Page 44 of Run, Little Rabbit (Blood & Bonds #1)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Echo

“ H ow much ammunition have we got?” Veon asks as he cocks his gun.

“You’re seriously suggesting we fight our way out of here?” Angel says, his eyebrow cocked.

Veon cocks his head to one side, that scowl I used to like so much sitting above his pretty eyes. “You got a better idea?”

I glance at the dance floor, quickly counting up the thugs, and realise there’s at least twenty people down there, and who knows how many are waiting outside.

I recognise a few of the faces. Some of them are just street thugs, but there are a few better-known hitmen down there, including Sphinx’s Santiago. “I fancy our chances.”

“Of course you do,” Max says with a fond chuckle as he pulls a gun from his top drawer. Jeez, the man looks lethal holding a gun. Those dark grey eyes and the rolled-up sleeve shirts showing his tattoos and Christ on a cracker—I want to lick his arms. That’s unhealthy, right?

Meh, like I care.

I stroll over to him and wrap my fingers around his wrist.

“Echo, what are you—”

Max’s words falter as I swipe my tongue along the length of his forearm. The dark hairs on his arm rasp against my tongue, and the flavour of him consumes my taste buds. It’s spicy and dark, like his cologne, but underneath that are notes of him. Smoky and salty.

“What was that for?” Max asks, a little amused smirk tugging at his mouth.

I shrug. “I wanted to know if your forearms tasted as good as they looked. They do, by the way. You taste like you stepped out of hell.”

Angel snorts next to me. “Don’t encourage him. He already thinks he’s a devil.”

“Yeah, but at least he’s our devil.”

A possessive spark burns in his eyes, turning them a brighter shade of silver. His eyes hold mine for a long moment, and heat prickles over my skin. The combination of his taste and our impending fight for survival has a heady feeling taking over my body. I’m practically humming with adrenaline.

Niki wraps a possessive arm around my waist and pulls me against his chest. “ Is the thought of killing people turning you on, Rabbit?”

He scrapes his teeth along my jaw, and a shiver takes hold of my spine.

“As much as this is hot and all,” Sphinx grumbles. “Don’t you think we should be planning an escape?”

“Party pooper,” I say with a pout before looking up at Niki. “But yes, it’s turning me on.”

He answers my statement with a wolfish grin before walking over to the shelving on one side of the room, opening the cabinet and revealing a hidden space behind it. A hidden space full of weapons.

“Be still my beating heart,” I say with reverence as I walk towards it. So many pretties. My eyes dart over the collection, and ooh, there’s even a baseball bat. And is that a machete?

“I think our girl has died and gone to heaven,” Angel says, his tone warm and sweet like honey.

He steps up next to me and loads up on weapons, tucking some in pockets and one down the back of his pants.

He throws a holster on, and all of a sudden, instead of looking like an angel, he’s transformed into a being that could tear me to pieces in seven different ways.

I trail my finger over the leather strap crossing his chest. “I know we don’t have time now, but this is something I definitely want to play with.”

Angel smiles at me, and there’s something unsettling about the way it sits on his face. It’s a little unnatural, and I’m starting to wonder whether there might be something incredibly dark lurking beneath the surface of his sweeter nature.

I turn my attention back to the weapons in front of me.

I’ve already got a set of throwing knives strapped to my upper thigh, hiding beneath the hem of my dress, but I grab a holster and load up with two guns, some ammo and the baseball bat.

I nearly grab the machete, but Niki steps up beside me and wraps his fingers around the handle before I even get the chance.

“ This is mine,” he says, and fuck, does he look good with it.

I need to stop getting distracted and remind myself that my vagina needs to stay in my pants. She can come out to play later. When we’ve killed people and got covered in blood.

Fuck, the threat of impending chaos and death is like a goddamn calling card.

My fingers squeeze around the handle of the baseball bat, grounding me in the moment.

The murderous haze starts to creep into the edges of my vision, and I know, as soon as I start swinging the bat, I’ll be lost to it.

To the bloodshed, the anarchy, the feel of life leaving my victims at my hands.

A whimper makes its way out of my throat, and I clench my thighs together, the excitement getting the better of me.

“Come on, let’s get a plan together before Echo cums on the spot,” Max says, his tone all business and sexy as fuck. “We’ll split into pairs and make our way to the exit at the back. The corridors are narrower in that part of the building.”

