by Kat Mizera
AXEL
Royal Protectors Book 3
Kat Mizera
Copyright © 2020 by Kat Mizera
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editing: Tera Cuskaden, Ashley Martin
Cover Design: Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
Cover Photographer: Wander Aguiar
Cover Model: Jeff Button
Created with Vellum
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue
EXCERPT FROM “Nowhere Left to Fall” (Book One of The Royal Trilogy)
Also by Kat Mizera
1
Solange
Huddled on the floor of the broom closet above my family’s café, I listened to the sound of shattering glass and splintering wood, my hands shaking as I clutched my phone. There was no one to call. No one that could help us. My brother might already be dead, and who knew what they were doing to my father. My mother had snuck out to try to get help, but I doubted anyone was coming. That’s just how it was here in this small rural town. We’d survived a dictator-style monarchy for more than a decade, but our new and benevolent king had no idea what was happening in the small towns, the places far from the capital city where he resided. He was doing the best he could, but change wasn’t happening fast enough for some of us.
If only there was someone to help get the word out. Even if it was too late for my family, maybe there was a way to get news to the capital city so this wouldn’t happen to anyone else.
Call him.
The tiny voice in my head was as desperate as I was, and though it was probably a terrible idea, I wasn’t sure I could live with myself if I did nothing while my father and brother were murdered. Even if he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—help, at least I’d be able to say I’d done everything I possibly could.
Making an impulsive decision, I scrolled through the saved numbers on my phone and found it.
Xander.
I’d only known him for a couple of hours, and though I hadn’t known it then, I’d since seen him on TV so I now knew he was important. Connected. Maybe the only person in the world who could save my family tonight.
My hands were shaking so badly it took two tries before I hit the number on the screen, and then it rang four times before someone picked up. The voice was gruff, annoyed. I’d obviously woken them.
“Who is this?” the voice on the other end demanded.
“I… My name is Solange.” I spoke English, though I suspected whoever this was spoke my language, Limaji, too. “I-I need to speak with—” I let out an involuntary shriek as a crash from downstairs was so strong it shook the floor beneath me.
“Who is this?!” the man demanded again.
“Please. I need Xander. My name is Solange and I helped him when he was hurt—oh, please help us!” I burst into tears as another crash shook the whole building.
“Hold the line.”
I sobbed silently as I waited, terrified for my family, terrified for myself. There were rumors about what they did to the young, attractive members of the families who couldn’t pay. I didn’t know how attractive I was in general, but I almost definitely fit the bill for these monsters who terrorized our town.
“Hello?” I recognized his American accent immediately and nearly wilted with unexpected relief.
“Xander, it’s S-solange. F-from the café in V-vinake.” I was shaking even harder now, trying to talk in whispers through my tears. “Please…”
“Okay, calm down. What’s happening?”
“The men… who collect taxes… They’re here. We’re short this week and I think they’ve already beaten my brother to death. They’re tearing up the café, looking for money… They’ve tied up my father… Please help us, we have no one else!”
“Taxes…” He sounded confused. “Solange, I don’t understand.”
“They’re like…the mafia, like you see in American movies—oh my god!” This crash was loud enough for him to hear on the other end and I heard his intake of breath.
“Okay, where are you exactly?”
“In the closet on the second floor of the building.”
“We have a man not far from there. I’ll try to reach him. Stay where you are. I’ll call you back.” He disconnected and I covered my face with my hands, trying to mask the sound of my sobs.
There couldn’t be anything left of the café after an attack that had lasted this long, and if my father and brother were still alive, it would be a miracle.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the violence continued and I was on the verge of vomiting. I wanted to help, but what could I do and how would it help anyone if they raped or killed me too?
My phone buzzed in my lap and I snatched it up. “Yes? Hello?”
“His name is Axel and he’ll be there in a minute or two. Stay on the line with me.”
“O-okay.” I could barely speak now, my heart slamming against my ribs, my breath short and choppy.
“How did you know how to reach me?” he asked softly, most likely trying to distract me.
“You used my phone to call someone. I thought you were handsome and I was supposed to go to the U.S. this summer on holiday…so I saved the number you called, thinking maybe I could reach you, see you while I was in the U.S. If you were interested.” I sniffled. “Then I saw you on television, with Princess Elen, and realized who you were, that you weren’t really an American tourist who’d been mugged. So of course I didn’t call, but… but I saved the number because…I was afraid I might need a favor someday. Not for myself, but for my family.”
“Okay, Axel is there, outside. You just sit tight and wait until I tell you it’s okay to move.”
