Billionaire Quadruplet Alphas

Sunday 27th September, 2020

Jonah

I entered into a completely white room. White tiles. White walls. The room was empty. I looked around. Where was the challenge? How did Temperance apply here? There were no temptations for me to resist. I knew I could not ask anyone for help. I tried to mind-link Noah just to be sure. Nothing. Silence.

The white wall directly in front of me and opposite to the door changed suddenly. I glanced back at the door making sure it did not disappear. Black spots appeared on the wall and converged to form words.

Don’t shift. Don’t leave the room. No matter what. This is Temperance.

What?! The words disappeared. So I had to resist the urge to shift and I could not leave the room. Simple. I remained alert in case something jumped out at me. I began searching the room, looking for more to the challenge than those few words. There was nothing. This was temperance which was basically self-control so maybe I should meditate or something. I sat on the floor and remained calm though there was something unnerving about the white room.

As soon as I sat down cross-legged on the floor, I felt a presence behind me. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I did feel like shifting in case I had to fight but I forced myself not to. I turned around and stood up. My heart plummeted at the sight before me. Angelique was standing in the corner with a demented smile on her face.

It’s an illusion, I convinced myself. It’s part of the test.

“Jonah,” said Angelique, stepping towards me.

I realised she was wearing a wedding dress with a long train and veil behind her. She was a mass of white lace. She was barefoot. I gasped at her footprints. They were bloody! Was the b***d hers? I sniffed the air. I knew that smell anywhere. Star. The b***d smelled like Star.

“What did you do?” I snarled, fighting the urge to shift.

It was not real. I had to keep reminding myself of that. A good Alpha had to be in control of his wolf at all times. I backed away from Angelique so I did not have to smell the b***d. My back hit the wall. The room was not that big. What a macabre task? Star’s father came up with this?

“What do you want?” I growled as Angelique continued to take small slow steps towards me.

I made myself look at her face and not the bloody footprints. She did not answer me. She simply began humming the wedding march.

“Angelique! Stay away from me!” I warned through gritted teeth.

She cackled madly. She began to sing.

“Here comes the bride! All dressed in white!” She sang off-key. Her high-pitched voice was grating like nails on a chalkboard.

“Shut up!” I roared.

“Do you wanna know what her last words were?” Asked Angelique.

“This isn’t real!” I told her.

The illusion of Angelique began to mimic Star, sounding exactly like her clearly by supernatural means.

“Angie! Please! Don’t do this! We’re cousins! I’ve always wanted us to be friends! I never meant to take anything from you! Angie don’t! Stop! Somebody help me! Please! Jonah! JONAH!” She screeched in Star’s voice.

I covered my ears. It was horrible. I was shaking. The instructions said not to leave and not to shift. Could I attack the doppelgänger in human form then? Something told me that went without saying. Attacking didn’t seem like a good representation of self-control.

“Star is alive and she’s on the other side of that door,” I hissed, pointing to the door.

“You sure? Go see for yourself!” Ordered Angelique.

“I don’t need to,” I said confidently. “I know she’s there. If she were dead, my whole body would be aching. She has my mark.”

The thing pretending to be Angelique frowned.

“Well, aren’t you so clever?” It hissed.

It rushed towards me, shrieking at it came closer. I caught a glimpse of its true form. It was some kind of imp or ghoul. Its eyes practically bugged out of its head as it flew at me. I put my hands up to block it, shutting my eyes reflexively. Nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes.

I was in my house! What?! I ran around, covering more distance than the room could have possibly had to see how far this setup extended. This magic was astounding. I had to marvel at it a little. The phone rang making me jump. It was the phone in Dad’s study. That was one of the only rooms in this huge mansion that had a land line. I ran to Dad’s study, flung the double doors open and rushed to the phone. I hesitated to pick it up, suddenly terrified of who or what was calling. I picked it up, took a deep breath and put the receiver to my ear.

“Jonah,” said my father’s voice. His voice sounded thick like he was crying. He sniffled.

“Dad! What’s wrong?” I asked, worried. It was hard not to get lost in here, lost in the narrative. It was all so real.

“Your mother,” said Dad.

“What happened to Mom?” I asked, trembling.

“It’s your fault!” Snarled Dad.

Dad would never say that. I hung up on him. I rushed to the door and found my Dad standing there physically. f**k!

“Stay away from me! You’re not my Dad!” I told it.

