Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 171: She's Not Here

*Tristan*

Reece, Mark, and I have shifted and are running full speed toward Stephen’s castle. There is no way any of us were going to sit patiently on a military vehicle and wait to arrive by truck. No, we’re going in fast, and we’re going in now.

We’re surrounded by our best warriors. Though some of those have certainly gone to fight Kane in the first company, we always retain a few great fighters for our second contingent. The tactic helps us resupply our ranks with strong, fresh fighters when our first troops need a rest. In this case, they’re going to be on the front lines taking care of Stephen while the others start in on Kane.

We need to find out whether Rose is here at Stephen’s castle or not.

I don’t believe Barbara for one second, but it makes sense to check here first since it’s only a bit off our direct path to Kane. Wherever she is, none of us want Rose and the pups waiting needlessly.

I’m thankful for the run. I need to work off some of this rage I’ve been building up since I first found out that Rose had been kidnapped. No doubt, I’ll get a great workout when the fighting starts, but right now, this is a different kind of release. I need to clear my head so that I won’t make any mistakes, and feeling the soft grass on my paws as I run forward at top speed is somehow therapeutic.

With my concentration so intense, we arrive before it feels like much time has passed at all. All looks quiet, and all of us shift back to human form while our assistants, who have run along with us holding our supply packs, provide us with sweatpants. Now, we switch to walking as we approach the castle walls while checking out the perimeter. We hadn’t brought the plans to Stephen’s castle back in Gene’s library because we’d been certain about our target—Kane—so we are going in a bit less prepared for this military operation.

If I had any qualms at all about our lack of preparation, they’re all washing away now as Stephen’s ‘warriors’ approach. By their body language and obvious lack of confidence, it’s clear that they’ve had little, if any, training in anything related to combat. We have nothing to worry about.

“Halt!” says the first guard in a shaky, squeaky voice. “State your name and purpose!”

He stops about twenty yards away, close enough to see into his eyes, which betray his trembling fear.

“We are Alphas Tristan, Reece, and Mark, and we demand to see Alpha Stephen immediately!” I say in my most authoritative Alpha voice.

The man’s eyes widen, and he starts to open his mouth but then stops, turns, and heads back into the castle. I look over at Reece and Mark, and Mark shrugs. We wait for a moment, and I send one of my warriors around to the side to assess the integrity of the outer wall while the other Alphas and I communicate with our troops, who have almost arrived.

Finally, the gate opens again, and the first man comes out, followed by several others—in fact, they’re piling out of there like bees coming out of a hive. The other Alphas and I hold our ground while Stephen’s people form a line—at least they’re halfway disciplined—and stand at attention. Soon the inner part of the crowd breaks away to form a path, and Alpha Stephen finally appears looking old, tired, and grumpy.

“What’s going on?!” he shouts. When he sees me and the other Alphas, I can sense fear, but not the level of fear I’m expecting.

‘He should be terrified if he’s got Rose,’ says Reece in the mind-link.

‘Agreed,’ says Mark. ‘He’s scared, but something’s not right.’

“I hope to the fucking Goddess that you’ve come to take back that bitch,” Stephen says. “Unfortunately, you’re a little too late.”

My wolf snarls inside me. Too late?! “Where is she?!” I scream.

“She escaped,” he says. “And frankly, good fucking riddance.”

“Escaped?” asks Mark. “When?”

We all look at each other again, confused. We should have heard Rose in the mind-link if she’d escaped. And if she has gotten away, she’s out there in the wild forest all alone. Why hasn’t she called for help? I can tell the same question is going through the other Alphas’ minds.

“Oh, I don’t know,” says Stephen casually. “It’s been so fucking quiet and peaceful since then; I didn’t keep track of the time.”

“What?” asks Reece.

“Quiet,” he says. “It’s like when there’s no rude, crude bitch constantly in your ear asking for clothes or food or jewelry or money or fucking anything else in the world. I don’t think I could have stood it for a moment longer anyway. So, since she’s not here, you might as well leave.”

