Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 108: Going Against Gene

*Eli*

When we reach Adam and Shelby’s room, Tristan reaches for the doorknob, determined to walk right in, as he’s already forewarned us.

I grab his arm and pull it back while Kelly knocks, both of us giving him a stern look.

“What?” he asks. “I told you, it’s more fun to just trot right on in. Why are we standing here, looking at one another like a bunch of ninnies who don’t want to see a free show?”

I sigh and shake my head. “They’re our friends, not a couple of porn stars. Why would you want to see them naked?” A shiver goes down my spine just thinking about it.

I definitely wouldn’t want someone walking in on me and Rose having sex. It was nerve-wracking enough the time we had sex in the pond, out in the open, where people might appear from nowhere.

Before Tristan even has a chance to try to defend himself, the door opens, and Shelby is standing there, her hair a mess, her clothes wrinkled, and her blouse misbuttoned.

“Hello,” she greets us, tugging down at her shirt and realizing her mistake. She can’t fix it now without us all knowing what she’s doing, so she shoves the front tails into her jeans and folds her arms under her chest. “What’s up?”

She blows a strand of hair out of her eye, but it doesn’t do anything but dance around a bit and land back over her eye.

I bite back a laugh as Tristan asks, “Where’s Adam?” before he ducks his head into the room.

Shelby moves to block him. “Adam is… uh… coming,” she says, and all four of us waiting on this side of the door break into laughter. Three of us try to hide it behind our hands, but Tristan tosses his giant head back and laughs like a lion roaring.

“Stop it!” Kelly says, smacking at the burly Alpha. “You’re being rude. They’re a married couple!”

Adam appears over Shelby’s shoulder now, his pants unzipped and one sock missing, though he’s wearing both shoes. “What’s going on?” he asks, innocently.

“Tell you what,” Reece interjects. “I’m going to close the door and count to sixty, and when we open it again, we’ll start over, okay?”

“Better make it twenty or else they’ll be going for round two,” Tristan mutters.

Reece scowls at him and closes the door. Whether or not he’s actually counting, I don’t know for sure, but we wait awkwardly in the hallway, hearing the faint sounds of the two of them running around the room putting their shoes and socks on correctly, rebuttoning, and rezipping.

“Are you ready?” Reece calls after a moment.

“Yep!” Shelby says, and the door is opened to reveal the well-kempt couple we are used to seeing.

“Now, what do we need to discuss?” she asks, her hands folded in front of her.

“Can we go out into the garden where it doesn’t smell like–”

I interrupt Tristan with a sharp elbow to the bicep, “Pine-Sol? I believe the maids are mopping the hall.” The faint scents of lemon and pine linger in the air, but I don’t know if that’s from a current cleaning session or if it’s just the smell the hallway always has.

“Sure!” Shelby walks between us and heads down the hall toward the exit to the outdoors.

We will need to keep our voices quiet out here. I wonder if Tristan has thought this through.

The six of us find a secluded place where we can see who is coming from both directions, and we make sure no one is hiding in the bushes or looking down at us from the balconies above us.

“What are we going to do about the king?” Tristan’s whisper voice is almost as loud as his yelling voice.

“What about him precisely?” Adam asks. He’s probably not whispering because he clearly doesn’t see the point when we’ve already checked to make sure no one is around, and if he whispers anything like Tristin, they’ll be able to hear him two kingdoms over anyway.

“Well, he’s working with Barbara, obviously,” Reece says with a shrug. “It seems quite clear he was a part of the drugging situation with Mark. If he hadn’t been, maybe the plot would’ve actually worked. I got the impression whatever poison they were supposed to give Mark to make him wild and horny for Barbara actually went to her instead.”

Tristan cracks up at this, and his laugh almost makes me laugh, but I remind myself this is serious.

“We know that King Gene wants to kill Rose. That’s not a secret,” Adam says in a rush.

“Whether or not he intends to let Barbara come in here and do that, or just take over her place, I don’t know. Why would he want Barbara to seduce Mark? What was his end game?”

“To make Rose mad at him?” I guess. “So she will be upset and not want to be with him anymore? Maybe the plan was for Barbara to seduce each of us in turn so that Rose has a tiff with each of us, and we stop pining for her?”

“That could be it,” Adam reasons with a shrug. “But if he wants to kill her, why would he care if the five of you aren’t getting along?”

“Because he wants to make everyone miserable first!” Shelby exclaims, her hands flailing in the air. “He doesn’t just want her dead–he wants her to suffer before she dies. He’s a horrible, miserable little man.”

Kelly reaches over and puts her hand on Shelby’s arm, and I am proud of my little sister for being so kind. Then she says, “That fucking bastard!” I am equally proud of my little sister for being so passionate.

“Maybe we need to fight crazy-ass fire with crazy-ass fire,” Tristan suggests.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him, completely lost.

“If King Gene is willing to bring in some insane person to help him with his side of this battle, perhaps it’s time we did exactly the same thing.” Tristan gives us all a confident nod, his wild curls dancing around his smiling face.

“Say what now?” Shelby asks him for all of us.

“Yeah, so, he brought in Barbara, and she’s clearly one butt-piece short of a loaf, so I’m thinking why don’t we bring in our own wild card?” Tristan suggests.

“Butt-piece?” I ask.

“Yeah, the heel. The piece no one wants.” He looks at me like I’m stupid for not understanding his analogy. I marvel at the fact that no one else looks lost.

Kelly leans over and whispers, “It’s best to just let him think you understand.” She smiles and nods.

“Who?” Reece asks. “I don’t want just any crazy person brought into the castle. We already have our hands full enough with Gene, Emily, and Barbara.”

“We need a crazy person who owes us one,” Tristan says with a confident air about him.

“You’re not suggesting we allow Alpha Morris to come back here, are you?” I ask him, a shiver of fear shooting down my spine.

“Why not? He owes us one. We can have him come in and take out Barbara or Emily. Maybe both of them. He’s not averse to stabbing women.”

“You can’t be serious!” Shelby declares. “You want us to let the man who tried to stab Rose, while you guys were away at war, come back into the castle?”

“He’s a changed man now,” Tristan tells us. “He works for us now.”

“He’s not exactly the sort of secret agent I want to employ,” Reece speaks for all of us.

“That’s fine. He’ll work for free,” Tristan assures us.

“You’re missing the point, Tristan. We don’t trust him. There’s no reason for us to bring back someone who could be dangerous to Rose!” I don’t know how else to say it.

“Trust me on this one.” Tristan winks at me, like I’m some chick in a nightclub he can charm to his way of thinking. “I’ll make it work. Rose will be fine.”

“I’m not sure I’m willing to completely trust you on that one, Alpha,” Reece says, shaking his head, and I completely agree with him.

“In the meantime,” Adam says, “I’ll see if I can find out anything more specific about what’s going on with Barbara.”

“And maybe we can scare King Gene into thinking that you guys won’t protect him should Kane attack again!” Kelly reasons, raising one finger in the air. I’m so proud of my little sister. She’s so smart!

“That’s a good idea!” Reece says, and I agree. “Then, maybe he’ll give us more credit–”

“Or leave the castle,” I chime in.

“Either one works,” Adam reminds us, and we all nod. Everyone except for Tristan, who seems to be sulking that we didn’t love his plan.

We don’t need Morris here. I think that is a huge mistake.

And yet, I know in my heart that he’ll do it anyway.