Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 153: What Happened to Rose?

*Reece*

We’re running at top speed as Tristan and I race back to the castle. We’ve gone silent in our mind-links because neither of us even want to think about the horrible possibilities that are running through our heads, much less talk about them. We just need to get back as soon as we can.

I don’t know where Mark is, but I assume Beta Adam has alerted him as well. He’d left when Tristan had shown up to check on the troops, and since he knew Alpha Oliver, our ally who was getting his troops together to join us in the fight with Kane, he had gone to assist him while Tristan and I continued to search for Eli.

My mind cycled through so many different images of what could have happened to Rose that it made it hard to focus on running through the forest, but raw instincts had taken over at this point, and Tristan and I leaped over fallen trees and dodged areas of thick brush to practically fly through the area.

I also had thoughts of Eli in my mind. As we got closer to Rose—or to where Rose had last been seen, anyway—we were getting farther away from wherever Eli was being held. He’s a strong Alpha, and I know he can hold his own, but the fact that he’s being drugged into unconsciousness terrifies me.

I’m also terrified by the fact that I can’t reach Rose. I know Tristan has to be trying as well, and if he’d reached her, I believe he would tell me. But there’s just silence between us, and desperation in my mind as I repeatedly call for her. She has to be unconscious somewhere as well, and the pain in my chest is unbearable as I imagine what’s happening to her and our pups right now.

We clear the forest and continue to run at full speed. I remember Tristan’s hip is still injured, but you wouldn’t know it because he’s easily keeping pace with me. I can sense the emotional pain he’s feeling as well. Once again, we’re on the same page.

We just have to get back to the castle as quickly as we can.

* * *

*Mark*

My heart is thumping in my chest as I run toward the castle. Thankfully, I’m not far since I was coming back from Alpha Oliver’s pack lands and heading to the front where the troops are fighting Kane, which took me near Gene’s castle.

My mind is racing with terrifying thoughts of what is happening right now to Rose and the pups. I’ve tried dozens of times to reach her and continue to get no answer.

Thankfully, all the guards recognize me and step aside as I practically break through the castle’s front gate and race to Rose’s room.

The door is open when I get there, and Shelby is standing in the center of the room with a horrified look on her face. She startles a bit when I run in still in my wolf form. I shift and grab a blanket, which for some reason is on the floor, and wrap it around me.

“Mark!” she says, holding her hand over her heart like I’d startled her.

“What happened?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “They must have taken her through there,” she says, pointing at the secret passageway door. “Tristan and Reece are on their way. Adam went in there to see if he can find her.”

With a quick nod, I head through the door as well. It’s dark in here, so I shift so I can be faster and have more accurate senses, leaving the blanket pooling on the floor behind me. I can still smell her beautiful scent faintly, and it rips my heart in two. I should have been here to protect her!

I didn’t have time to yell at Shelby for not guarding the inner door, but from the look on her face, she was beating herself up for it already. Adam will get an earful when I get my hands on him, though.

I see a figure up ahead down the dark hallway, and instantly I recognize him as Adam. I don’t have time to yell at him, though, and I don’t bother to shift, but since he looks afraid, I talk to him in the mind-link.

“It’s Mark,” I say.

He sighs in relief but then I see his eyes widen. He knows he’s in trouble, and he’s eyeing my sharp teeth.

“I’m not going to hurt you,’ I tell him. I have better things to do right now than take out my anger on Adam. It’s only partially his fault because we all should have been watching Rose.

‘I think Barbara took her,’ he says.

‘Barbara? She’s in the dungeon,’ I say.

He shakes his head, and we keep following Rose’s scent trail. ‘She escaped,’ he explains to me. ‘We don’t know where she is. We found a syringe on the floor, one like what the guards use to control the prisoners. She must have had a guard’s uniform on to escape. Rose’s sheet is missing, so she must’ve wrapped her in that.’

‘She drugged Rose?!’ No wonder she hasn’t answered my mind-link. She is unconscious! Suddenly, I’m even more terrified for the pups. Who knows how that drug might affect them?

‘Yes,’ he says.

I can tell he has the same thoughts as me about Rose and the pups’ safety. We have to find her.

The trail leads to the library, where Rose’s scent is slightly stronger because it’s more recent. It’s obvious that Barbara—or whoever took Rose—has dragged her out using her bedding. The trail leads through the bookshelves and out the library door, into the hallway. Surely, there were guards out here. Were they involved? How could Barbara get past them dragging someone wrapped in sheets?

Sure enough, the trail continues down the hallway and out the door, where the drag marks end. There’s blood here on the ground, and a horrifying pain strikes deep in my chest. But when I smell the blood, it’s clearly not Rose’s. A guard walks around the corner.

“What happened here?” asks Adam.

The guard looks uneasily at me, then back up to Adam as he answers, “Some shifters were here looking like they were trying to get into the castle. Our guards attacked and took them out, all but one, who surrendered.”

“Where is he?” Adam asked.

“We’ve taken him to King Gene,” the guard says.

Shit. The last thing I want is to have a prisoner with information about Rose going to Gene, whom we all know wants to kill Rose.

Before Adam can react, I pivot and go back inside, running through the hallways to get to Gene’s quarters. When I get there, the door is cracked a little, so I burst in.

“What the fuck?!” Gene bellows, backing up in terror as he sees me in my wolf form.

I really could take him out quickly right now, but the rest of the Alphas and I have decided that regicide is not the right path. We’re going to get control of the kingdom legitimately so that Rose and our children can live in peace.

I shift to show him that I’m not going to kill him, and I can see relief flood over him.

“Alpha Mark!” he says, grabbing a pair of pants out of a drawer and throwing them at me. “Put some fucking clothes on in the presence of the king!”

I do it because I really don’t want to stand here naked anyway, and they fit like a pair of capri pants, barely hitting below my knees. They won’t come close to fastening.

“Where’s the prisoner?” I ask.

“Which prisoner?” he asks in reply. “I’ve got a fuck ton of prisoners in the castle dungeon.”

“The one your guards captured just outside the castle,” I say. I’m silently praying to the Moon Goddess that Gene doesn’t know that the guy is connected to Rose’s disappearance. “It just happened not long ago.”

“Oh, that idiot,” Gene says. “The poor bastard is probably getting his ass beat by one of the guards down there as we speak. Why do you give a fuck about some dumb asshole who’s trying to break into my castle?”

Thank the Moon Goddess; it appears he doesn’t know. I shrug, trying to act indifferent, but it’s almost impossible with the fear I’m feeling about Rose. But I make it work anyway since I need information about where to find Rose, and that prisoner is the answer.

“No reason,” I say. “I just don’t want anyone penetrating the fortress.”

“Good man,” he says. Then he sits in a chair and takes a sip of a drink. He looks up at me. “Shouldn’t you be out defending our lands? We’re fighting on two fronts, you know!”

“We’ve taken care of Stephen’s army,” I say.

“You have?” He looks honestly surprised. “Oh. Good man! Keep up the good work!” He goes back to his drink, sipping it and smiling.

I nod and turn around. I don’t have any more time to waste talking to this babbling idiot. I run down the hallways toward the dungeon. I have to get to this man and interrogate him.

I have to find out where they took Rose!