Axel (Royal Protectors Book 3)

by Kat Mizera

  “What are you proposing, Your Majesty?” I asked, finally joining in when I couldn’t stand the suspense anymore.

  “What do you say we take a little ride?” he asked. “I want to show you something.” He got to his feet and Queen Casey bid us goodbye as she took her leave.

  “I’ve called for the SUV,” King Erik said. “And we’ll leave shortly.”

  “Can’t you even give us a clue?” I asked him directly. My mother was giving me the evil mom-eye that only a mother could give, but I wasn’t a child and I was being polite.

  “There’s an inn that needs some attention,” he said with an indulgent smile. He turned at the sound of footsteps in the doorway.

  I turned and came face-to-face with Axel.

  12

  Axel

  I hadn’t realized Solange would be here and I froze as our eyes met. Damn, she looked incredible. In a pretty sundress with her hair curled around her shoulders, she was tan and looked a lot more relaxed than she had a week ago.

  “Axel.” Her voice was a little breathy. “It-it’s nice to see you.”

  “Hey, Solange.” I managed a brief smile. “How was Greece?”

  “It was lovely, thank you. Hey, I was wondering if—”

  She was going to ask me something personal and I had to cut her off before I did something stupid with her. I’d spent the whole week while she’d been gone convincing myself of that, and I couldn’t let long tan legs or those big blue eyes change my mind. “Listen, I have a meeting to get to, but it was good to see you. Ma’am.” I nodded at Nadia and stepped out of the room.

  I hurried towards the elevator and the doors were just about to close when Xander slipped inside. He’d been bringing Natalia the keys to the SUV and we’d been talking about last night’s Yankees game, so I’d walked with him. It hadn’t occurred to me Solange would be at lunch with Erik and her parents, but there she was, and seeing her had brought back all those sexy memories I’d been trying to forget.

  “What was that?” Xander asked me pointedly as the elevator doors closed behind us.

  “What?” I asked, trying to play stupid.

  “Don’t fuck with me,” Xander said with a chuckle. “I know you and that was rude as fuck. Why did you cut her off like that? You don’t have a meeting to get to.”

  I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything.

  “Jesus Christ, did you hook up with her? Really? And now you’re blowing her off? Why would you do something like that? She’s a nice girl who just lost everything and—”

  “I know!” I snapped. “It just happened and she was—” I cut off abruptly. There was no way in hell I was telling Xander she’d been a virgin.

  “She was what?” Xander looked annoyed. “Sweet? Sexy? The kind of girl you don’t just fuck once and dump?”

  “Yeah.” I stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened.

  He grabbed my arm. “That’s it? For real? Why, man? She not your type?”

  I met his gaze. “Come on. She’s gorgeous and practically a kid compared to me. I’m a decade older and a hell of a lot uglier. She deserves more than a cranky old fuck like me. She needs a man who’s going to give her a home, babies, all that shit. And that’s not me.”

  “So you hooked up with her one time and you already know all that about her?”

  “No, but I do know that I’m not like you and Sandor, ready to settle down and pop out a bunch of rug rats.” I held up my hands. “And that’s great for you guys. I’ll be Uncle Axel to all of them, roughhousing in the yard and sneaking them candy when you say no. But for me, that kind of thing isn’t in the plans.”

  Before he could say anything else, I turned and stalked off in the other direction.

  I’d hated being a jerk to Solange but I’d temporarily lost my mind the night I’d made love to her, and her virginity had caught me off guard. It made me forget the loner I’d become, the kind of man who’d learned a long time ago it was safer not getting that close to people. I was close to the other Protectors, but that was different. They were coworkers, with the same lifestyle and goals I had. Well, mostly.

  Sandor and Lennox had just gotten married, and Xander and Elen were not just married, but having a baby. So maybe they weren’t all that much like me, but they all had military experience and a background in intelligence or espionage. They knew the risks of this life. Solange didn’t and she’d already suffered enough. She hadn’t been kidnapped or tortured, but living in fear was its own kind of torture, and I couldn’t put her back in a situation where she went to bed every night wondering if I was coming home.

  The connection between us had been immediate and intense, and the night we’d made love had proven just how easy it would be to get involved with her. I wanted her more than I’d wanted any other woman in my life and that was dangerous. Both for her and for me, which meant cutting this off before it went any further. The trouble, of course, was that my heart and my dick were at odds with my brain, and that was a problem.

  “Hey, Axel?” Joe stuck his head out of the door of his office.

  “What’s up?” I followed him inside.

  “Depending on what happens with the Kovac family today, do you want to oversee getting them settled and—”

  “I’d really rather not,” I said slowly. “I’ve paid my dues with busywork by taking on that job in Braksa. I’d kind of like something closer to home here at the palace. Can Natalia take it?”

  Joe eyed me curiously. “A little birdie told me you and Solange had gotten close. I thought maybe you’d like the opportunity to spend time with her.”

  “Not sure what you heard,” I said quietly, “but she’s just a nice kid. We’re not what I’d call close. I was being nice.”

