by Kat Mizera
I always had a sixth sense for trouble. The guys in my unit when I was Special Forces had called it my spidey sense and it was going off now in spades. I’d been here all day but working mostly upstairs, so I hadn’t spent much time in the kitchen. Now I had the oddest feeling I was being watched and pulled out my phone to see if I had service. It was sketchy up here, so Sandor had given me a satellite phone to use in emergencies, but I’d left it in my bag in the other room. There was no service, of course, so I put it back in my pocket and listened intently.
The sound of a step on the tile made me whirl and I caught my assailant with an elbow, sending him flying back. A second man came from behind and jabbed me in the ribs, but I took him down with a couple of punches to the face. The first guy came back with a knife this time and I ducked out of his reach, grabbing a kitchen towel and wrapping it around my forearm so I could use it to block the blade.
Both guys looked older and more experienced than the ones I’d tangled with in Vinake. These guys were seasoned enforcers, and whether or not they’d been expecting me, I couldn’t know, but if they had reinforcements coming, I might be in trouble. We were an hour from almost anything and right now I had no way of calling for backup.
I swung my fists, twice, knocking the second guy to his knees just as the guy with the knife lunged at me. I had to eliminate one of these guys, so I used the heel of my hand to smash his nose and the sound of bone crunching was drowned out by his screams. He dropped the knife and I pulled my gun, motioning for the other guy to get on his knees.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded.
The first guy was writhing in pain, holding his face as blood spurted everywhere, but the second guy didn’t move. I grabbed some rope from one of the drawers and threw it at him. “Tie him up.”
The second guy didn’t move and I met his gaze.
“Tie him up and then tell me what you’re doing here.”
He gave me the finger and I fired a shot into his leg. He screamed as I put my boot on his thigh. “Tie. Him. Up. Or the next one goes between your eyes.”
I wasn’t playing with these assholes and their presence meant I’d probably be stuck here longer than a week. I had neither the time nor the patience for this and we’d had too many attacks on the royal family to give them the benefit of any doubt. It hadn’t been a kill shot, but he’d be hurting.
Once they were both secured, I got on the sat phone and called Sandor, telling him what happened.
“Leave them there,” he said. “And head back to Braksa. I’m sending Ace and Natalia on the helicopter. You need backup and it’s time to secure the perimeter. If people are getting in and out that easily, we need to make it clear it’s not public property, but you being there by yourself is just asking for trouble.”
“One of them now has a gunshot wound. You want to leave them here overnight?”
“Shit.” He seemed to be thinking. “All right, stay there with them. The helo will drop Ace and Natalia off at the clearing in the woods and you can go get them when they call. Ace has medic training and he’ll have supplies. What about the other guy?”
“Broke his nose.”
“He can suffer. Check in once Ace and Nat are there.”
“Got it.” I disconnected and dragged the two men down to the dungeon. We’d set up interrogation rooms, some friendlier than others, and I took them into the ones meant for intimidation instead of simple questioning. As a group, we weren’t fond of torture, but we’d do it if necessary. For now, I was just keeping them secure. I wrapped a torn-up T-shirt around the one guy’s leg to make a tourniquet and stop the bleeding, but I just let the other guy suffer.
“You fucking shot me,” the one guy said in an accusing tone.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said calmly. “You don’t come into my house, steal my food, attack me, and then not answer my questions.”
“This is your house?” The man eyed me dubiously. “This belongs to the royal family—and this is why we will take it.”
“If you think you’re taking anything from the royal family, much less this house, you have delusions of grandeur.”
He gave me a dirty look. “I need medical attention.”
“You need to shut the fuck up.”
29
Solange
I was up earlier than usual these days and on Thursday decided to take Natalia up on her offer to join their early-morning workout. I hadn’t heard from Axel since he’d left, beyond a sweet text saying he’d miss me and that there wasn’t reliable internet service in Braksa so I might not hear from him, which left me a little lonely. I’d kept busy with my new job, working three twelve-hour days so far, and I would probably work another today. But a workout would be a nice distraction since I wasn’t doing much but working these days and didn’t want to put on weight. Especially now that there was someone who saw me naked on a regular basis.
Natalia wasn’t at the gym, but it was a full house with Prince Sandor, Lennox, Elen, Shannon, Casey, Erik, Joe, Jonas, Logan, and another bodyguard named Marcus. I was momentarily frozen, unsure of my place here with the royal family. I’d gotten to know Elen fairly well, but working out in front of the king, well, that was something else altogether.
“Hey, Solange.” Shannon waved. “You finally decided to join us?”
“I thought Natalia would be here,” I said shyly. “She offered to help me build my upper body strength but I don’t want to impose…”
“Don’t be silly,” Casey said. “Come join us. All of us women need to work on upper body strength. Except Lennox, of course, who’s a freak of nature, and we don’t talk to her when we’re working out.”
