by Nana Malone
“I know. If you let me, I’d love to tell you why.”
I lifted my chin to meet his gaze, brushing my hair over my shoulder. “Fine.”
“I fucked up. I thought I could just control every situation, and when I did that, the only thing that ever mattered to me went tits up.”
“Is that the official term?”
“Yeah. It is. I was a twat. Plain and simple. I didn’t even consider talking to you. It was just the goal and I didn’t think. But I had to examine it when I had the thing I said I wanted, but I still wasn’t happy.”
My eyes stung, but I refused to cry.
“You and Mayzie have become my whole world. You are my family. You are the ones who brought me back to life. I should never have discounted that. The only excuse I have is that love bloody broadsided me, and I wasn’t ready. It wasn’t in the plan. All that was supposed to happen was I was supposed to protect the heiress, instead, I fell in love with the both of you.”
“Jax…” Shit. I could feel the impending tears.
“I love you. I want you by my side and Mayzie on my shoulders giggling like a loon.”
“Is this real?” my voice shook as I spoke.
Jax grinned. “I’m so glad you asked that.” He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up. “It is real. And as soon as Mayzie is big enough to make it all the way down the aisle, I’m going to ask you to marry me.”
I swiped at one of the escaped tears. “I love you so much.”
“I know. I’m remarkably good looking.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you are. And bossy too.”
“I have it on good authority you like bossy.” He dipped his head, angling slightly. The kiss he gave me was both sweet and potent, and my head spun.
But just before I could demand he take me somewhere private with a flat surface, he pulled back. “Now where is our daughter? I owe her a kiss too.”
Jax…
I sat back and watched as Trace played with Mayzie. That little traitor had ditched me for him because he had a beard. She laughed as she tugged it, and I was pretty sure that asshole wore the scruff on purpose just so she would have something to pull.
Trace slid me a glance and grinned. "Don't be jealous just because you can't grow facial hair."
"I can grow facial hair just fine," I muttered. "It just happens to be that Neela prefers me without it."
Neela wrinkled her face. "Too scratchy."
Trace winked at her. "Scratchy can be fun."
Ariel, Jameson, Tamsin, and Zia all groaned from the kitchen. "Eeeww."
Ariel came out with the bread and a bread knife.
Zia came out with the sauce, and Jameson had the pasta. Tamsin followed with a bottle of wine.
Neela perked up. "Oh my God. I swear you should let me help."
Ariel shook her head. "Nope. Rule is, family cooks, family serves."
"But aren't I family now?"
Ariel grinned at that. "Yes, you are, because someone here can't follow the damn rules. But you’re not on the payroll, so you sit."
Yeah, there was still that matter, which I knew we were going to have to discuss at some point. But I'd already made a decision about what I wanted out of my life, and surprisingly, it was right there in the room with me. These people who had become my team, these people who had saved me.
Three months ago, I was living a completely different life, wondering what the hell happened to me. One call, one run in with Ariel, and I had the kind of life I'd always wanted. Family that was mine, a woman I could love, and a future. The Guard also held a certain kind of future. One I would love, but it would take away a chance at a lot more.
If I went back in, I'd have to be a rookie again, and I would be travelling all the time. The more coveted roles where you get to stay at home and have a family were assigned to those with seniority and in the higher-up positions. But I knew I could have that by being here at Royal Elite. Besides, Ariel, Trace, Jameson, Zia, Tamsin, and myself had built something important, and I wasn't ready to walk away from that yet. Royal Elite felt like more than family.
One second, we were all laughing and enjoying our beers. The next, we all palmed our weapons and took defensive positions.
Ariel came back out of the kitchen and rolled her eyes. “I’m glad to see you guys all have the right instincts, but relax. They were invited.”
What the hell did she mean they were invited? We were all present.
And then she opened the door. All of us except Ariel and Mayzie fell to one knee.
Jesus, the fucking royals were joining us for dinner? I suddenly rethought my choice of jeans.
The king was quick to dismiss formalities though. “Jesus, all of you up. None of that. Someone told me this was a family dinner.”
Family... the king... holy shit.
We were all, admittedly, a little stiff at first, but the queen, who insisted we all just call her Penny, was quick to break the ice.
Before I knew it, we were having dinner with royalty. Trace was fighting with Prince Lucas over who was a better basketball team, LA or the Warriors, and Sebastian was telling stories about Zia in the military.
Ariel caught me on the balcony. “You enjoying yourself?”
I grinned. “Yeah. Thank you for inviting Neela’s team. I don’t think Bex would have ever survived if she found out she didn’t meet the king and queen. She’s well chuffed."
“Well, we’re all family now. Even though you’ll be leaving me soon.”
"Actually, about that..."
She raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I think maybe I like this family team more. And staying here means being around as much as possible for Mayzie."
I could tell she was biting back a grin as she nodded. "Well, I mean, that's your choice, obviously. It's a difficult one to come to. Does it have anything to do with her?" Ariel inclined her head toward the living room where Neela held Mayzie asleep in her arms.
