by H Q Kingsley
Guard the Crown
The Royal Alphas
H Q Kingsley
Contents
The Royal Alphas Series
Prologue
1. Omar
2. Zyke
3. Omar
4. Zyke
5. Omar
6. Zyke
7. Omar
8. Zyke
9. Omar
10. Zyke
11. Omar
12. Zyke
13. Omar
14. Zyke
15. Omar
16. Zyke
17. Omar
18. Zyke
19. Omar
20. Zyke
21. Omar
22. Zyke
23. Omar
Epilogue
The Royal Alphas Series
Excerpt of Bend the Knee
Excerpt of Reluctant Mate
Excerpt of Kinkdom
Keep up with HQ
The Royal Alphas Series
Book Order:
Bend the Knee
Guard the Crown
Polish the Throne (Coming June, 2020)
Prologue
“Major changes continue to come from the kingdom of Belaria, following the coup staged by a group of rebels calling themselves the Havocs. Sources say following formal elections, the kingdom is united not under a central rule, but a cabinet led by President Chase Fury.
The president has instituted several outreach programs, improved education, and changed the conversation for rulers and citizens around the globe.”
“Turn that off,” my father snapped as he strode into the room, a fierce intensity in his expression. It was the look he wore whenever he heard anyone talking about Belaria and their recent change in government.
Belaria had fallen and risen again from the ashes like a phoenix, better and brighter. It had sparked whispers of rebellion everywhere, even Eastola. Everyone wanted change like Belaria, everyone aspired to be the leader to topple the status quo. Chase Fury had inspired people...not that my family would ever admit it.
“They’re a disgrace,” my father spat, anger coloring his tone. “And they shouldn’t be praised like they’ve done anything but make a mess.”
Rehan, my oldest brother, grabbed the remote and switched off the news as he crossed his ankles propped up on the table.
All six of us, the sons of the great King Heydar of Eastola, gathered around the table in the war room, patiently waiting for father to speak…well, my brothers waited patiently. My waiting was more indifferent. Frankly, I hated the weekly meeting. Nobody cared what I had to say, anyway, and being locked in a room with my family always made me anxious.
Ellis and Ezra exchanged looks, and we all sat respectfully as our father sat down at the head of the table.
“It’s a shame,” Avi said as he lazily drummed his fingers on the table. “Belaria was great once. And then they let that seed of resistance fester into something much worse than it needed to be.”
“Some kings don’t have it in them to lead,” Mykel chimed in. “Or raise their kid.” Mykel sucked his teeth. “His own son turned traitor. Who allows that to happen?”
“You don’t turn traitor,” Rehan argued, his green-brown eyes flashing. “It’s something that’s always in you. Festering like a disease.”
Avi rolled his eyes. They were the same dark-green speckled with brown. All of my brothers had the same eyes. The same square jaws, the same magazine-worthy features, just like our father. It ran in the family….for everyone except me. I had nothing that they did. I wasn’t handsome, or strong, or bold like any of them.
I sank down in my seat, holding my teddy a little tighter as I watched them go back and forth.
“You do turn traitor, you nit!” Avi argued. “Milo Abfantu would have made a strong leader. I know. I met him myself. He just threw it all away because that rebel flashed him a little ass.”
“Well, I mean, have you seen him? It’s a pretty great ass,” Ellis chimed in. “I’m not saying I’d turn traitor, but who among us hasn’t done something stupid for something tall and pretty?”
Ezra chuckled, and he and Ellis bumped fists as they laughed.
Avi tossed his long, dark curls over his shoulder with the flick of his head. “Well, I can’t relate. As the best-looking brother in this lot, I’ve never had to compromise to get laid. Ass just falls at my feet.”
“Boo!” my brothers echoed, tossing things at Avi in disagreement.
Our father just sat there, watching their antics, his face pulled in a straight line. He had to be used to it by now. My brothers were beautiful creatures, but they were dumb as rocks and had the attention span of squirrels. If he didn’t immediately commence a war room meeting, they always managed to find their way onto a tangent about something irrelevant, and it almost always ended in the five of them comparing sexual exploits.
“Enough,” our father finally said, raising his hand to simmer them down.
They instantly settled down and gave him their full attention.
“At the very least,” our father continued, “we can rest easy knowing Eastola will never fall to such stupidity,” he said. “A group of dirty rebels with sticks and a vendetta would never be able to take us down.”
My brothers nodded in agreement. “Hell yeah,” one of them shouted, but I missed which one as I dipped my head to return my attention back to my book.
They roared with praise and laughed, and it set me on edge. They had a way about them. When they collected together, the room vibrated with energy. A hot, Alpha masculinity resonated from each and every one of them, and it always made me feel swallowed up. Small and inferior...well, smaller and more inferior than I usually felt, anyway.
They were the untouchables. Or, at least, that’s what they thought. But the king of Belaria had also thought he was untouchable.
