Billionaire Quadruplet Alphas

Monday 28th September, 2020.

Star

I hoped my mother would accept my quadruplet mates a little more readily than Dad had. Technically Dad had still not fully accepted them. He only liked Eli. He had begun to like Noah a little bit. He merely tolerated Zaya. He disliked Jonah. Even my twin, Harper, had a problem with the Quads. Again, Eli was the favourite. Harper and Eli had bonded over training with Dad. Noah and Harper had gotten a little closer after they had to work together with Dad and Holly when the four of them were trapped in the dark place. Harper disliked Jonah and he really disliked Zaya whom in fairness had tried to attack him in a jealous rage at the talent show.

Mom was looking at me expectantly. She was so beautiful. I was not sure why everyone kept saying we looked almost identical. I paled in comparison to her. She looked extremely young. She seemingly hadn’t aged. I supposed that was the one benefit of being frozen in stone. She had also been frozen in time. Dad had been about twenty-five when my twin and I were born and now we were eighteen, meaning Dad was forty-three. Mom had only been eighteen or nineteen when she had us. Suddenly, my Dad had a teenager for a mate. No wonder he was grinning from ear to ear like that. Wolves aged really slowly though so Dad looked like he could be in his late twenties or early thirties.

“Ok, well, I’ll um introduce them in birth order then…so this is Jonah, the eldest,” I said nervously.

I pulled Jonah forwards. He promptly gave Mom a big hug.

“You look exactly like Star!” He said. “You’re more her twin than Harper.”

Harper glared at Jonah.

“Oh, stop it!” Said Mom, playfully slapping Jonah’s chest .

“And this is Noah!” I continued.

Noah seemed more nervous than I was. He slowly made his way to Mom and hugged her gently.

“It’s an honour to meet you, Princess Hesper!” He said.

“Oh, cut that s**t out!” Said Mom, slapping Noah’s chest even harder than Jonah.

I quickly surmised that Mom was one of those people that slapped your arm every time you told a funny joke. You had to tell your joke and then skip away as fast as possible.

“You can call me Mom!” Said Mom to Noah, pinching his cheeks.

Dad did not look pleased.

“Should I call you Dad?” Joked Noah with Dad.

Dad looked like he would throw the Quads from the Ice Moon Tower if they called him ‘Dad.’ He did not respond verbally.

“This is Elijah,” I said.

“Oh, we’re still going,” said Mom, looking surprised.

“Hi, Elijah!” Said Mom.

Eli hugged Mom too.

“I’m so happy for your Sir,” he said to Heath. “You’re really strong to have faced all those years without your mate. I can’t even imagine the pain. I would rather die myself than lose Star.”

Dad ate that up.

“This is a fine young man,” he informed Mom. “He’s interested in combat. He’s a promising warrior as all young Alphas should be.”

“Oh!” Exclaimed Mom. “All three of you are Alphas!”

“All four of us,” said Zaya, not waiting for an introduction from me.

He winked at Mom.

“Four! You’re…Quadruplets!” Said Mom, her eyes as wide as saucers.

“Yes, we are. I’m the youngest. Zaya,” said Zaya.

“What a peculiar name!” Commented Mom as she hugged him.

“It’s short for Isaiah,” said Zaya, with a grin.

“Ohhhh! I get it,” said Mom.

“But please call me Zaya unless you don’t like me for Star!” Joked Zaya.

Mom laughed heartily and slapped Zaya’s arm. He pretended to wince.

“Yeah, that’s Isaiah,” said Dad pointedly, earning a harder slap on the arm from Mom.

I stood far away from Mom, learning from the mistakes of the others. Mom was going over their names with her index finger outstretched.

“John, Nole, Ezra and Zaya!” She said.

“Yeah, except it’s Elijah or Eli,” said Dad, knowing very well all those names were wrong except the last one.

“Jonah. Noah. Elijah or Eli. Isaiah or Zaya,” I said slowly.

“Ah, ok, got it,” said Mom.

She completely had not gotten it.

“Honey,” said Mom, looking like she was struggling to choose her words carefully.

“Walk with me,” said Mom, taking my arm and marching me into a side room of the castle out of earshot of everyone else.

“How are you handling so many mates? Four! Are you ok with that?” She asked, her eyes concerned but amused.

“Yes, I love all of them honestly,” I said earnestly, feeling happy about my first Mother-Daughter talk.

“Your marks look a bit new,” she commented.

I blushed.

“A somewhat recent development,” I said awkwardly.

“Hmph, well you must be sore,” she said bluntly.

“Mom!” I said indignantly.

Mom laughed at her own joke and tried to slap my arm but I dodged it. She had a tendency to shut her eyes and toss her head back when she laughed. She actually seemed confused for a second.

“Where’d you go?” She asked.

She looked behind herself.

“Oh, hi again,” she said.

“Mom, you’re crazy,” I said, hoping she did not find me rude for saying that.

She merely laughed.

“Well, I know your Dad didn’t have the talk with you,” she said with a sigh.

“Um, not really,” I said, remembering her argument.

“You can always come to me for advice,” she said, cupping my cheeks.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, truly grateful to her.

