis to communicate.

Sometimes I just don’t think he likes words at all.

He didn’t talk much before his run-in with the hitman for the Caruso Family.

In fact, I think the guy says more now with his hands than he ever did with his mouth.

I’m still not sure about how I feel about the fact that Niki kissed Max.

We haven’t spoken about it yet, but I don’t think I mind.

Max and I have shared partners in bed before, but this feels different.

This is Niki . Cold, brutal, Niki. How long had the guy been pining over Max? Or was it Max that initiated it?

No, it wasn’t Max. Max and I always communicated when we wanted to introduce a third into the bedroom, and he’s never mentioned Niki joining us. Not once.

Don’t get me wrong, Niki is gorgeous, and I’ve certainly admired the guy from a distance, but it just hit me a little out of the left field. Knowing Max, he probably provoked Niki, thinking the brute wouldn’t take the bait, and I bet Niki kissed Max to prove a fucking point.

And what a kiss it was. The way Niki was bending Max backwards… jeez, my dick is hard just thinking about it. That dynamic is definitely something I wouldn’t mind watching.

A twig snaps to my left, and my senses go on high alert. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, not making a sound. A breeze passes by carrying a hint of lemon and a tang of blood.

She’s close.

I take off in her direction, my feet thudding on the ground. There’s a gasp and the sound of leaves crunching as she starts to run.

“Found you,” I croon as I get closer. I spy a flash of red hair behind a tree and dart towards her. Fuck, she’s fast . My chest heaves as I push to keep up, my lungs burning as I drag oxygen deep into them. She weaves between the trees and then disappears.

I skid to a stop by a thick oak tree, morning light filtering through the dark green leaves and dancing on the ground.

The only sounds I can hear are the deep breaths I’m taking and the rapid thud of my heart as blood rushes through my eardrums. I close my eyes and take a moment to listen, filtering out the sounds I make and focusing on the noises beyond.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

I step forward slowly, moving in the direction I’d last seen her, but she’s good at this. I can’t hear anything. No rustle of movement. No heaving breaths.

Just silence.

I pause again and wait. I’m a patient man, and for her, I’d wait forever.

I have to admit, I’m impressed. I didn’t expect Echo to be so capable. There’s definitely more to her than meets the eye, and I’m beginning to wonder what else this woman can do.

I’d trained as a doctor, got my medical licence and then decided I didn’t want to work in the hospital anymore.

It was too corporate, too much box ticking and not enough focus on actually taking care of people, so I left.

It wasn’t the best decision I ever made, but it did lead me to Maxim.

He’d caught my eye across a crowded bar where I’d been on the cusp of making a bad decision and going home with some bear of a guy, but then there he was.

Casually sitting in a dark velvet booth, a glass of bourbon dangling gracefully from one hand and those grey eyes glowing silver in the low light.

They captivated me, pulling me into his orbit with no chance of me even thinking about resisting.

It was inevitable. I didn’t know who he was then, but I could sense he was powerful.

Dangerous. And he called to the dark, frayed edges of my soul.

Little did I know that Maxim would be the key to unlocking the monster that lived in my skin.

I crave that feeling of mania, of letting go and just being free.

Of ignoring my inhibitions and surrendering to the violence within.

I can feel the energy humming under my skin the longer I chase Echo through the trees.

My fingers tingle, itching to do something .

I just don’t know what. Women have never done it for me.

I knew I was gay when I was fourteen and I saw my hot neighbour hosing down in the garden wearing nothing but a pair of tropical print board shorts.

He was a few years older than me and played rugby at school, and I remember the moment like it was yesterday.

I wanted to lick down his abs with my tongue, tracing the drops of water as they travelled down his torso.

But there is something about Echo that has me intrigued.

Maybe it’s the way she keeps evading us or the way she doesn’t seem fazed by the fact she’s been kidnapped.

I want to know more about her. I want to know what makes her tick.

I’ve never felt like this about a woman before, and it’s a little unsettling but also completely thrilling.

I know she’s here. I can feel her right by me, the sweet, sunshine scent of her dancing on the early morning breeze.

I close my eyes again and just listen, filtering out the background noise until I can hear Echo’s muffled exhales.

They’re slow and steady. Measured. I smile because I can tell she’s trying to blend into her surroundings, but there’s no way a woman like Echo Quinn could ever blend in.

I step up to the large oak tree and rest my back against it. I know she’s on the other side of the tree, and I stand there patiently waiting for the moment she sets off again.

“I know you’re there, Echo,” I say softly. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I know,” she replies. “But I want to. This is my kind of fun.”

Her voice is breathy and tinged with excitement. Maybe she’s just as mad as the twins.

“Are you going to run?” I ask, picking at the bark to keep my fingers busy. I find that when my hands are busy, my mind becomes quiet, and the mania that sometimes threatens to overtake me stays in the locked box that I try to keep it hidden in.

“Yes. I’m just catching my breath.” She pauses, but I can sense her holding back on something. “Why did you leave?”

Leave? Did she mean when I left the twins? “What do you mean?”

She sighs, and I can hear her feet scraping against the ground. “It doesn’t matter. It was a stupid question.”

“No such thing as a stupid question, Echo. I left because your brothers scared the shit out of me.”

“They hurt you?”

“Only when I asked them to.” They knew how to work my body over without damaging it, and they played out every single one of my fantasies whenever I asked.

After a couple of weeks with them I had tried more things sexually than I ever had before.

For that, I’d be forever grateful, but their lack of rules and disregard for my actual well-being made me wary.

“I didn’t like who I became while in their company.

My moral compass disappeared, and with it, my self-worth. ”

“I understand.”

“Why did you ask?”

She pauses again, and I stretch my hand around the tree, seeking hers. My little finger brushes hers, making her breath hitch. “It was nice just having someone in the house that wasn’t family, you know?”

No, I didn’t know, but I could guess at what she meant.

To always be on the outside looking in and be second best to her brothers.

Must have been a tough dynamic to grow up in.

Now I kind of got why she was more capable than she seemed.

Having to push harder, train harder and fight harder than anyone else just to prove a point.

That her being a woman didn’t diminish her abilities to have a place in the family.

Anger rushes through my veins, making my blood fucking boil . If I ever get my hands on Rory Quinn, I’ll kill him.

“Is it time to run again?” she asks, wrapping her little finger around mine like a childhood promise.

I step around the tree and get my first proper look at her.

Her hair is wild, scratches decorate the bottom of her legs and the sides of her arms from where she’s run through the bushes, but it’s her eyes that hold me captive.

They’re bright and wild, swimming with a ferocious determination, and for the first time, I feel a shred of doubt. Perhaps the brute was right.

Perhaps she would destroy us all.

“I’ll count to ten,” I say, my voice a little breathy with anticipation.

Her pink lips pull into a wide smile as she takes a step backwards.

“One. Two. Best start running, Echo.”

She turns on her heel and darts off deeper into the woods, her red hair fanning out behind her like a crown of flames. I barely make it all the way to ten before I’m running after her, a grin on my face and my heart pounding in my chest.