Page 14 of Capture (Primal #3)

T he GPS cut out,” I told Mikky on the phone. He must be in the bar because I could hear tinkling glasses and chatter in the background. “But we can check out the location before it dies, hoping he might not be too far away.”

“Yep,” he grunted quietly, keeping his reply short because he didn’t trust who was in his earshot. “We’ll sort something. Where are you now?”

“Just finished class and heading back to the club,” I told him as I walked back to my car.

“Good. Wait,” he asserted as he seemed to be walking somewhere, and I assume he wanted me to wait on the line until he found somewhere private and secure to talk.

A door closed, and the background noise vanished.

“I was contacted by someone who wants to talk to me, and I think it would be wise if you were in the room.”

“To tell you their demands?” I assumed he was referring to the Ivanovs wanting a deal in exchange for Gunner.

“No. He’s not one of them, although it doesn’t seem that way on the surface,” he explained, still keeping his tone steady. “That’s why I want a second pair of eyes and ears. The Russians haven’t made contact yet. I assume that’s because they’ve been on the move with Gunner.”

“No problem. I’ll be there in an hour,” I glanced behind me and noticed a shady character nearby. “I think I’m being followed.”

“Chill out,” he suggested. “Don’t act as if you’re alarmed by them. We don’t want them to think they’re winning.”

“How’s Annika?” I had to ask, since no one was guarding her room, which allowed her to bang on the door and grab attention.

He hesitated before answering, “She’s fine,” his tone softened, which was surprising, considering that his jaw tensed every time her name was mentioned.

“It’s after four, Mikky, so that the girls will be up in the rooms,” I pointed out, trying not to sound bossy.

“I have both keys for that door, so they couldn’t let her out even if she were dumb enough to make a fuss. Besides, the girls and their clients would be wise to keep their mouths shut if they knew what was good for them,” he explained, and I nodded in agreement.

The girls were good at keeping quiet about the married men, the paid members, who came to see them every week, so they’re more likely to keep their noses out of the business going on in the end room down the hall.

“Alright. I’ll check on her when I get to work,” I offered, mostly because I was looking forward to seeing her.

I tried to downplay my feelings for her in front of Mikky, but it was almost impossible to suppress my eagerness to see her again.

I was torn about Annika being locked in that room.

On one hand, I knew where she was at every moment of the day and night.

However, on the other hand, I caught and trapped my selkie, and no wildling should be caged. Vivacious and beautiful creature swimming in that forest pool that tantalized my curiosity, but now that fight and spirit were dying.

Once behind the wheel of my car, I searched for the guy following me, then spotted a familiar car cruising by slowly.

It was the blond cop from Larsson, and the man who followed me was driving.

So, we had to deal with the Ivanovs and the police, but these two were outside the jurisdiction so that they couldn’t arrest me without permission from the Gothenburg Police.

I drove at a moderate speed from campus back to the inner city while the cop car followed.

What were they expecting? My life consisted of attending classes, working on assignments, working at the club, and sleeping.

There was little deviation from that schedule, so were they hoping I would… Then a thought crossed my mind.

I wondered if Mikky was right and the Ivanovs were working with the Larsson police.

They were watching me to see if I’d search for Gunner, then what?

Should I be arrested for looking for my friend?

Nah, something stinks. Gunner’s kidnapping might be a setup, so they pin it on Mikky again.

Their number one goal was to get him back in prison.

Crooked cops were the fucking lowest of the low.

I parked in the staff parking lot under the building and took the elevator up to the club. Then, I stopped to peer out the front reception windows, spotting the police parked down the road. I rolled my eyes, then, when I turned around, Betty was standing there wearing a wide scarlet smile.

“Can I help you, Mr. Bryne?” she asked, forcing a cheery tone.

“No, I’m fine,” I answered as a shiver traveled down my spine. “And since when did you call me Mr. Bryne? What happened to first-name basis?”

“Sorry. Have a good day, won’t you, Ronan?” she insisted, and something stirred in my stomach. She was guilty as fucking sin, yet we still needed evidence before we took action. We were surrounded by snakes and rats in human form, waiting eagerly for one of us to screw up.

I messaged Mikky to ask where he was located, so I could grab the key to Annika’s room to check on her. He answered that he was up in the viewing lounge, so I ran up the stairs and found him sitting there with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand and a cigar lying in an ashtray.

“It’s early, Mikky,” I stated the obvious and assumed something stressful occurred.

He cocked his eyebrows and took a sip of his whiskey before saying nonchalantly, staring out the window onto the empty casino floor, “I was tempted.”

“I understand. We’re in interesting times,” I agreed as I sat down in the leather chair next to him. “The cops followed me all the way here as if I would go-”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” he cut in, then leaned forward to seize his cigar and took a deep inhale, before blowing out the sweet smoke.

I was a little confused as he seemed distant and deeply unhappy. Something was plaguing his mind, and it wasn’t Gunner. “What are you talking about?”

He wavered for a few seconds, watching the cleaner sweep the vacuum across the carpet. Then nodded in the direction of the bar. “Her.”

“Betty?” I inquired, wishing he’d spit out what was bothering him because maybe I could fix it. “I saw her earlier, wearing a venomous smile. Fake as fuck.”

“Not her,” he cringed in disgust. “ Her . The little liar.”

“Annika? Do you have a key for her room? I want to check on her,” I explained, curious to know why she was getting on her nerves so much, but I was too eager to see her.

He grunted in frustration, combing his fingers through his black, curly hair, hesitating as if he didn’t want me to see her. But Mikky succumbed, reached into his pocket, and handed me one of the keys. “Be back in thirty minutes for the meeting,” he stressed flatly.