We hugged.

“Let’s go unfreeze Grandma and poor Asriel,” she said.

“And Toby,” I added as we walked back.

“Who’s that?” Asked Mom.

“My friend! Holden turned him into a stone rose. Well, that’s Holly’s theory,” I said.

“A stone rose?” She said, sounding shocked.

“Yeah, were you sentient while in stone. I heard Holly asking Harper about that,” I said.

“I have bits and pieces but not completely, no. It was like being asleep for years. I have some strange random memories of the hallway which seem dream-like. Nothing concrete,” she said.

“Ugh concrete!” She said, laughing.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

She yanked me into the hallway.

“All right, I’m ready to revive the Queen,” said Mom.

The hallway erupted in excited chattering. It was apparent that Mom was really well-liked by the members of nobility and the castle staff.

“Take this chair,” said Solander, not wanting Mom to sit on the floor I had just sat on.

“No, no,” said Mom. “I like doing it standing up!” Said Mom, winking at Dad who flushed scarlet.

Harper and I exchanged mortified looks.

“Come on, kids!” Said Mom, as though she were talking to a group of toddlers.

She looked the same age as us. Mom held my hand and Harper’s hand. Harper already had his fingers interlaced with Holly. He was whispering something in her ear that made her blush and giggle.

“Tell the quadrilaterals to move back a little. I don’t want them in the line of fire,” said Mom to Dad.

Dad waved his hands at the Quads like he was shooing them.

“Quadruplets, Mom!” I corrected her. “Or Quads! It’s easier to remember!”

“That’s what I said,” laughed Mom, letting go of my hand to slap my arm.

She got me this time. I hadn’t been anticipating that one. She grabbed my hand.

“Ok,” she said.

Everyone fell silent. I took a deep breath.

We’ll use my memories to help Grandma, ok? She said over mind-link with me, Harper and Holly.

Ok, said Harper and I in unison.

Yes, Your Highness! Said Holly.

Oh, Holly! Don’t start! It’s Hesper! I only got my driver’s license like ten days before I turned to stone. Don’t make me feel old, joked Mom, laughing.

I doubted that she had been focused on her driver’s license during all the turmoil of the past but I got her point.

I look young, right? She clarified with us.

Yeah, everyone will mistake you for our sister, said Harper.

Yeah, definitely, I agreed.

You’re completely unchanged. You look like you’ve lived two less a score years, said Holly.

A score is twenty, right? So that’s eighteen?! Said Mom.

Yes, correct, Your…Hesper, said Holly, stopping herself from being formal.

Your father is such a lucky man and to think he almost missed out on this, said Mom.

Mom, I’ve been through enough. Let’s start the magic, complained Harper.

You sound exactly like your Dad, Honey! Laughed Mom.

After that we all focused on Mom’s memories of her grandmother, the real Winter Fae Queen. They had been really close. Mom had learnt magic from her grandmother directly. Through Mom’s memories, I glimpsed the Fae Realm. I gasped at its beauty. Mom was showing us her as a little girl playing in a meadow near the Winter Fae Castle with her Grandma looking on. It was one of their few months of Spring. The flowers in the Fae Realm were capable of song like birds. They did not whistle though. They sounded like different instruments so the meadow of flowers became an orchestra. The music was the most beautiful melody, melancholy, nostalgic and euphoric all at the same thing. It made me ache for things I had never known. I had to go there and I had to drag the Quads with me! I focused on my great grandmother’s smiling face as she watched butterflies flutter above the meadow. Their wings were the percussion of the orchestra. There were so many Fae butterflies and their wings were heavier than normal, producing soft but distinct clicking sounds. I felt the pure joy my great grandmother and my mother felt that day, the camaraderie, the inner peace. I felt like I was really there. I could hear the symphony of the meadow’s flowers and butterflies and feel the wind. The wind blew the fragrant flowers to and fro. The flowers moved of their own accord too, able to dance to their own melody as they played together.

Mom, this is beautiful, I said simply.

This is the Melodious Meadow near the kingdom of the Winter Fae, answered Mom.

A Lingering Lotus, squealed Holly, spotting one of the all-knowing iridescent flowers.

The song of the Lingering Lotus rang out louder than the others. Mom’s memory was so vivid it felt like we could get up and roam it. She was amazing at this. The sunlight in her memory became blinding and I opened my eyes slowly, almost surprised to find myself still in the Ice Moon Castle. The real Winter Fae Queen was awake.

“Grandmother!” Exclaimed Mom, jumping up to hug the Queen.

They embraced tearfully. Dad looked jealous of their relationship. He was a bit possessive of Mom which was a lot like Zaya and me. It was so funny how Dad had a problem with Zaya for that same reason but now was not the time to argue. I was so happy to have my whole family back. All we had to do was revive Asriel and Toby.

“Grandmother, Asriel is…” Mom began but the Winter Fae Queen turned to Asriel and turned him to flesh in the blink of an eye.

Holly gasped. All the Fae clapped.

“Marvellous as always,” said Mom fondly. “I don’t see how Holden could have possibly bested you even for a moment.”