“M-my mother went to get help, but the police are as afraid of them as we are.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
There was another crash and this time some yelling. Then there were gunshots that made me jump just as everything went quiet. I heard footsteps on the stairs and started to shake again.
“Solange?” A deep male voice—distinctly American—was calling my name.
“It’s okay,” Xander said in my ear. “That’s Axel. You can trust him.”
I got to my feet and slowly opened the door, stepping out into the hallway just as the biggest man I’d ever seen came around the corner with a gun in his hand. I shrieked and threw myself back inside the cl
oset.
“Solange, it’s okay.” His voice was deep but somehow soothing. “Xander sent me.” He stood in the doorway of the closet, peering at me with a look so gentle I burst into tears all over again.
“You’re in safe hands with Axel,” Xander said quietly, “and I’m on the way. We’ve called for the helicopter and I’ll be there in less than an hour. Axel is handling everything, I promise.”
“Th-thank you.”
“I owed you one.” Xander disconnected.
“You’re going to need to call for an ambulance,” Axel said as I joined him in the hallway. “Your brother’s in rough shape and your father has some bruises.”
“Oh no.” I ran down the stairs before he could stop me and the scene before me made my knees give out. What had been a functioning, busy café just two hours ago was now…akin to the wreckage of a plane crash. There was nothing left except the furniture built into the foundation. Every table, chair, dish, and glass had been destroyed. Countertops smashed. Cash register demolished into nothing but pieces of plastic on the floor. Even the glass windows shattered. And in the middle of it all was my brother. Covered in blood.
“Kostya.” I whispered his name but couldn’t move. Axel had caught me when I nearly dropped to my knees, and now he gently guided me to my unconscious brother. “Oh, god, is he alive?”
“He’s breathing, but it’s bad. He needs a hospital.”
“There’s but one ambulance here,” I said. “I don’t know if…”
“I’ll drive him.”
“Solange…” My father’s voice got my attention and I turned.
“Papa!” He was tied to a chair, his face bloody but not as bad as Kostya, and I rushed over to him as Axel picked up my brother. Kostya wasn’t small, but Axel was…huge. Had he not just saved our lives, I would have been terrified of him.
“My SUV is outside,” he called over his shoulder. “Are you coming to the hospital with us?”
“Yes, go,” Papa said as I untied him. “I will be okay.”
I found my purse beneath the rubble of the front counter and threw it over my shoulder as I followed Axel outside. I could only deal with one issue at a time in my current state, and Kostya was my priority. I jumped into the back seat of Axel’s SUV and he put Kostya across the seat, his head in my lap. He handed me some paper towels and I dabbed at the blood as we headed toward the hospital.
Kostya was deathly still, his breathing so shallow I wouldn’t have been able to hear it if I didn’t lean over. His face was almost unrecognizable and I gently stroked his hair. He’d valiantly tried to protect our family, but there had been four of them and they’d been heavily armed. From what I’d seen, though I’d averted my eyes, they were all either dead or badly injured now. I shuddered a little to think about what fresh hell I might have brought upon my family by calling Xander, because even though he was married to a princess in the royal family, that someone had shown up and taken care of all four men without a second thought was frightening in and of itself.
Kostya moaned and I leaned down. “We’re almost to the hospital. Just rest. We’re going to get you help.”
I thought he nodded slightly but I wasn’t sure and breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. It was small, but the only one within an hour’s distance, so we had no other choice. I watched worriedly as someone came out with a gurney and Axel helped them put Kostya on it.
“Let them help him,” Axel said, putting a gentle hand on my arm. “They know what they’re doing.”
“I thought sure he was dead,” I whispered, leaning against the wall.
“I’m glad I was able to get to you in time.”
“Did you…kill them?” I looked up at him warily, unsure whether or not I wanted to know the answer.
“One of them. The others were unconscious. I tied them up and left them for the authorities to deal with.”
“They won’t,” I said sadly. “While I’m glad you saved Kostya’s life, things are probably only going to get worse for us.”
“Focus on one thing at a time,” he said, his deep voice soothing. “Xander will be here soon and maybe he can help.”
I flushed. “I don’t even know him. I don’t regret calling because that’s probably the only reason Kostya is alive, but now I feel…foolish.”
“You don’t know him?” Axel frowned. “I’m confused.”
“Well, we’ve met of course, but—” I cut off as a doctor approached me, talking about Kostya needing surgery and a punctured lung. I was in tears by the time he walked away, and I sunk into the nearest chair.
