Page 9 of Capture (Primal #3)

W hat have you done with her?” a familiar voice laced with venom spat at me, and for a second, I thought it was Annika.

But, to my disappointment, it was the weird Russian with the geeky glasses.

Of course, it was Annika because she was in the Red Velvet room, held hostage by us, so that was a momentary lapse of sanity.

Unless she escaped. No. There was no way she could escape, as there were no windows, and if she did escape, she wouldn’t come to me.

She’d run to the police, like Mikky said, or escape out of the state.

Honestly, if I were her, I’d buy a plane ticket and leave the country, because no matter where she was, we’d find her.

But, like I stated, she couldn’t escape the room anyway without the help of someone else.

To be honest, I liked the idea of her waiting in that room alone with moist lips at the mercy of us.

“I said, what have you done with her?” she repeated in that accusing tone, making it clear that she hated me. Not that I cared.

“I heard you the first time,” I growled at her as she trotted alongside me while I strode hastily to my next class.

I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be at the club with Annika, to keep her company and to make sure that Mikky didn’t hurt her, but orders were given by the boss, giving me little choice.

“Well…” She stopped walking as we approached a road with a car driving by, and assumed I would stop for the vehicle, too. No. I walked ahead, and the car stopped so I could go past without complaint. Obviously, they picked up on my mood and the annoying little flea I was trying to rid myself of.

Tap, tap, tapping of her footsteps came running up behind me, puffing and panting, and I suppressed a smile. “Are you still here?” I snapped at her, without looking.

“You haven’t answered my question, and you almost got yourself killed back there,” she scolded me as if I were a misbehaving kid.

“I knew they’d stop,” I argued as I spotted Ronan, further up, munching on a protein bar, while staring at his phone. I didn’t need to see his face to know that he was in a grim mood because he wasn’t near Annika, leaving Mikael alone with her—dangerous times, for her at least.

“Well…they probably didn’t want to dent their car,” she stated, and I wonder if that was a geek joke, but she didn’t laugh at her remark, so maybe it wasn’t a joke. “Anyway, where is Riley? I haven’t seen her in days, and she’s not answering my messages.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want you as a friend anymore,” I hit back. “You're not exactly fun to be around.”

“We…what? We were never fun friends,” she told me abruptly.

“Figures,” I stifled a smirk because ‘fun friends’ was actually funny, but I didn’t think she saw the funny side to it. “Two geeks were hardly a party.”

“You didn’t seem to mind her, though, did you? And are you going to tell me where she is? Don’t lie to me either because I know you’ve been following her and watching her from afar for weeks, basically the moment she arrived in Gotland,” she rattled off, fuming.

“Oh, I see, you’ve been watching me watching An-,” I stopped myself before saying her correct name because this little flea here wouldn’t know who she was. “Riley.”

I faltered for a second and wondered if the geek knew who Riley really was, hence why she was so interested in her.

“Just tell me if she’s okay.” Her tone grew sullen, and I looked down at her to see if she was being genuine.

“Why do you care?” I asked as she continued to trot next to me to keep up with my strides.

“Well, you know she’s my roommate,” the geek pushed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose, reminding me of Riley, not Annika, even though they’re the same person. I wondered if Annika studied geek behavior to know how to perform the little twitches and quirks.

“Oh…kay,” I stated in a lowered tone, coming to the end of my patience. “Let’s drop the BS, shall we?”

“What do you mean?” she hissed angrily as we walked past a group of students standing by a basketball court, watching as guys dropped hoops. It had been raining, and the cement was wet and shiny, causing them to slip around on their sneakers.

“I know who you are,” I exhaled as fatigue hit from the lack of sleep last night, curled up with Annika, then sent home as if I did something wrong. I didn’t touch her. I swore I didn’t touch her in that way, anyway.

“I’ve never made it a secret,” she snapped, then added, “Did Riley tell you my name?”

“No. We found out because you were sniffing around too much, raising our prickers,” I confessed to her.

“You’re what? Prickers? What’s a pricker?” she panted, still trying to align with my strides. “Oh, god, don’t tell me. It’s probably something gross.”

“I think you’re confused with peckers,” I mumbled. “Anyway, you’re an Ivanov, aren’t ya?”

“Yes, I am,” she said, straightening her back and lifting her chin proudly. “I never hid who my family is. And what’s your problem with my family?”

“Is that a joke? Seriously, are you joking? You’re our enemy, and you sided with An, fuck, Riley deliberately,” I snarled. “Why?”

She bit her bottom lip as we walked around the bend and into the block, where I opened the door for her to go through first, and it seemed to make her blush. I bet this geek had never had a boyfriend or been kissed or had her tit squeezed.

I’d offer to help her out if I weren’t obsessed with Annika, my fucking foster sister. Fuck, I need therapy.

“Do I look dangerous to you?” was the argument she came back with. She was a bolshie little thing, just like Annika, and had no intention of backing down from this argument, regardless of what territory we ventured into.

