Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies

Another Problem

*Rose*

Shelby is chattering along as we walk back inside, back down the same corridors and passageways we’ve already gone. I nod and try to make agreeable sounds while she is talking because I don’t want to be rude, but on the inside, I’m not even listening to her—I’m thinking about the Alphas.

My Alphas.

At least, that’s what I’d taken to calling them for some reason I don’t quite understand. It isn’t as if they actually belong to me. If anything, I belong to them. Still, I can’t help but think of them a little possessively as my mind goes back over their handsome faces.

They are all so interesting and appealing in their own way. All of them are physically strong, yet not any two of them looked remotely alike.

I wonder if King Gene had given any thought to that, making sure there was no dispute over who the father was. Granted, he could simply do a DNA test, but if the baby comes out with dark black hair or red locks, it will be obvious who the father was, wouldn’t it?

We round a corner, and once again, I find myself running into someone. This time, the “oof” I hear is accompanied by the tinkling of breaking glass, and a hard smack on the floor that isn’t me tumbling.

I look down to see that I’ve run into a woman. She’s beautiful, with raven black hair, big brown doe eyes, and perfectly pouty red lips. Right now, though, her lips are parted, and she’s screaming at me.

“What the actual f**k, b***h?” she demands as Shelby tries to help her up. A couple of other ladies rush over to help as well.

“I am so sorry!” I say. It seems that not only has she dropped a glass of wine when she fell, but it also splashed all over her gown—which was a nice cream color.

“Miss Emily, are you all right?” Shelby is asking as the woman is hauled to her feet.

“No, I’m not all right!” she shouts. “I was on my way to meet with my cousin, the king, and now… I have wine all over my dress!”

“I don’t know what to say,” I tell her. “It was an accident. Can I scrub it? Try to get it out?”

“Are you serious?” she asks. “This dress is made of one hundred percent silk from the finest silkworms in all of the kingdom. No, I will not let your pitiful little hands touch it.” All three of the ladies are glaring at me.

Shelby tries to step in. “Miss Emily, it was an accident. We came around the corner at the same time as you. Miss Rose didn’t mean—”

But the Beta’s wife is cut off. “No one asked you what you think, Shelby!” Emily snapped, her eyes slitting as she focuses in on the Beta’s wife.

‘Wow—she was even mean to the Beta’s wife! She must think she is pretty special,’ I thought to myself. But then… if she’s King Gene’s cousin, as she says, then perhaps she is right to think that way.

I silently wonder what she’s doing here. She is so ethereally beautiful and also related to the king. I wonder if she was one of the contestants for the Breeder position, but how can I ask that?

Shelby probably knows. She seems to know everything.

I will ask her later. Right now, I’m not done being screamed at by Emily.

“And if I ever see your ugly face again, I swear to the Moon Goddess, I will grab hold of that huge schnoz of yours and rip it right off your face!”

My eyes widen in horror, and my hands immediately go to cover my nose. I’ve always thought it was way too long for my face, even though others have said it’s just fine. Now,

I feel as if everyone has been lying to me.

“Come on, Miss Rose,” Shelby says, tugging me around the mess. “We don’t have to stand here and listen to this.”

A maid comes with a broom and mop to clean up the mess, and I tell her, “I’m so sorry.” She only bows her head and moves on.

I hear Emily shout, “Clean this all up, b***h!” Then she says, “My beautiful dress is ruined! I’m going to make that w***e pay for this!”

“I guess they can take the money out of my pay… before they send it to my family,” I say as Shelby, and I hear the maid scooping the glass up with the broom while the other women hurry back the way they’d come, down a side hallway, complaining about her gown still.

I really can’t blame her. I’d be upset if someone ruined my dress, too, though I would never yell at them like that. Especially not if they apologized.

“Don’t mind her,” Shelby says. “She’s all bark and no bite. You don’t have to pay for her dress. The laundresses here are excellent. They’ll get the stain out. One time, I was wearing a white dress to a dinner party, and someone bumped my arm, and I spilled burgundy wine all down the front, and they got it out the next day. No problem!” Shelby smiles and pats my shoulder.

“Was your dress made from the finest silk from the finest silkworms in all of the kingdom?” I ask her.

“Well, no,” Shelby admits. “But it won’t matter. It’ll be good as new in no time. I’m sure of it.”

I want to believe her, but I still feel bad. My mind is elsewhere as she continues to tell me about all of the kings and other royals whose likenesses we are passing in the hall

on the way back to my room.

At least, that’s where I assume we are going.

When we reach the hallway where my room is, Beta Adam is walking toward us, his long legs allowing him to cover the ground so much faster than either of us.

“Oh, hi, honey!” Shelby gushes, rushing to meet him. She wraps her arms around him and kisses his cheek, and I see that she’s making him uncomfortable, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “How has your day been, sweetums?”

“Fine, fine,” he says as she releases him. “I was just coming to check on Rose. How are you today? The king is asking.”

“Oh, uh… fine,” I tell him, wondering if I should fill the Beta in on the accident with the dress. After all, it sounds like Miss Emily will be telling King Gene everything shortly anyway.

“Emily came around the corner with a glass of wine in her hand and spilled it all over herself and blamed Rose,” Shelby says, putting her hands on her hips. “Really, who carries around a glass of wine with them wherever they go? It’s not even noon yet! And then she screamed at her and threw a fit at the maid who came to clean it up as well. The nerve of that woman!”

“Keep your voice down, dear,” Adam says, holding up his hands in front of his wife. “There’s no need to let everyone know you’re displeased with the king’s cousin.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” she asks in an even louder voice. I get the impression Shelby doesn’t like to be shushed. “She’s just terrible!”

“I understand your feelings, dear, but she’s still the king’s cousin,” Adam reminds her.

“So what?” Shelby asks, her eyes huge. “Are you taking her side?”

“No, dear,” he says, and I get the idea that perhaps the happy couple is not as happy as they first appeared. But I feel very uncomfortable standing here as they continue to argue.

I think I see my room up ahead. I’m not quite clear which one is which, but I vaguely remember the vase of flowers by the door. I dismiss myself and say, “I’m going to lie down for a bit.” Neither of them seems to notice.

Somehow, I manage to guess right and walk into my room, but there will be no lying down. A spread of food awaits me, and the maids who have just finished setting it up grin from ear to ear. “Your lunch is served, Miss Rose,” one of them, a blonde with a button nose and big hazel eyes, says.

“Why… thank you,” I say, looking at all of the food. There are enough sandwiches on the table to feed the entire army, and I can’t even count how many different kinds of fruit there are. I haven’t ever had a lunch like this in my whole life.

“You’re welcome, my lady,” the other girl, a tall, dark girl with satiny skin and a wide smile says.

They are both beautiful, and I feel myself thinking maybe under different circumstances the three of us could be friends, but Shelby mentioned earlier, while she was babbling on, that I should try not to treat the maids as my equals.

The only problem is, under my circumstances as the only Breeder, I don’t think anyone here is my equal.

I sit down to eat, but I haven’t made it very far into my first sandwich when my door flies open, and Shelby comes in—crying.

I’ve never had to comfort a friend when she’s fought with her husband before because I really don’t have that many friends, so I don’t know what to say, but when Shelby flings herself at me, I wrap my arms around her and pat her back.

I’m getting the impression that everything here at the castle is not what it seems.