by Kat Mizera
“Why do you think they haven’t come before now?” she asked.
“They were assessing, trying to see how much backup we have, planning a logistic attack. I’m surprised they didn’t come last night, though, but that just makes me nervous,” Ace said.
Natalia nodded. “Well, I have to eat something.”
“Protein bars are what’s on the menu,” I told her, pulling a handful out of the box she and Ace had brought when they’d come up. “Peanut butter, dark chocolate and raspberry, or white chocolate?”
“White chocolate,” she said.
“Dark for me,” Ace said.
“I guess peanut butter for me.” I tossed them each a bottle of water and we stood around the kitchen eating in amiable silence.
“What happens now?” Natalia asked. “We sit and wait?”
“We upped the stakes,” Ace said, “by talking shit when we were in Braksa today. If there are spies in town, we made sure everyone and their brother heard us bragging about catching those guys. They’re coming.”
“They’ll wait either until they think we’re asleep or real early in the morning, maybe around four,” I said.
“Relax.” Ace put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We got this.”
“You’re not even a little worried?” she asked.
Both Ace and I shook our heads. “For me, having lived in a world of shadows for so many years, the danger is part of me,” Ace said. “And that’s how you have to think of it. Don’t let it come to you as an evil outside force—make it part of you. So when it comes, it’s second nature to defend yourself. You’re not afraid of the fight because it’s who and what you are. I don’t know if that makes sense.”
“It does,” Natalia said slowly. “The thing is, it’s not really fear so much as anticipation. If they showed up right this minute, I’d be all in, but sitting here waiting for the unexpected makes me start to twitch.”
“You’re prepared and skilled,” Ace said firmly. “Focus your mind, don’t let it wander too far, stay on task. It’s—”
“Shh.” I put up a hand and we fell silent.
“They’re here,” Ace said under his breath. “Natalia, you stay behind me as long as possible. You watch my back, but this is still a learning event for you, even though the danger is real.”
“Got it.” She nodded, her eyes turning dark.
I wasn’t particularly worried about anything happening to us. Ace and I were the equivalent of four or five normal men if you put us together, and Natalia could hold her own. If they sent more than eight or nine guys, I might have to reassess, but we were armed and ready for more hostages. The idea was to capture as many of their men as possible and then have either Sandor or Erik himself personally return them, showing them exactly how formidable we would be if they chose to continue to cross us. And hopefully open a line of communication.
Ace moved towards the front of the house with Natalia on his tail and I stayed in the kitchen, watching both the back door and listening for sounds that they were trying to break through the sliding glass doors in the dining room. There was a bang and I heard a grunt as Ace took someone down—Natalia would have called for me if he hadn’t—and then a few more thumps.
“All clear!” Ace called to me.
“Seriously?” I walked into the living room frowning. “They sent four guys?”
“Nat took down two of them,” Ace said with a grin. He put his foot on the chest of one guy who tried to get up. “Let’s get these guys tied up.”
We put zip ties around their hands and then dragged them down the stairs to the basement, where we did the same thing to their ankles. We had six of them now, but I had a feeling that wasn’t it.
“There’s more coming,” the guy with the broken nose growled at me. “And when they let me free, I’ll kill you.”
“Good luck with that,” I shot back, shutting the door behind me.
“Are we just collecting them?” Natalia asked. “If they send a few a day…”
“They’ll send more soon,” Ace said firmly. “They’re testing us, to see how good we are. Next time, there’ll be flash bangs or worse. We need to be ready.”
“But why waste time?” Natalia asked in confusion, following us back upstairs. “Why not—” She gasped as a flash bang went off, momentarily blinding us. I’d experienced a lot of them and I ducked. My instinct was to protect her but we’d been given strict instructions not to. If things got rough, though we’d do our best not to let her get seriously hurt like last time, we had to give her the opportunity to both prove herself and learn the ropes when things got dangerous.
“I’ll guard the prisoners,” Ace yelled to me, practically throwing himself back down the stairs.
Natalia was on her knees, catching her breath, but she seemed okay. They’d shot their wad a little soon, tossing the grenade just before I’d opened the door leading into the hallway, so most of the explosion had been behind the door. We’d gotten enough of the flash to slow us down but we weren’t disoriented. I had a surprise of my own, though, pulling a flash bang out of my pocket, pulling the pin and tossing it through the door. I yanked the door shut, holding it tightly closed until the grenade went off, and then burst through, a gun in each hand. There were six guys on the ground this time and two more coming around the corner. They got off one shot before I fired, taking both of them down.
“Stay down!” Natalia yelled as one of the men moved. “Or you’re next.”
It was a long fucking night. Six more guys came and we got them too, but now we had a dungeon full of bad guys, several of whom were wounded, and we had no idea what to do with them. It made no sense that they kept coming in little groups. My gut told me this wasn’t intentional, that something had gone wrong in their planning or execution, but none of them were talking and we were too busy guarding the compound to do any interrogation.
