Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 177: Not Just a Breeder

*Eli*

“Well, I hope you’re… comfortable, Alpha,” says Pete.

The two men behind him chuckle a little, and I assess the situation. Clearly, they’re trying to intimidate me, but they’re falling a little short. The main guy, Pete, is obviously not an Alpha, but he’s trying to act like one. And the other two look like they’d be formidable if they weren’t practically starving, but it’s clear they’ve missed far too many meals to be in good shape.

Who are these people?

“It’s a nice place,” I say, deciding to be friendly. Rogues can be unpredictable, and I don’t want to be more combative than I have to, at least not until I know what’s going on with Kelly and the others. It’s not a lie; it is a nice place, or at least it was, back when this resort was new.

Pete doesn’t seem to like my tactic, though, and he moves in closer, looking at me with knitted brows. “You tryin’ to make fun of us, Alpha?” I notice that he doesn’t get too close, but just close enough to put on a show for the other guys.

If he wants to play Alpha, I decide that I’ll go ahead and play along. I stand up straight to my full height and use my Alpha voice to say, “I’m not in the mood for games.”

He tries to save face in front of the others, but he can’t help but step back a bit so I’m a bit less overpowering, though he tries to continue to meet my gaze. The other guys don’t have smiles on their faces anymore.

“This here’s no game,” Pete says. “I wanna know why you keep drivin’ through my territory.”

I sigh, then I think about Rose, and the pups, Kelly, my broken hand, Kane, Gene, and everything else I need to deal with and decide that I’m truly not in the mood to play ‘Alpha games’ with the guy.

“First of all,” I begin impatiently, “it’s not your territory. You’re clearly not an Alpha.”

At that, Pete’s expression changes to something between shock and embarrassment. He’s obviously been trying to fool these people for a long time. And the game’s over.

“Secondly,” I continue, “I don’t have time for this bullshit. What kind of a game are you playing here, anyway? You wreck our vehicles, killing two of my warriors in the process, knock us out, and haul us out here to some old rundown hotel, then you turn around and try to patch up my hand.”

Pete’s eyes go wide, but he doesn’t answer.

“And where do you get off sending a young girl in by herself to tend to a strange Alpha? What the hell were you thinking?” I ask, raising my voice a little from irritation.

“It was a test,” Pete says, and the other guys nod.

“A test for what?” I ask. “Why would you risk her life for some stupid test? Do you think I’m not pissed at you? If I were any other Alpha, I might take it out on that innocent girl. I’ll say it again. You killed my men!”

At that, they all start to back up a bit.

“I could have been anyone,” I say. “You have no idea who I am, so you don’t know what kind of Alpha I am. What if I were like Alpha Stephen or Alpha Kane?”

With those words, all their eyes went wide. “You know Kane?” asked Pete.

“Yeah, I know him,” I say. “And I’m on my way to go rip his throat out, or I was, anyway, until you all stopped me and killed my people.”

I open my mouth to say more, but at that moment, the girl who had patched up my hand, Heather, came running into the room, along with Kelly, Trevor, and my other warriors. They freeze in place when they see that Pete is here and look from me to him.

“Are you all right?” asks Kelly.

I nod. “I’m fine,” I say. “I was just trying to find out from my new friend Pete here what the fuck his problem is.”

Heather giggles at that, and I’d think it was funny too if not for the rest of the situation… and the men we’d lost. I dread having to tell their families. They were both good men with mates and families who will be devastated. Their lives have changed forever, and for what? Some stupid idiot who wants to pretend to be an Alpha.

And somewhere, Rose is sitting in a room, maybe with Kane right there with her, fearing for her life and that of my pup and the others. None of this shit is funny.

I turn and face Pete again. “Listen to me, you idiot,” I say, not quite in my Alpha voice but in a voice that makes it clear I’ve lost every last ounce of patience. “I’ve got a battle to fight. My mate—” I say it without hesitation and can feel Kelly’s shocked reaction, “—my mate is heavy with my child and being held captive by Alpha Kane. I have to get to her, rip him to shreds, save her, and make sure she and the pups are safe!”

Pete backs up and lands in a chair, his shoulders and head dropping at the same time as he puts his hands in his face. He looks up at me. “You have a mate.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I do!” I yell at him.

I’ve never called her that before, and I know she loves the other three Alphas just as much as she loves me, but that’s exactly how I feel. When I’m near her, I want nothing more than to be in her arms. When I’m away from her, I want nothing but to return to see her beautiful smile. And when she’s in danger, held captive by a monster like Kane, the pain inside my heart feels like a hundred knives ripping me apart from the inside.

Yes, she’s my mate. Is it possible the Moon Goddess has given her as a mate to all of us? She’s certainly more than worthy of having four strong Alphas at her side.

“I had a mate once,” Pete says, almost in a whisper. “I wanted nothing more than to be with her.”

As angry as I am with the man, seeing the look in his eyes instantly brings me out of my rage.

“She was like a golden light that brightened up the world,” he says.

Was….

I lower my head. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I say. I know it doesn’t begin to help, but what else can you say in these circumstances?

“Loss,” he says, spitting out the word and almost laughing at it. “’Loss’ is not enough word for it.”

I look up, and the two tall but scrawny men flanking Pete are almost in tears. Clearly, there is a lot of history with this group of rogues, but I really don’t have time to dig into it. Everyone just stands quietly for a moment, and I take this time to search my mind for the other Alphas.

I call for them for several moments, but I don’t feel their presence at all, so I try to reach Adam back at Gene’s castle, but he doesn’t answer, either.

“How can we be out of range?” I ask out loud.

One of the scrawny men looks down like he’s waiting for Pete to answer, but Pete is clearly somewhere else now, lost in his memories.

“You,” I say, nodding toward the scrawny man. “What’s your name?”

“Eustace,” he says timidly.

“Eustace,” I say. “Where the hell are we? We were in range of the castle before, and now I can’t reach anyone.”

“Oh,” says Eustace, “we’re a good hund’rd miles from there.”

All our heads turn to him. “What?!”

“Yup,” he says. “We git a big territory.”

“Good Goddess,” says Kelly, and I share her sentiment.

I look at her, then back at Eustace. “How did you get us here?” I ask him.

His face brightens up, like he’s got some secret weapon he’s proud of. “In the van.”

“Then that’s how you’re getting us out of here,” I say. I turn to Kelly. “If we pass by, we’ll pick them up for a proper burial.” I couldn’t leave my men out there in the forest alone.

“But—” says Eustace.

I look at him, completely running out of patience again.

“Van’s broke,” he says, shrugging.

“Oh, good Goddess,” Kelly says again. We’re really on the same level on the aggravation spectrum.

“What’s wrong with it?” I ask.

“Axel broke,” he says.

“Do you have parts?”

He thinks about this for a moment. “Yup. I think so,” he says.

“Show me,” I say, gesturing toward the door. I look at Kelly, and she gives me a nod.

‘I’m going to stay and talk to the girl more,’ she says in the mind-link. ‘I need to find out what’s going on here.’

‘All right,’ I say. ‘Just be careful.’

‘Always,’ she says.

I gesture to Brent and Sean to follow me but instruct Trevor in the mind-link to stay behind with Kelly. I don’t want to leave her alone with these people when we don’t even know how many of them there are, or how crazy some of them might be out here in this abandoned hotel.

I follow Eustace out to where they keep the vehicle and hope to the Goddess that he really does have the parts we need.

Rose’s beautiful smile surfaces in my mind as I walk, and I feel the knives cutting out my heart again.

Nothing is going to stop me from reaching her.