Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 149: Where is Rose?

*Shelby*

It’s been about an hour, but I want to give Rose plenty of time to rest. I can’t even imagine what it’s like carrying so many pups all at once. Well, I can’t even imagine what it’s like carrying one pup yet, so four… that’s just incredible.

I’m starting to get hungry, so I mind-link Adam to see if he can bring me something from the kitchen.

‘I have to check on Gene first then I’ll be right there,’ he tells me. ‘What do you want?’

‘Iced tea and a sandwich, please,’ I say. The chef makes incredible shredded beef sandwiches. Adam keeps teasing me, saying that I’m craving them, but they just taste really good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

‘About a half hour,’ he tells me.

‘See you then, handsome,’ I say. He loves it when I get all gushy with him. I can tell by his next reply that he’s smiling, then we close the mind-link.

So, now I just wait. I’m not hearing Rose’s light snoring anymore, so she’s probably turned a bit on the bed to get more comfortable. I heard her moving around in there a few minutes ago; I’m sure sleeping when you’re so pregnant is a bit challenging and requires a lot of position changes. Spending so much time with her, watching over her, has made it easy to predict her patterns, so I often hear her tossing and turning. For right now, I know that she’s getting some good rest, so I’m not going to interrupt her.

She’s so excited for the pups to be born, and she has confided in me several times that she’s nervous about it. I don’t blame her. I’m sure she’ll be fine, but having four babies at once is going to be a pup-birthing marathon! I’m pretty excited about it.

I sigh, thinking about how one day maybe Adam and I will be the ones expecting pups. It hasn’t happened yet, and I’m not sure why, but I know that when it does happen, he’s going to make a great dad. I’m sure it’ll happen one day.

I realize that I haven’t made it past a single page of my book. Ironically, it’s about pup-bearing. Rose has read—and re-read—every book in the castle library on childbirth, and since I’m both guarding her and hoping to have pups of my own one day, I’m trying to catch up with her on the reading part just so I know everything she knows, so I’ve checked out a few books of my own.

And I have to say… they’re scary! I like to think of myself as a pretty tough wolf. I’m the Beta’s wife, after all. Fighting with enemy wolves can be scary, and I’ve done that a few times in my day. But giving life… wow, what an amazing thing, and so much happens when you’re pregnant, and, of course, during the birth itself, that it takes a very strong wolf to go through it all. It never ceases to astound me how amazing women are.

I know that Rose is more than up to the task, and I’m so excited for her. One day when I’m doing the same thing, I’ll be strong, too. I probably won’t have four pups, and they definitely won’t be from four Alphas, but it will still take a lot of strength!

I’m chuckling a bit thinking about the Alphas and how nervous they’ve been about Rose when Adam walks up.

“That was fast,” I say. It definitely hasn’t been a half hour.

“I can’t find Gene,” he says with a shrug. “So, I figured my beautiful wife needs her nourishment first.”

I give him a broad, toothy smile then move in for a kiss as he bends down, and we linger a bit to let our tongues dance.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” he says with a laugh when our lips part. “What ‘cha reading? One of those sexy romance novels?” He wiggles his brows up and down, and that makes me laugh even more.

“No,” I say, still chuckling. “I’m just reading one of Rose’s books.”

He bends down again and looks at the cover while handing me the bag with my sandwich. “Pups?!” he says. “Shelby, is there something I should know?”

I laugh as he sits down next to me. “No,” I say. “Not yet, anyway.”

He exhales, so much so that he must have been holding in his breath.

I squint my eyes at him a bit. “Why, don’t you want pups?”

“Someday, yes,” he says. “But right now, I don’t think I’m quite ready.”

“No one is ever ready,” I say with a laugh. “It happens when the Moon Goddess knows that it’s the right time.”

“I guess so,” he says. “Say, how is Rose?”

“Nice deflection,” I say, and we both laugh a little. “She’s sleeping. She looked so tired that she barely lasted till I was out of the room before she drifted off. It must be so tiring having four pups at once.”

“No doubt,” he says. “When we’re ready, let’s try for just one at a time.”

“No promises,” I say. “It’s not up to me.”

We sat for a bit while I ate my sandwich, which was incredible as usual. Even the iced tea seemed to have more flavor than normal. I must have been starving.

“Hey,” I say when I’m finished. “There’s something about Rose… she was kind of—I guess you’d say unsure about you.”

“About me?” he asks.

I nod. “I told her that you would never, ever hurt her, and she pretty much said that she wasn’t sure about that,” I explain to him.

“That’s understandable, really,” he says. “I mean, she didn’t know any of us before she got here, and though we’ve become friends, I’m still Gene’s Beta, and he did order me to….” He looks around but there’s no one in the hallway. Still, he lowers his voice to a whisper when he continues, “To kill her.”

“I guess,” I say. “I just don’t want her to feel that way about us. I want her to trust us.”

“She does, I’m sure,” he says. “But it’s smart for her to keep her guard up. Speaking of that, when did you last check in on her?”

“It’s been over an hour,” I say. “But she was so tired I’ve been letting her rest.”

“Better peek in and make sure she’s okay,” Adam says. “I don’t want any of the Alphas pissed off at me because she needed something and we didn’t get it for her right away.”

“All right,” I say, standing up and tossing my food wrappers into the trash. I’d already finished the iced tea, too.

I open the door quietly, listening for Rose’s breathing to tell me whether she is still asleep. It seems… strangely quiet in her room. Maybe she’s awake. I open the door further, figuring I’m not waking her up so it’s okay, but my heart pretty much stops beating when I view the scene inside.

Rose is gone!

* * *

*Gene*

When you want to get somewhere fast, there sure are a lot of obstacles, especially when you’re such a strong and powerful king like I am.

I swear, every fucking idiot servant in this household is trying to talk to me while I power-walk to my room. I have to get there immediately before that bitch Barbara starts talking, and I have to suddenly prove that I have the right to the throne.

It’s so stupid. I should have killed my parents years ago. If I had, then they’d be long gone and there would be no reason to have to prove anything. I’m their only heir. But as it is, there is one small thing—a useless piece of paper—that stands in my way of lifetime regency.

I wave my hand at every moron who tries to stop me. Can’t they just fucking do their jobs without me holding their hands like infants? You’d think the whole castle itself would fall down without me the way my staff keeps bothering me.

I really do need to make that note to hire new help. I’m sure there are competent people in the kingdom somewhere.

There’s some sort of problem happening at the end of the hallway by the library, but I can’t be bothered with it, whatever it is. It looks like two guards are dealing with it, so I move on as hastily as I can.

Turning the last corner, I’m home free; my private room is in sight! But just as I’m reaching for the doorknob, some idiot guard walks up to me.

“Do you need any assistance, Your Majesty?” he asks.

“Why the fuck would I need assistance?” I ask with a growl. “I’m going to my chambers and expect to be left in privacy! If you’re looking for something to do, do it elsewhere!”

He bows and retreats down the hallway.

Finally, I’m alone, and I lock the door behind me. All I have to do now is remember where the fuck I put the thing. It’s probably in with my royal papers, but where the hell are those?

I make my way quickly to my office part of the suite and start opening file cabinets, rifling through and finding nothing.

After a while, when I still haven’t found it, I look back at the mess I made all over the floor. Adam is going to have to deal with all that shit later.

But right now, I need to find the papers! They have to be here somewhere.