Page 39 of Run, Little Rabbit (Blood & Bonds #1)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Echo

“ I t’s simple.”

“The best ones usually are,” Angel mutters as he plays with one of my braids, twisting the length of it around his fingers and tugging on it occasionally.

I’m enjoying the sensation because every time he pulls on it just a little too hard, desire fizzles across my scalp and a shiver runs down my spine.

He must notice because he keeps doing it.

Niki rests his head on my thigh as I keep running my fingers through his hair. His breathing is deep and slow and relaxed. Who knew the giant psychopath would love to be petted so much? Maybe he’s just soft for me?

“I’m going to take down my father,” I say, and it feels good to say the words out loud.

“Why?” Angel asks, an adorable, puzzled frown perched above his eyes.

“Because he had my mother murdered.”

“Bastard,” Angel hisses.

Niki bares his teeth in a snarl. “I’m going to mince him into tiny little pieces and feed him to some pigs.”

I snort. “Do people really do that?”

He shrugs. “ I’ve always wanted pigs. Perhaps this is the reason I finally get some.”

“You’re crazy,” I say with a laugh.

Niki looks affronted, his lips parted on a silent gasp.

“You’re only just figuring this out now,” Angel says, a golden eyebrow cocked.

“Of course not,” I reply. “Just reaffirming my belief.”

Max is still flipping the little calling card between his fingers, concentration tugging at his features. “How have you gotten away with this for so long?”

A little smile creeps up my face. “I had help.”

“ If you mean that asshole who shot me, I’m going to be pissed. ” Niki bares his teeth, and I’m reminded that even though he’s sitting like a house cat at my feet, this man has a violent soul .

I tug at his hand to stand up so I can see the wound. Leaning forward, I roll up the hem of his tight-fitting black tee and see the graze sitting above his hip bone. Jesus, the guy has some muscles. I want to spend some time exploring every dip and ridge with my tongue.

“ You look like you want to eat me,” Niki says as he watches me ogle him.

I stare straight into his eyes. “I do. I want to sink my teeth so deep into your skin that I take a piece of you with me.”

Niki visibly shudders beneath my fingers. “ You shouldn’t say things like that, Rabbit.”

“Why?” I ask innocently, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

“Because it makes me want to eat you alive.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.” I push my thumb into the skin just above the graze, and Niki hisses through his teeth. “Besides, that ‘asshole’ who shot you is a highly ranked sniper. You should be grateful he wasn’t aiming to kill.”

“ A sniper?” Niki says, licking his lips. “ Does he like to play too?”

I snort. “That’s never going to happen, He-Man. He’s straight, and he doesn’t like to share.”

Niki pouts at me and both Max and Angel let loose chuckles that have my heart clenching in my chest. This little quartet is where I want to be.

They’re a little wild, a little manic, but I feel like I belong here.

That I’ve found where I fit, and I just want to bask in the warmth that’s spreading from my chest all the way to my toes.

Angel tips my head back and looks down at me with warmth in his eyes. “What’s put that goofy smile there?”

“Oh, just thinking about you three and loving who I am with you and how you make me feel.”

“Well, damn, sugar,” Angel purrs. “Ain’t that just about the sweetest thing you’ve said.”

My smile takes over my face, and Angel presses a kiss against my temple.

Loved. I feel loved . It’s strange and unusual and terrifying.

What if this feeling is fleeting? What if they tire of me or what if they get killed like my mum did?

Is love worth the risk of losing everything? Of losing them?

Or maybe this feeling is everything .

“Come on,” Max says, pulling my attention towards him. “Tell me what you want from us in order to take down your father.”

“Well, Sphinx has already sent the images and my calling card—”

“Sphinx?” Max asks, a curious expression drawing his brows down over his dark eyes. I see the moment recognition hits him when his eyes widen slightly and he makes a silent ‘Ah’ with his lips. “I wondered where he ended up. I’m intrigued how he found his way to you.”

“Underground fight clubs,” I reply with a waggle of my eyebrows.

“Of course,” he snorts. “Why am I not surprised?”

Niki snaps his fingers at Max. “ Move .”

