Page 21 of Knot my Alphas

“Answer him,” Caleb demands at once.

“No. There’s a woman with him.”

I look toward Caleb. He’s as certain as I am. Callahan has Iris in his clutches.

Caleb strikes the man down, rendering him unconscious.

Taking a flashlight from my pocket, I focus the beam on the stranger.

He’s wearing a black camo outfit. A closer look reveals the mark of the Black Widow that’s sown onto the sleeve of his t-shirt.

“Do you see this?” I ask, gesturing at the logo.

“The Black Widow.”

I straighten up. “What the fuck’s happening here?” I hiss in a low voice. “What’s Callahan doing with one of them?”

“I have a better question,” Caleb replies. “Why would a terrorist address Callahan as his master.”

“This situation is more fucked up than I thought.”

“Let’s find her,” says Caleb, looking toward the dark manor. “I can feel her pain and fear.”

Anxiety washes over me. Desperately praying for her to be safe, I follow Caleb as he jogs toward the manor.

The front entrance is unlocked. Pushing through the doors, we step inside a dusty passageway that leads into a vast entrance hall.

“No one’s stayed here for years,” I say, staring at the dusty sheets that cover the furniture. “And yet...” There’s a hint of rose and berries in the musty air. “I smell her.”

“Me too,” says Caleb.

“This way,” I say, moving further inside the room. “She must’ve gone through here.” Caleb follows me as I enter another darkened passageway. It’s become easy to follow her scent through the house that smells like damp and decay.

“Over there,” says Caleb, pointing toward a winding staircase.

Glancing at him, I give a nod.

We both climb the staircase leading to the upper floors.

Iris’s scent grows stronger but something makes me halt. The scent of roses is punctuated by an odor of rotting berries.

“Do you smell that?” I ask as we stop on the third-floor landing.

Iris’s scent is so thick and pungent, I can barely breathe without choking on it. Her delicious floral perfume is steadily starting to smell like rotten rose petals.

“Something’s wrong,” Caleb says in a low voice. His gaze turns predatorial as he prowls along the corridor.

Anxiety and fear, that’s not my own, settles deep inside me. My body reacts to her pain, urging me to call out for her.

She’s close by but still out of reach. If we weren’t trying to be careful, my brother and I would have shouted her name until we turned hoarse.

Caleb suddenly breaks into a run.

A moment later, I see why.

A wide shaft of light can be seen filtering through an open doorway at the very end of the corridor. Caleb’s already running through the threshold without a backward glance.

“Get away from her!” An animalistic roar erupts from the room, making me hurry forward.

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