Xander (Royal Protectors Book 2)

by Kat Mizera

  “Can we talk to you for a minute?” Sandor and Lennox approached Xander and me where we were swaying to the music.

  “Sure.” I turned with a smile. Today had been one of the best days of my life.

  “We wondered how you would feel about moving into Gustafhaven,” Sandor said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts. Gustafhaven was the nickname of our childhood home. Since our parents and older brother were dead, the house went to Sandor. He and Lennox had been renovating it for the last few months, so I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “Why?” was all I could think to ask.

  “Because I’m essentially the head of security for both the royal family and the whole country,” Sandor said quietly. “Even though my official role is Director of MODIN, we all know I’m essentially going to oversee everything. I have always been, and it’s beginning to look like I will always be, Erik’s right hand. I have to be close to him, and that means Lennox and I are creating our own wing of the palace. We’d initially thought we would be happier with a place of our own, but honestly, all it’s done is stress us out. We discussed it with Daniil, and we decided we’d like you guys to have it.”

  My mouth fell open and I cut my eyes to Xander, who looked a little shell-shocked as well.

  “You guys have already started a family,” Lennox said with a smile. “And even though we plan to start trying soon too, with our jobs so closely tied to Erik and Casey, it really makes the most sense for us to live at the palace.”

  “Are you sure?” I whispered.

  Sandor nodded. “We are.”

  “I want whatever you want,” Xander said to me, his arm tightly wrapped around my waist.

  “It’s a bit of an undertaking,” Sandor said with a grin. “But we’ve already done the worst of the renovations, like plumbing and electrical. The kitchen was also updated, so that just leaves the bathrooms and cosmetic things, which you’d probably want to do yourselves anyway.”

  “There are logistics involved in moving out, though,” Xander pointed out. “I can’t be on full-time security when I’m at home, though of course, I never turn that part of me off completely.”

  “No, and we’ll get into all that after Lennox and I get back from our honeymoon. In the meantime, we’ll all still be living at the palace so we have time. We just wanted to present this to you because someone should live there. Those walls should be filled with children’s laughter and make more of the memories Vardan, Daniil, Elen and I made when we were children.”

  “I’d like it very much,” I whispered, throwing my arms around my brother’s neck. He hugged me tightly before I turned to Xander in excitement. “I just got the best idea!”

  “Uh-oh.” Sandor wrapped an arm around Lennox’s shoulder, watching as I dragged Xander in the other direction.

  “Where are we going?” Xander laughed. “I didn’t even have a chance to say thank you.”

  “You’ll see.” I waved down Samaria. “Where’s Fetu? We need to talk to you guys.”

  “Behind the bar. Where else?” Samaria was grinning at me.

  “It’s important. Come on.” I tugged her arm as we joined Fetu at the bar.

  “What’s wrong with you, Princess?” Samaria asked, making a face at me. “You sick or something?”

  “No.” I turned to her with a broad smile. “What would you think about moving to Limaj?”

  “What?” She gave me a look and then turned to Xander. “She sick, right?”

  “No, listen to me.” I grasped her hands, glancing at Fetu. “Xander and I just inherited my family’s home. It’s huge. We’re going to need help running it. Especially with a baby on the way. I’ll need someone to help cook and clean and Fetu can manage the grounds. I don’t mean menial labor, but actually running the household. We’ll hire people to do landscaping and mop the floors. Your job would be to manage all that because not only will we have a baby, I’ll be busy with my job in Parliament and Xander’s job with the Royal Protectors will keep him away from home a lot. I’ll need to know there’s someone keeping things safe at home.”

  Samaria glanced at Fetu and then back at me. “Sista, you serious right now?”

  “You’d live with us and we’ll pay for your kids to go to the new English school that’s opening. It will have an international baccalaureate program, which means if they work hard, they’ll be able to go to almost any university in the world. And not only will you get paid, you won’t have any expenses because you’ll live with us.”

  “How much?” Samaria asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

  I smiled and leaned over, whispering what I thought was a high enough amount to allow some room for her to barter, since that was her favorite thing. However, instead of one of her usual smart-ass remarks, her big dark eyes filled with tears and she just stared at me.

  “You mean it?” she whispered.

  “What do you mean? The money or the offer or what?” I was confused.

  “All of it. You serious? You want to bring us to your country to help you raise your family?” She was blinking back tears and Fetu reached across the bar for her hand.

  “Of course. You took care of me when I didn’t have anyone else and now we can take care of each other.”

  “You want move to Limaj?” Samaria asked her husband.

  “I want what you want,” he responded automatically. Then they smiled at each other.