  “If you say so.” Joe nodded. “I’ll take care of it. Then I’ll probably have you on duty with Prince Luke. That okay?”

  “Sure. Whatever you need.”

  My duty shift with Luke ended at ten o’clock that night. The kids all had different bedtimes, but as a teenager who was on summer vacation, Luke had a lot more leeway. There were guards at the end of all the major corridors of the family’s quarters and the king and queen got alerts on their phones if any of the kids used their personal security codes to get on the elevators. Erik and Casey were doing their best to give the kids some semblance of normalcy at home in the palace, and while there seemed to be a lot of growing pains, we were doing our best to work out the kinks.

  I stopped by the security office to check in. Logan Harper looked up at me. “Good thing you’re here. What am I supposed to do about her?”

  “Her who?” I asked, following his gaze to the video surveillance screens.

  “Camera three,” he said with a grimace.

  I looked down and there was Solange. She was out in one of the courtyards, drinking from a bottle of some kind, her feet bare as she sat cross-legged on the edge of one of the fountains. She seemed a little unsteady as she drank, and I sighed.

  Dammit.

  “I’ll take care of it,” I muttered.

  “You want me to call Natalia?”

  “Nah. I got this.”

  I jogged downstairs and out the back entrance to the private courtyard. Solange was holding out one of her hands, catching some of the water as it cascaded down from the spray at the top. I watched her for a moment, thinking how young and innocent she looked here. She’d had a little too much to drink—chardonnay, from what I could see of the bottle—but her sadness was palpable.

  “Solange?”

  She heard me, because she stiffened for a moment, but she didn’t look up. “Am I not allowed to be here?” was all she asked.

  “You’re allowed, but the night guard was worried you might fall or hurt yourself. It seems like you’ve had a bit to drink.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just enjoying one last night of freedom.”

  “What’s happening tomorrow?” I asked dryly. “Are your parents marrying you off to Prince Daniil?” />
  “That would be preferable to reality.” She paused. “I thought he was gay?”

  “Bi, actually, but that’s beside the point. What’s happening tomorrow?”

  “King Erik and Prince Sandor gifted my family some historical inn, right on the outskirts of Hiskale. We can live in it, run it, and keep all the profits. The only condition is that the integrity of the inn can’t be changed, that the historical aspects remain. The idea is to turn it into a bed and breakfast, and guess what I get to do?”

  I grimaced, figuring it wasn’t going to be good. “Uh, what’s that?” I asked.

  “I get to be a maid.” She threw up her hands, almost dropping the bottle of chardonnay, but catching it just in time. “My parents will cook, serve and entertain, while Kostya charms the ladies and I change sheets and scrub toilets. I think I’d prefer to freeze to death this winter in Vinake.”

  “Can’t you tell your parents no? Are they really planning to run the whole inn by themselves?”

  “Mama and Papa aren’t good about hiring staff and paying out money. Unless and until it becomes extremely profitable, they’re going to cut corners any way they can to make sure they put every penny into savings.”

  “What would you like to do?”

  She snorted. “It doesn’t matter. And anyway, if I’m not doing anything wrong, why are you here? You made it perfectly obvious earlier today you didn’t want to talk to me, so go away and leave me with my bottle of wine.”

  I sighed and sank down on the edge of the fountain next to her. “I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “Yes, you did. You wanted to send a clear message that you weren’t interested in anything beyond our tryst the other night. Got it. I was a virgin, not a nun. I know how this works. So, go back to your security duty or whatever you do, and let me enjoy a final night of decadence.”

  “Solange, that’s not—”

  “Will you please go?” she asked softly. “That’s why I walked away at the hospital. I knew you were going to do this, and I truly didn’t want to get attached.”

  I looked into her pretty blue eyes and a hundred thoughts ran through my head. My heart. My gut. Turning around took all the strength I had, and not looking back almost killed me.

  13

  Solange

  The inn was beautiful, filled with gorgeous carved wood, a stained glass window that took my breath away, and a beautiful garden that would be perfect for young honeymooners to take romantic pictures in and spend warm afternoons in, gazing into each other’s eyes. Unfortunately, the beauty was mostly lost on me as I thought about all the work involved in keeping this place up. There were six guest suites between the second and third floors, and a caretaker’s suite in the back on the main floor. My mother was so excited about the caretaker’s suite, she hadn’t stopped talking since we’d arrived.

  The king had arranged for us to come in today and make a list of everything we needed, from pots and pans to sugar and flour to sheets and pillows. We had no budget, no limits, and if we got everything together quickly, we might even be open for business by the end of summer, which was right around the corner. The winters here in Hiskale were much milder than in Vinake, so the inn would hopefully be in business year-round, but we’d get more tourists in the spring, summer and fall than in winter.

  “Solange, come look!” Mama called to me and I walked into the caretaker’s suite.

  “It’s pretty, Mama.” I smiled.

  “What do you think of this?” she asked, motioning to a small sitting area just off to the side of the bedroom.

  “It’ll be a nice spot for you and Papa to relax on your days off,” I replied, taking in the bay window and envisioning a couple of comfortable armchairs and maybe a table.

