Royally Enraged: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Her Royal Harem Book 4) Read online

  Kara grumbled something below her breath, but let Katar help, his hand on the wand too, and his power mixing with hers.

  The same five colors rose again.

  “What the hell?” Deryn asked.

  “Is that possible?” Rhys asked Kara, his brows furrowed.

  “No, but we are talking about Jolie,” she said and chuckled. “This girl always takes what is possible and tosses it out the window.”

  “Explain, please,” I begged.

  “It’s supposed to show us two colors, the color of the being you’re impregnated by and your color. But, it’s showing colors for all of us,” Nico said.

  “Which would mean the baby is a mixture of me and the four of you?” I asked.

  They nodded.

  I was glad I was lying down. I relaxed on the bed, and stared up at the ceiling.

  “Oh, dear,” a female voice whispered.

  We all spun, staring at my mother in her ghostly form.

  “Mom?” I asked.

  “Mom?” Kara asked. She looked at my mother and her eyes widened. “You’re dead.”

  Mom smiled. “Hi, Kara. Long time no see.”

  “Don’t you dare—” Kara began, but Katar grabbed her.

  “What did you do?” I asked my mother.

  “I fiddled with your hormones a bit, to help you get pregnant, and—”

  “Mom!” I gasped. “Why would you do that? I wasn’t planning to get pregnant yet. I wanted to kill our enemies first and—”

  “There’s never a right time to have a baby,” she said. “Right, Kara?”

  “Don’t you talk to me,” Kara growled.

  “Aw, don’t be like that. I really am dead. I only come back when I can convince the goddess to give me a few minutes with Jolie.”

  “So, you did this?” I asked.

  She nodded. “You were so worried about who the father was going to be. This way, the baby is all of yours.” She smiled, so proud of herself.

  “Well, it does take away the stress you have been holding in,” Nico said.

  “Now we’re just going to have to worry about how the baby will turn out,” Fox mumbled.

  “It’ll be just like Jolie,” Mom said. “It will be able to use all of your powers, and will be incredibly powerful.”

  “Have you been haunting Dad?” I asked.

  She smirked. “Occasionally.”

  “He didn’t have something to do with this, did he?” I asked.

  She shrugged, but didn’t respond.

  “Of course,” I said and sighed.

  “I have to go,” Mom said, then rested her hand on my stomach. “This baby is going to be glorious. And you’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

  Tears brimmed in my eyes, and she kissed my forehead before disappearing.

  “Well, that explains that,” Katar said, smiling wide. “Now I really can’t wait to play with my grandchild.”

  A hybrid.

  I stared up at the ceiling and then started laughing. I laughed until I had to clutch my stomach.

  “What?” Deryn asked.

  “I’ve got one of the weirdest lives ever! I became the queen to the four princes when I drunkenly stumbled into a meeting, and ended the war by handing over a necklace from my grandma. Then I became your mates. Now, my dead mother is meddling in our affairs, and created a hybrid baby to make me happy.” I laughed again, wiping at the tears coming from my eyes.

  Everyone in the room laughed.

  “Well, no one can say being mated to you is dull or uneventful,” Fox said, smiling wide.

  That was definitely true. Though, I wasn’t certain that was a good thing.

  Chapter 14

  Nico

  Rhys, Fox, Deryn, and I stood together in Fox’s old bedroom in his parents’ house. Jolie and Kara were talking, so it gave us a perfect chance to hide.

  “We’re going to have to isolate her,” Rhys said.

  Sadly, he was right.

  “If the others find out she’s having a hybrid, it could be chaos,” Fox whispered. He looked at his wall, as though he could see through it, and see Jolie. “She’s not going to like us hiding her away, even more than we have been.”

  “It’s necessary to keep her safe,” I said. “She’ll hate us for a bit, but once our baby is born, she will thank us for it.”

  “Have you learned anything new?” Deryn asked me.

  “About what?” I asked, scowling.

  He gave me his, don’t-act-stupid look. “Our enemies.”

