Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 198: Not the Beta Anymore

*Adam*

Alastor Dravenwolf has left the castle, and I don’t think this is a good thing. In fact, it makes me very nervous.

The new Beta that Alpha King Gene has just named to replace me looks a bit deranged to me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t actually been diagnosed with something like… being a fucking psychopath. Is that a diagnosis one can get and still be allowed to wander about freely?

I need to figure out where he’s gone and chase him down. I’ve decided to gather together all of the forces that are technically part of the king’s guard but are more loyal to me and take them with me. Alastor took a small number of troops with him when he left, headed toward Alpha Mark’s castle, so I know I’ll have to have some troops with me or else I will be greatly outnumbered.

The only problem is, asking these soldiers to go against the king is technically insurrection. That would make me a traitor, and if I’m caught, the punishment is death. I’m certain that Alpha King Gene will not hesitate one moment to put me to death either since he’s already demoted me from my position as Beta. He clearly doesn’t value me right now, and I guess I shouldn’t blame him since I am now acting against him.

“It’s too dangerous,” Shelby is saying, her arms folded. “I don’t think we should be doing this. I think you should just contact the Alphas and let them know that Alastor is on the way to the castle to murder all of them.”

I look at her, trying not to sigh. “That’s not enough, Shelby. They are all busy right now with the babies and Rose. I have to go there myself. Besides, what’s the point in staying here when Gene no longer appreciates me anyway? He’s likely to come after both of us. That’s why I want you to go to your mother’s for a bit.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not doing that, Adam. I’m coming with you.”

“Absolutely not!” I tell her, taking her by the upper arms so she has to look at me. “It’s far too dangerous, what I’m about to do. I can’t have you hurt in battle or put to death by King Gene for being a traitor like me.”

“I’m not asking your permission, Adam!” she declares, wiggling free of me. “We are in this together! Where you go, I go!”

“That doesn’t include the battlefield, Shelby. You’re not trained to be out there.” I hope she can see reason, but her expression tells me that she isn’t listening to me.

“I have trained to fight, just like every wolf in my pack, and I will be just fine out there. Besides, even if the worst happens, I’d rather be out there with you, dying alongside you, than sitting back here trying to dodge Gene or going to my mother’s and sitting there wondering if you are okay or bothering you over the mind-link every five seconds to make sure that you’re alive!”

“You’d rather just watch me die on the battlefield in person?” I ask her, and I’m only half teasing.

She narrows her eyes at me and folds her arms beneath her chest. Clearly, my wife doesn’t think jokes about me dying are funny. “No, but if you’re not careful, you’ll be dying right here.”

I chuckle, but something tells me she’s not actually joking.

“Adam, I’m coming with you. If you don’t like it, that’s too fucking bad.”

Her seriousness is noted in her eyes, and I decide it’s a waste of valuable time for me to continue to argue with her.

“Fine. But you stay near the back, and don’t do anything stupid,” I tell her.

Shelby scoffs. “When have I ever done anything stupid?”

I know she literally will kill me if I am stupid enough to answer that question. “Okay,” is all I say to her, and I go about preparing myself to go make an argument to the people I think will join us. I am terrified, though. It only takes one of them to turn on me and arrest me, throwing me in prison, and then… everything could be over for all of us.

Before I leave to go to the barracks where the guards spend their free time, I send out a mind-link message, deciding it would be best to just warn one of the Alphas, and since it’s Mark’s castle Alastor is headed to, I choose him.

‘Alpha Mark,’ I tell him, waiting for him to acknowledge me before I continue.

‘Not now, Adam. We have a crisis on our hands here at the castle,’ he says, his voice showing his strain, even through the mind-link.

‘Oh, you already know, then? Does that mean he’s arrived?’ I ask, not wanting to be completely deterred by his dismissive statement in case we are not talking about the same thing.

‘Who has arrived at the castle?’ he asks me.

‘Alastor Dravenwolf, Gene’s new Beta. He’s leading a force to the castle to attack and kill all of you.’

He is quiet for a moment, and I start to think perhaps he hasn’t heard me, but then he asks, ‘King Gene has a new Beta? And he’s coming to my castle to kill all of us?’

‘That’s right,’ I tell him. ‘He left about thirty minutes ago. On foot.’

‘Fuck,’ Mark mumbles. ‘Now is really not a good time.’

I’m not sure how to respond to that. It’s not as if I have had anything to do with it, though I suppose I could have warned him earlier. I intended to, but the situation here at the castle keeps changing, and it took Beta Alastor a while to get his troops together to march on Mark’s castle since most of the soldiers in Gene’s army have been used to swearing allegiance to the Alphas and don’t want to fight them.

‘I’m planning on leading a force from here and going after him,’ I explain to Alpha Mark. ‘But I thought that you should be aware of the situation so that you can prepare your own army.’

‘And how many troops do you think Alastor has with him?’ he asks me.

‘I’m not sure,’ I admit. ‘But it didn’t look like a big force. I believe he thinks he can order you all to come with him or somehow sneak into the castle and take you out that way. I think that Gene may have some people working for him amongst your staff.’

‘My staff?’ I hear the doubt in his voice. ‘No. All of my staff members are completely loyal to me.’

‘Uhm… no disrespect intended, Alpha, but are you sure about that? I mean, Gene has received some information recently regarding the situation in the castle that he couldn't have possibly known unless someone there was talking to him. He even knows the name of the doctor that delivered the pups.’ I hope that he will listen to me because I am about out of patience and time.

‘All right. I’ll look into it,’ he says. ‘But it may take me a while. We’ll be ready for Alastor to arrive, but we need to focus on the other matter at hand right now.’

‘What other matter at hand?’ I ask him, thinking he might be talking about Rose and the pups.

So I’m shocked when he says, ‘Finding Kelly.’