“I’m calling Sandor,” Ace said around five in the morning. “We can’t keep this up. They may not have done this intentionally, but it needs to end.”
I tossed him the sat phone and he dialed. “Hey… Yeah. No, they keep coming… Yeah, I know.” He listened for a minute. “Got it. See you soon.” He disconnected and looked at me. “He and Marcus are coming on the helo. They’ll be here in a little over an hour. We just need to hang tight until then. Once they get here, we can separate the punks downstairs and see if we can find out the name of their leader.”
“How come Axel got to shoot someone and not me?” Natalia pretended to complain.
I laughed. “Next person who needs to be shot, it’s all you.”
Sandor and Marcus got to us in record time and when we regrouped in the living room, Sandor didn’t have good news.
“Jonas hacked into some Turkish satellite feeds and these guys have a mini-army coming. He counted about a hundred guys coming through the woods from the north. They’ll be here in two hours, maybe less.”
“This makes no sense,” Ace said thoughtfully. “Why are they sending an army when they must know there’s only a handful of us?”
Our eyes met in the semidarkness since the sun wasn’t up yet.
“We’ve already got their leader.”
We all spoke in unison and looked at each other.
“Has to be someone from last night,” Natalia said. “Not the first wave—they were here thinking we’d be easy marks. The second group.”
“Jesus.” I looked up. “What if it was one of the two I shot?”
“You got one in the vest and one in the leg,” Ace said. “Neither was fatal.”
“You have to stop shooting people,” Sandor deadpanned as we headed downstairs.
“It’s what I do,” I protested.
“He wouldn’t let me have any fun,” Natalia pretended to complain.
“Next time,” Sandor told her with a grin.
We walked into the room where most of them were and looked around. Sandor moved forward without hesitation.
“I’m Prince Sandor Gustaffs
on. Which one of you is Frederick?”
There was a moment of awkward silence and then the guy I’d shot in his bulletproof vest looked up. His eyes were black with anger, hatred and who knew what else.
“I am Frederick.” He spoke in thickly accented English.
“Welcome to Limaj, motherfucker.”
31
Solange
I was heading to the pool for a swim after yoga on Sunday when I caught sight of something dark floating in the water. Hair. Someone’s hair was floating in the pool. It took a split second for me to put two and two together and I let out a shriek, dropping my bag and kicking off my shoes before diving into the water. I reached her quickly and lifted Elena above the water, screaming for help as I kicked toward the edge.
I carried her out and put her on her back, flat on the floor. I’d learned first aid online, so I’d never actually done it on a person, but I didn’t have time to get help. I screamed again, hoping someone would hear me, but I started compressions on Elena’s chest. My stomach was churning with fear even as adrenaline took over.
“What’s going on?” Logan came running into the room.
“I found her in the pool… I’m not sure I’m doing this correctly.”
He slid onto the floor beside me and took over, telling me to call for the nurse we kept on staff. I grabbed a house phone and dialed the emergency number, letting them know we needed help, and then hurried back to Logan and Elena.
“How long was she under?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I got here about two minutes ago, saw her, got her out and started compressions.”
“What’s happened?” Xander came running into the room just as Elena coughed and spit up a bunch of water. “Oh, Elena…” Xander dropped to his knees beside us, reaching for her.
“Uncle Xanny!” Elena took one look at him and burst into tears.
“Elena!” Samaria’s scream pierced the afternoon and then there were people everywhere. The nurse, Elen, several of Elena’s siblings, Joe, even Casey.
There was a lot of crying and yelling and hugging going on, and I sank onto one of the lounge chairs, watching in a kind of exhilarated exhaustion. I’d never saved anyone’s life before. Not directly, like this, and it was a crazy feeling. I desperately wished Axel was here, to hold me and tell me everything was okay. I knew it was intellectually, but it wasn’t the same as when Axel said the words. In fact, nothing was the same without him. I had a nice place to live, new friends, a job I loved, and everything I’d always wanted, but not seeing him daily wasn’t the same.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him until now. Last time we’d been apart for a week had been when we’d first met, and I’d been sure he didn’t want to see me anymore anyway, but it was different now. The way things had grown between us, it was hard being apart, and it felt like he’d been gone for a year instead of seven days.
“You all right?” Xander kneeled in front of me, looking up at me with concern.
“I’m fine. I’m so glad she’s okay. If I hadn’t come for a swim…”
He swallowed. “Yeah. It would have been a disaster. She just won’t stay put, no matter what we do. It looks like it’s time to actually put her in school during the day. Like a daycare in Hiskale.”
“I’m just glad everything is okay.” Tears inexplicably stung my eyes and I squeezed them shut.
“Hey, someone get me a bottle of water?” Xander asked softly.
Xander sat beside me and put an arm around my shoulder. “It’s okay. Have some water. Everything is okay.”
“Hey.” Elen was on the other side of me. “It’s okay to cry. You don’t have to hold it in. We came too close to losing her this time and this is the second time you’ve saved her.”
