Page 291 of Primal

We round the corner—and someone steps into view.

We scream. Kristy stumbles back, barely catching herself.

The figure’s about the same height as Kade.

Same build. Same way he holds himself—shoulders tense, like he’s bracing for impact.

My heart lurches. No. No, it can’t be—

I raise the pepper spray as her phone’s beam hits him in pieces:

Black CREW hoodie. Sleeves shoved up over muscular forearms.

A lanyard swinging from his neck. The ID’s slightly crooked.

A face straight out of a ski trip brochure. Sharp jawline. Day-old stubble. Dark, mussed hair.

I exhale. Not Kade.

“Whoa, whoa, what happened? Are you two lost?”

I almost laugh. More like traumatized. Possibly on a serial killer’s to-do list.

What did Kade say in the trailer? ‘Oh, you’re so dead, little fox.’ Except now he sounds less sexy and a hell of a lot more deranged.

Kristy doesn’t bother with subtlety. “Who the hell are you?”

The guy raises both hands. “Vahn.” Those blue eyes flick to the canister in my grip. “Derek Vahn. I work here.”

“Yeah? This place fucking sucks,” Kristy snaps. “What’s going on? Why’s the power out?”

“I was gonna check the servers. Then I heard screaming outside.” His gaze drops to Kristy’s arm. “Shit. That needs stitches.”

She doesn’t lower her phone. “Someone’s killing people. A guy in a mask.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “What? Who—”

“One of your fucking hunters,” Kristy cuts in. “My friend’s dead, okay? We need help. We need to call the cops.”

“Three people are dead,” I add. “Lana Whitaker. Jessica Langley. Vanessa Graves.”

He does that thing. Same look I’ve been getting all night.

My grip tightens around the pepper spray. “Call us liars and I’ll light your ass up.”

“Okay. Okay. Calm down.”

I lower the spray. “Can you open the gate and let us out?”

He nods, suddenly all business. “It’s locked down with the outage, but I can override it from the control room. Plus, there’s a landline in there. We can call the cops, yeah? You wanna wait here while I—”

“No,” Kristy and I snap in unison.

She shoots me a glance.

I nod.

“We’ll follow you,” she says. “But try anything and I’ll stab you with this.”