"It has a lot to do with both of them, actually. I made the dumb choice to leave the Guard last time because I thought leaving would preserve my idea of a family. But this… Royal Elite is a family too. And certainly, Neela and Mayzie are."
"Well, I think you and Neela are the best ones to give Mayzie stability. Even if Satorini is Mayzie's father, first of all, he's never getting out of jail. Second of all, never is he ever going to get custody of that baby."
"Good, because she's mine."
Ariel gave me one nod. "Okay, as long as you want to be here, I've got a spot for you. I do have a soft spot for British boys."
I headed back inside and found Neela. She gave me a broad grin. "Hey, there you are. What were you and Ariel talking about?"
"Oh, we were talking about my future."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Sure is."
"Are you going to tell me?"
I shrugged. "Maybe."
"Jax. Don't be such a guy. Spill."
"So, about the guard, the thing is the Guard would require me to be on the travelling team, which means I'd be away from my family too long."
She shook her head. "Oh my God, we would make it work. It’s your dream to go back. You have been fighting for this. Mayzie and I will survive. We'll come up with a great schedule. Bex and Adam can handle so many little cases. I'll just take the larger ones. We'll get a team. And maybe I'll actually hire an actual nanny this time."
"You would do that?"
She grinned. "Of course. I love you. I love Mayzie. If we're going to be a family now, we'll make it work. You give up way too easily."
I shook my head. "No. I'm never giving up on you, ever. Besides, I like working for Royal Elite. As bosses go, Ariel is great, and there's no politics here. And there's more flexibility."
"Don't you dare give up your happiness for me and the baby. We wouldn't want that."
"I'm not giving up my happiness. Have you ever seen me this happy before?"
"Yes. After sex."
She said it so dea
d pan, a bark of laughter tore out of my chest, startling Mayzie. "Oh my God."
"Am I wrong?"
"No, no, not wrong. Just... I can't believe you said that."
"Yeah well, it's true."
"You're impossible."
"Am I? You can just call me right if you want.”
"Yes, you are right. But I love you, and all I want to do is be with you all the time."
"Great. Whatever you do, I do too. We're a team. You, me, and Mayzie here. And the rest of the Royal Elite team."
She looked over to the side, and Trace winked at her. The idiot had been eavesdropping. "So, if you're staying on the Royal Elite team, that's great too. Whatever makes you happy…"
"You are what makes me happy." I leaned forward and gave her a kiss. Mayzie stirred in her arms and blinked up sleepily. "Da."
"See, she's trying to say Daddy."
Neela laughed. "Or, she's trying to say dog, or door. It’s hard to tell with this kid."
"I'm telling you, it's daddy."
"Okay, whatever you need to believe."
Good thing I would have all the time in the world to prove I was right.
Twenty-Two
Ariel…
“You just had to make a show of it, didn't you?”
Sebastian chuckled low as he prowled around my office. “Well, if you're going to do something, do it right.”
“You know you could have just requested us to come up,” I said.
“I could've. But I wanted to come down to see you. I’m not going to sit on the throne and make subjects come to me. That's stupid.”
I laughed. “Um, that's kind of what kings do.”
He shook his head, brows dipping a little. “Not this king. Besides, I wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing.”
“You could've called.”
“You know full well I wasn't just going to call. You're a part of my family.”
My face heated at that. “Aw shucks, my liege, are we gonna hug and stuff now?”
“I know how you feel about touching.”
“I keep telling you, if we weren't a throuple, I'd be okay with it.”
Sebastian just rolled his eyes. “As hot as I think watching you and Penny having sex would be, I don't think so. I'm not very good at sharing.”
“Your loss then.”
I'd been teasing him mercilessly for a long time about how he, Penny, and I were already in a relationship and he just needed to climb on board. While the banter was all in good fun, I was hyper-aware that everyone was outside my office doing the small-talk, dinner-party thing while Sebastian needed to talk to me about something important. “Spill. What do you need?”
He blinked rapidly. “What do you mean? I'm just catching up with you.”
“Behind closed doors. So far you haven't said anything you couldn't have said out there. But you asked to speak to me privately, so that means something important is happening. You know I'm not good with small talk.”
“Yeah, I haven't forgotten. Are you going to have a seat for this?”
I shook my head. "My office. So I'd rather you just spill it if you have something crazy to tell me like I'm no longer welcome at the palace or something.”
He sighed, and my gut clenched. “Is that the fear you live with now?”
I tilted my chin up. “Yes, it's the fear I live with now. You are well within your rights to ban me from the palace. You are well within your rights to ban me from seeing Penny. You can do anything you want. You're the king now."
“I cannot do anything I want because I never would have let you go. I have people I answer to, and you know it. If I had my way, you'd be back in the palace like you want.”
I watched him warily. “What's going on? You’re making me really nervous.”
“As you know, I've been looking for a way around the Council. Looking for a way to make things work. I don't like that the Council has full control over my Royal Guard. I don't trust them... at least not all of them.”