“Whatever.” Lennox stuck her tongue out at her. “I can barely lift my head today, much less do anything that requires upper body strength.”
“Are you not feeling well?” I asked politely.
She held up a package of saltine crackers. “I’m pregnant. Prince Neanderthal here is determined to become a daddy before his forty-first birthday. We may or may not make it.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Prince Sandor said dryly. “She was all over me on the honeymoon—she wants babies just as much as I do.”
“I had no idea morning sickness was going to be like this,” she muttered. “I’d like to renegotiate the terms of this agreement.”
“I’m sorry, love.” Prince Sandor wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear that made her smile.
I averted my eyes, still a little shy in front of such powerful people.
“You can work out with me,” Shannon said. “Ace has gone up to Braksa to give Axel a hand so we can commiserate our loneliness together.”
“Thank you.”
“Cardio or weight-training first?” she asked.
“Cardio,” I said.
We got on two treadmills, side by side, and Lennox got on the one on my other side. “No way I can manage a real workout today,” she said. “I’m just going to walk.”
“Is it awful?” I asked her.
She nodded. “It hit Sunday morning and hasn’t let up. I don’t know why they call it morning sickness when it’s twenty-four seven.”
“And you’re still here?” Shannon grimaced. “Ace and I want babies too, but now I’m rethinking that. If morning sickness can kick your ass, the rest of us are doomed.”
Lennox chuckled. “I see the doctor later today, so we’ll see what he says.”
“Good luck,” I told her. “Do you get to find out the sex of the baby? I hear it can be done with a blood test now.”
“I don’t know if they’ll do it today,” Lennox replied, “but yes, we’d eventually like to know the sex. Short-term, I just want to know how to make this stop. Ginger and all the old wives’ tale options haven’t done anything.”
“There’s something we make in my town,” I told her. “All the ladies take it to help with morning sickness. It’s a broth with herbs and essential oils and such. If you like, I can bring yo
u some.”
“At this point, I’ll try anything.” Lennox jumped off the treadmill, ran to the nearest trash bin, and heaved.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Shannon said with a grimace. “Ace and I aren’t having kids.”
“I haven’t had any morning sickness,” Elen called out, grinning at us from across the room. “I feel great.”
“My friend Nicola had a baby earlier this year and she felt good most of her pregnancy too,” I added.
“Thanks for reminding me I’m the anomaly,” Lennox muttered.
We chuckled as she got back on the treadmill.
“You’re a beast,” Shannon told her. “I’d be in bed, making Ace wait on me hand and foot.”
“Oh, believe me.” Lennox glanced in Sandor’s direction. “He will be. But after work. Sick or not, we’re shorthanded and I don’t have a choice but to power through. So let’s talk about something else. How’s it going getting the computer network set up at the school?” She turned to me.
“It’s ready to go. I’ve been inputting all the information and if I finish tonight, tomorrow Jonas will try to hack the system from an internet café in town. We’ll see how tight security is.”
“I really hope things go smoothly,” Shannon said, “because school starts in two weeks and the last thing I need is for there to be a security breach.”
“What about physical security at the school?” I asked. “With Prince Luke in attendance, won’t he and his sisters have bodyguards?”
“There will be a rotation,” Lennox said. “We don’t want anyone to be able to pinpoint a routine, if they are watching. So a different Royal Protector will be there every day. I believe Sandor will be there the first day of school—it’s something he and Luke have always done. After that, the guys will take turns. There will be regular security guards, of course, but we’re still figuring out how it’s all going to work.”
“Seems like we need some of the staff to be trained in defense as well, no?” I asked.
Lennox gave me an amused smile. “You’re going to fit in well around here.”
I heard from Axel late that night and he sounded tired. It was more emotional than physical, though, and I sensed something was bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s more than being tired.”
“It’s been a long-ass week, I’ve had to kick more asses than even I’m comfortable with, and my dick is so hard, I need three cold showers a day because I miss my girl so much.”
“I don’t have a dick,” I mused, “but I can relate to the concept of needing a cold shower. Although I don’t think that works with women…”
“Probably not.” He let out a sigh and I wished he would tell me what was really wrong.
“Why do you sound out of sorts?” I asked. “Can’t you talk to me?”
“I can,” he said quietly, “but I’m not used to vocalizing shit that’s bothering me. Especially not this kind of stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Stuff where I’ve been beating the snot out of people, shooting people…” His voice trailed off.
“Did you have to shoot someone?” I asked in surprise.
“I did.”
“Did he…die?”
“No.”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve shot someone, right?”
“Not even close.”
“Does it bother you beyond the generic humanity of potentially taking someone’s life?”
He seemed to hesitate a long time. “The short answer is no. It doesn’t bother me. And that’s what bothers me.”
“Why does that bother you now?”
