Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 45: Standing Up to Gene

*Tristan*

I throw the paper plane I made at Reece, and he gives me an irritated glare. We have been sitting in Eli’s room for a little over an hour waiting for him to return. We are all anxious to hear if Rose is all right. Having not been able to see her for a couple of days is driving all of us a bit crazy.

This afternoon, we decided to race in the woods, just to clear our heads. Mark, of course, but that was just because some dust got into my eyes and blinded me just a little bit. I would have beaten him otherwise. The other men actually thought I was crying because I lost and refused to believe that some dust particles had lodged in my eyeballs.

Reece picks up my paper plane and throws it back at me. I don’t anticipate the force and speed it comes at me with, and the sharp edge of the paper pokes at my eye. Was the Moon Goddess trying to blind me today? I wipe my eye. “Damn it, Reece.” He laughs, but I don’t think it’s funny.

“I am back, no need to cry for me. I know you missed me,” I hear Eli announce as he makes his way toward us.

“I wasn’t crying. The paper plane… urgh, forget it.”

The three men burst out laughing, and I just roll my eyes at them.

“Man, you are really emotional of late. Are pregnancy hormones transferrable?” Reece asks.

“You mean by Bluetooth or telepathically?” Mark asks and chuckles.

“Shut up, the three of you,” I mumble and they laugh again.

“So, did you see her?” Reece asks, and Eli nods as he sits down in one of the chairs.

“Yep,” he affirms. We all hold our breath waiting for him to give us more information. He doesn’t say anything more and proceeds to wipe his brow with his palm.

“And…?” I am getting impatient.

“Well, she is as okay as she can be. I mean, physically she is fine, like really fine. Her boobs seem to have increased in size. She also exudes a different scent, divine… but emotionally and mentally, she isn’t okay.”

“Did you touch her breasts? You dog! We sent you in there to go check up on her, not to go have sex with her,” Mark exclaims.

“Chill, bro. Firstly, I don’t have sex with Rose. We make love. Secondly, I didn’t sleep with her. I just danced naked for her a bit to try and make her smile, if only for just a second,” Eli answers. I cringe as I imagine Eli trying to dance naked for Rose. I’m glad I didn’t have to see that with my own eyes.

“Show us how you danced,” Reece demands. “But keep your pants on.”

Eli shrugs and gets up, awkwardly moving his whole body up and down.

“What is that?” I laugh.

“I am shaking my ass,” he replies.

“More like vibrating your whole body. This is how you do it,” I declare and stand up to demonstrate. I turn my back toward them, bending over as I put my hands on my knees, and I start shaking my bottom.

“See, this is what ass shaking should look like,” I explain proudly.

“If both of you are done with giving each other ballet lessons, Eli, you can go ahead and tell us the rest of the story,” Mark urges.

I straighten and humph. “It’s called twerking. What if the baby Rose is carrying is a girl and is yours? How will you teach her how to dance if you don’t learn?”

Mark looks at me and grins, “If I ever am a father to a little girl, I won’t want her dancing like that. I would rather teach her to tango or waltz.”

I roll my eyes and return to my seat.

“The king is going to take Rose’s baby as soon as it crawls out of her,” Eli states, and I can’t help but glare at him.

“What do you mean crawl out of her? Babies don’t crawl out of women,” I point out, and think maybe he just means that figuratively. Eli frowns, and I realize he actually thought babies crawl out of women. I want to laugh at him, but what he said prior is registering in my head.

“Take? What happens to Rose after the king takes her baby?” Mark questions.

“The king will send Rose back to her parents. Whoever fathered the child will marry Emily, raise the baby, and live ‘happily ever after,’” Eli says, using air quotes and punctuating this with a dull sigh.

“Which twisted fairy tale are you taking that ending from? Happily ever after with Emily? With Rose gone and her child taken away from her?” We all nod at what Reece is saying.