“What did he say?” Axel asked me. “My Limaji is rudimentary at best and he was speaking way too fast for me to catch much of it.”
“They broke several of his ribs and one of them punctured his lung, so he’ll need surgery and…” I burst into tears all over again.
“It’s all right, hon.” He put a big hand on my shoulder as I sobbed, again, the day’s violence catching up to me. “They’re going to take good care of him.”
I was crying too hard to respond and I didn’t resist when he pulled me close, hugging me tightly as he murmured soothing words I didn’t even understand. Was he speaking French?
I’d never hugged a stranger in my life, but somehow this felt right. I was tiny compared to him, my much smaller frame dwarfed by his massive one, and for the first time all day I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t know this man, but my gut told me I could trust him, and in this moment, that was all that mattered.
Eventually, my senses returned and I got myself together enough to stop crying and blow my nose. Then we just sat there in silence, waiting for the doctor to come back out or someone to bring word about what was happening at the café.
“Solange?” Xander’s voice, what felt like an eternity later, startled me and I looked up.
He was as handsome as he’d been the night he’d come into the café, badly beaten, telling me a story about how he’d been mugged. I now knew that hadn’t been true, that he was actually one of the Royal Protectors, the bodyguards to the royal family. He’d also recently married Princess Elen and—holy shit, was that Prince Sandor with him? I didn’t know how to behave in front of a member of the royal family, and while my gut instinct was to curtsey, I was too shocked to move.
“It’s okay, they don’t bite,” Axel murmured in my ear.
“Th-thank you for coming,” I said to Xander, unable to even look at Prince Sandor. Poor women like me didn’t meet members of the royal family; they definitely didn’t call them because their families were being attacked.
“You look like you’re about to pass out,” Xander said gently. “Let’s get you something to drink. Axel, can you find her some coffee or something?”
“Sure thing.” Axel got to his feet and lumbered down the hall, leaving me with Xander and Prince Sandor.
“Sit,” Xander said gently. “And tell me everything.”
I sank down beside him, unsure where to start.
“So you kept my phone number,” he prompted me. “What made you call tonight?”
“It’s been happening all over the city,” I whispered. “We’re so far from Hiskale, from civilization, with just farmers and a few factories, and a dozen or so shops in the town center. The Bojovnik Brat comes once a week or so, and takes money, equipment, whatever they think they’re entitled to.” Bojovnik Brat literally meant warrior brothers in Limaji, and they considered themselves the mafia of northern Limaj.
“Bojovnik Brat?” Prince Sandor demanded. “Who the fuck is that and why the fuck are they taking anything from anyone?”
I winced at his gruff tone and Xander put a gentle hand on my arm. “He’s not upset with you. I don’t think you two have been introduced. Solange, Prince Sandor. Sandor, this is the young woman who saved my ass a few months back.”
Sandor smiled and for the first time I noticed his bright blue eyes and the kindness that lurked behind them.
“It’s
very nice to meet you,” I said politely. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to curtsey, Your Highness…”
Sandor shook his head, smiling. “Please. No. Just Sandor. I only use my title when absolutely necessary. Tell me more about these warrior assholes.”
Though our prince spoke Limaji, he was probably speaking English for Xander’s behalf, and I told them what I could. “It’s been escalating, and after a rough winter, profits are down. We’ve had less and less to give them and last week they said we had a week to get them a thousand Euros. We simply don’t have it. We barely have enough to eat as it is…”
“I wish we’d known,” Sandor said quietly. “But this will stop. I’ll see to it personally.”
“The police are all afraid of them or being paid off. As soon as you leave, it will start again.”
“We’ll see about that.” Sandor patted my hand. “I’m going to see about the damage to the café. I don’t want you to worry about anything but your family, all right?”
I nodded as Axel came down the hall and pressed a hot cup of coffee in my hand.
“I didn’t know how you liked it,” he said softly.
The tenderness in his eyes almost brought me to tears yet again. Who was this hulking angel and why was I so drawn to him?
2
Axel
I was momentarily distracted as Solange looked up at me with her big blue eyes. When Xander had called to tell me the local café was being attacked, something about owing the owners a favor, I hadn’t expected to find the bright-eyed beauty from the place I’d been getting my coffee most mornings. Usually her mother served me, but I’d seen her in the back, laughing with the staff as they prepped food and whatever else they did. I kept a low profile when I was in town, since my mission here required anonymity and kept me an hour away most of the time, so the last thing I’d expected was to be called to rescue a local family. Especially not one that included the gorgeous blue-eyed brunette I’d been watching from afar.
