Page 29 of Run, Little Rabbit (Blood & Bonds #1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Maxim

I ’m lost in a pair of green eyes and a crown of red, tumbling waves. Echo haunts me and dogs my every step. Her touch lingers like a brand on my skin, and I want to claw it off. I smell her everywhere, and it’s like her essence has weaved its way into every part of me on a cellular level.

It’s been two days since they stole her back, and she’s all I can think about. How can someone leave such an impression in such a short space of time?

Add to that the problem with the Quinns encroaching on my territory, and I’m about to pull someone’s head from their shoulders.

“We need to fight back,” Lev says, voice thick and booming. The guy’s a brute at nearly seven foot tall, with broad shoulders and a buzz cut. There’s nothing refined about him. He’s a powerhouse of muscle and force and skilled in extracting information with his knuckles.

“And we will,” I say while rubbing my temples. A headache is coming on, and I can feel my pulse pounding around my brain, thumping against my skull like a hammer. “We are fighting back. We just need to put everything in place first.”

I couldn’t risk losing Echo. I’m about to rip her family to shreds, and at the end of it, I want her to choose us. That takes more planning than going to war. Going to war is easy. Making Echo believe she belongs with us… that’s going to be difficult.

But I knew something she didn’t. Something even her father didn't know, and if necessary, I'll use it to win her over. And if she doesn’t come with us, I’ll take her by force and keep her in the basement until she sees things my way. I’m not above using force to get what I want.

However, the men are pushing back. They don’t like waiting. I don’t blame them. They’re simple creatures, fuelled by anger and violence, which are great virtues in traditional thugs, but they lack the patience required for true warfare.

I’ll give them something to attack, something to keep them occupied and buy me a little more time to plan my end goals. “Niki, put on the big screen.”

Usually, I love the way he fights against my orders. That small twitch under his left eye as he suppresses his defiance, but today, it just pisses me off.

He does what I say though, walking to the opposite side of the meeting room to turn on the large screen that spans the length of the wall.

The meeting room is more like a small conference room.

There’s a large table in the middle of the room, made of dark mahogany, with seven chairs down each side and one at each end.

Naturally, I sit at the head of the table, Niki to my right and Angel to my left.

The heads of the smaller factions that make up my organisation sit in the other chairs.

The only one empty is the one opposite mine, and I know who I want sitting in it.

The walls are dark, and there’s a large oval light hovering over the table and casting a soft yellow glow. It makes the room feel intimidating. Close.

Angel frowns at me, and I can feel his gaze burning against my face. I have to ignore it because if I don’t, I’ll end up punishing his ass in front of everyone.

The screen bursts into life and shows a selection of properties that make up a portion of the Quinn portfolio.

Warehouses, casinos, small houses. They’ve all been vetted, and I know most will cause Rory Quinn a headache if they’re destroyed, but they won’t cause too much turmoil in the surrounding areas.

This is about hurting the Quinns, not everyone else.

I turn to Lev, my chin propped on my hand. “Pick one.”

The brute looks at me confused. “What?”

I sigh. All brawn and no brains. “You want to destroy something, pick one.”

“Max,” Angel starts, but I don’t let him finish.

I whip my head towards him and fire a frosty stare his way. “Do you have something you want to contribute?”

He purses his lips, weighing the decision to challenge me in front of the men or not. I can feel the eyes of every single one of them staring at me. I can’t look weak, and I can’t let Angel openly challenge me, even if he thinks he’s right to do so.

“The casino would be the best option,” Angel says flatly.

Oh, my boy is pissed, and it sets off something inside me. Something that burns like fire.

Niki raps his knuckles on the table, grabbing my attention. “Stop being an asshole.”

There’s an audible gasp from the men. I’d made learning sign language a requirement for those that work for me, and most of them knew the basics or at least enough to understand Niki's instructions. They also probably knew more curse words than actual words.

Rage burns through me like a hot knife. “What did you just say?”

Niki’s mouth curls up into a smug grin. “ Stop. Being. An. Asshole. ”

He signs the sentence deliberately slowly, that smug grin widening with every word.

“Lev!” I bark without looking at him. I can’t take my eyes away from Niki. He looks so carefree for someone who’s about to get punished.

“Yes, Boss?”

“Pick one of the properties and destroy it. I don’t care which. Just make sure there are no unnecessary deaths.”

