Ibu, di Kehidupan Berikutnya Cintailah Aku

Twenty Years After the Events of Pregnant with Four Alphas' Babies

*Trisha*

I groan as my phone alarm goes off and give it a slap, missing it the first time before my brain finally clears from sleep, and I hit it again before it gets louder. I don’t want to wake the whole castle, after all, or anyone in it, really. 

I know the guards are always down the hallway, but luckily, it’s pretty easy to get around them. Mom and the Dads couldn’t keep the hidden tunnels in this place a secret forever, and now that I know about them, they’re my best tool when I need to sneak off for an adventure. 

And today I really need to get away. Mom has been after me about my birthday coming up—well, all four of our birthdays since we were all born on the same day. But she keeps bothering me about finding out who my mate is like she did with my four dads, and the whole idea is tedious. 

There’s far too much to explore in this world for the Moon Goddess to hook me up with someone who’s going to be overprotective, making me sit in a castle forever, just staring at the world outside through the windows. Life is meant to be lived, and I’m going to live it to the fullest. 

The idea of getting away sounds better the more I wake up, so I hurry over to get dressed and grab the bag I’d packed and run a comb through my dark, super curly hair before taking one last look around my room. This time, I plan to be away a bit longer, and honestly, there are a few things I’ll miss, like the strange crystal wolf figurine I found last time I explored the castle tunnels. I don’t want anyone to take it, so I wrap it up in a towel and hide it behind some books on my bookshelf. Not that anyone would steal from the four Alpha Kings’ daughter, but I figure it can’t hurt to play it safe. 

The tunnel entrance is right outside my room, so I need to get past the guards. They aren’t exactly standing right outside my door, but still, it takes some good timing to sneak by quietly and head around the corner where I can take off the wall panel. I’ve gotten pretty good at putting it back up without it looking like anyone’s disturbed it. The tunnel is pretty dark, but I brought my flashlight, though I keep it set on dim so it’s not too much of a beacon in case anyone else is down there. 

No one ever is.

The place is like a maze, and it’s a bit dusty and covered in cobwebs in some places, but I manage to find my way toward the outside entrance, which means I just have a quick sprint before I’m past the side gates. I hate that my wolf hasn’t awoken yet because that would make it so much easier, but I’ve managed to get out on my own dozens of times before. 

I remember when my siblings and I were about eight years old. The healer gave us blood tests and told us that we wouldn’t get our wolves until we were twenty-one. Apparently, the test to determine that was new at the time. Since everyone gets their wolf at different times, that test has made things easier. 

With one more turn before I hit the main exit, I figure I’m in the clear… at least, until I come face-to-face with a brick wall of a man with his arms crossed in front of him. 

I sigh. “Dad.” 

This one is my biological father, Tristan, probably the worst possible person to find me here. I have four dads, which is hard to explain other than my mom has four mates, so they’re all my dads. For simplicity’s sake, my siblings and I just call them by their first names or just “Dad.”

“Trisha.” 

He doesn’t need to say much more. I just march out the side door, the one that leads into the hallway instead of to freedom outside, as he follows me. 

“Your mother is waiting for you in the library.” 

So, he’s already told her in the mind-link, and by now, half the castle knows I’m in trouble. There’s nothing worse than having one mother and four different fathers all telling you what to do, especially when those four fathers are the Alpha Kings of Dark Forest and the mother is the Luna Queen. 

I turn into the library to see Mom sitting on a sofa, and my other dads, Mark, Eli, and Reece, are all standing there with their arms crossed the same way Tristan was before. They’re really good at being intimidating, being the Alpha Kings. Mom has told me often of the contest they had before I was born. Back then, she was their breeder, which I can’t even wrap my mind around no matter how hard I try. She’s always been a Luna Queen to me. 

But back then, whoever got her pregnant first was going to be the Alpha King, according to the deal by the old Alpha King, who wasn’t even supposed to be on the throne, but Mom ended up pregnant with all four of us—me, my two brothers, and my sister, at the same time, but that’s a whole other story. 

