Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 175: Never Lie to the Alpha

*Adam*

Well, shit.

Lying to your Alpha is the number one thing that a good Beta should never do.

Technically, Alpha Mark is not my Alpha, at least not right now, and I’m not technically his Beta, and I technically didn’t lie. I said I’d keep an eye on her, and I will. Just as soon as I find her.

Too many damn technicalities.

Well, first things first… I have to find Barbara so I can keep an eye on her. She was endlessly bitching about her clothes, so I don’t know why she wouldn’t want to follow me to the seamstress. That is, after all, the only way she’s going to get new clothes. I honestly don’t understand women.

But… I know someone who does.

‘Shelby, my love,’ I call out sweetly in the mind-link. She loves when I do that.

‘What?’ she asks as a response.

Goddess, her voice is sexy. ‘I need your help,’ I say. ‘I kind of… lost track of Barbara.’

‘What?!’ I hate when she mind-link screams.

‘I know,’ I say. ‘I don’t know what happened. She was right behind me, and now she’s gone.’

‘Well,’ Shelby says, sounding a bit agitated, but even that sounded sexy. ‘Where was she last?’

‘Following me to the sewing room,’ I say. ‘She was complaining about her clothes to Gene, then he ordered me to take her there, then she just kind of stopped following me.’

‘How did you not sense that she was gone?’ Shelby asks.

Well, I don’t want to answer that. I know she likes that I think about her all the time, but this isn’t the time for that with Rose missing. The thoughts of Shelby’s beautiful body were definitely distracting me before I noticed Barbara was missing. ‘I don’t know,’ I say. I’m lying again, and this time to my mate. I think that’s worse than lying to an Alpha.

‘Well, look in the spot she was where you last saw her,’ she says. ‘I’ll be right there.’

My heart jumps a bit inside knowing that my mate is coming to be by my side, but I admonish myself because that thing that I’m quite sure she was thinking while I spoke to her is right. Now is not the time to act like love-sick pups.

So, I retrace my steps, heading back toward Gene’s living quarters. Maybe she had some unfinished business with him and figured I would just somehow handle her clothes by myself. I don’t understand women at all. Was I supposed to try them on for the seamstress myself?

As I approach Gene’s room, I hear Barbara’s grating, scratchy voice. I sigh in relief, although I can’t believe I’m happy to hear that torturing sound. At least I know where she is, and I can do what I told Mark I would—keep an eye on her.

I get just up to the doorway when I hear Barbara say, “Did you know that there’s a secret passage where the door leads out into the middle of the forest? Just about anyone could come into the castle that way, and Kane knows where it is.”

I freeze in my tracks and slowly back away from the door. I know the Alphas will want to know whatever Barbara knows about Kane, so I need to hear this without her knowing I’m here. I back up, painfully slowly, being careful to take a step whenever one of them speaks to muffle the sound. When I feel pretty confident that I’m far enough away, I listen.

She’s talking about the secret passageway, and some sort of door that’s not really locked but sounds like it should be.

And Kane knows where it is. And he’s planning on storming the castle.

After being jolted by that news, I feel warmth enter the hall and inhale my mate’s scent. I want to close my eyes and enjoy the sensation, but instead I turn around and hold one finger against my mouth to indicate that she should be quiet. She nods and carefully walks up to me, her footfalls completely silent. How she does that in those shoes, I have no idea.

She puts her arm around me when she reaches me and listens to the tail end of the conversation between Gene and Barbara.

‘She’s coming,’ Shelby tells me in the mind-link, and we move around the doorway and hide just as Barbara comes out of Gene’s room in a huff, which is generally her natural state.

‘What do we do?’ asks Shelby in the mind-link as Barbara walks down the hallway.

‘We follow her, and we tell the Alphas,’ I say.

Barbara is walking quickly now, and it seems that she’s headed back to her room. I guess the whole clothes issue is out the window now. Shelby and I hold back until she’s around the corner, then we tiptoe to the end of the hallway and peer around into the next one, catching sight of Barbara just as she rounds the next corner.

We follow her this way for a while before she goes into her room and slams the door shut. I can hear rummaging around in there and wonder what she’s up to.

‘She’s packing,’ says Shelby in the mind-link, although I hadn’t asked her what she thought was going on. I guess she reads my mind all the time.

‘To warn Kane,’ I say, then I think of the Alphas and call out to them.

They answer, one by one.

‘What is it?’ asks Alpha Tristan.

‘Kane,’ I say. ‘Barbara was talking to Gene. Kane knows about the secret passageways, and apparently, he knows about some door in a tunnel out in the forest that may or may not be locked. He’s planning on storming the castle.’

‘Well,’ says Alpha Tristan, ‘he’s not doing it now, because his full forces are right here in front of us.’

‘And Barbara is trying to leave, or escape, or whatever you’d call it,’ I say, adding to my report.

‘Do you have any warriors there that you trust?’ he asks.

I do know Gene’s warriors well, and I know the difference between the ones who would truly die for the crown and those who would most likely be working for Kane right now. ‘A few,’ I say.

‘Put them on her,’ Alpha Tristan says. ‘You stay there and watch Gene… and find that damn door. If we can seal it off, that would help.’

‘Be careful,’ Alpha Mark adds. ‘We really have no idea how many troops Kane has, so he may have sent a few to infiltrate the castle. As much as I think Gene is a cruel idiot, we need him to stay alive for now.’

‘Agreed,’ says Alpha Reece. ‘For all we know, Kane took Rose as a distraction to get us here and away from there.’

‘Better put some guards on Gene,’ Alpha Tristan says. ‘We’re about to hit the action here, so we have to go.’

‘Goddess be with you,’ I say, and I put my head down to say a silent prayer. Shelby does the same, even though she hadn’t been in on the conversation. I guess she knows that everything going on right now is potentially deadly.

I message a few of the warriors I trust and instruct them to get to the king’s quarters immediately and not leave until I’m there personally.

“The whole kidnapping could be a ruse to get the castle empty,” I say to Shelby in a whisper. “I’ve sent men to guard Gene, and I’ll send a few to keep an eye on Barbara as well, then we need to find that damn door.”

I send another message to different warriors to come to guard Barbara, then we wait for the warriors to arrive. I instruct them to enter the room if they stop hearing her in there—for all we know, there’s a secret exit right there in Barbara’s room.

Now, it’s our turn to act. The only entrances to the secret passageway that I’m certain of are in the library, Gene’s room, and Rose’s room. Since Rose’s room is so far away from here, and we can’t go explain any of this to Gene in his state of mind, I take Shelby’s hand, interlock our fingers, and run toward the library.

I hope we’re not running to our deaths.