  Did he know? Did they know?

  “Nothing more than you know,” I said and shrugged.

  “So, you’ve been sneaking out and still haven’t found anything useful?” Rhys asked, folding his arms over his chest.

  Shit.

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  They all rolled their eyes.

  “We’ve known you our whole lives, Nico,” Fox said. “You can’t hide shit from us. Jolie is pretty suspicious, too.”

  “Yeah. Be prepared for a lecture when we get home,” Deryn said with a smirk.

  Great.

  “We’re still no closer to finding them,” I admitted.

  “Maybe it is better if we stop looking,” Rhys said.

  All eyes turned to him. Rhys, the take charge guy, wanted to sit back?

  “What brought this on?” I asked.

  “Maybe, if we leave them alone for a bit, they will leave us alone. If we can keep Jolie out of harm’s way long enough for her to have our baby, I would feel a lot better. I’m all for blowing them to smithereens, but her safety is our top priority. I just want the baby born without any issues.”

  “So, you want me to stop?” I asked. I knew I was scowling, but I wanted to find Justina. She’d severed our bonds and tortured Jolie, and I could not forgive her for that. I needed to find her and then tear her to pieces.

  “For now,” Rhys said with a nod.

  “I agree,” Deryn said.

  “Same,” Fox said.

  I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Fine. Until she has the baby, we will lay low.”

  “Should we get more guards for the house?” Fox asked.

  Now we were all looking at him.

  “You think she needs more than the four of us, Ezio, Leona, and Thor since he is basically always over?” Deryn asked.

  He shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt to have one more from each of our clans, right? One more dragon, elf, and mage could make a huge difference.”

  “I don’t want another mage,” I said. “It will interfere with my ability to sense magic users.”

  “Okay, so another dragon and elf,” Fox said.

  “I bet Andras would be more than willing to come protect her,” Deryn said.

  I thought he was teasing Rhys at first, but then I realized he was serious.

  “Really?” I asked.

  Deryn nodded. “He flirts with her to rile Rhys up, but he really does care for her.”

  “Who would you bring?” I asked Fox.

  He shrugged. “Not sure, but I can find someone.”

  “I’ll ask Andras,” Rhys agreed. “He has grown fond of her, so I know he’ll do everything he can to keep her safe.”

  “If shit hits the fan, I’m calling in her exes,” Fox said.

  “No,” Rhys growled.

  Fox met his glare with one of his own. “Stop being a jealous ass and think about it. Who would be better to protect her than men who are in love with her? It’s already programmed into them to protect her. When they see her with a child that’s part of their race, their instincts will override any other thought.”

  He was right.

  “Only if it is absolutely necessary,” I agreed.

  Fox nodded once.

  “So, are we going to make a list of names we want her to consider for the baby?” Deryn asked, smiling wide.

  “I’ve got one for a girl and one for a boy all ready,” Fox said.

  “How is she going to choose?” I asked.
<
br />   “Draw from a hat?” Rhys asked, beaming.

  This was what I had hoped for the first time I saw her with all of us. There was something special about Jolie, and I just knew that she would end up making us smile like fools. I had been right.

  On more than one occasion, the four of us had felt joy above anything else we had ever experienced. We had also felt pain, but the joy was worth it. Our mate was pregnant. My mate was pregnant. I was going to be a dad.

  Even though it was probably terrible of me, I was glad my father wasn’t alive for this. He would have blown a gasket when he found out our child was a hybrid. It was bad enough Jolie was a siren, now we would have a siren, mage, dragon, wolf, elf as a child.

  “We better get back to her, before she gets anxious,” Fox said.

  We nodded in agreement, and filed out of the room.

  Chapter 15

  Jolie

  “More guards?” I asked, mouth hanging open as Andras hugged me.

  “Just two more,” Rhys said. “And, does Andras really count?”

  Andras rested his hand on my stomach, which was already much larger than a month ago when I’d found out I was pregnant. The baby kicked at his hand, and Andras smiled.

