Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 125: No Such Thing as Ghosts--Right?

*Gene*

“These fucking incompetent people!” I holler, speaking to no one in particular except myself. Not a Goddess-damn one of these imbeciles I call servants can tell me where the fuck Alpha Tristan is in this blasted place. It’s my own damn palace; people should be bowing to me, not to that idiot! I need to find him now to transfer power officially so that I can take control again.

This kingdom is mine, and mine alone!

“You!” I scream at the nearest butler, and the weak-minded little moron nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Y—yes, y—Your Majesty?” he mumbles.

“That’s right, I’m Your Majesty, not that idiot Tristan,” I holler at him. “And I need to find the useless Alpha now so I can get on with my… majestying!”

The moron just stares at me as if I hadn’t just issued a perfectly clear command, and he doesn’t say a word.

“Well?!” I screech into his face, close enough that I can see my own spittle landing on his chin.

His hand rises as if to wipe it off, but then he sees the look in my eyes, which I’m sure inflicts sharp pangs of terror deep into his soul, so he thinks the better of it. “I—I haven’t seen Alpha King Tristan, Your Majesty.”

The sound of the formal title in front of anyone’s name but my own sends me over the edge. I reach up my hand and slap the imbecile across the face, sending him hurtling into the door jam.

The useless servant. I’ll find the oversized Alpha myself.

All those blasted Alphas have such a hard-on for that lowlife Breeder that they can’t stay away from the woman, so my next stop is to try her room again. If I go there often enough, I’ll be sure to catch him.

I love my palace. But getting around in here is time-consuming. It’s a long walk to just about everywhere from just about anywhere I can be, and it seems to take me longer than anyone else to get where I’m going around here.

It’s ridiculous.

As I walk toward the Breeder’s quarters, I run into a few dozen other servants, and they all act as if they can’t even see me. They must fear me. I don’t bother asking any of them about Alpha Tristan because I doubt any of them know anything.

Clueless. They’re all absolutely clueless.

Finally, I reach the Breeder’s corridor. If she’s unguarded, I’ll probably have to take care of Adam’s task myself. It might actually feel satisfying. I am starting to get bored around here.

* * *

*Rose*

I open my eyes from a brief nap, and Kelly is standing over me… again. She’s been watching me like a hawk ever since I saw that frightening woman. Everyone still thinks I was dreaming.

“Did you do it again?” she asks as soon as my eyes focus on her pretty face.

“Do what?” I ask.

With the pregnancy so advanced and so many tiny little pups inside me, I’m feeling pretty low on energy. Sometimes I think that’s making me a bit forgetful, so I’m not sure what she’s talking about. Maybe that’s something I should look up in my pregnancy books. I wonder if multiple uterine horns affect your memory.

“Dream,” she says, smiling at me. “Did you dream about that scary woman again?”

“Kelly, you’re a wonderful friend,” I say. I don’t want to make her feel bad. “But I didn’t dream about her. I saw her with my own eyes.”

“Rose, dear,” she says, sitting on the bed beside me and patting my hand. “I know it felt real, but it just couldn’t be true.”

“But it was!” I say, trying to be very firm and insistent using my new, confident tone of voice and hand gestures.

I’ve been working on my assertiveness training lately based on a book I’m reading. I have a lot of time on my hands since I’m on bedrest all the time, so I’ve been reading self-help books a lot. I’m going to be a mother to four pups, and even if the worst possible thing happens—that I never get to raise them myself—I still need to become a stronger person so if they ever do need me sometime in the future, I’ll be able to be there for them.

I think it worked because the look in her eye changes just a bit as if she’s taking me more seriously. I really do need to read that book a bit more.

I keep going, speaking slowly, firmly, and calmly. “The last place I saw her standing was right over there.” I point to the corner near where the painting of the woman used to be, which Tristan had ripped off the wall. I really don’t mind that he did since it was a little creepy.