  My heart filled with happiness and I looked at Xander, who was just shaking his head, a smile playing on his lips.

  Lying on the beach for the fifth day in a row, I reached for Xander’s hand. He was in the lounge chair beside mine, both of us lazy and sunburned.

  “What do you think, Mr. Gustaffson? Do you like being a prince?”

  He rumbled out a laugh. “Well, Mrs. Holt, so far I haven’t felt any different.”

  We’d actually decided to hyphenate our names, so we would share the surname Gustaffson-Holt. It was long, but it honored both of our families and he’d said he wanted to do it this way because I’d lost my parents so long ago. Erik had granted him the title of prince as a wedding gift, but told him he never had to use it unless he wanted to. That way, we had the option for formal affairs, but in everyday life, he wasn’t burdened with royal duties.

  “Well, I feel different,” I said softly.

  “Do you?” He turned to squint at me in the bright sunlight. “How come?”

  “I feel…lighter. As if sharing my life with you somehow made all the bad things go away.”

  “I’d like to think that’s my job now, baby.” He leaned across the chairs to kiss me.

  “Are you happy?”

  “To steal a line from Samaria, are you serious right now?”

  We grinned at each other over our sunglasses, love and light and laughter reflected in our gazes.

  “So, more sun or do you wanna go surfing?” he asked.

  “I want to surf.” I sat up. “I won’t be able to much longer.”

  “By next summer, you’ll be ready to come back.”

  “With the baby?”

  “Maybe? I’m sure Samaria will keep him or her so we can get away now and then.”

  “I’d be willing to bet you’re right.”

  “I know I am.”

  “I love you, Xander.”

  “I know.” He got up and tugged me to my feet before calling out to the young man who rented the surfboards. “Willem—we need boards!”

  He slid an arm around my neck as we walked toward the water.

  “I’m going to need to practice my sign language,” I told him. “I want to make sure we start teaching the baby right away, so he and Parker can communicate.”

  “That’s a great idea.”

  “But also so we can talk dirty to each other during long, boring days at Parliament.”

  He turned and gave me a wicked grin as he made a circle with the fingers of one hand and then stuck his pointer finger from the other hand in the hole, moving it in and out.r />
  I burst out laughing as I smacked him. “You’re such a romantic, Holt.”

  “That’s what you love about me.” He grabbed both boards and we splashed into the crystalline water.

  For a glimpse of the next book in this series, DAX (A Royal Protectors/Sidewinders Crossover novel), turn the page!

  Excerpt From “DAX” (Unedited and subject to change)

  Chapter One

  Isla

  It had been so long since I’d been out on a date, I’d spent most of the evening waffling between being proud for putting myself out there and horrified I’d chosen such a dud as my guinea pig. Even more confusing to me was the fact that I was currently in his Aston Martin Vanquish heading toward his apartment in Edinburgh. Watching a hockey game sounded like fun, though, and I didn’t have enough fun in my life.

  I should have known better than to go out on a date with a guy like Wilson Ember, though. He was wealthy, successful and probably the most arrogant man I’d ever known. I was wealthy and successful in my own right, but I didn’t have much in common with someone so full of himself, so I’d started tuning him out early in the evening.

  “Pardon?” I glanced over at him when I realized he’d been talking to me. “I apologize, my thoughts drifted. What did you say?”

  “I said, you seem tired.” He gave me a charming smile.

  “I am. Between teaching and my research, I don’t sleep nearly as much as I should.”

  “I’m honored you took the time to go out with me tonight,” he said cheerfully.

  “I don’t socialize much during the school year,” I admitted. “There simply aren’t enough hours in the day.” I was an adjunct physics professor at a university and the semester had just ended, so I finally had time to focus on my research, which tended to fall by the wayside when I was teaching and grading papers.

  Although I didn’t particularly like Wilson, I hadn’t been lying about being tired. I worked a lot of hours and was looking forward to the break over the holidays to sleep, spend time with family and perhaps see a few of my girlfriends. I still had to be in the lab some of the time, but at least I wouldn’t have students demanding my attention.

  I realized my thoughts had wandered again and I mentally sighed. Why couldn’t I like someone like Wilson? Intelligent, successful, wealthy, and handsome. Not my type, but certainly nothing wrong with him if you liked your men tall, blond and haughty. If only my heart was open to someone else. Someone other than the man I’d been in love with the last couple of years. The man who didn’t think of me as anything but his best friend’s twin sister.

  “So, what do I need to know about hockey?” Wilson was asking me as I shifted my thoughts back to the present.

