Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 181: Please, Moon Goddess

*Eli*

Everything is taking too long, including this walk to the garage.

We’re all quiet as Brent, Sean, and I follow Eustace so we can get the van, which apparently is the only vehicle on the premises, working again. I don’t see any other way to get to Rose as soon as possible. I’m really not much in the mood to help these people because they killed two of my best warriors, but I don’t really see a choice.

Besides, it seems to be more Pete’s fault that things are the way they are out here than anyone else’s. Though I don’t blame him for falling apart after the death of his mate—I don’t even want to imagine if the same were to happen to Rose—he should have gotten his shit together for the sake of these people.

I can’t really place what’s going on out here. They’re clearly rogues because Pete certainly isn’t an Alpha, but they seem to be very close-knit as though they’re one big family. From everything I’d ever heard about rogues, they simply choose not to be a part of the pack life. That makes them unpredictable… and dangerous. But all these people, except for Pete and his problems, just seem like regular pack members trying to make their lives work for them.

I don’t have time to help them do that, though, because I need to get to Rose. If I could, I’d just shift and run there right this instant. But with my hand severely injured, which would be my front paw in wolf form, that’s not an option for me. I’d send Kelly and the warriors ahead, but since we’re so far away that we can’t even engage the mind-link to the other Alphas, running would take far too long and use up too much energy. The rest of them aren’t in much better shape physically than I am after the utility vehicle wreck.

“This here’s the garage,” says Eustace, and his eyes sparkle like the place is his pride and joy.

He has reason to do so because this group of buildings really is impressive. In fact, I think I hear Sean let out a whistle. At one point, this must have been the outbuildings for the resort operations, so I imagine all these buildings held all the vehicles and equipment they needed to maintain the place. I’m hoping that the van is one of those vehicles, and that they’d kept enough spare parts for it lying around so that we can get it up and running quickly.

My optimism, however, disappears like a popped balloon as soon as Eustace opens the garage door. I’m right about the van being a part of the resort because it still has the name of the place, Wooded Acres Resort and Spa, emblazoned across the side. But what I’m not right about is that we can fix it quickly. The van is… a piece of shit. I have no idea how they managed to haul me and my people here only a couple of days ago. There’s so much wrong with it, I don’t even know where to start.

“Here she is!” says Eustace as though he’s announcing the arrival of the Moon Goddess herself. “Ain’t she purty?”

I try to wipe the dread and misery off my face. “It’s… nice,” I say. It’s really the only polite thing I can think of at the moment. I certainly have more insight into these people’s lives now that I’ve seen Eustace so excited about this pathetic pile of metal. I give my guys some quick instructions in the mind-link. I don’t want them saying anything, and I know neither one has much of a filter.

“Nice?!” Eustace says as though I’ve insulted the royal family. “This here’s the purtiest thing I’ve seen in a huge long spell.”

“It’s very pretty,” I say, recovering enough to paint a smile on my face. This is the only vehicle I have at my disposal right now that will get me to Rose, so honestly, it is a beautiful sight. I’m going to go ahead and think positive here. “Where are the parts?” I ask.

Eustace frowns for a few seconds then nods his head over toward the other side of the massive—and mostly empty—garage. I follow his gaze and see a pile of what looks like scrap metal near the back of the place. Great.

“Let’s do it this way,” I say. “Show me what’s wrong, then we’ll take a look at the parts.”

I can feel my guys behind me rolling their eyes. Everything is wrong with this poor vehicle. It deserves to be retired and parked out in a field of wildflowers somewhere where nature can use it as a planter.

Eustace nods and leads me over to the Goddess-forsaken thing and points out how bad the suspension is, and I notice a lot more on my inspection. But I do think that if we just get the suspension figured out, we can take along a few more spare parts and probably make the trip. I hope.

I start giving instructions, and Brent and Sean jump right in. Fortunately, Brent has a bit more experience working on anything with an engine than the rest of us, so he quickly formulates a way to make a few things from the pile of scrap metal work. I’m glad Kelly brought him along, although that might have been Trevor’s doing. Either way, we get to work.

“I just need to weld these two together and they should work,” Brent says, and Eustace looks at him like he just ate the last cookie in the snack jar.

“What?” I ask Eustace, already knowing the answer.

“Well, the welder ain’t so good,” he says. “We ain’t got much fuel, so we rigged ‘er up, but that don’t work too well.”

“Let me look at it,” says Brent. Thank the Goddess he’s here. If we get through this, I’m never leaving Rose’s side again. Rose… Every time her name passes through my mind, I can see her face and smell her beautiful scent in my mind. And it makes me miss her even more.

We all move over to the welding machine, which barely looks like a piece of functioning equipment. I struggle to keep my composure and am so glad for my guys, who jump in to work on it without hesitation. I’m going to have to find a way to reward them once we get through this. Maybe their families are about to get much bigger houses.

It doesn’t take Brent and Sean long to figure out how to make the welding machine work better, and they do, and soon enough, all the pieces are together and fitting onto the van. It actually looks pretty good. All we need to do is make sure the engine runs.

“This looks great, guys,” I say. “Let’s see how she runs. Let’s fuel it up.”

Eustace gets that look on his face, and I’m learning to dread it.

“What?” I ask him. It feels like I’m repeating myself.

“Gas ain’t nearby,” he says.

At this point, I’m actually ready for that, so I quickly reply, “Where is it?”

“It’s ‘cross Jackson Hill over yonder,” he says. “We gotta pump it outta the tanks.”

I take a deep breath, my patience wearing thin, and say, “Let’s go.”

Once again, the guys don’t hesitate to get up from where they’d been securing various parts and follow me and Eustace over something that must be Jackson Hill. We arrive there, and sure enough, there’s an old gas station, but Eustace is showing his worried face again.

I don’t even want to ask, so I just look at him.

“Needs a key,” he says.

“Where’s the key?” I ask.

“Inside.”

I look over at the small gas station, which has been closed for years. “Who has the key to the door?” I ask.

“Pete,” Eustace answers.

‘Kelly,’ I say instantly in the mind-link. ‘We need a key to a gas station from Pete.’

She doesn’t answer, but I know she’s working on it, so I wait a few minutes. ‘He’s useless,’ she says finally. ‘Still just staring out the damn window.’

At that, I walk over to the gas station door and give it a quick pound with my shoulder, with all my thoughts about getting to Rose as quickly as I can and saving her and the unborn pups giving me more than enough strength, and the rickety door comes smashing down. I don’t even look over at Eustace. I see a panel of keys on the wall and find one marked for the one working pump, which I’m not sure how it could possibly have any gas left, and go over to unlock the bar holding down the nozzle.

Miraculously, something resembling gas comes out, and I fill up all the plastic gas cans I’d found inside. We all carry them back over Jackson Hill to the resort garage and take turns filling up the tank. Luckily, we have a few extras, so we load those into the back of the van.

Rose feels so close now. All I have to do is get to her.

I climb into the driver’s seat and spot a key already in the ignition. I close my eyes for a few moments, saying a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess that she will lead me there to Rose and the pups and that when I get there, they will all be unharmed.

I take one last deep breath and turn the key.