Page 86 of Knot my Alphas

“Me? Bullyingyou?” I balk.

His eyes narrow into slits. “Don’t play dumb. No one’s a bigger bully than you in this house.”

A chuckle escapes me as I lean in to peck his cheek. “You love me anyway.”

“I do.”

Releasing a heavy breath, I straighten up.

“I’ll go wait in the garage,” I say. “It’ll give you plenty of time to grab the stuff we need.”

Raiden nods. “Let’s go.”

The early afternoon sky is a deep blue as we drive down an empty highway. Thick, wildly-growing woods fence the road. The car jostles as the wheels keep falling in and out of potholes.

I thought Raiden was exaggerating when he said Fort Callahan is in the middle of nowhere. Now that I’m here, I can’t help but feel a chill run down my spine.

We haven’t seen anyone for miles now.

“You drove through these roads at night?” I ask.

“Yep,” he says, slowing the car down. “It was fucking creepy.”

“Why are we stopping here?”

“Look that way,” he points toward the skyline. “You can see the tops of the fort beyond that tree line.”

Focusing my gaze in the direction he’s pointing at, I spot the dark stone piers rising against the clear blue sky.

“This is close enough,” Raiden says. “Let’s see if anything’s changed since the last time we were here.”

Turning around, I grab my equipment bag as well as my laptop.

“Fire it up,” I say, handing the laptop to Raiden.

I take my time to set up the drone, making sure it’s in perfect working condition.

Leaving Raiden in the car, I hop outside. My right leg aches from being jostled in the car but I swallow the pain and concentrate on the job at hand.

The weather conditions are perfect to fly a drone. Other than the woods around us, there are no nearby obstructions to be wary about either.

Setting Dragonfly on the ground, I use the controller to start it up.

The blades come alive, lifting the miniaturized drone into the air. It hovers in front of my face, barely making any noise.

“How are the visuals?” I shout.

“Perfect,” Raiden hollers back from inside the car.

Stepping closer to the car, I use the controller to send the drone toward the manor in the distance. My gaze stays glued to the viewing panel as I watch it fly over acres of woods that stand between us.

Raiden is getting the same view on the laptop. He’s gone quiet and is focusing on the feed as well.

“Do you see those men?” Raiden asks in a low, grim tone.

“Where?”

“Just inside those gates,” he says.

---