“You told me that curse was broken!” Snarled the thing masquerading as my Dad.

“IT IS!” I roared, getting angry now.

I knew my eyes would have flashed black for a split second. I needed to calm down. I had to keep calm for Star. I took some deep breaths.

“It is,” I said in a much more measured tone.

Dad laughed maniacally.

“I listened to you! I trusted you! Jonah! My firstborn!” Lamented Dad. “I proposed to your mother after all these years,” said Dad, tears running down his face.

“She wanted to elope right away so we did. We found a random chapel open and got married their like love-struck teenagers,” said Dad.

“Throughout the ceremony this noise unnerved me. This…creaking. Coming from above us. Coming from the ceiling. What was that? I figured the chapel was old,” said Dad, collapsing into this chair behind his desk.

I stayed far away from him.

“She said I do,” said Dad with a faint smile.

I stared at him blankly.

“And do you know what happened when she said I do?” Asked Dad.

I shook my head though I could hazard a guess.

“The creaking got louder and louder. I looked up. She was there!” Hissed Dad.

“Who?” I asked, my pulse racing.

“Georgianna, the witch. Sitting among the rafters, high up, swinging her legs as she watched us. Making that creaking noise,” said Dad.

I was transfixed by the horrifying story. I just stared at Dad.

“She descended upon your mother,” said Dad, trembling.

“I rushed towards them but when I reached them the witch was gone. Your mother was lying there. Dead. Her neck at an odd angle,” said Dad, wringing his hands together.

“Do you want to say hello to your mother?” Asked Dad suddenly.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

I ran from the room. I would not shift. I looked at the hallway. It was filled with doors! All of them replicas of the Temperance door. There were thirty exits or more. Someone was coming towards me in a wedding dress from the far end of the hallway. The stairs were gone. The only place to go was out which would ruin the task. The bride dragging her feet as she trudged down the hallway was not Angelique. I recognised my mother’s silhouette and her perfume.

“I will not leave this place! No matter what you do!” I roared at it.

I stood my ground.

The thing paused. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had relaxed too soon. It broke into a run, rushing towards me. I shut my eyes.

I’m not leaving and I won’t shift, I said to myself over and over again.

I opened my eyes. I was panting. The thing was gone. I was in the white room again. Alone thankfully. I sighed. The original door creaked open. The creaking sound disturbed me a little. I hesitantly approached the door but stopped myself midway. I looked at the wall. Black dots were appearing. They formed a new message.

You are free to go. You have displayed temperance.

I dove out of the room. The door slammed shut behind me. I was panting, my chest heaving.

“Jonah!” Squealed Star, rushing into my arms.

I crushed her to me.

“Someone call my Mom!” I said before I realised how childish that sounded.

“Um, just so that…” I began trying to explain myself but Noah was already on the phone.

“Phones can work in here! But mind-link can’t!” Said Zaya incredulously.

“Neither can work in here,” said Eli, glancing at Noah’s phone.

Noah nodded, putting his phone away.

“No communication with the outside world,” said Heath with a strange smile plastered on his face.

“Your Mom is fine!” Said Asriel reassuringly. “It’s just an illusion and you did really well!”

“Did you all see everything?” I asked.

Star nodded. She was crying. She was holding onto me just as tightly as I was gripping her. Heath did not offer any congratulatory remarks. I frowned at him. That had seemed like overkill and to top it off, he was being cold even though I had passed.

“You did amazing,” said Asriel.

“You were so…disciplined. You didn’t break. I’m proud of you. Watching that was maddening! I would have failed. I almost shifted just watching,” admitted Star, snuggling closer.

I held her to me, breathing in her sweet clean smell.

“Way to go, Big Bro,” said Eli.

Zaya clapped me on the back.

Noah was fidgeting nervously. He was next.

Holly

I searched through the darkness. I was not a wolf so my eyes would not adjust to this impenetrable darkness. I sighed. I kept searching. I was crawling on my hands and knees on a cold hard surface. It was not smooth enough to be tiles or marble. It was rough. Concrete. Stone. A dungeon?

I felt something soft. I pulled on it. Fabric. I rubbed it between two fingers. Denim. Someone’s jeans. Heath always dressed pretty casual though I did not remember exactly what he had on. I crawled along the side of someone’s body, presumably Heath’s. I felt the planes of the person’s face. A strong jaw. The angle of the nose and cheekbones were familiar to me. This was definitely Heath. Harper looked just like him so I knew his features anywhere. I felt his neck. I found a pulse. I put my hand on his chest. It moved up and down. He was breathing and he had a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Heath,” I whispered fiercely, not knowing if someone was lurking in the darkness, watching us.