“No problem,” I stated. “You can always rely on me.”

“Yeah, I know,” he mumbled as I walked away, but then froze and turned back. “What’s up, Mikky? Has something happened?”

He nodded slightly, took another sip of his whiskey, and swallowed. “She happened,” he answered, and I instantly knew what was bothering him.

Annika. She’d crawled under his skin and lit a fire, and he’ll keep returning until the fire is extinguished. She was like that—an addiction. There was something about her that lured the strongest of men to her side.

I didn’t blame him for succumbing to his temptations, and in a way, it worked for us, as maybe he’d be less inclined to hurt her.

“She’s nice, aren’t she?” I said and cocked my eyebrows again.

Then straightened his back to get back to business. “We’ll hire a vehicle to search for where they’re keeping Gunner,” he suggested, “so they don’t recognize us.”

“Might have to be at night, though, because the location is in the country, surrounded by empty fields,” I informed him. “I looked on Google Maps where the GPS signal dropped off, and there’s only farmland with the odd farmhouse nearby.”

“So,” he shrugged. “He had to be in one of those farm houses.”

“Not necessarily. They might’ve driven out of the city, Mikky. It just so happened to be in that location when the signal stopped,” I explained.

“Worth checking out anyway,” he proposed flatly. “Then we’ll go from there. Fuck. If Lars were still alive, he’d be seething if we lost his son.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling bad because it was my idea. But the Ivanovs can’t make a deal with Mikky without proof that they had Gunner alive and well anyway.

The Red Velvet rooms were full and in action with fucking sounds filling the hall.

It was early in the day, and yet the married men were getting their rocks off while their loyal wives ran the kids about.

It was not my scene, and it never will be, but I understood that it was an essential part of the club.

I unlocked the door and pushed it open, and an easy smile stretched across her face. “Are you letting me out?” she asked with more spirit in her than last time I was in this room.

“No,” I told her straight. “You wanted to die last time I was in here. What changed?”

“Um, I don’t know,” she seemed shifty and looked away, and I knew it had something to do with Mikky.

He got between her legs and wet his cock, probably for the first time since he was in prison. Fuck, three years without sex. It must’ve felt like a fucking dream to slide inside a girl like Annika.

“You look chipper,” I pointed out. “Color in your cheeks.”

“I’ve been feasting on carbs,” she said, brushing chip crumbs off her stomach as I noticed a half-eaten bag of chips was on the side table.

“Who bought you those?” as if I didn’t already know. If it wasn’t Gunner, it’ll be Mikky. Worming his way into her bed with bags of fatty starch.

“Your boss,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye, as she made space on the bed for me to sit next to her. “Where’s Gunner? Is he okay? I haven’t seen him for a while.”

“Ah, yes,” I said, checking the time on my phone because I didn’t want to miss the mysterious meeting with Mikky. I didn’t want to let him down. “Gunner. He’s ah…” I should’ve spoken to Mikky about how much I could tell her, but she was concerned about him. “He’s busy.”

“Oh,” she sounded disappointed. “Too busy to visit me?”

I chuckled. “You’re our prisoner, Annika. Not an enclosure at the zoo. He’s not obligated to visit you.”

“I know,” she seemed hurt, and I realized I said the wrong thing. “Seems out of character, that’s all.”

She’s right. The guy was obsessed with her, and if Mikky allowed it, he’d move all his stuff into her room so he could be with her twenty-four-seven.

“Well, he has some important errands to run and is out of town,” I mumbled, making it up as I went along.

“I think you’re hiding something from me,” she spotted the lie easily, unsurprisingly. “But the feelings of a prisoner are irrelevant.”

Guilt stirred in my gut. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I told her the truth, as there’s not much she could do about it anyway. “Yeah, I suppose. Okay, you’re right,” I caved to my guilt. “He’s been kidnapped.”

She gasped and slapped her hand over her gaping mouth. “By whom? Oh my god. Have the police got him? No. Wait. Kidnapped. Police don’t tend to kidnap, unless,” she made a face, “Her.”

“Her?” I pressed to see if she’d open up.

“Judith the Bitchtective,” she replied. “She’s a bad cop. She is capable of kidnapping people.”

“Well, it wasn’t her, although she might be involved,” I stated honestly as her hand found mine and she began massaging the back, and her touch traveled immediately to my crotch. Fuck. That’s all it took.

“So, who?” she kept asking with a furrowed brow and bit her bottom lip.

“The Ivanovs,” I answered, and her eyes glazed over as if she wasn’t aware of who they were.

But the confusion lasted only a few seconds before her mouth parted and a gasp of shock escaped her lips. “Ivanov? Like…”

“Your friend, Katerina Ivanov, set him up. Sort of. They’re our enemy,” I held back from giving her the whole story because her hand was now on my leg, close to my cock. One track mind.

“What a little bitch. I thought she was on my side. Wait. What am I saying? Gunner’s not on my side. None of you is on my side. I can’t trust anyone. And what do you mean by ‘sort of?’” Annika babbled because she was getting annoyed, or maybe she was high on carbs.

“I think she was on your side,” I corrected her. “She was trying to protect you, but also was using you to get closer to Gunner or me. But it was a double banger, and it was predictable. We used Gunner as bait to locate where they’re hiding.”

“So, you were setting her up as she was setting you up?” she clarified. “Huh. Funny.”

“Yep,” I nodded, locking my gaze onto her pretty face. As soon as her eyes met mine, she graced me with another of those gorgeous smiles, and I took the opportunity to kiss her.