“What about the babies?” asks Mark. “Are they okay? Did she go into labor?”

“What?!” asked Stephen. “She’s pregnant?”

“Um…”

“She’s huge with child,” I say. “You can’t possibly miss that. She’s having four of them.”

“Four of them!” says Stephen. “Wow!” A smile grows on his face, and I’m about to punch him. “I didn’t know I was so… productive.”

At that, I do step forward and punch him, and he spins around and falls on the ground. His troops look terrified at first, then they seem to realize that they have to do something, so they surround us, but they still hold back and don’t actually do anything. My warriors stand at attention but don’t approach; they know when I want to handle something myself.

“What the fuck was that for?” Stephen asks.

“That’s just a portion of what you’re going to get for touching her, you piece of shit,” I say. “She’s an innocent woman, and pregnant with innocent pups who have nothing to do with your power lust. I’m going to tear you to shreds for laying a finger on her.”

“Well, fuck,” he says. “She IS my wife, technically.”

“What?!” asks Reece.

If there’s a time when I’d actually have steam coming out of my ears, it’s now. He forced Rose to marry him?!

“She’s technically my wife, so I can certainly touch her if I want to,” he says again. “And I didn’t know you gave a rat’s ass about Emily.”

We all just stand there, staring at him. A wave of relief washes over me as Stephen keeps talking.

“How would you know she’s pregnant anyway? I haven’t seen any of you hanging around here.”

‘Thank the Goddess,’ says Mark in the mind-link. ‘He’s talking about Emily. I was ready to kill him.’

‘Me, too,’ I say. ‘Although this doesn’t mean that Rose isn’t here.’

‘I’m not getting that vibe,’ Reece says. ‘But we should search the place anyway.’

I nod, and Stephen looks at me, confused.

“We’re going to need to search your castle,” I say.

“What?!” he hollers. “Why?”

“If Rose is in there, I highly recommend that you bring her out to us at once,” says Reece. “We won’t have much mercy if we find her tied up somewhere inside.”

Tied up… just the phrase gives me a sharp pain in my gut. I need to find my little flower, and now.

“Rose?” Stephen asks. “You mean your fucking Breeder? You will not be searching my private castle, regardless.”

“We will,” I say firmly, moving in until my face is only inches from his own. A bead of sweat forms on his temple and flows down the side of his cheek, and I can feel his heart pounding hard.

“You and what army?” he says, his voice wavering a little, but he’s still holding his ground.

Just then, the first group of our second contingent rolls over the hill formed by the dirt road leading to the castle. One after another, more vehicles arrive until the entire field surrounding his castle is filled with soldiers.

“That would be that army,” I say plainly.

Stephen takes a couple of deep breaths and then looks down at the ground. “Oh, go ahead,” he says. “What do I care? Just don’t break anything. That bitch Emily broke plenty of priceless art pieces already.”

Reece, Mark, and I start instructing our warriors to search the castle, and Stephen calls off his people. His raggedy group of soldiers all look relieved beyond measure as they file back behind the castle walls. I’m just about to enter myself when I hear an unfamiliar voice calling in the mind-link.

“Alpha Tristan? Alpha Mark? Alpha Reece?” says the voice.

The other Alphas and I all look at each other, then we notice someone running, coming from a strange car that’s parked in the middle of our military vehicles. He runs forward and finally reaches us, completely out of breath.

“I’m supposed… to deliver… this… message…,” he says between exhausted breaths, “in person.”

“We’re the Alphas,” I say. “What is it?”

“It’s Miss… Miss Rose’s parents,” he says.

“What?!” I say. I can’t imagine Rose’s parents would ever have the nerve to contact us again.

“She….”

“She what?” asks Reece.

The man is clearly out of breath, and it takes him a bit to compose himself and answer, “Miss Rose sent a message.”