Over the years, my dads threw the idea of just one king aside and just ruled equally, along with Mom. It works, because everything seems to be running so smoothly… too smoothly, to the point where it’s boring here, and I feel the need to get out there. I want to see the world beyond my kingdom and find some people I can help who really need me so I can make a difference in the world, all on my own. 

I just need to get out of the castle once in a while to make that happen. 

I don’t even start to argue with the dads. That’s a lost cause. I look straight at my mom, Luna Queen Rose. “Mom, this is ridiculous,” I complain. “I’m twenty years old, and there’s no reason why I should sit here staring at the walls when there’s so much out there for me.” 

She looks at me sympathetically, which is how she usually looks when I’m trying to tell her that my dads aren’t being fair. “I know, sweetie,” she says. “We just all worry about you, that’s all. All this sneaking around means we don’t know where you are or who you’re with, and your dads and I worry about that.”

“If I tell you I’m going, you all just tell me no,” I say. “You’ve told me so many times that I have what it takes to be a leader, to help people out. Just sitting here in this castle isn’t helping anyone.”

“Maybe we could send you with an entourage up to the northern territory,” Mark suggests. “They need some supplies up there.” He looks over at Tristan, who I can’t help but notice has that look on his face like there’s steam coming out of his ears. “What? I’m just making a suggestion.”

“You’re not helping, Mark,” Tristan says. 

I look at Mom, who has her hand over her mouth to hide a smirk. “That could be a good idea, actually,” she says. She looks at me. “Sweetie, we just really don’t want to ever lose you again.”

“Mom,” I say calmly. “I was an infant. Yes, a missing baby is cause to panic. I’m twenty—two zero. That’s two decades old—and the dads have been training me to defend myself, even without my wolf yet, since I could walk.”

Mom looked at Tristan and sighed. “She has a point, dear.”

Tristan shakes his head, and his arms are still folded in front of him like a statue that won’t budge. And I know he won’t. “Little flower, I—” He stops and looks at me. “Trisha, give us a moment, please.”

I just shake my head and spin on my heels, walking out of there and straight back to my room. I don’t even feel like arguing that I have the right to be there. It’s so unfair when it’s five against one, well, maybe four against two since Mom sounded like she was being reasonable. 

“We’re still getting a handle on those rogues,” I hear Tristan say as I’m walking down the hall. “Maybe after her birthday, but before that when she doesn’t have her wolf, it’s too dangerous for her to keep leaving the city alone.”

I cover my ears. I don’t even want to hear anymore. I’ve explored the city from top to bottom, and it’s out of options for me. Yes, I love the kids at the orphanage, and I don’t want to be away from them for long, but I’ve already gotten that place set up with all the resources it needs. I just have this feeling that there’s something out there waiting for me. 

I groan as I see two figures approaching—Matthew and Ethan. I’m sure my brothers already know that I was trying to sneak out.

“Trisha, what are you doing?” Ethan asks. “You know we’re suppressing an uprising of the rogues. All it takes is to have one of them recognize you, and they’ll snatch you up in a second for ransom.”

“I’m not going to get snatched,” I insist.

“We always recognize you in your disguises,” Matthew says. 

“You’re my brothers,” I say. “You see me all day every day. Out there, no one is going to notice me even if I don’t wear disguises if I just dress like everyone else.”

“But Trisha—”

I wave them off and walk away before Ethan can say another word. It’s bad enough having four dads. Having two brothers backing up everything my dads say is unbearable.

I slip into my room and plop on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I recognize a knock on the door, three light taps followed by a heavy one. “Come in.”

Reeva peeks her head in first before coming in all the way and shutting the door. “I heard.”

I sigh, looking at her. She’s got a book in her hand as always. “It’s okay. I’ll just spend some extra time at the orphanage. Katie drew a picture of me the other day. Maybe I can figure out how to find her a home.”

Reeva plopped on the bed beside me. “Please don’t keep trying to sneak off,” she says. “I’d miss you if I didn’t have you to talk to.”

“You’d do fine,” I insist. “And I’m never gone long. I just need to find someone.”

“Is it the dream again?” she asks. 

I nod. “I just can’t get it out of my mind.” I turn to look at her. “Someone’s calling me, and I can’t tell who. I have to find them, no matter what.”