  “I’m just here to make sure nothing happens to my favorite sister-in-law, and my niece or nephew,” Andras said, and kissed my cheek.

  I grumbled, but he pulled me deeper into the house, to the dining room where everyone was gathered for dinner. Andras had shown up, and I’d come to see why he was here. We stepped into the room, and I stared at Silverowl, Fox’s brother sitting next to Fox. His silver hair was braided along his skull, and secured in a ponytail on the back.

  “Silver, what are you doing here?” I asked, walking to him.

  He stood, and kissed me on the cheek. “My brother requested I come to keep you safe. I couldn’t turn him down.”

  I glared at Fox. “Why do you guys keep doing things without asking me?”

  He smiled. “Because we know you’ll say no.”

  I growled, and the baby tumbled around inside my stomach, making me cringe and grip the back of Silver’s chair.

  “The baby’s acting up again?” Fox asked.

  “Yeah,” I grumbled.

  Fox rested his hand on my stomach, and the baby kicked his hand. Fox chuckled. “That feels wolf-ish to me.”

  Deryn immediately stood, walked to me, and put his hand in place of Fox’s. The baby gently kicked his hand, and then stilled.

  Somehow, the guys had figured out how to tell when one aspect of the baby’s nature was acting up over the other. I couldn’t tell the difference, which really bothered me.

  “Spunky,” Deryn whispered. He bent down, and placed his forehead against my stomach. I felt the baby move, and press against Deryn’s forehead, but it wasn’t a kick. It was like the baby was trying to mimic him, though I couldn’t be too sure of that.

  “When do you find out the gender?” Andras asked. He’d taken a seat while the baby had distracted me.

  “Next month,” Fox said.

  “Do you have a name picked?” Silver asked.

  I shook my head. “Not yet.” The guys had given me their top choices for each gender the other night. I had purchased a white board, put it in the nursery, and wrote down all the names we were deciding between, separated by gender, on it. It made it easier for me to view them all at once. I’d gone in there a few times, and said the names while resting my hand on my stomach, but the baby hadn’t reacted to any of them. Not that I genuinely thought it would, but it would have made my life easier.

  Deryn pulled out my chair for me, and I sat down, immediately digging into the plate of food before me. The baby made me eat a lot now, even more than I had a month ago. I finished three plates of food, then two pieces of cake before I was finally full.

  Andras walked beside me to the living room, staring at my stomach.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Just curious what the baby is going to look like,” he admitted.

  I sighed. “You and me both.”

  “Well, it’s definitely going to be attractive,” Deryn said, and draped an arm around my shoulders.

  “Or, we could be that attractive couple that has an ugly kid,” I said.

  Deryn scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Not a chance.”

  “I still can’t believe your dead mother interfered with your pregnancy,” Andras whispered. “You guys have the craziest lives ever.”

  I sighed again, something I did a lot lately. “Yeah, I know.”

  Leona skipped down the stairs, and pulled me away from Deryn. “How’s my favorite prego?”

  “Pregnant and tired,” I admitted.

  “Come sit,” she ordered me, pulling me to the living room, and to the love seat. She wrapped us both up in a fluffy, quilted blanket up to our chins, then smiled at the guys. “We should watch a movie.”

  “What do you want to watch?” I asked.

  “Comedy?” she suggested.

  “Definitely no romance movies,” Fox said.

  “Hey! It was sad!” I snapped at him, knowing he was saying that because the last time we’d watched a romance, I had bawled for an hour afterwards.

  “No romances,” Rhys agreed.

  “What about action?” Andras asked.

  “I’m up for an action flick,” I agreed.

  “Me, too,” Leona agreed. She moved closer to me and smiled. “I have so many movies to make up for missing.”

  Growing up in Atlantis, she didn’t get to see movies, or really anything, since they didn’t have television, cable, or the internet down there. I was still trying to figure out how to get those things down to them. There had to be a way.