“Depends what you’re running back to your family with,” I hit back, then lowered my voice to say, “I mean, I could slit your throat right now if I felt like it.” I patted my sweatpants pocket to make it seem like I had a knife hidden in there.

I didn’t. I left it under the seat of my car.

After I used it to cut Riley’s jeans and fuck her in the gardens in the dark.

I enjoyed that. I’d like to do that again.

Soon. She’s a sitting duck, an easy shot, lying in that locked room on that bed with nothing to do.

“They’d know it was you,” she hissed back at me, utterly unafraid of my threat, which was honorable.

I suspected she was a little autistic or something because she was extraordinarily good at hiding her emotions, or maybe she didn’t have any feelings. She was an Ivanov after all. I shouldn’t expect too much out of her.

“Really?” I suppressed a flinch because that comment sent a little shiver down my spine. “Are they watching us now?”

She bit her bottom lip again as those eyes darted about weirdly behind glasses again, reminding me of Riley the fake ass.

When I compare this chick’s movements and quirks with Riley the Fake, it’s obvious now that Riley was forcing the geek girl thing.

I knew all along. She was never a shy geek girl.

She was always bright like sunshine, with a dimpled smile, fun and flirty, and loud, infectious laughter.

I was aware at the time, when we were fifteen or sixteen, that there were older boys who had their eyes on her, but they had to get through me first. They failed. But those same older boys would have no interest in Riley the geek or this chick here.

“Katerina Ivanov,” I stated in a warning tone when she refused to answer. “Are your family or lackeys watching us right now?”

“More than likely,” she replied, raising her chin in pride, but her eyes flicked about as if searching for something as her head remained bowed.

“More than likely? It sounds like you’re unsure, Kat. Can I call you Kat?” I asked her as we walked down the hallway lined with students watching us closely.

“No, you cannot,” she spat.

“Great. I’ll call you Kat,” I defied her as we came to the bottom of the stairs, and I ran up to the landing, noticing that she wasn’t following.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” she called after me, yet she still couldn’t look me in the face; instead, her gaze stopped at my shins. “Where is she?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea,” I grinned, then ran up the next flight of stairs, and once up on the landing, I looked down at her standing in the same spot.

“I know you’re lying,” she snarled as her weird voice bounced against the walls.

I leaned over the railing and called down to her, “How do you know I’m lying, Kat?”

“Because…” she muttered something I didn’t catch, and I was about to give up on her and leave, but something about her twitching expression urged me to press her.

“What? What did you say, Kat?” I yelled down to her as the pounding, echoing footsteps of three students hiking the stairs smothered her voice.

She waited until they were gone before repeating, “Because you’re like a barnacle.”

I scoffed, not seeing the connection. “A barnacle? Because I attach myself to Riley to get a free ride.” I almost repeated the name Annika, but caught myself before it left my mouth.

“Pretty much,” she replied breathlessly. “Well…it’s like she’s your lifeline.” Her words danced about my ears as she spoke, as truth bombs fell, destroying my protective shell. “You can’t survive without her. Your food. Your breath. Your everything.”

She glanced up at me as I was staring down at the floor, not looking at her but a million miles away, in the past, in Larsson with Annika. My heart thudded in my aching chest as my mouth dried up from those brutally honest words spoken by our Russian enemy.

I finally found her after three years. I finally found her, and it’s like I had been holding my breath for so long that I got used to it. Finally, I could breathe again. Food tasted sweeter, the colors in the world seemed brighter, and I was happier because my purpose had returned to me.

I nodded in agreement as I came back down to earth, but she was gone. The Russian geek had vanished without me knowing, leaving me yearning to see Annika, lying on that bed alone.

I turn around and come face to face with Frankenstein in a suit, and he wasn’t alone. There were three of them built like linebackers, smug expressions on their faces as if I’d been sprung. The thief who hadn’t stolen anything was about to get nicked.

“Can I help you?” I asked them casually, pretending that I didn’t know what was going on and who they were. Russian or cops? I was betting they were the Russians, the lackeys of Ivanov, and oh fuck, the geek girl just outwitted me.

“Gunner Kaiser?” Frankenstein asked in a tone like he already knew because they’d been following us for some time.

“No,” I replied casually, inching my way to the stairs to make a run for it. “I think you’ve got the wrong person.” I tried to create doubt in their minds to distract them for half a second so that I could flee.

But Frankenstein’s reaction was to grin from his big square head, and even as I turned to run down the stairs, they didn’t follow.

There was no panicking or rushing to chase me.

Something didn’t seem right, and I patted my pocket searching for my knife, then remembered again that I left it in my car. Damn.

It wasn’t until I came to the landing and smacked hard into another suited brick that I realized that they had me surrounded.

I was outnumbered and outclassed, and our strategy to expose the Ivanovs and flush them out into the open was working precisely as planned.