“It’s hard to explain,” he admitted. “I had a job to do as a Marine and those were faceless bodies that were shooting at us. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation. As a Royal Protector, my job is to do whatever is necessary to keep the family safe. Sometimes that means killing, and these aren’t nice people. I’m sure it would be different if there was collateral damage, innocent people getting caught in the crossfire, but that’s not the case with what I’m doing so I don’t think about it.”
“You’re doing your job,” I said gently. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you can do it without regret. What kind of life would that be if you were emotionally impacted by what you’re literally trained and paid to do?”
“But what does that say about me as a man?” he asked, his voice low. “And is that the kind of man you want in your life? Someone who can compartmentalize everything, including death?”
“I don’t know about other men who can do that, but if you’re the man who can compartmentalize, then yes, you are exactly the kind of man I want in my life.”
“You’re a special woman, Solange,” he said. “You bring light to my soul in a way I didn’t think was possible after everything I’ve seen.”
“And you’ve literally made me alive for the first time ever. I think we make a good team.”
“I think so too.”
Friday was a lot slower than the rest of the week had been. I’d finished inputting all the information the night before and now Princess Elen, Shannon and I sat in the main office about to eat lunch. Jonas had started the process of trying to hack the system about fifteen minutes ago, so all we could do now was wait and see what happened. Though he’d set up the mainframe, I’d done the details and chosen the rotating password protocol. He knew enough about the system to be able to get to a certain point, but we were hoping the parts of it I’d done on this end would be enough to keep him out. If not, we’d need to assess the level of the breach and probably would work all weekend to fix it and try again on Monday.
“I really hope this works,” I murmured. “School starts soon and we need to make sure the information is protected.”
“Jonas is one of the top computer guys in the world,” Shannon said gently. “He’ll get it sorted out.”
“I guess it’s a good thing Axel is away,” I said, “because if he breaks into the system, I’ll be here all weekend.”
“I’ll come too,” Shannon said, “since Ace is gone anyway and I’ll just be at home moping.”
“Don’t worry,” Princess Elen said. “Xander is here in town and I’ll still barely see him except at night.”
“So… Sex. Yay or nay now that you’re showing?” Shannon asked her.
“Oh, hell yes to sex.” Elen laughed. “As much as, if not more, than before. We’re at it constantly.”
Shannon grinned. “I hear that. I waited a long time for him to find his way back to me—we have all kinds of time to make up for.”
“Okay, we’ve given you ample time to feel comfortable with us,” Elen said to me. “It’s time to spill the beans about Axel. Thumbs-up in the bedroom?”
I turned bright red, but nodded. “Absolutely. Although…we don’t seem to make it to the bedroom most of the time. There are a lot of floors, showers and chairs in our sex life. The first time we made love in a bed was when we went away last weekend.”
“Aren’t you two all adventurous and shit!” Shannon teased.
“Well, we’ve been trying a new position each time,” I said, my cheeks still burning a little. “So we hadn’t gotten around to the bed.”
“But you’d probably already done regular old missionary so…” Shannon’s voice trailed off as I shook my head. “You’d never done missionary before?” she asked in confusion.
“I’d never done…anything before.”
“Axel was the first?” Elen breathed, one hand on her chest. “Oh, my romantic soul just exploded.”
“I can’t even imagine someone like Axel being my first.” Shannon fanned herself with a piece of paper. “All those muscles…”
“And that beard…” Elen giggled. Then her eyes narrowed. “Does he have the V?”
“The V?” I frowned, unsure what they meant.
“You know.” Shannon stood up and held her hands at an angle, placing them in front of her abdomen where the oblique muscles woul
d be.
“Oh. That.” I bit my lip. “Yes. He’s beautiful without…clothes.”
“So what positions have you tried? You want ideas for more?” Elen wiggled her eyebrows.
“Actually…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “There’s one thing we haven’t done because I’ve been too shy and he’s too much of a gentleman to ask.”
“Blow job?” Shannon asked.
I nodded. “Any tips?”
Elen giggled. “I brought a banana for a snack later. How would you like some lessons before he gets back?”
30
Axel
Things had escalated once Ace and Natalia arrived. It turned into a teaching moment for Natalia because she had no experience with hardcore interrogations and torture, and though she only watched, I was proud of her for not reacting and more importantly not getting squeamish. It took a special kind of person to do this kind of work, and that was one of many reasons Sandor was taking her training slow. We couldn’t invent torture scenarios that had meaning for her, but this one did since the Brat was an imminent threat, and she’d proven her mettle to us. If there was a next time, we were considering letting her participate, but that was never the goal. We’d only jumped on the opportunity that had arisen.
“Is it normal for me to be starving after watching you torture someone?” she asked me as we gathered in the kitchen.
Ace chuckled. “I don’t think there’s anything ‘normal’ when it comes to this type of thing. But I’m hungry too. I wish there was real food around here.”
“There’s a little place in Braksa that’s not bad,” I said. “But we’re not going anywhere tonight. The Brat is coming for their men and we’re going to be ready.”