Samaria came and hugged me. “You saved my little girl—again. I don’t know how I ever thank you.” She had a thick accent I hadn’t noticed before, but it was hard to miss right now because she was crying.
“It’s okay. I’m glad I got here in time.”
“From now on, I lock her in her room.” She shook her head. “Six kids, this is first one always trying to run away.”
“She’s curious,” I said with a soft smile.
“She bored,” Samaria said sadly. “Not used to being inside. I have to take her home now, but I owe you everything. You ever need anything, you call me.”
“It’s not necessary but thank you.” I squeezed her hand and finally took my leave, a little drained after the ordeal. Joe fell into step beside me.
“You did a good thing today,” he said. “You’re becoming quite invaluable around here.”
“Thank you.”
“What are your plans, Solange? Are you interested in staying on with us?”
“I am, but I’m not sure in what capacity. I’m happy to work at the school but…” My voice trailed off.
“But you want more.”
I met his eyes. “I do. I don’t know what that means, though.”
“Xander told me that you asked about becoming a Royal Protector.” Joe looked at me intently. “Is that something you really want?”
“I… I’m not sure.” I shook my head. “I don’t know that I have those kinds of skills, to fight and shoot and protect others.”
“Well, I think you’ve got the protecting others part down, it’s the fighting and shooting and spying parts that might give you trouble. Military training isn’t optional. A college degree isn’t necessary, not really, but on-the-job training takes years. Natalia’s been with us for over a year now and even with three years in the military and a college degree, she still isn’t ready. There’s so much more to this than just being smart and brave or proficient with weapons. Have you spoken to Axel about it? What does he say?”
I frowned. “I haven’t, no, but I don’t need his permission.”
“That’s not what I meant. He can give you insight.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk to him about it, but I’m afraid he’ll be…overprotective. Being a protector is part of who he is.”
“It’s also part of who you are. You’ve made that obvious since we first encountered you when Xander stumbled into your café. You helped him, then you found a way to help your father and brother, and now you’ve saved Elena twice. There’s something very special about you, Solange, and while I don’t know exactly what path you’re going to follow, there’s definitely a place for you here with us.”
“Thank you.”
“Talk to Axel. Secrets are never good between couples.”
I was in bed reading when I heard the door’s lock disengage. I sat up straight.
“Axel?”
“Hey, baby.” He came in and put down his duffel.
“You’re home!” I jumped out of bed and ran to him, throwing myself in his arms. He winced and I was instantly alarmed. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
“I’m fine, just took a knee to the ribs last night. It’s fine.”
“Liar.” I quickly lifted his shirt to examine his torso, and though I was focused on the bruising, the V of his oblique muscles instantly jumped out after my conversation with the ladies the other day, and I smiled.
“I’m gonna need to know what made you smile just now,” he rumbled, lifting my chin with two fingers.
“I was imagining what I’m going to do to you later. After I’ve checked your ribs and put some ointment on them.” I unconsciously licked my lips, looking down at his crotch, my mouth suddenly watering.
He dug his fingers into my hair, forcing me to look at him. “We haven’t done that yet… I didn’t think you were comfortable.”
“I was afraid I wouldn’t do it right.” As we talked, I watched his erection spring to life and I ran my hand over it. “But stop trying to distract me. Take off your shirt and let me look at your ribs.”
He chuckled but obligingly took off his shirt. I moved him into the bathroom, where the light was better, and shook my head at the bruise forming on the right side. “Does
it hurt?”
“A little, but it’s just a bruise. Really. They’re not broken. Believe me, I know the difference.”
“How many times have you broken ribs?” I asked him.
“Three or four? I broke four the first time, one the second, and I don’t remember how many the third. That was a bad one.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to worry when we’re apart,” I whispered softly, pulling a tube of ointment out of my toiletry bag. It was something Mrs. Freela made for bruises and pulled muscles. It was all natural but worked well, made with lemongrass and a few ingredients I wasn’t familiar with. “This doesn’t smell great but it’ll ease the soreness and help you sleep tonight.”
He didn’t respond as I spread it over the affected area and then washed my hands.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“Of course.” I smiled. “Now you can kiss me properly.”
He didn’t hesitate, sweeping me against him and finding my mouth with his. It was so lovely and familiar now, I lost myself in his touch. It was like coming home in more ways than one and I recognized a familiar longing building between my legs, the ache for that connection with him that went beyond the sexual. That was a huge part of it, no doubt, but it was more than that.
“So…you mentioned trying something new tonight?”
I smiled. “I practiced on a banana.”
He let out a bellow of a laugh, shaking his head. “Oh, baby, I can’t wait to see what you’ve learned.”
My cheeks burned a little and I bit my lip. “You can’t laugh at me.”
He instantly sobered. “Not a chance in hell. I was laughing at the visual of you and the banana. I would never laugh at you.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “And I hope this wasn’t driven by girl talk with the others… I know how that goes and it’s absolutely amazing if you want to, but not necessary.”
“No, I asked them,” I admitted. “No one said anything to me. And then Elen had a banana with her…” I giggled.