  “It moves quickly so don’t even bother trying to follow the puck the first few times you watch,” I replied with a grin. After I’d told Wilson that I wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with him, he’d agreed we should still be friends and invited me to watch the Sidewinders game at his house. Since he had the satellite feed and my twin brother played for the Las Vegas professional hockey team, it sounded like a nice way to round out the evening.

  Too bad I was more interested in going home and taking a long, hot bubble bath, reading the romance novel on my nightstand, and getting some sleep. There was simply no chemistry between Wilson and I, but I was excited about watching the game, if nothing else. I didn’t get to see many of them, mostly because of the time difference between Las Vegas and Edinburgh, so this would be a nice change. Especially since I was determined to stop being such a hermit.

  Wilson’s apartment was in a modern building in a desirable area in Edinburgh’s west end, not far from the city center. I would have loved to live in this area, but my family’s castle was just fifteen minutes from downtown and had everything I could possibly want, with the added bonus of living there rent-free. I’d always just assumed I would live at home until I got married, but at nearly twenty-eight, I wondered about the wisdom of that.

  His apartment was modern and gorgeous, with an elegant glass façade and an underground car park. The ceilings were high and everything was both new and contemporary. It didn’t have a very lived-in feel, but as an attorney for a high-powered firm, I figured he didn’t have much more free time than I did.

  We settled in front of a huge television to watch the game and though he poured me a glass of wine, I only took a couple of sips. I loved seeing my brother—and his best friend—on the ice, so I was immediately swept up in the action. Wilson seemed bored, but I ignored him and allowed myself to cheer for the Sidewinders as if I was actually there.

  “You’re a true fan, I see,” he said as the game wound down.

  “I’ve watched my twin play for most of my life,” I said, glancing at him. “The years we were both at Harvard were the best.”

  “I’ll bet.” He met my eyes and his darkened a little, watching my face.

  Shit. What the hell was he doing?

  He was leaning closer and a feeling of unease washed over me. What happened to just being friends? I wasn’t sure what to do and I cautiously slid away from him before getting to my feet as casually as possible.

  “It’s really late,” I said abruptly. “I really should get going.”

  “What’s the hurry?” His expression was intense as he followed me.

  “Wilson, I told you I’m not interested in any kind of relationship right now,” I said as calmly as I could, though I was getting all kinds of strange vibes from him.

  “You should think twice about that,” he said in an eerily quiet voice.

  I turned to reply and he was right there, practically up against me, and I took a step back. “What does that mean? I thought you were happy with us remaining friends?”

  “Shut up.” He pushed me against the wall, his eyes glittering dangerously. “I know things, Isla. Things that can ruin you.”

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded, anger starting to replace my fear.

  He smiled, but it was filled with malice. He ran the back of his hand along my cheek but when I tried to jerk away he stopped me, pressing his larger body against mine.

  “Stop it!” I snapped, pushing at his chest. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking how good we could be together,” he said, leaning in.

  I turned my head, pushing at him again. “We’re not anything together. Get away from me.”

  He crashed his mouth to mine and I recoiled in horror, though there was nowhere to go. Without thinking, I bit down on his lip as hard as I could. I wasn’t expecting him to hit me and my head turned to the side form the force of the back of his hand.

  “Bitch! You think you’re something, don’t you, Professor? High and mighty with your doctorate and your fancy title. What will the world think when they find out your grandfather bought your position, eh?”

  “What are you talking about?” I hissed, trying to move away from him, but his grip was too strong. “I worked my arse off to get where I am.”

  “A twenty-six-year-old with a Ph.D. getting a teaching position at such a prestigious university? Are you really that naïve?” He was holding me firmly against the wall, his eyes boring into mine. As he studied what had to be shock on my face, he burst out laughing, though it was mostly without humor. “You thought you earned it? Bloody hell, are you a virgin, by any chance?”

  I shoved at his chest, moving him just enough to get away from the wall, but he grabbed my arm and yanked me back. “Let me go, you bastard!” I raised my voice, glaring at him.

  “You and I, Isla, are going to have a good time tonight.”

  “Over my dead body,” I snapped.

  “That can be arranged.”

  I brought my knee up between his legs, the way my brothers had taught me, and though Wilson howled in rage, it only seemed to make him madder, shoving me against the wall and wrapping his hands around my throat. “Cunt. You think you’re better than me, don’t you? Seems to me you need a lesson in resp
ect…”

  He continued talking but I was fighting for breath, my life flashing before me as darkness loomed. Was he going to kill me? He was saying terrible things, about me and my family, but I barely heard him. I tried to move, to breathe, to get his hands off of me, but they were like steel, keeping me firmly pinned in place as pain replaced consciousness and the world faded to black.

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