“Good. After what happened, you shouldn't trust everyone.”
“Right. Anyway, I've been giving this a lot of thought, and I found a loophole.”
“Loophole?”
“Yeah. I don't know if you remember from the history books, but there used to be King’s Knights.”
I frowned. “Yeah, like, when our grandparents were around? Maybe great-grandparents? I don't remember. It was certainly a while ago.”
“Not anymore.”
My eyes went wide. “Sebastian, what did you do?”
“I made you a Knight.”
I wasn't sure if I should laugh, or cry, or warn him against poking the bear. “You did what?”
“The loophole was clear. Any monarch may create his own personal guard. For generations now, we've just gone with the Royal Guard. But since the Council is being so specific to the letter about who can and cannot guard us, companies like Royal Elite and Blake Security aren't an option for the royal family anymore. Even though during my father's time, it wasn't a problem.”
“Well, it isn't your father's time now, is it?” I added softly.
“No, it certainly isn't. But because of everything that's happened in the last few years, the Council is trying to do everything by the letter. The hard letter. So I'm trying to find ways around them. You found a loophole for your boy Jax out there, and I found a loophole for you if you want it.”
My heart skipped, stumbling over itself, trying to catch back up to its normal rhythm. “You want to make me a Knight?”
He grinned. “Yes, but not just you. Everyone who works for you.”
“You're creating Knights.”
He chuckled softly. “I think I just said that.”
“Holy shit.”
Sebastian grinned. “I know, right? Penny got all ‘Knights of the Round Table’ and shit about it."
“The Council's going to be gunning for you now.”
“Well, they can try. They seem to forget I was pretty good at history. Not good enough to be an excellent historian, but I plan to find every single loophole I can exploit in my favor. Every single one. I've been sitting on the sidelines too long. And we've watched too many people get hurt and die because of it. It's time we go on the offensive. What do you say? Will you arise a Knight?”
“I mean if you insist. What will my title be?”
He grinned. “Lady Ariel Scott.”
I scrunched my nose. “You couldn't come up with anything better than 'Lady'?”
“I know. But I wanted to stick to the letter of the Knighthood. At least for now. Once it's more established and around for a while, I can make some modifications.”
I nodded. “That's unbelievable.” And because I knew how important and how significant this honor was, I added, “Your Majesty.”
He slid a glance over to the glass doors to everyone settling in for a game of Mafia. “So, what do you say? You want to go tell the troops that they're going to have an all-access pass to the palace?”
“They're going to lose their shit.”
“Probably. But it'll be good news, right?”
I grinned at him. "Uh, yeah. I think it'll be good news. So how does this work though? Will you direct us?”
Sebastian shook his head. “Yes, and no. It'll allow you full access to the palace whenever you want, your own entrance and everything. But mostly, you'll still be you, just doing your regular job. Unless I need you specifically to watch over someone, of course.”
“I can’t believe this.”
He grinned. “I should be given an award or something. I’ve finally managed to render you speechless. It'll be great to have you roaming the halls of the palace again.”
“Well, I mean it's not like I was banned.”
“I know. But now you'll know you belong there. And you won't have to wear that stupid visitor's badge. It just looked wrong on you.”
“I know, right? It totally clashed with my hair.”
“Come on, Lady Ariel. Let's go make
some Knights."
Ariel...
Six months ago, I’d had to start from scratch. With a little help from my family, I’d been able to build new purpose in my life.
I’d never have been able to pull it off without them. And I could never say thank you enough. Royal Elite was up and running. I had ten agents with varying skill levels, and I had every single one of them because Sebastian and Roone had bent over backward to accommodate me.
Any Royal Guard who left the service for some kind of family reason, or going to school, or anything like that, they funneled them my way. Any other security teams they'd worked with on travel missions that proved highly effective, again, they funneled my way. Two I had found on my own. So that felt like a good accomplishment.
But I'd been responsible for retraining everyone. I'd set the criteria, the business model, and I already had more business than I knew what to do with. Six months in, I was on my way to survival.
How had that even happened?
Well, it happened because of my family. I was going to have to get Sebastian some kind of insane present, or I could call Penny and just have her blow him on my behalf.
That was too weird. I owed them big though. And all I wanted to do was make them proud.
The phone on the bedside table buzzed. I ignored it. I didn't have anyone in the field at the moment, and I was tired. All I wanted to do was read my book. When I saw the screen said blocked number, I certainly wasn't going to answer it. Besides, no one in the islands had a blocked number from me, not with the encryption codes that Neela and I worked together to build.
I sat up and stared at the continually ringing phone.
Blocked number. Bzzzt.
Blocked number. Bzzzt.
My heart rate spiked with the hammering of my pulse. They rattled in my brain. Who could be calling so insistently?
How could it be so important that some unknown person would be calling me at eleven o'clock at night?
Finally, I gave in to the feelings of dread and picked up the phone. "This is Ariel."
There was silence. Even though all I heard was breathing on the other end, I knew who it was. Intrinsically, I knew. It was him.