  “I’ll pick,” Andras said, squatting down by our movie shelf, which was really a wall of shelves lined with movies. Fox and Nico had organized it by genre, and then alphabetically. There had to be at least one thousand movies, most likely more than that. It was an insanely massive collection built by the five of us merging our collections into one.

  “Popcorn?” I asked.

  “And candy!” Leona agreed.

  “On it!” Fox said, heading to the kitchen.

  “I’m so spoiled,” I said with a happy sigh.

  “Yes, you are, but you deserve it,” Leona said, and rested her head on my shoulder.

  Someone knocked on the door, and then Thor came into the living room. He kissed Leona on the cheek and sat on the floor in front of her.

  “Hey, Thor,” I said, smiling.

  He glanced up at me and smiled. “Hey, Jo.”

  Fox returned, set up a tray with the snacks, and then sat on the floor in front of me. “Ready,” he told Andras.

  Andras nodded, and hit play. The rest of the guys took seats on the couches, or on the floor. Deryn shifted into his wolf form, and lay next to Fox, who occasionally tossed him a piece of popcorn, which Deryn caught in his wolf mouth.

  I munched on popcorn, candy, and cuddled with my best friend, surrounded by my favorite guys. It was the perfect night.

  When the movie finished, Deryn chose another one, and more popcorn was made. Nico stole me from Leona, cuddling with me on the couch with Rhys to our left. Thor took my vacated spot, and pulled Leona into his side with an arm around her shoulders.

  I couldn’t help smiling as I watched them feed each other popcorn. They were adorable together.

  Halfway through the movie, someone pounded on our door, startling everyone in the room. Deryn, Rhys, and Andras left the room to investigate.

  A moment later, Dan walked in, scowling. “You’ve been keeping her from me,” Dan growled.

  “No, we’ve just been staying home,” Deryn argued.

  “Which is keeping her from me,” Dan growled. He looked around the room until he spotted me. Then he picked me up and hugged me, but much gentler than he usually did.

  “Hi, Father,” I said, smiling.

  “I’ve come to commune with my grandchild,” he said, and set me
down.

  “What?” I asked.

  “He wants to talk to the baby,” Deryn explained.

  Dan got down on his knees and then sat back on his heels, trying to lower himself enough to reach my stomach, but he was still too tall, so he bent forward. He rested his hand on my stomach, and I felt the power zap him through my stomach. He snarled, but then immediately smiled. He leaned forward and whispered to my stomach, too softly for me to hear. The baby swirled around in my stomach, moving much faster than before.

  “What are you telling the baby?” I asked. “I haven’t felt it move so much.”

  “Just promising to spoil the little hybrid once released into the world,” he said. He pressed his forehead to my stomach, just like Deryn had done, and I felt the baby lean into him the same way. Had Dan done this with Deryn when Deryn was still inside his mother? Was this how their bonds started?

  “It’s already quite strong,” Dan whispered.

  Everyone was watching and stayed silent as Dan spoke.

  “You’re going to have your hands full, son. There is zero doubt that this little hybrid will be an alpha. Zero doubt,” Dan said and stood. He rested his hand on my cheek and smiled. “You’re glowing, daughter. Pregnancy looks great on you.”

  I blushed and rubbed my now calm stomach. “Thank you.”

  “This is why you came here?” Nico asked.

  “It’s a bonding thing,” Dan said.

  “Which is why we’re all here,” Katar said.

  Dan stepped aside so I could see past his bulky frame. Katar, Kara, Emrys, and Adelaide stood in the doorway of the living room.

  “What does this do?” Nico asked.

  With his father being dead, and his mother being human, I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know what the purpose was. I was glad I wasn’t the only one in the dark.

  “The more often a king or alpha interact with a fetus, the stronger the fetus is,” Adelaide explained. “It ensures there are no miscarriages and that the baby is born healthy.”

  “Since this is a hybrid, we want to be sure we take every precautionary measure possible,” Kara said.

  “You guys could have told us,” Fox grumbled.

  “We hadn’t thought we would need to,” Katar said. “We didn’t realize you were going to hide Jolie even from us.”