Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 142: A Dangerous Escape

*Barbara*

A hairpin!

The thin, little pointy metallic piece of heaven has landed within my cell, and I can hardly believe it.

Picking locks is an area of expertise I figured out how to take advantage of a long time ago, and I don’t intend to let my skills go to waste now when I need them more than ever.

Now that I have waited until the awkward dance–or is it a struggle?–between the old lady and the guard is over, I can get up and do what needs to be done. The guard has finally managed to get her back in her cell, so now he falls back against the wall and begins to pant, sucking in air like he’s been running for a few miles. I see his eyes focusing on the ceiling, so I carefully put my foot over the hairpin, hoping he doesn’t see me at all.

His eyes lock on me, and I smile at him, trying to look innocent, but I’m sure he must know I’m up to something. That’s just how my luck is going these days. It’s as if I’m accidentally mind-linking everything to everyone. As he stares at me, I can’t help but give him a coy smile. He rolls his eyes and walks away, and I’m glad, for once, that my ability to annoy men has paid off.

Once his footsteps echo down the hallway and away from my ears, I hear another sound, one that is almost enough to make me crawl between the bars of the cell.

“Eddie!”

“Marcie!”

“Gag me!” I spit as I rush over to the cell door. I can’t get out of here quickly enough!

It’s been a while since I’ve had to pick a lock, but I am confident in my abilities to get out of here. I know that I can do this. It doesn’t help that my hand is trembling slightly as I attempt to work the pin into the lock. I hate to admit that I’m scared, so I just chalk it up to being nervous.

Eventually, I’m able to wiggle the pin around enough that the lock pops. I take a deep breath and wait, making sure no one else heard it. Marcie and Eddie are still calling to each other lovingly. I slowly push the door open and wait again.

The thing about this part of the dungeon is that no one wants to stay down here, not even the guards. It smells like urine. It is dark and dingy, and no one wants to be here at all, let alone long-term.

So theoretically, there probably won’t be any guards around, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for me to just walk out.

I need to do something to better my odds of getting out here….

Looking both ways, I see that the hall in front of the cell is clear. I close the cell door behind me but don’t bother to try to lock it. Who knows if I might need to duck back in here?

Slowly, I creep down the hallway in the direction I originally came from several days ago. I listen for the sounds of anyone coming, but all I can hear is the two lovers and the sound of someone snoring up ahead.

I’m thinking it has to be a guard. Who else would ever subject themselves to being down here? I don’t think that it’s another prisoner because it seems to be coming from the side of the hallway away from the stairs.

I continue on my way, walking slowly, taking my time, my eyes cutting through the dark, until I see him. It’s not Seymour, the guy who had brought Marcella down and danced her around. No, this is a chubby, sweaty man with greasy hair. He has drool sliding from his open mouth, and he sounds like a freaking freight train.

He looks to be in his mid-thirties if I had to guess, and I’d like to think I could just slip right past him, make it up the stairs and probably head right out the door.

But I can’t take the chance.

I can’t take the chance of him waking up.

I can’t take the chance of him following me up the stairs and attacking me.

I can’t take the chance of him alerting other guards that I’ve escaped.

No, as much as I don’t like doing what I’m about to do, it has to be done. And it's not like I’ve never done it before.

Without shifting all the way, I extend my wolf claws on both hands and move forward quietly. He’s still sleeping, undisturbed….

Until I swipe through his jugular with one hand of claws and then the other.

At first, he starts to sputter, and I am quick to lift him and bend him over so that the blood that begins to gush from his throat lands mostly on the floor behind the door.

It would be awful if it got all over his uniform or made an obvious stain next to the entrance to this part of the dungeon.

The guard bleeds out quickly, and I have to assume that he was so startled and in such duress that he didn’t have any time to call for help via the mind-link.

But just in case, I hurriedly pull his uniform off of him as soon as the bleeding lets up and slide it on over my own clothing. His boots are a bit too big for me, but I’ll make them work. I am glad he has a head covering that will at least partially hide my face.

Now, in the guard’s uniform, which is slightly sprinkled with blood, but it’s not too noticeable, I head up the stairs.

With my shoulders back, I confidently step into the next layer of dungeon. Here, the prisoners are all loud and rowdy, making demands, insisting they be let out or brought more water, or given more to eat.

I see the lead guard over by one of the cells. I can tell he’s in charge because of his uniform. He’s busy yelling at a man who is shouting that he needs to be let out because he’s the king, and I hide a smile. I’ve heard that one before.

I rush past all of these guards, keeping my head down, hoping none of them yell at me to do anything. If they do, I don’t know how I’ll respond. I do see a few other women, but they’re just as butch as the men, and it would be clear to anyone who looks at me closely that I don’t belong here.

“Hey, you!” I hear someone shout. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? You can’t go there!”

My heart thunders in my chest as I slowly turn around to see if the gruff tone is directed at me. I’m sure it must be, and I’m ready to run.

But as I swivel on my heel, I see a large male guard barking at a guy in a cell.

He’s going all right. He’s going all over the wall, and the stench of urine is almost as strong here as it is down below.

I take this opportunity of distraction to rush to the other stairwell and hurry up, not pausing to look behind me again as I fly up to the highest level of the dungeon. This one should be the hardest to get through because most of the criminals kept here haven’t done anything too terrible.

Either that or they’re new to the prison and they’re waiting to be interrogated.

“Hey! You!” one of the prisoners shouts at me. “Let me out!”

I ignore him. If I even turn to yell at him to shut up or that I don’t have keys, one of the several guards mulling around might see me. I don’t need any attention.

I do feel a set of keys in my pocket, but I think those might be for only the cells below. Not that I’m going to wait to find out.

With all of the activity buzzing around here, I think I might have a chance of making it up the last flight of stairs. I’m almost out of breath because I’ve been running so quickly once I get to the stairs, but as I approach the final flight, the guard that’s stationed there says, “Where you headed?” He isn’t quite blocking my way, but he’s towering over me, with his arms folded.

“Important job for… Alpha Tristan,” I say, and then I push past him, taking the steps quickly.

“Alpha Tristan?” he calls after me. But I don’t answer. Is Alpha Tristan not in charge anymore? Is he not here? Did he die?

I finally make it to the top of the dungeon, and the man stationed there glances at my uniform and lets me out. I rush through and realize I’m free!

I can leave the castle! I can run away! I might even be able to make it to Kane.

But then I think about the fact that I could be recaptured and hauled right back to the dungeon. No, if I’m going to walk out of here, I’m going to need some collateral.

I’m going to need… a hostage.

And since all of the Alphas are clearly busy with Kane, I know exactly where to go.

I try to keep the stern look on my face as I rush down the hall headed to the room of that dirty Breeder.