Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 143: Nowhere Safe

*Rose*

“Rose?” asks Shelby. There’s a pleading look in her eyes as she looks at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t know,” I say. Instantly I regret the words because she gives me a pained look, and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.

I expected her to stand up and walk away from me, but instead, she moves in closer and takes my hand. “Adam is a good man, Rose,” she says. “He would never hurt you.”

I nod and say, “I know you believe that. It’s just that…”

“Just what?” she asks. “He’s a wonderful husband and a caring man.”

I feel horrible because she’s been so nice to me, so I try to find the right words to explain how I feel. “Shelby, please understand,” I begin. “I’ve been told a lot of things, even before I got here. First, my parents told me that coming here was the best thing for me and my family, but they were lying. It was really all about them.”

“I’m so sorry, Rose,” she says.

“Then there was the king,” I continue. “I came to the castle and didn’t know anyone. And there were horrible people like Emily and Barbara who were out to get me, and I thought, well, at least the king wants me safe since I’m carrying these pups. But no, that wasn’t even the truth because I found out that he wanted to kill me, and that he’s ordered Adam to do it.”

“He would never—” she begins.

I put up my hand. “I want to be certain of that,” I say. “But after all, he’s the king’s Beta. In the long run, he has to do what he says. And he’s known the king for years longer than he’s known me. I’m just… things are so confusing. I don’t know if it’s feeling vulnerable because I’m so pregnant or if these feelings are real. But Shelby, I’m just so confused. I don’t even know what to think anymore.”

Inexplicably, I burst out into tears. Shelby looks at me, surprised for just a moment, then she lets go of my hand so she can get a box of tissues on the other side of the room. My tears are just pouring out, making it hard to even see through the droplets in my eyes. I wail loudly, very loudly, feeling every ounce of uncertainty and frustration and fear coming out of me all at once.

Is pregnancy really this hard? Or is this just what happens when a daughter of a poor Alpha gets sent off to a castle and meets four other Alphas who might even be her fated mates and her mere presence puts everyone around her in danger?

I really don’t know.

Shelby is so nice. She keeps handing me tissue after tissue and throwing the old ones away from me while I cry out half the ocean.

Finally, I calm down and can breathe again. I don’t think I have any more tears left, and I am just… exhausted.

“Shelby,” I say. “I am so sorry I doubted Adam. I just—”

It was her turn to put up her hand and interrupt my blabbering. “You have every right to be afraid and self-protective after everything you’ve been through. I think you just needed to vent. And judging by the size of that pile of tissues in the wastebasket, I’d say it was long overdue.”

She chuckles a bit at the end, and I have to join in. Then we both just sort of explode and laugh hard. It was a much-needed release from all the pressure I’ve been feeling.

“Oh,” I say, feeling my belly.

“Did they move?” she asks, putting her hand on my tummy as well.

“Someone must have enjoyed the giggling,” I say.

Shelby nods and smiles. “I felt one! I’m sure they’re happy when their mommy is happy,” she says.

“I hope they are,” I say, rubbing my belly. Then I release a huge yawn.

“You’re probably exhausted from all this excitement,” she says. “I’m going to let you get a nap in. Now, don’t worry, because I’ll be right outside until the Alphas or Adam or all of them come back. I want you to get your rest.”

I am too tired to argue, so I nod at her and scoot down into my bed—awkwardly since I’m so big—and then relax into my pillow.

Shelby smiles again and puts the blanket over me before she goes out the door. I barely hear it shut as I drift off to sleep.

* * *

*Barbara*

I make my way close to the Breeder’s room, but unfortunately, the hallway I need to use to get to her wing of the castle is heavily guarded. I need to find another way in, so I think for a moment.

There’s nothing good about being in a dungeon. You’re starving, you’re dirty, and any sense of hope that you once had fades away more and more as the days move on—if you can recognize the passing of days at all. Since I had been in the darkest part of the dungeon, all I could do was guess at how much time had passed.

But if there’s one spark of light, one teeny, tiny thing that gives a prisoner in a dungeon an advantage, it’s the heightened sense of hearing. As a shifter, all my senses are finely tuned, including my hearing. But when you’re down in the darkest dungeon that’s at the bottom of a long labyrinth of cells full of filthy dirty, angry prisoners, your sense of hearing sharpens into a precision tool.

Sometimes I would hear an echo, and it was impossible to make out what the person two or three stories above me through the thick iron floors was saying. But as time passed, I started to decipher those sounds so that I understood exactly what was said.

And it wasn’t long before I’d heard something helpful. A couple of morons had been talking about a rumor of something they’d seen in the castle library—a secret passageway.

Instead of heading outside and running for my life out of the castle, I know that I need to take a little life insurance with me to ensure my future, so I run deep into the interior of the castle, still dressed in my prison guard uniform.

Whenever there’s a sound in a hallway up ahead, I pause for a moment to make sure the people pass me. I’ve managed to make it through quite a few hallways this way, and I’m almost at my destination—the library.

Luckily, it’s empty, so I sneak around each bookshelf looking for a section of shelves that resembles what the prisoners had described. Finally, I see it. Way over in the corner is a blank wall that looks just a little out of place since every other wall is covered with bookshelves.

I remember that the men had mentioned a flashlight, as well as a book off to one side that they had to remove in order to open the secret panel door. I don’t see a flashlight, so for a moment, my heart sinks a little, thinking that they were just a bunch of stupid bullshitters.

It wouldn’t be the first time that complete idiots had ruined my plans.

But then I noticed the book about war on a shelf off to the side. It was the exact title the fools had discussed. Taking one last look behind me, and finding no one has entered the room, I hurry over and take the book off the shelf.

I’m rewarded with a strange noise that startles me at first even though I’m half expecting it—the door opens. It’s only open a crack, so I put my fingers in and pull it just enough to slide through. Luckily, there’s a handle on the inside of the door, so I pull it all the way closed behind me.

Now, I know why the flashlight was there, but some fucking moron had probably taken it and didn’t put it back. It’s pitch black in here, but it’s not like I’m a stranger to dark places lately, so it doesn’t take long for my eyes to adjust and make out small shadows against the walls.

And I find that it’s a hallway that seems to keep going forever. Before I move forward, I take a minute to close my eyes and listen closely with my keen sense of hearing. Sensing that the hallway is empty, I move forward cautiously.

I haven’t gone far when I misstep and my little toe bangs into some sort of box on the ground. It takes every ounce of my willpower not to holler out and curse the fucking moron who left something in the middle of a pitch-black damn hallway, but I manage it. Recovering, I move forward some more.

I’ve spent a lot of time negotiating the regular hallways in this castle, so while figuring out my location is a challenge, I have a general idea of where I’m at and I head in the general direction of the Breeder’s room.

It feels like I’ve been walking forever and I’m not making much progress, so for a moment, I’m sure that I’m lost. But then I see it—a tiny little crack near the end of a hallway with a light shining through it. I’m not sure whether it’s the Breeder’s room, but if I take a look, at least I can get my bearings again in this crazy maze that dumbass Gene put together.

I approach quietly in case there’s someone in the room, and I listen for a while before I’m confident that there’s only one voice that I’m hearing. The person isn’t talking. No, they seem to be… snoring lightly, and it’s a female voice.

The biggest smile I’ve felt on my face in ages grows wide as I softly push the door open.