Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 104: In the King's Favor

*Mark*

Obediently, I follow King Gene out of Eli’s room and down the hallway to his office. I try not to act nervous. I feel like we haven’t done anything wrong. We were just discussing our options. The cut on my thumb where I sliced it to sign the agreement in blood smarts a little, but it’s nothing.

Just a little flesh wound.

When we enter Gene’s office, he walks around on me, closing the door and lifting his head as he pushes up onto his tiptoes to look into my eyes. “We have a problem, Alpha Mark.”

I swallow hard, assuming that problem is that the four of us are plotting against the king. Technically, that was treason, even if we were just hoping to put our plan together after one of us became king.

“What’s that?” I ask him.

“Luna Barbara,” he begins, and I relax a bit, which puts me closer to his height, though I’m still a foot and a half taller than him.

“Right,” I nod. “She is being a bit of a… a… nuisance.”

He shakes his head and strokes his chin as he turns and walks over to his desk. Oddly, there’s a tray sitting there with two glasses of what looks like wine poured, as well as a decanter. One of the glasses has a blue tag around the bottom and the other one has a yellow one. They are the kind of silicon tags a person might use at a party. It seems odd to me, but everything King Gene does these days seems odd to me.

Is he going to offer me a drink? Are we going to sit down and have a chat about what to do about this newest pain in our asses? I follow him across the room.

“Listen, I know she’s a slutty bitch. I get that she’s already thrown herself at Tristan a few times. I don’t know why. Personally, I think he looks like a bear.”

“A bear?” I repeat. “You mean, his wolf looks like a bear?”

“No, no. As a human, he looks like a bear. All that hair. And he’s so… big.” He shakes his head and it seems like a shiver goes down his spine.

I don’t know what to say to that. Tristan could be a bit bearish, I suppose. “Well, what would you have me do, Your Majesty?”

“I would like for you to go sit in Luna Barbara’s room with her. She’s in a private wing now, where I tend to keep all of my prisoners who are on house arrest. Sit with her. Have a drink. Chat with her. See if you can figure out what her goal is. She has to be up to something.”

“Yeah, she wants to seduce one of us so that she can try to take over the position of queen. She’s trying to replace Emily, which, by the way, you do know that Emily is back, right?” I ask him.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Of course, I know. I have no idea how she got into the castle when I specifically sent her away myself. The last I checked, I was still the king, not one of you… blood brothers.” He looks at the bandage on my thumb, and I feel compelled to explain, but I don’t. “Don’t worry about Emily right now. Our first objective is to find out what Barbara is up to. Have a drink with her, loosen her tongue a bit, and when you’re done, report back to me.”

I don’t want this job. I don’t want to have anything to do with this assignment at all. I am already the one who tried to get information from Emily. Now, I’d have to do the same to Luna Barbara.

And the incident with Emily was still a problem. I can tell when Rose looks at me, even though she said she forgave me, that the memory is still painful.

But he is still the king, and he had just walked in on us talking about what would happen after he is done being the king. I can hardly refuse.

“Fine,” I agree. I see a look of relief wash over his face. “What’s with the tags?” I ask as he gestures for me to pick up the tray. I feel like a glorified waiter.

“Oh, she, uh, only drinks out of glasses with a blue tag,” he says with a shrug. “It’s just one of those things.” The king rolls his eyes. “Don’t you hate it when you have to do stupid shit to appease stupid people?”

I look down at the tray in my hand and think… if he only knew. I don’t bother to answer.

King Gene gets the door for me, and I carry the tray through. He escorts me down the hallway himself, which is really odd. Why not just send a servant to show me?

Maybe he wants to make sure that I do it and don’t abandon the mission.

We arrive at a suite in a different wing. I keep note of where we are going. It’s the north wing of the castle, one that’s fairly far away from all of our rooms. I count four doors on the left side of the hallway until we reach Barbara’s. I think it’s a good idea to know exactly where she is, just in case.

Gene knocks on the door and then shouts, “Barbara, I’m opening the door!” He pulls out his keys and unlocks the door and then whispers to me, “I have to keep this locked or she’ll be out and about all over the place again.”

“Does that mean you’re locking me in?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Use the mind-link when you’re done, in a half-hour or so, and I’ll come and let you out.”

I want to believe him, but there’s something in his eyes that makes me wonder what the hell is actually going on.

The door is unlocked, and before Gene can open it, it’s flung open from the other side, and Barbara is standing there, smiling at me.

“Well, if it isn’t Alpha Mark!” she purrs. “Are you gonna have drinks with me?”

My eyes dart to Gene, and he smiles up at me. “Uhm… yes,” I say. “Drinks so that I can get to know you as an amicable leader of another pack,” I explain.

She only grins at me, and I swear her canines look even sharper than they should considering she hasn’t shifted at all–or has she?

“I’ll see you two later,” Gene says, parting with us and practically pushing me into the room. The wine splashes a little.

As I cross the threshold, I hear the key turn in the lock behind me.

With a giggle, Barbara takes the glass with the blue tag off of the tray and gestures for me to take a seat at a little table set up to the left of the door.

I let out a sigh and set the silver tray with my glass and the decanter down. The only other furniture in the room is a large four-poster bed with a red satin comforter thrown across it. This setup reminds me a lot of Emily’s room, though I don’t see any handcuffs.

Yet.

“Well, have a drink, Alpha Marky,” she urges, tapping my arm playfully.

I’m definitely going to need a drink or two to get through this conversation. I pick up my glass, the one with the yellow tag, and smell it before I take a small sip. It smells fine; it tastes fine.

I suppose I’m just nervous. “So, Luna Barbara,” I begin, leaning away from her. “Tell me about your pack.”

As she begins to answer me, I hear Tristan’s voice in my head. “Well? Are we all screwed?” he asks. “Is King Gene taking you out back to tan your hide for causing an insurrection?”

“No,” I assure him. “He didn’t say anything about it at all. He’s got me in here with Barbara, trying to appease her.”

“In where?” Tristan asks me as Barbara goes on and on about how she felt it was necessary to attack the capital to make a point to King Gene. I nod and continue to sip my wine, glad I don’t have to say much. Tristan won’t just shut up!

“Her bedroom!” I growl back at him. “In the north wing, fourth room on the left.”

‘Why are you being so specific?” he asks me.

“In case you guys need to know where she’s at at some point, and I’m not around to tell you. Now, shut up! I’m trying to get information from her.”

He grumbles, “Be careful. Take it from me, she’s a vixen.”

“I know,” I tell him as Barbara says something about her husband’s death.

“That must’ve been very hard on you,” I say apathetically, taking another drink of wine. My glass is almost empty. I’m just trying to drown her out.

“It was awful,” she confides, batting her eyelashes. It looks like she’s trying to whip up some fake tears.

I open my mouth to respond, but suddenly, I’m feeling super lightheaded. I set my glass down and wipe at my brow.

“Marky, are you all right?” Barbara asks me, but she doesn’t seem really concerned.

Sweat is rolling off of my forehead. I stammer a few times, trying to get some words out, but something is definitely wrong.

Barbara is smiling wickedly at me. “You look awful, Marky. Are you hot? Perhaps we should get you out of those clothes!”

My eyes flicker closed and the wine glass falls from my hand, bouncing off of the table and spilling on the carpet. I note how the purple-red liquid looks like… blood.

In my head, I reach out to Tristan. He is the easiest to find since I just spoke to him.

As I slouch in my chair, Barbara gets up, that smile still on her wicked face.

“Help…”

Everything goes black.