A tiny smile pulled at my lips as I thought of President Chase Fury. He was an inspiration. He’d stood up for what he believed in, and he’d taken down a whole kingdom and made it better. He believed in change. Something my family absolutely did not. I wished I were brave like President Fury. I wished I had it in me to make the change I wanted to see.
But you’re not Chase Fury. And nobody will ever love you like Milo Abfantu.
I swallowed, trying to ignore the disparaging voice in my head even though it was right. Milo Abfantu had given up his crown, and he’d taken on the king, his own father, just to fight by Chase’s side. He’d join the rebels because he’d fallen in love. It was a love story whispered across kingdoms. It was epic and romantic and...I would never have it. Why would anyone love me like that? I was no Chase Fury.
I kept my eyes on my book, my teddy bear tucked under my arm, turning a page silently and just trying to zone out my brothers and get out of my own head.
I lost myself in the pages in front of me. Things were better there in the fantasy worlds I read about. There were no dim-witted brothers boasting about their military accomplishments and how many ‘peasants’ they’d killed.
I turned another page of my book and froze for a moment. I could always feel his disappointment when his eyes were on me.
“Zyke!” my father said, confirming my suspicions. Why couldn’t I ever just disappear into the background forever?
“Zyke,” he said again, his voice carrying louder than it needed across the room. He pounded the table with a fist, and I jumped, finally lifting my gaze to meet his.
“Y-yes, Father?” I finally said, and my brothers snickered. My voice was much softer than theirs, mousy and childlike. Rehan had decided early on that my balls had never and would never drop and I was stuck in a permanent pre-pubescent state of be
ing. He’d said it so much that I was pretty sure he’d spoken it into existence. I’d never developed like my brothers, and even though I was nearing my twentieth birthday, I was still stuck in the same body I’d had since I was thirteen.
“I did not call you here so you could ignore us!” My father shouted. “What are you doing?”
I cleared my throat. “Ugh. Reading?”
“Reading,” Ellis mimicked me, making my voice sound higher and reedier than it already was. The others all laughed like he was on a comedy tour, and I kept my head down, my eyes on the table.
“This is a war council meeting,” my father insisted. “Not a fucking library.”
“B-but...We’re not at war,” I pointed out and instantly regretted it when my father’s eyes flashed.
His face pulled in anger. “We could be! You’ve seen what happened in Belaria. The king was overthrown and killed because his people got it in their heads that they could have better. We have to be prepared.”
I wanted to point out that he had just said we didn’t have to worry about it because he and the rest of my brothers were so good at fighting or whatever, but I knew better than to ever point out his own contradictions.
“Belaria’s king thought he was prepared, too,” I offered instead, keeping my voice soft. “Maybe it’s a sign that fighting and ruling by oppression isn’t the answer? Because the people deserve better. They deserve peace and equality and a say in what happens in their government. It’s been a few months since the coup, and Belaria is prospering—”
“Shut up, Zyke,” Avi said, cutting me off. “You’re so fucking weak. Of course you want to come up with some idea that doesn’t involve you having to fight anything.”
I closed my mouth, wanting to kick myself for saying anything at all.
“We all know if war did break out, Zyke would be hiding in a closet somewhere with his widdle bear.” Ellis, who was next to me, made a grab for the bear in my arms, and I jerked it back out of his reach.
“Aw, don’t be like that. I just want to see it. Maybe I’ll see why it’s so special you have to take it fucking everywhere with you like a toddler.”
“Don’t be mean, Ellis,” Rehan chimed in. “It’s his friend. We all know he’s never going to win the respect of anything with a brain or a pulse.”
They all laughed, and I kept my eyes locked on the table, keeping my breaths shallow and willing myself to disappear.
It always went like that. If they weren’t completely pretending that I didn’t exist, they were finding a way to make me miserable.
Our father did nothing to stop it, just sitting there watching, beaming with pride while his stronger, fitter sons made me the butt of their jokes. He called it brotherly rousing, but it felt more like hate. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to them, but they hated me. There was nothing ‘brotherly’ about it.
But at least I was used to it. I was the family punching bag. The runt, the black sheep. And not just to the family. I knew what everyone thought about King Heydar's youngest son, and they weren't wrong. I was scrawny and short and useless. And I just wanted to be left alone.
“What are you reading anyway?” Mykel asked.
Before I could answer, he leaned across the table and ripped the book from my hands, holding it upside down while he pretended to read it.
“Something stupid and flowery, I bet,” Avi said. "Some love story where a handsome prince swoops in and saves a useless stable boy." He clasped his hands under his chin and pretended to swoon while the others laughed at his antics.
“Too bad Zyke wouldn't even be useful as a stable boy,” Rehan said. “Hate to break it to you, Z, but nobody is coming to swoop in and save you from your sad little life.”
Mykel snorted as he flipped another page in the book, and I nearly rolled my eyes. He couldn’t read it, none of them could except Rehan. Father had made it a point not to teach any of them to read in hopes that it would make them better soldiers. Rehan had only learned because he was next in line for the crown, but me, I’d taught myself. I was never going to be a soldier, so being illiterate had never seemed like a real option.
