Page 32 of Knot my Alphas

The arrested men in the corner start screaming hard. They’re all holding onto their heads and shouting in utter agony. The sight is as disturbing as what’s happening to the corpses.

The dead men are bleeding from their ears, mouth, nose, and eyes.

“Help!” the arrested men scream. “It hurts! Make it stop! Make itfuckingstop!”

“What’s happening, Captain?” another man asks in an urgent tone.

I feel as clueless as him. The arrested men continue screaming for help, but within seconds, they start bleeding from their eyes and nose as well.

“Check them for implants,” Sheila says in a grim tone.

“Implants?”

She lets out a heavy sigh as her gaze darkens. “I’ve heard this being practiced among some radical groups,” she explains. “Their recruits are implanted with a chip that can be caused to detonate inside their bodies or brains. This allows the leaders to keep their secrets even if one of their recruits is captured and then, tortured for information.”

“Fucking spiders!” I bellow, startling the poor woman beside me.

The men who’d been captured alive slowly succumb to their internal injuries as I and the rest of the investigative unit watch on in horror and confusion.

The Black Widow is the most vicious kind of terrorist group I’ve ever encountered. They don’t even show mercy to the people who’ve sworn allegiance to them. In the past, the men swallowed cyanide-laced candies to avoid being questioned but their leader seems to have gone one step ahead now.

He's not taking any chances. He’s making sure his men complete their assignment or die trying.

The Black Widow is a fucking cult. It’s the only way to explain this kind of deadly loyalty to a leader.

My mind is made up. There’s no way I’m leaving Iris unattended. She’s too precious to me and my brothers. As long as she’s here, I’ll guard her myself.

8

Iris

A heavy veil seems to lift off me, allowing me to open my eyes. My vision slowly clears, giving me a view of a strange ceiling overhead.

Where am I?A single thought registers in my mind.

Memories of bomb blasts and thundering gunshots race through my mind. Callahan used the chaos to force me into following him and kidnapped me away to an abandoned manor in the middle of nowhere. He even confessed to being the leader of the notorious terrorist group called the Black Widow.

My gaze wildly swings around the room. Fear pumps through my veins, reminding me of his threatening, suffocating presence.

It’s a while before I realize I’m no longer inside the dark, haunted manor. The room looks like a hospital ward with stark white walls and clean floor tiles. Monitoring units beep gently in the background. Everything is brightly illuminated and clean.

There’s no way this place is part of the abandoned manor. So where am I?

We’re going home, Raiden’s voice sounds in my head.You’re going to be okay. I’m going to protect you. We’ll soon be home.

I remember being held in his strong arms while he chanted those words to me. His pine and citrusy fragrance felt so familiar and comforting, helping me through the excruciating pain that kept me blinded from everything happening around me.

So, where is he now?

Had my pain-soaked mind conjured up a dream to help me survive?

“It’s the only possibility,” I whisper to myself.

How could Raiden find me in a place that no one knows about? Callahan used a chopper to transport me to that godforsaken manor, leaving no trail behind.

“It was all my imagination,” I whisper in a choked voice as tears sting my eyes.

My gaze moves around the strange room once more. Panic is beginning to set in again.

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