“Excuse me?” Max says, bristling at the command.

“Ooh, the dynamic between these two is hot,” Angel whispers in my ear. “Max fights him at every turn until Niki makes him give in.”

I can see the defiance in Max’s eyes, the unwillingness to surrender, while Niki just stares down at him with a smug little grin on his handsome face. Jesus, you could cut the tension between the two of them with a goddamn knife.

Niki tuts at him, and Max’s nostrils flare.

“ Naughty boy. ” Niki grabs Max’s thigh in an iron grip, squeezing the muscle until Max flinches in pain.

“Alright!” he eventually capitulates, shuffling up the sofa and leaving enough room for Niki to sit. He plonks his ass right in the middle and then turns his fiery blue eyes towards me.

“ Come here. ”

“Why?”

Niki huffs in frustration. “Because these two have both gotten off, and I’m still sat here with a raging hard-on. So get that pretty little ass over here so I can feel the heat of your cunt warming my dick.”

“Aww,” I pout. “Are you feeling a bit left out, He-Man?”

“Yes, now come and make me a bit happier.”

I slide over to him, but he grabs my waist and situates me with my back pressed against his chest. He wraps his hands around my knees and pushes my legs wide, hooking them over his own.

It’s not uncomfortable, but it does feel a little vulnerable.

One move and the world would be able to see my pussy as clear as fucking day.

It's actually a little thrilling, and I suddenly wonder what it would be like to do this in a more public place.

Hmm, I wonder which of my guys would be up for that?

Max, probably. I can see it now. I'm sitting on his lap, legs spread, his hand tucked under my skirt, fingers buried in my pussy, chatting away to Angel as if he doesn't care that he's seconds away from making me cum. Niki would sit opposite, watching, his eyes holding mine and waiting for the moment I would come undone under Max’s fingers.

Jesus fucking Christ. Heat travels up my neck and along my cheeks as I think about it. My pussy is dripping and clenching around nothing but wanting to be filled by something that can take away the sudden ache of need. Seems these men are helping me realise a number of kinks I never knew I had.

Niki shifts me slightly, positioning me so my ass lines up perfectly with his erect cock. A little moan bubbles out of my throat, and Niki huffs a breath that tickles the shell of my ear as my weight settles on his dick, but that’s all the reaction I get from him.

“—do we fit in?”

“Huh?” I was so lost in my little daydream that I didn’t realise Max was talking.

He looks at me fondly, a warmth in his gaze as the blush across my cheeks deepens to a bright scarlet. “I was asking how we fit into your plan to overthrow your father, but I’m much more interested in what brought that colour to your cheeks.”

“Nothing,” I squeak, and the guys chuckle.

“Fine, keep your secrets,” Max says languidly. “But we will be coming back to that, pet. I’ll make you tell me, of that you have my word.”

I gulp, the threat in his words sending a delicious thrill zipping down my spine.

Max grins wide as he relaxes back into the arm of the sofa. “So, what do you want from the Volkovs, pet?”

God, that fucking word has my pussy clenching and my hips rolling of their own accord. “I wanted to set in place an alliance.”

“And what would the twins say about that?” Max says, his head cocked to one side and his gaze a little intimidating.

“Well, actually, I think you’d find they’d be all for it.”

“What?” Max says shortly.

“Conor and Cillian have been learning everything they can about you and the Volkov ways.”

“And learning all our secrets,” Max spat, clearly unhappy that the twins had been sticking their nose in where it didn’t really belong. I couldn’t fault Max for that. If a Volkov had been poking their nose into my business, I’d have wanted to cut it off.

“To be honest, I think they were analysing you and how you work to understand you and work out what would entice you the most. One thing you need to know about my brothers is that they are methodical. They won’t stop until they understand everything, and for them, gathering intel is key.”

Max is still frowning, and I want nothing more than to alleviate his worries.

“Look,” I say as I lace my fingers with his. “The twins don’t think like we do. They look at risk and calculation and make decisions based on data. They don’t work with gut feeling or instinct; they think it’s beneath them.”

“It’s true,” Angel adds. “They’re methodical to the bone and make decisions without any thought about what’s right or wrong. Morals never mattered to them.”