“Can I have my book back?” I asked when there was a lull in the teasing.
Rehan glared at me, and there was so much anger and disgust in his eyes that it made me shiver.
It was so easy to set them off, and I hated it. The teasing I could take, but the cruel lash outs, those were harder.
Rehan reached over and snatched the book from Mykel before stomping over to me. “If you really want it, Z,” he started, dangling the book over my head. “Then take it.”
I swallowed, my mind racing for my next move. I’d never get it from him, even if I fought my hardest to take it. All of my brothers towered over me, each of them standing at over six feet, while I just barely pushed 5’4. They filled out, bulked with three hours of military training every day, and I was one hundred and twenty pounds at my heaviest. I could outsmart every one of them any day of the week, but when it came to a show of brute force, when it came to a cruel game of keep away, I would never win.
I cleared my throat and dropped my gaze to the floor, squeezing Teddy a little tighter in the crook of my arm.
“Please, Rehan. I just want my book back.”
Rehan’s eyes narrowed at me, and for a second, I thought he might drop it, but then our father chimed in.
“Take it, Zyke,” he said, his voice booming. “If you want it back. Take it. Since it’s precious enough for you to ignore us, maybe it’s motivation to show us the man you can be.”
My mouth went dry as all of their gazes seemed to burn into me at once. Malice flashed in each of their eyes, and my heart raced faster. Father had just given them license to unleash their cruelty. If I hadn’t been fucked before, I certainly was now.
“I-I…” I searched for the words to talk my way out of it, and my father slammed his fist on the table.
“Get the book, Zyke!” he shouted.
I clutched Teddy as tightly as I could as I climbed to my feet. My legs felt like jelly, and my heart was in my throat. This wasn’t going to end well. I knew that, but what choice did I have?
I kept my eyes to the ground as I lazily reached out. I couldn’t see where my hand reached, but I hoped if I just let them embarrass me a little they would drop the whole thing and let me disappear into the background again. But luck wasn’t in my corner.
Rehan’s big hand pushed against my shoulder, shoving me backward, hard into the table.
“Come on, you little shit. You can do better than that!”
The edge of the table bit into my back, and my eyes watered. No, no, no. I urged myself not to cry. Crying was the worst thing that I could do. My tears were like gasoline on the fire of their hatred.
Rehan stepped toward me again and pulled me by my shirt back up to straighten on my feet. He forced my head up to look at him as he dangled the book over me again.
“Go ahead, try again.” There was so much malice in his tone that I shrank back and he reached out for my collar to make sure I stayed in place. “I said, try again,” he growled.
I pulled in a shaky breath, hating myself when a tear rolled down my cheek. I couldn’t stop it. I could never stop it. I always cried, and it always made it worse.
“Aw, is Zykey crying?” Mykel called out, standing up to join Rehan by his side.
More tears spilled out of my eyes, and I sniffled uncontrollably.
Ellis stood up, moving to join them in their teasing, but he stopped when Ezra grabbed his arm.
“Sit down,” Ezra said. “All of you.” He rolled his eyes. “This family is a goddamn circus. Is this a meeting or fucking entertainment hour?”
“You sticking up for the runt now?” Rehan asked, his fiery hot gaze turning on Ezra.
Ezra scowled and climbed to his feet. He marched over to Rehan and snatched the book, ripping it down the middle in one quick, swift motion.
“There. It’s over. You win. He doesn’t have the boo
k.” Ezra shot me a quick look that might have been an apology, but also might have just been a look. It was hard to tell with him. Of the five of them, he was the nicest, but that wasn’t really saying much.
“Now, are we finishing this meeting or what? Because if not, I’ve got other shit to do with my day,” Ezra huffed.
Rehan and Mykel let out huffy grunts as they made their way back to their seats.
My father nodded in agreement. “Very well.”
I sat back in my seat, my whole body shaking so hard that I nearly shot back up to my feet when Ezra touched my shoulder.
“Here,” he said, handing me the two halves of the book. “Just stay quiet, alright?”
I nodded and looked up at him. It was definitely a look of apology. He’d saved me in his own twisted sort of way. Who knows how long things might have gone on if he hadn’t called Rehan off.
I silently thanked him, hoping that he somehow understood how grateful I was.
Ezra had tried. And my book was still readable in the end. As sad as it was, that was enough for me.
I was used to being the lone lion in the family. It was just me and my bear and the books my brothers hadn't ripped up or thrown into fireplaces. That was all I had.
It was probably all I would ever have, and that was...fine. It had to be.
1
Omar
"Shit! Goddammit!" Pain exploded up my leg as I jammed my toe right into the doorframe, almost dropping the box I was carrying.
I put the box down and then hopped over to the sagging couch, still swearing under my breath as I dropped down onto it, checking my foot to make sure nothing was damaged.
