Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 242: A Prize

*Rose*

The second that I hear that Tristan is on his way back to the castle with Trisha, I can breathe again.

All four of my babies are safe and will soon be in my arms. I thank the Moon Goddess repeatedly as I make my way through the halls of the castle to the dungeon.

The guards look concerned as I pass them at the top of the stairs, the bottom of the stairs, and right outside of Barbara’s cell door, but they do not speak to me, other than to give me a few words of respect

I nod my head at them, but I am concentrating.

All the way back to Mark’s castle from the train station, I have been rehearsing what I want to say to her, how I will confront her, the woman who arranged for my babies to be taken.

If Retta is captured, I will deal with her separately. My understanding is that Mark is in the process of taking her into custody right now.

Both of these women are going to rot in the dungeon for the rest of their lives. But for now, I will be telling Barbara what I think about her.

The cell is dimly lit. Only the light from one lantern casts shadows along the walls and floor. Barbara is sitting in the back of the cell, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stares at the ground.

I wait, staring at her, willing her to glance up. I hope that the light is sufficient enough that she can see me when she does.

It takes a while. She seems to be lost in her own thoughts. When she lifts her head and looks into my eyes, I see a flicker of fear.

But then she smiles at me.

“Well, if it isn’t the horrible mother who can’t even keep track of her own damn brats,” she spits at me with venom.

Fire flickers within my veins. She actually dares to call me out when I’m here to rip her head off.

“I want an explanation, and I want it now,” I say to her. “Why the hell would you do something like this?”

She laughs an evil cackle. “Because… you deserved it,” she tells me. She has a streak of blood on her face, and I see more on her clothes. Her head has a large welt, right in the middle of her forehead, and I have to think that she was injured in the car wreck.

I’m glad she’s hurt. I hope that she lay there and suffered for a really long time. I hope that she is still in pain.

But I’m glad she didn’t die.

The chances that I am about to take a life for the first time are pretty high right now, and I don’t regret a single murderous thought that is bouncing through my head.

“I deserved it?” I repeat. “Why did I deserve it? Because I was lucky enough to find four wonderful men who love me? Because I have four beautiful children and your child died? Because no one will ever love you because you are a pathetic bitch who is evil to the core? No, Barbara, I didn’t deserve for you to fuck around with my life and take my children. And I didn’t deserve for you to put my children’s lives in danger. But you deserve every tiny fragment of hell that you have coming to you.”

She laughs. “You’re so wrong, you stupid bitch. King Gene knows where I am. He’s already sending people over to the castle to get me out. I’ll be released soon, and then, you’ll have to watch your back. You’ll never know when I’ll be coming for your children or your men.”

Now, it is my time to laugh. “King Gene was here,” I tell her, watching the smile on her face waver slightly as she realizes I have used the past tense. “He sat upstairs for a long time, preparing to see you. That’s when Mark’s people told him you were no longer here, that you were in Tristan’s castle dungeon. So… he’s on his way there now. But what King Gene doesn’t know, and is now out of mind-link range for you or anyone else to tell him, is that he’s just waltzed right into the middle of a coup.”

“What?” Barbara screeches, throwing her hands down on the floor next to her hips. “No, that’s not possible. He’s on his way here to get me out.”

“He’s on his way to a very similar situation that you’re in, Barbara. He’ll be in prison himself soon, and then… well, who will there be to help either of you?” I answer the question for her. “No one.”

“You bitch!” she screams at me, but now it is my turn to laugh.

I rarely shift. In fact, I haven’t shifted since before I came to live at King Gene’s castle. But now is the perfect time to let my wolf out. “Unlock the doors,” I tell the guards.

They don’t hesitate to do what I say. Maybe there’s something to be said for speaking with authority.

Once the gate is open, I leap inside, shifting in midair. My clothes shred and fall away, and I am on top of Barbara before she can even blink.

She’s not chained up, and there’s no silver or anything to keep her from shifting. She’s just too damn slow.

My wolf teeth clamp down on her shoulder first. I bite down hard, ripping into her flesh as the taste of her blood fills my mouth. She screams and tries to hit me, but her human hand feels like a child’s as she drums against me.

I haven’t decided exactly what I want to do to her yet, but since her hand is beginning to annoy me, like a fly that just won’t stop buzzing around my head, I let go of her shoulder and clamp down on her arm around the elbow.

My teeth sink through the flesh as she screams and curses and tries to yank away from me. I crush bone, mangle tendons, shred muscle.

“Oh, Goddess! Fuck! Stop!” Barbara screams.

I do as she asks. I don’t like the taste of blood, and I feel like she’s gotten enough of what she deserves that I’m finished with her.

Leaving her screaming behind me, I pull away and head back out of the dungeon. I don’t bother to shift, but I hear the guards locking up the cell while they call for a healer. She’ll need one. She’s bleeding profusely.

I trot up the dungeon steps, knowing I’ll need a bath. There’s blood all down my light yellow fur. I realize then that I’m dripping it all over the floor. I hate to make a mess for the maids, but it can’t be helped. There’s nothing I can do about it now.

Except for maybe dropping what I’m carrying, but it sort of feels like a prize right now, a reminder of what she’s done. For the rest of Barbara’s miserable life, she’ll know that she didn’t get away with stealing my children.

But I will get away with what I took from her.

I continue down the hallway toward my room, getting lots of frightened stares from the staff that I pass with my bloody fur and what I have in my mouth.

A human arm.