Kelly walks over to the spot and holds up her arms. “So, right here?” she asks.

I nod. “Yes,” I say. “She was over there ranting and raving, and Mark came running in, and then she was gone.”

I’m still so confused about what happened. I’m not one to believe in ghosts, but this whole palace is a little creepy sometimes, and with all the death that’s happened from all the wars in this land, I guess anything is possible. But she didn’t seem like a ghost. She wasn’t transparent. She was real.

Kelly spins around a couple of times, looking like she’s examining the area, including the ceiling and the floor. “No trap door here,” she says with a grin.

“Well, there must be something,” I say. “I’m not crazy, just pregnant. Very pregnant.”

Kelly giggles and looks around some more, but then she stops giggling suddenly and she’s looking at the wall, in the same place where the creepy painting used to be.

“What is it?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I’m not sure,” she says. She walks over to the wall and touches it. “There’s some sort of crack here.”

“A crack?” I ask. I hope the whole palace isn’t crumbling down. I’d hate to be trapped under falling timber when I’m this pregnant.

“It’s….” She stops talking and feels around. “There’s a lever here in the corner!” she says.

“A what?”

“A lever,” she says again. “It’s…. Oh!”

And just like that, a section of the wall opens up about a foot. I’m not crazy after all!

She turns to me and smiles, and we both giggle, but we’re interrupted by some yelling outside.

“It’s King Gene!” Kelly says in a whisper.

“Um… close that opening!” I say. Instinctively, I surmise that this is something we’re not supposed to know about. The less King Gene knows about what Kelly and I know, the better.

Besides, if it’s a secret passage that leads around the palace, it’ll be the perfect place for Tristan to use to get away from King Gene so that he can keep control of everything. If Tristan remains king, then Gene can’t force me to leave my babies and the four men I love more than anything.

I hear some arguing between Gene and Beta Adam, who is standing outside the door guarding us while my men are away. I don’t know what the king wants with me, but he’s probably just looking for Tristan, and he won’t find him here, so everything should be fine.

I miss my men so much when they aren’t around, and they haven’t even left the palace yet. I pray that when they do go off and do whatever ‘business’ they’re planning, that they’ll be safe.

“I… I can’t,” says Kelly. “I can’t close this thing all the way. This is going to have to do.” The door—or whatever it is—is still open by a crack. She comes back over and sits on my bed. “Maybe he won’t notice,” she says.

I nod in response.

As if on cue, King Gene bursts through the door then and stares at us for a split second. “My Goddess, woman, you’re huge,” he says.

“King Gene?” asks Kelly. “Can we help you with something?”

“Help me?” he says, still looking a little in shock. I guess he doesn’t often see pregnant women, especially ones carrying four pups, and as far along as I am. I’m used to it, but I guess for other people it can be a little… different to see it.

He snaps out of it. “I’m looking for Alpha Tristan,” he says, sounding a little annoyed. Well, he actually sounds a lot annoyed.

Kelly shakes her head and holds up her arms. “He’s not here,” she says.

“Well, I can see that he’s not here,” Gene says. “I need you to tell me where he is. That’s an order!”

“Your Majesty,” says Adam, walking up behind him. “The ladies don’t know where the Alpha is. Let me help you look for him. We’ll split up.”

“I am the king!” King Gene says with a boom. “I’m not a fucking search-and-rescue dog! I expect the people of the palace to cooperate with me! We will not be ‘splitting up’ and looking for the man. You go look for him, and you’d better find him soon!”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Adam says.

King Gene furrows his brow and turns around, then he stops cold. He eyes the wall across the way, and even from my perspective on the bed, I can see his face turn as white as a porcelain sink, as if he’s seen a ghost, and as if he’s very afraid.

He’s looking right at the crack in the wall.

“Your Majesty?” asks Beta Adam.

Without a word, King Gene turns on his heels and runs as fast as he can out of the room.