I sometimes forget that Angel experienced the twins intimately, and I shudder to think what they put him through.

He doesn’t look scarred by it, but he certainly didn’t stick around.

It does intrigue me though, and the conversations I had with the twins earlier pops into my head.

“Did Conor ever have sex with you, or was it just Cillian?”

Angel’s brows hit his hairline, and his mouth bobs a little, like he’s a fish out of water. “Well, no. He was involved but only ever really got to a point before stopping and just watching. At first, I thought it was a kink, but after a while it seemed more like confusion. Why?”

“Oh, something Cillian said earlier. Just surprised me is all. I always think of the twins being so certain about themselves and the world that when they doubt something about themselves, I find it a little fascinating.” I wasn’t going to go into any more detail than that because it felt like an invasion into their privacy, and it wasn’t my place to gossip about their sexuality.

Didn’t stop me from being damn curious, though.

Something that was probably coming out of the fact that the twins and I were a lot closer than we had been in years.

I wanted to know them and understand who they were more than I did now.

Pretty sure I was just as fascinated about them as they were about me.

“ I can’t wait to spend some time with them ,” Niki says, and his grin is almost wider than his face. “ I’ve a feeling we’re going to be best friends.”

I roll my eyes. There is absolutely no way I’m letting the three of them sit in a room alone. It would probably turn into a bloodbath.

“Whether your brothers wanted to start a war or not, we are on the brink of one.” Max brushes his thumb along the back of my hand as he talks.

“I think that’s more my father’s doing than theirs,” I add, pursing my lips in thought. “Conor and Cillian are looking to the future where the Quinn name carries weight beyond the limits that my father has constrained it to.”

“Interesting,” Angel muses as he rests his head on his fist, his elbow cocked on the back of the sofa. “And they’re happy forming an alliance with their enemy?”

I snort. “Do we even know why we’re enemies anymore?”

Nothing but silence answers my question, and I think that says it all.

“Look, I’m not saying it’s going to be a perfect partnership, but with me here with you and an alliance with the twins, you can’t deny we wouldn’t be a force to be reckoned with. Wouldn’t you agree?” I ask Max, who is sitting there with his finger tracing his top lip, deep in thought.

“I would agree,” he replies slowly. “But the twins have a habit of causing problems.”

I grin, wide and bright. “Only when they want to, and trust me, they want this partnership to work just as much as I do, so I can promise they won’t cause you any trouble.”

Max raises a brow at that, and Niki huffs a laugh that hits the shell of my ear.

“ I don’t think the twins are capable of playing nice ,” Niki says, a scowl smeared across his brow.

I sigh, long and deep. This is a much more difficult conversation than I expected.

“What would convince you that the twins are in this for the long game? They want more than just violence and war. They want to invest in their future and the future of the Quinns. They aren’t interested in keeping the conflict between our two families going, and neither am I.

If we can get rid of my father, I know things will change. ”

“Would you stay with us?” Max asks, his eyes fixed on me with a determination that I feel all the way to my core.

I stare back at him, my gaze unflinching. “Absolutely.”

He stills for a moment, taking the time to assess me and I suddenly feel like I’m under a microscope. “Okay.”

That’s all he says. Two tiny syllables that have the power to change everything.

He stands up and rebuttons his shirt, tucking the edges back into his pants and looking more put together than I feel. “We need to get Rory to a location we can control. Echo, you will send a message as the Six Minute Killer to suggest a meet-up at the old Abbey ruins.”

I nod along, agreeing with the location.

The ruins are far out enough that there won’t be anyone around, and there’s a big open space, so my dad won’t be able to really hide anyone he brings with him.

It’s a good spot, and I can feel the hunger for revenge starting to gnaw at my insides. “Okay, but what about—”

The door to the office slams open, and in walks Veon, looking like he’s about to raise Hell on Earth. His rifle is casually slung over one shoulder, sunglasses perched on his face, and there’s a grim twist to his pretty mouth.

Sphinx strolls in behind him but stops dead when he sees me and the guys cuddled up on the sofa. “Well, this looks like fun. Can I join in?”