  “No, no. I was thinking for you.”

  “For me?” I frowned at her.

  “Well, yes. We can put a daybed there and that can be your room.”

  “My room?” I arched my brows. “Why on earth would I sleep here when I have six other rooms to choose from?”

  She pursed her lips. “Solange, there are only six other rooms and one of them has to go to Kostya. If we give you another, we can only rent four per night and that would cut our profits significantly. We’d give you privacy, of course, and you’ll be paid a full salary, so you can—”

  “I see. So Kostya gets his own room and doesn’t have to do anything but greet guests and occasionally get out of bed before noon, but I have to share a room with my middle-aged parents and scrub toilets? Does anything about this seem wrong to you?”

  “Solange, you’re being dramatic. I know you’ve been unhappy but we’re doing the best we can. Your father and I didn’t want to leave Vinake but I know how much you’d rather spend the winter here. So until we can rebuild the café, we’ll work hard to run the inn and do right by the king. You need to learn your place, my love. Perhaps then we’ll be able to find you a husband.”

  I loved my parents, but I’d had about enough of the idea that my only use in life was to get married, have babies, and help them run their business. “You know, I don’t understand you,” I said finally. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me except when you asked me to marry Felix. That was never going to happen. But I’ve worked in our café since I was old enough to reach the counter. I’ve worked ten to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for the last seven years. I—”

  “Solange, there’s no point—”

  “Just this once, Mama, you’ll listen to me.” I turned to her, my voice rising slightly. “I’ve had no life. None. I do nothing but work, three hundred sixty-five days a year. On my feet, cleaning and serving and making small talk. I do the bookkeeping, I place the orders with our vendors, I digitized our inventory system, I make sure Mr. Roma and Mrs. Freela don’t drink themselves silly at the back table every night, and that someone gets them home safely. Without me, our café would have gone bankrupt years ago.”

  “And how do you think you learned to do all those things?” Mama demanded, her eyes flashing.

  “I taught myself!” I snapped. “You and Papa never did inventory until I learned about business and computers in high school. And I did it because I love you, and you’re my family, and even though I hate everything about running a café and living in a frigid hellhole, I have been and will continue to be a devoted daughter. But this—this is too much. I’m twenty-four years old and I deserve a goddamn bedroom of my own. I know Kostya is your favorite, and I love him too, but just this once, can you acknowledge that he’s lazy and self-absorbed, drinks too much, and he’s the reason the Brat showed up on our doorstep in the first place?”

  “Solange!” Mama glared at me. “You will not speak this way.”

  “I’ll speak any way I want,” I said evenly. “If it wasn’t for me making that phone call, Kostya, and probably Papa too, would be dead.” I turned on my heel and walked out of the room—and right smack into Axel.

  “Hey.” His eyes were filled with concern as he looked at me, hands on my upper arms to steady me.

  “Excuse me.” I brushed past him and out the back door into the garden.

  I was pissed and now a little embarrassed that Axel had heard my family’s dirty laundry. I couldn’t be sure how much he’d understood since we’d been speaking Limaji, but I suspected it was more than he let on.

  I walked to the far edge of the property and stared out into a wooded area that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was pretty here, and at least I’d have something nice to look at once I went back to working twelve- or sixteen-hour days, but I was bitter about it. Kostya was my younger brother and I loved him, but all of this was his fault. I didn’t have any proof, but I knew him, and though I wouldn’t have told anyone before now, I was done covering for him. He was a good kid, but lazy and always looking to score a deal. Drugs, gambling, who knows what else.

  “You want to tell me how this is your brother’s fault?” Axel spoke from behind me and I sighed.

&
nbsp; “Not particularly, no.” I turned to him. “What are you doing here? I thought Natalia was going to be our guide today?”

  “She was, but her mother took a fall and was rushed to the hospital, so she needed to go to her and I offered to take over.”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell me about your brother.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It kind of does. The king is putting a lot of time, effort and money into rebuilding the café and keeping the residents of Vinake safe. If your brother is involved with the Bojovnik Brat—”

  “He’s not involved with them the way you think,” I said. “And I don’t know anything for sure, but what I do know is that he drinks and gambles. He and his buddies go over the border to Turkey and get involved in who knows what. I’m sure he owes them money or something and that’s what brought them to Vinake. When they came to the café that night, they were looking for Kostya specifically. Papa offered them more money, they took it and then laughed, said it wasn’t enough. He’s a good kid, but this is what happens in small towns where the young people have no hope for the future. He was desperate to find something, anything, to get him out of there. I’m sure he hooked up with them hoping for a way out.”

  “I’m thinking the king is going to want to have a talk with Kostya.”

  “He’s not a bad kid.”

  “I get it, but this has to be dealt with.”

  “I know.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You’re a stranger. I couldn’t betray my brother.”

  “I’m not really a stranger anymore,” he said quietly, meeting my gaze.

  “Look, you can’t have it both ways,” I said, irritated. “If you want to keep your distance, then keep your distance. If you want to be my friend, then stop playing games with me.”