“Heath!” I called a little more loudly.

I put my lips closer to his ear rather than speak more loudly. I did not want to alert Holden in case he was still nearby and Heath with his wolf eyesight would be able to tell.

“Heath!” I hissed directly in his ear.

He jumped, startled.

I imagined, his eyes opening.

“Where are we?” I asked quickly.

“Some kinda dungeon,” he muttered. “That bastard!” Roared Heath, lashing out.

He must have struck the bars of our cell because I heard the clanging of metal.

“Can we fit through the bars?” I asked.

“No they’re too close together,” said Heath, sounding defeated.

“Can you break them down?” I asked.

“I can try,” he said softly.

He struck the bars again. I heard the clanging following by a hissing sound this time.

What is that?” I asked.

I smelled something like burnt skin and flesh. I quickly scurried across on my hands and knees to the bars and felt them.

“What’s that burning smell?” I asked Heath.

He struck the bars again and the burning smell intensified.

“STOP!” I shrieked. “Those bars are silver, aren’t they?” I asked.

“Yeah, so,” grumbled Heath.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

“We need to get out of here. I won’t let him destroy Harper’s life like he did mine. I won’t let him hurt you,” said Heath.

Heath did not want his son to experience the pain of living without his mate. Heath struck the bars again and again.

“Please don’t! It’s no use. Let’s try another way!” I said.

I quickly searched my pockets to ensure that I still had the Lotus. I didn’t.

“He took the Lingering Lotus,” I said, close to tears.

I took a deep breath. I had to compose myself. I felt the bars Heath had been hitting. They were still much too close together. It would take hours to escape this way.

“Can you mind-link anyone?” I asked.

“I’m trying but it isn’t working,” snarled Heath, frustrated.

I knew his frustration was not directed at me. I did not want to tell him that his mate was alive and had been alive all this time because I did not know if she would still be alive by the time we got out of here. Speaking of Hesper, I needed to intercept Holden before he got to her. I could still possibly save her and expose the imposter at court if I could get out of here.

“Harper should realise you’re missing soon enough,” said Heath.

“And Star and the Quads will know that you’re missing! They’re waiting on you to start the four cardinal virtues challenge, right?” I reasoned.

Heath nodded.

Noah

“Next in birth order and in this challenge is Noah who will demonstrate Prudence,” announced Heath with a taunting smile.

I was terrified but I did not want to show it. Star’s father seemed to be enjoying this too much. It was weird. He did not like us that much with the exception of Eli but he certainly did not hate us. I could not imagine him enjoying our suffering. Watching Jonah’s challenge had been horrible enough. Now I had to enter the arena myself. I remembered how amused Heath had been while watching Jonah.

“Oh, one more thing! Try to move quickly boys!” Instructed Heath. “The creature in the arena is a shapeshifting ghoul. It has not fed on flesh for the day. The hungrier it gets, the harder the challenge will be so each task will be harder than the last.”

“Great,” said Zaya sarcastically. “So glad I’m last then.”

“What happens if someone fails a task? Shouldn’t you feed the ghoul so it won’t be actually dangerous? Won’t it try to eat us, especially if we fail,” questioned Eli.

“We’ll get you out of there in time if things go south,” said Heath.

“You were supposed to feed the ghoul right before we started!” Hissed Asriel in Heath’s ear.

“You said you wanted it sated to safeguard the boys,” said Asriel.

Heath frowned. “Must have slipped my mind,” mumbled Heath, seemingly not concerned.

“Can’t you feed it now?” Asked Star, alarmed.

“No,” said Asriel sadly. “Not once the challenge has started. It would be seen as cheating to placate the ghoul during the actual challenge. If we don’t uphold the integrity of the challenge, we might as well cancel it.”

“No!” I said. “I’ll be quick,” I promised. My younger brothers and Star were counting on me.

Without looking back, I went up to the doors. I knew which one was Prudence instantly. It showed a wolf hunting for fresh healthy prey rather than eating from an old carcass nearby, likely to be diseased and putrid. Prudence was about discerning the appropriate action in a situation. The best choice wasn’t always the easiest one. I knew that all too well. I stepped into the arena.