“What if there are people already waiting at the rear?” Veon asks gruffly.

“Then we will have to deal with them. Look, I’ve got an SUV parked out the back—” Max hands a key to Veon.

“—that’s the spare key. I’ve got the other.

We don’t have enough time to get into more detail than that.

Just head for the SUV and pray we all make it.

Veon, you’re with Echo. Sphinx with me, Angel and Niki; you make the final pair. ”

My eyebrows raise a little at his pairings, but I trust his judgement. Although I can guess why I’m with Veon, the niggle that he’s going to stay behind with the others to give Veon and me the best chance at surviving crosses my mind, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

“Sphinx and I will go through the VIP section with Niki and Angel. You two, down the back stairs. Hopefully there will be less people there.” Max steps forwards, wraps his hand around the back of my neck and presses his forehead to mine. “Stay alive, Echo. Please.”

I cup his jaw with my free hand and press a soft kiss against his lips. “I’ll do my best.”

Then Max steps back, cocks his gun and steps towards the glass door.

Angel presses a kiss against my temple, and warmth settles in my core. “See you on the other side, sugar.”

Niki’s kiss is quick and hard, his eyes flashing wildly in the dark. “ Don’t have too much fun without me, Rabbit. ”

I snort. “Not possible, He-Man.”

Sphinx catches my eye, and he’s gnawing his bottom lip.

I point the baseball bat at him. “When we get through this, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

He grins at that and rolls his eyes, but I see an evening of vodka shots and interesting stories in our future.

I double-check the straps on my holster and then raise my bat to rest on my shoulders. “Okay, gang. Let’s go kill some bitches.”

There are bodies everywhere. Limbs and blood coat the floor, and I’m covered in cuts, grazes and bruises. Pretty sure I’ve got some brain matter on my shoe as well. I hope that comes out in the wash because I love these shoes.

Veon moves ahead of me, gun held out in front of him at the ready.

We are nearly at the back exit, and there were so many people we had to make our way through.

I had no idea where they kept coming from.

It was like you killed one of them, and another sprouted in their place.

I’d lost track of the others when Veon and I left the dance floor.

Niki had been severing limbs with lethal accuracy, Angel at his back shooting anyone who got near them.

Max and Sphinx I hadn’t seen since we left the office. God, I hope they were okay.

“Do you still have the phone?” I ask Veon, my chest heaving while we take a quick breather. The back door looms in front of us, the low-lit exit sign beckoning us towards it like a moth to a flame.

He turns to look at me, blood covering his face. There’s a nasty-looking slice across his right cheek, and my heart clenches. He’s injured because he was trying to protect me. Fuck. This is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I’d just left Bennie alone.

“Hey,” Veon says softly. “It’s just a scratch. It will heal. And yes, I still have the phone.”

He taps his left breast pocket, and my eyes track the blood on his hands. Fucking hell, this is a mess.

“I’m sorry, Veon. I never meant for this to happen.”

His expression softens, and he lowers the gun for a moment. “Echo, it’s my duty to protect, and I will do that for as long as I can. Now, we’re nearly there. We just need to get through whatever is on the other side of this door. You never know; we might be lucky and there’s no one there.”

I snort. “That’s unlikely.”

“True,” he says with a genuine grin. “But we can always hope. You’re probably going to want the gun for this bit.”

I look down at the bloodied bat and pout.

It’s been fun swinging this around, but I know Veon’s right.

I’m going to need something a bit more lethal for what awaits us next.

I place the bat against the wall and almost shed a tear.

I pull a gun out of the holster, and the weight of it settles in my grip.

I’m not a massive fan of guns, but they are handy in situations like this.

Not that I make a habit of being in a shoot-out. It’s not exactly good for your health.

“Ready?” Veon asks, cracking his neck and settling a hand on the back door.

“Yep,” I reply with a sharp nod.

He pulls the car key out of his pocket and hands it to me.

“No. I’m not taking that.”

“Echo, please. If one of us needs to get out of this alive, it’s you.

Please take it.” The look he gives me is filled with desperation, and I can’t refuse.

So, though it makes my heart shatter with the knowledge that I might have to leave him behind, I wrap my fingers around the key and shove it down my bra, cursing these assholes for choosing to attack the night I’m wearing something without any damn pockets.

“On the count of three then. One…”

I take a deep breath and adjust the grip on my gun.

“…Two.”