Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 167: Part of Being on the Team

*Eli*

It would be faster to heal if I stayed in wolf form, but the tiny seats in these utility vehicles aren’t exactly built for four legs. Since my hand is still injured, I’m stuck riding shotgun while Kelly drives. And I wish she’d go faster.

She’d insisted that I eat, but I didn’t want to waste time, so I inhaled about half a sandwich before I finally convinced her to leave, so now I’m finishing up the rest of it one-handedly while we speed through the forest. Luckily there’s a rough path here, so the vehicles are making good time, although in wolf form we may be able to run faster—but again, there’s my injured hand, so I’d probably trudge along like a snail.

While I’m in a generally useless state, I have time to think. There’s an ache deep in my gut whenever I think of Rose being kidnapped, and that’s making it more difficult to finish the sandwich. Though I could easily ask Kelly what happened at the castle, I really don’t think I want to hear the details. I know Rose would never let anyone take her alive, so imagining what someone had done to drag her out of there is just… unthinkable.

The result of whatever happened is that Rose is missing, and she’s probably been kidnapped by Kane’s people, which means she’s in the hands of Kane right now. At that thought, I’m completely done with my sandwich, but I force myself to down some water because I’m going to need the hydration to heal up and fight that evil bastard. Out of all the Alphas, he’s the lowest because he’s willing to kill anyone he needs to just to have as much power as he can grab. Well, maybe Rose’s father is the lowest after what he's done to her throughout her life.

But Kane… he’s terrifying, which means whoever he has guarding Rose will never go against his commands. I never want to harm innocent wolves, but I’ll have no choice if they stand in between me and Rose.

I look over at Kelly, who is really focused on driving, so I decide not to bother her. She probably doesn’t know where our armies are anyway. ‘Reece,’ I say in the mind-link.

‘Eli? Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine,’ I tell him. ‘What’s the situation?’

‘We have our main forces headed to Kane,’ he says. ‘But the other Alphas and I are going after Stephen.’

‘What?! Why?’

‘Barbara said that Stephen took her,’ he says.

‘And you believe her?’ That knot in my stomach has turned into pure anger, and it’s welling up in my chest.

‘No,’ he says. ‘But if it’s true, then we’ll waste time with Kane while Rose and the pups are still in danger. It’s pretty much on the way to Kane’s anyway, so we’re taking the chance. If she’s not in Stephen’s castle, then we can get to Kane fairly quickly.’

I take a deep breath. It’s a gamble, but he’s right. I know Barbara is working with Kane and would do anything to help him. But on the other hand, Barbara is all about Barbara, so if it’s in her best interest to help us—which it is since we’ll be the ones ruling the kingdom—then she’s just as likely to sell Kane out without hesitating. If we ignore her, then Stephen could be hurting Rose right now. We just can’t take the chance. But with three Alphas heading toward Stephen, my place is with the troops going after Kane.

‘I’m headed to Kane,’ I tell him.

‘You’re in no shape for that,’ says Mark. Apparently, Reece had brought the other Alphas into the mind-link conversation.

‘I’m fine,’ I say. ‘Kelly brought herbs from the healers and they’re working fine. Nothing is going to keep me away from Rose. We need an Alpha overseeing the Kane attack.’

There’s silence, so I know everyone understands that there’s no sense in trying to talk me out of it. We all feel the same way about Rose, and we just need to rescue her as soon as we can.

‘We’ll get her,’ Tristan says, and then we disengage the mind-link. We all have troops to command and no time to waste chatting about it.

And that’s exactly what I do, contacting my warriors to get their position so we meet up with them before they reach Kane’s fortress. I’m so pissed about Cora, and I pray to the Moon Goddess that she didn’t bring any of my trusted warriors over to her side, whatever her side is. I’ll have to worry about that later.

The landscape flies by at a dizzying pace, with specks of green blending into the deep browns of tree trunks as the smell of pine and cedar fills the air. I close my eyes, needing a moment to regroup inside my head before we meet up with our troops. Images of Rose flow through my mind—lingering on one picture of her smiling face gazing at me drearily as we wake up from a night of lovemaking. The pain of missing her is biting, but I can’t help smiling at her beautiful face as the memory of her scent dances in my mind.

I feel a sudden, violent jerk and open my eyes to see the bushes and trees still moving by quickly, but I’m no longer in the utility vehicle—my body is flying forward. I shift mid-air and jump down with too much forward momentum, landing violently on my injured front paw and letting out an ear-piercing howl as I roll on the ground, the pine needles mixing with the blood on my fur until I finally come to a stop at a giant tree.

* * *

*Adam*

‘Take one for the team,’ I say in my mind, ‘The Alphas need you.’ I’ve been repeating my little mantra for the past hour, but I don’t think I’ve convinced myself that sitting here listening to Barbara and Gene bicker about—clothes?—is somehow going to win the war on Kane and get Rose back. But since it’s all my fault that she’s gone, I sigh.

I can’t believe I didn’t guard that damn secret passage door.

“I am to be the Luna Queen!” Barbara hollers. “How can I be seen in these worthless rags? They’re hardly worth burning in the castle furnace for heat!” She seems to have perfected the art of bellowing almost as effectively as Gene has.

“These are made of the finest fucking silk!” screams Gene. No, he’s still the champion at bellowing.

“I don’t give a fuck what they’re made of,” she says. “I’m not going to be caught dead in these drab colors and unflattering styles. I’ll need the royal seamstress to start from scratch.”

They rattle on for several more minutes, and I close my eyes, just to give myself a few milliseconds of peace.

“Adam!”

I jump in my seat and open my eyes to see Gene’s face no more than twelve inches away from my own. It’s horrifying.

“Y—Your Majesty,” I say.

There’s silence as he stares at me without speaking, and I can see that he’s even drooling a little.

“You’re to escort Luna Barbara to the seamstress to measure her for new outfits!” He finally backs away from me, and I’m guessing it’s so that I can get up and take Barbara where he’s ordered me to. I’m torn as to whether this is a good thing or not, but I guess going from dealing with two of them to just one is a win. Yes, I’ll call it a win.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I say as I stand up, give Gene a half-assed sign of respect and heading toward the door.

He’s already pouring a drink at his private bar when I close the door behind Barbara and me. I need a drink myself right now.

“Well?!”

Now Barbara’s face is in front of me, and while she has somewhat attractive features, she has a nasty habit of contorting them into horrifying configurations that make her look like a witch. I quickly dodge her and wish I had some bleach to clean that awful image out of my mind, and we both head toward the sewing room to find the seamstress.

She keeps talking while we walk, babbling on about nothing and clanking her heels on the floor. I don’t know how she walks in those huge heels. They seem to defy gravity. To tune her out, I escape into my own head for a while… Shelby, yes, she’ll do it for me. She’s so hot, and I remember how I snuck up behind her in the shower a few days ago and grabbed her gorgeous ass from behind. She was mad at first, but then I reached my fingers around and massaged her nipples until they were all perky and delicious, then I turned her around and tasted them. They were fabulous.

I’m almost at the sewing room door now, so I come out of my thoughts and realize that I’ve successfully tuned out Barbara. I don’t hear her babbling—or her heel clacking, come to think of it—anymore. I turn around and face a blank hallway.

Fuck. I had one job, and I blew it once again.