We had all been caught up in wooing Rose; we overlooked the implications of this whole thing. Judging by the somber looks on everyone’s faces, none of us are happy about this. The coming of a child should be something to be celebrated, no? Yet here we are, saddened by a gift so precious and innocent. This precious baby is threatening to be the very thing that tears us all apart.

All of a sudden, an idea strikes me. “The king can’t just get rid of Rose. The baby will need to be breastfed for a few years after it is born, so she will have to stay,” I announce, and I see everyone’s face light up with renewed hope.

“Yes, you are correct. Babies breastfeed until they are about five years old, right? So the king should keep her around for that long,” Eli pipes in with a grin. Bless him, but even I, a man who has limited knowledge about babies, know they don’t breastfeed for that long… or do they?

“Do they really breastfeed for that long?” Reece frowns.

“Who cares? We will push the king to allow her to stay that long while we come up with a plan to efficiently rid ourselves of Emily… unless one of you wants to be her husband….” I glare at them.

Everyone shakes their heads.

“Then the two of us should go talk to the king. After that, the other two of us should go talk to him. Eventually, he’ll have to give in and take it all back,” I suggest.

“Yes. We should also tell him Emily isn’t Luna material…. Scratch that–she isn’t wife material at all,” Reece announces.

“The king doesn’t care about that. All he wants is his relative to be Luna,” Mark points out.

“Well, then we tell him that’s blasphemy!” Eli states proudly.

“I don’t think that is the right word, my twerking brother. Maybe ‘nepotism’ suits his actions better?” Eli scoffs as he picks up the paper plane and throws it at me. This time, I dodge out of the way before it hits me.

“Tristan and Reece, you have the first go at the king. Eli and I will have the second shift,” Mark declares like this is a part-time job.

We all nod. The mission is set. Now, we are taking turns saving our woman and child.

Reece and I find the king in his study going through some papers. “Alpha Tristan and Alpha Reece, I don’t think I summoned you,” he states firmly as he continues to go through his documents.

“We were just wondering how long you will keep the Breeder in the palace once she has the baby.” I don’t waste time getting to the heart of the matter.

“What do you mean by keep her? The moment the baby and the Breeder are separated, she will be on the first train back to her dirty packlands,” the king scoffs.

I clench my fists and grit my teeth as I try to maintain my composure. “Who will feed the child if the mother is gone, then?”

“Anyone who can hold a bottle. The child will be formula-fed. Besides, I don’t want that nasty woman feeding the child. Her DNA might end up getting into the child through breast milk.”

I can feel my heart pounding, and I am seeing red as rage rushes through my every muscle. Has he ever studied biology before? Does he really not know that Rose will be contributing half of the DNA to the baby? So the Breeder was too nasty to breastfeed but clean enough to carry the child in her womb?

“With all due respect, King Gene, I think it is in the best interest of the child to be breastfed. It’s best for the child’s development,” I remark.

The king stops turning the pages of the document and regards me coldly.

“Formula is just as good. The doctor has already assured me of that. Besides, the Breeder is messing with Emily’s psyche; her continued presence is creating nothing but tension. I can see it’s also creating confusion amongst all of you,” the king states, and I understand what he is hinting at.

“Why does Emily have to be Luna? Why can’t Rose be Luna? Her father is an Alpha, right?” Reece interjects.

The king lets out a sadistic laugh. “Allow the dirty Breeder to be Luna? Her father is an Alpha by name. He is a lazy, stupid man. No offspring of that poor wretched idiot could be anything but scum. What we agreed upon still stands.”

He pauses briefly before continuing, “The Breeder will be returned to her packlands, and the father of the child will marry Emily and be crowned the new Alpha King. If any of you have a problem with that, you know exactly which entrance you used to get in here, so you can use it to exit.”

I bite my lip as I feel my whole body shaking with suppressed rage. “We are respected Alphas of highly esteemed packs. Surely, we have a say in what happens here. With all due respect, it appears you’ve forgotten who we are, my king,” I utter.

He smiles dispassionately at us, “No, I know exactly who you both are. However, it seems it’s you who has forgotten who I am.”