“You got it.” Chairs scrape against the floor as all the men leave, and still my eyes remain fixed on Niki. Anger rages through my veins, hot and potent.

I wait until the last man leaves and the door closes softly before rising slowly from my chair. “Angel, can you give Nikita and me a moment alone?”

Niki’s grin turns feral. “ Let the angel stay. ”

“Nope. I’ve seen that look in Max’s eyes before. I am not staying to watch him rip you apart. I’d rather remember you as you are now, Niki,” Angel says solemnly as he rises from his chair. “Besides, if I stay, I think he’ll punish me too, and my ass is already sore. Been nice knowing ya, Niki.”

Angel chuckles as he leaves the room, and I’m left with the man who’s making my blood boil. “Do you enjoy challenging me at every fucking turn?”

He snorts and steps closer. “ Only when you need it. You were out of line earlier, and you know it .”

“No. Angel was out of line. I was merely—”

“ Showing him who’s boss?”

“Exactly.”

Nikita comes closer still, eating up the distance between us until he’s mere inches away. Up close, he uses his extra inches in height to tower over me, and it infuriates me for some reason.

“ Oh, it’s just darling that you think you’re the boss now .”

I narrow my eyes at him and try to rein in my temper. “I’m sorry, did I miss something? I thought my name was Maxim Volkov.”

Nikita rasps a breathy laugh, and it annoys me that he still seems so relaxed, and yet I’m the one wound up. I should be the one in control, but it’s slipping through my fingers like smoke.

“ Yes, Max. You’re the boss out there, but here— ” he flicks his fingers between the two of us, “— I’m in charge. And you’re going to like it.”

His hand grabs my throat in a firm grasp, halting any chance I have of escaping, and he pulls me closer.

So close I can count the eyelashes surrounding those ice-blue eyes.

They burn hot as they stare into my soul, and my knees threaten to pull me to the ground in a fucking bow. I snarl at him. I don’t bow to anyone.

“ That’s it, baby. Fight me.” He mouths the words slowly so he doesn’t have to sign. Hell, standing this close, there’s no room to fucking sign.

“Don’t call me that.”

Niki rasps deep in his throat, like a lion purring. “ Baby. ”

His lips brush mine with the syllables, and it feels like he’s branding me with the word. My entire body shudders, and the tension bleeds from every pore until I’m left standing there and relying on his hand to hold me up.

He pushes downward on my throat, a challenge in his eyes. When I don’t sink to my knees willingly, his eyebrow arches arrogantly. “ Kneel .”

I shake my head, throwing my own gauntlet down. “Make me.”

A flash of manic glee floods his face, and I realise I’ve played right into his hands. He wants to challenge me, and he wants me to fight back.

“ With pleasure. ”

He moves quick, far quicker than a man of his size has any right to.

He slams the heel of his hand into my sternum, winding me.

I step backwards and throw a chair into his path while I try to catch my breath.

The man just smiles at me like he doesn’t have a care in the world, and I itch to wipe that smug fucking grin off his face.

He lunges towards me, hurling the chair into the wall, and I turn on my heel and run.

I know it’s futile, though. Speed was never my strength, and it’s not long before I feel Niki slamming into my back and forcing me into the ground.

I scramble forwards, but he grabs my ankle, pulling me toward him.

He slides up the length of my body, and I’m reminded again how much bigger than me he is. I’m so used to being the strongest, the biggest, the man who made the decisions, but Niki makes me feel small. Vulnerable .

Still, my body kicks into survival mode, trying to escape the threat. I guess my subconscious needs persuading a little more that Niki doesn’t really mean us any harm.

I throw my elbow back, catching something solid. Niki hisses behind me, but my victory is short-lived. There’s a sound of a buckle undoing and the sharp hiss of leather being pulled through belt loops.

Fuck. I start to crawl up on my knees, but Niki slams his forearm down on the small of my back, and my limbs flail beneath me, sending me crashing to the floor. Niki grabs my waist and drags me backwards until he can settle his weight on my ass, pinning me helplessly beneath him.

“Fuck, you’re heavy.”

I look over my shoulder at him, his hair wild and eyes bright.

“ Hands,” he signs sharply.

I shake my head, struggling to give up the last vestiges of my control. But it doesn’t matter. Niki grabs them anyway and wrestles my arms up the length of my back. His leather belt is wrapped around my wrists tightly, the edges digging into my skin hard enough that they’ll leave marks.