“Now that is a story,” said the Queen.

Asriel was looking at his own limbs as he moved them slowly. His eyes fell on Mom and the Queen. He laughed, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Am I hallucinating?” He said, grinning at them.

“It’s Princess Hesper!” Squeaked Erin. “Oh, I have so much gossip for you! I need love advice too. You know how I’m always breaking hearts without meaning to.”

“Finally, she’s back. You left a bunch of morons in charge,” grumbled Rein.

Did Rein mean Harper and me?

“Hey!” I said indignantly.

“Be nice, Rein! We’ll talk, Erin. I wanna hear all your stories, trust me,” said Mom as she embraced Asriel.

Asriel kissed the Queen’s hand.

“My handsome boy!” Exclaimed the Queen, pinching his cheek.

“I have another job for you,” said Asriel, taking the rose out of his pocket.

It was a real flower now, a beautiful red rose.

“Toby has never looked better,” commented Dad.

“Is that Heath?” barked the Queen. “Naughty as ever!” She said loudly as if Dad were a little boy.

Harper stifled his laugher. The Queen heard him and turned towards him. Her face lit up with astonishment.

“My child, come to me,” she said, stretching out her arms for Harper.

Harper hesitantly approached her.

“It can’t be,” whispered the Queen, her eyes brimming with tears, as her delicate fingers traced Harper’s features. “I’d know one of mine anywhere.”

“I lied to protect him, Grandma. My baby boy wasn’t still-born but the castle was filled with vipers at that time. I didn’t know who to trust. I just knew something awful was coming and I couldn’t let my babies be there when it came,” whispered Mom as if lost in the memory of it all, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Dad held her, cradling her head to his chest and kissing her forehead.

“Babies?” Said the Queen.

“I pretended Harper’s younger twin sister was my afterbirth and got the doctor to spirit her away. This is her. My Hannah,” said Mom, gesturing to me.

The Queen gasped, clasping her fingers over her mouth. Her movements were all so graceful as if I was watching a primaballerina. Her presence was soothing. The real Queen and Holden in disguise were night and day. She practically glided towards me.

“You are your mother, eighteen years ago,” said the Queen, laughing to herself, as she cupped my face.

“Their mother is their mother eighteen years ago,” chuckled Dad.

“And I bet you just love that,” hissed the Queen, throwing Dad a dirty look.

“Grandma!” Snapped Mom.

“I only jest, Dear-heart. You know I adore Heath,” said our Great Grandmother.

“I hate to interrupt but poor Toby is still this rose,” mumbled Asriel.

“Leave him be. He talked too much,” quarrelled Rein.

“I love Toby. He has flair and pizzazz,” said Erin, swaying a little as he hung from Asriel’s ear.

“Those earrings weren’t smelted down by now,” muttered the Queen under her breath.

“Grandma!” Said Mom indignantly.

“I love them! Can’t I jest?” Said the Queen. “Throw the rose in the air,” she said confidently.

She had an imperial and imposing tone one could not refuse. Asriel looked worried but he obediently tossed the rose in the air. Great grandmother spread her fingers out widely and moved her hands apart from each other, making a circular gesture. The rose seemed to bloom further, its petals widening and then growing outwards until the rose was so huge everyone stepped back, forming a circle around it. The petals unfolded and a confused Toby shakily stepped out. Asriel steadied him.

“Are you all right?” Asriel asked worriedly.

“My mother told me not to do party drugs. I should have listened,” said Toby weakly.

I chuckled.

“Are you happy now? Can we go?” Muttered Dad pointedly in Mom’s ear.

“Go where?!” She exclaimed. “Everything I need is right here,” she said, wrapping her arms around Dad’s waist.

Dad brushed his nose against hers. He gave her an insistent look.

“It’s been eighteen years,” he said extremely softly.

Mom waggled her eyebrows at him.

“Thus you would not mind waiting another couple hours. The time would be negligible in the grand scheme of things. We must have a feast at once to welcome my great grandchildren to the Ice Moon Castle,” said Great Grandmother authoritatively.

No one dared to say we had done that already. It had been her imposter throwing a feast to welcome us back a few days ago. The staff began to bustle about, beginning the preparations.

“And to celebrate my return and the return of Prince Asriel and Rose Toby and the loveliest rose of all, my Princess Hesper,” said the Queen, beaming at Mom.

“Thank you,” said Mom softly.

Dad smiled but it did not reach his eyes.

What’s with Dad? I asked Harper privately.

It’s been eighteen years without his mate. He’s a dude. He’s horny, said Harper.

I shoved Harper.

“Gross!” I said out-loud.

“Do not lambaste your twin, Princess Hannah. It is not ladylike,” said Great Grandmother, horrified at my behaviour.

“I’m sorry. I…it’s a form of affection,” I lied, wanting to stay on her good side.

“Yeah, gross!” agreed Harper, elbowing me out of the way.

“Ouch!” I said and then laughed loudly for Great Grandmother to hear.

“Customs do get stranger as time passes,” she said, nodding. “Gross!” Exclaimed Great Grandmother pushing Dad away from Mom a little.

Dad looked murderous.