Xander (Royal Protectors Book 2) Read online

“You took another job without even talking to me?” Erik asked quietly.

  “I’ve asked you for help on multiple occasions, and you’re always dealing with one crisis or another. I know you have your hands full, and I volunteered to help in whatever way was necessary, but I’m tired of fighting losing battles. I’m not getting any younger, you know? I’d like to do something meaningful with my life, and not spend my days butting heads with bigoted old men.”

  “You haven’t said anything about getting pushback from Parliament,” Erik said. “I had no idea you were having a problem. Who is it? I’ll talk with them.”

  I shook my head, taking another sip of tea before I started coughing again. “You don’t understand. It’s all of them. Well, most of them. They treat me like a pretty little toy or pet. I’m still the cute princess in pigtails they remember from thirty years ago. They either won’t or can’t realize I’m an adult, and an educated, capable woman in my own right. Every single day is like pulling teeth, and after spending eleven years in hiding, I’m tired of that. I want to have fun again. Maybe go out on a date. Travel a bit. This is no way to live.”

  “I had no idea it had gotten this bad,” Erik said, his eyes fixed on mine. “What can I do to change your mind? I’d really hate to see you go, Elen.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until after the wedding,” I told him. “But I’m not sure how to fix this unless you plan to overhaul all of Parliament.”

  “I might.”

  “We just got the country, and family, back together again.” Sandor spoke for the first time. “And you’re going to leave?”

  “I’m sorry, big brother.” I reached for his hand. “I’ll come visit often, but you don’t see how difficult it is being a woman here. Half the time when I set up meetings, they ask me where you or Erik are, so they don’t even respect the fact that I’m actually the one in charge of certain things.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Erik shook his head. “Well, whether you stay or go, that’s going to be addressed. That’s bullshit.”

  I sighed. “It would be nice if you could get them to listen, but I’m not holding my breath.”

  “Okay, we didn’t come to talk about that,” Sandor said after a moment. “We came to apologize for last night, and tell you that Xander was under strict orders. We’ve been timing everyone, making sure they know where to go, how long it will take, and what the options are.”

  “I understand that,” I replied quietly. “And I’m sorry for having a tantrum in front of everyone last night, but as you can see, I feel like shit and lost my patience.”

  “You had every right,” Erik said soothingly. “This was on us, but in the future, you need to communicate, yeah? I’ve had drills cancelled because Levi was sick or Casey was in the middle of something important. It happens.”

  “When do I get to schedule a drill?” I quipped, meeting his eyes with a grin.

  “Oh hell no,” Sandor cut in. “You’ll do it on my wedding night and then I’ll be the one ready to stab someone.”

  We all laughed, and I was grateful for the relationship I had with these men. Yes, Erik was our new king and Sandor was the head of security for the whole damn country, but they were just my cousin and big brother to me.

  “We’re going to let you rest,” Erik said, getting up. “And no drills until you’re better. Are you on antibiotics?”

  I nodded. “Yes. So hopefully a few days and the cough and fever should start to let up.”

  “Do you need anything before we go?” Sandor asked.

  “My laptop?”

  “Sure thing.” He brought it over and set it beside me.

  “I’ll have meals sent up for you,” Erik said. “I want you to rest. Is there anything coming up on your schedule that I absolutely need to know about?”

  “I’m supposed to interview Ace’s new girlfriend about the head mistress position at the new school. They’re flying in from Germany this week and the interview was supposed to be Friday, I think. Not sure I’ll be up to it, and also whether or not I’ll still be contagious, so perhaps you or Casey could do it?” That had been a priority of mine since Erik wanted a new private school with an international baccalaureate program. That way, his and Casey’s children could attend, in addition to the children of other wealthy people, both in Limaj and around eastern Europe. It was a huge undertaking to get it up and running in less than a year’s time, but I’d been up for the task. Until the misogynistic members of Parliament started blocking me at every turn.

  “I’m sure she’ll be happy to.” Erik smiled. “Feel better and please let someone know if you need anything.”

  “Thanks for coming to check on me.” I smiled back at them and before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep again.

  3

  Xander

  Working for the royal family in Limaj was a pretty cushy fucking job. It was a far cry from my days as an active duty Marine, or even when I’d signed on to Joe Westfield’s security and bodyguard company, Westfield Security. This was a whole other level of security, but in many ways, a lot easier too. I lived in the palace, made a better salary than I’d ever made anywhere else, and worked with a fantastic group of people. Erik was a king and, except when he was in public or performing an official duty, as relaxed and laid-back as the rest of us. Sandor was my boss but also a good friend. Joe had sold his company to a mutual friend and now ran security for the castle. Since I’d already worked for him for several years, it was barely a change at all for me.

  In general, my life was good these days. Except for a certain blond princess who made me want to punch something on a daily basis. Princess Elen Gustaffson was a huge pain in my ass, and it never ended. Having her out of commission with pneumonia was actually a relief, though I felt bad she was so sick, and the week after dragging her out of the tub was blissfully quiet. We had no drills, no attacks, nothing out of the ordinary.

  My days were mostly made up of working out, security briefings and reconnaissance. With the king and queen’s children spread out all over the world due to the current lack of educational options for them, we didn’t have a lot to do. We stayed vigilant, of course, because there had already been several attacks on Erik’s life in just under a year, as well as one kidnapping attempt on his oldest son, the Crown Prince, but overall, it was a calm time, both in the castle and the country.

  Elen was coming back to work today, though, and I was on my way to pick her up. Our security team, officially dubbed the Royal Protectors, was spread thin and I had Elen duty. She was actually pretty badass in her own right. In the years the royal family had been in hiding, she’d been on her own, traveling the world and getting odd jobs for a Sorbonne-educated princess who was technically sixth or seventh in line for the throne. She’d led hiking excursions, tended bar, and taught children in third-world countries how to read.

  I had a lot of respect for the woman she’d been forced to become after the deaths of her parents, the king at the time, and even Erik, though we’d later discovered he wasn’t dead, only in hiding. For eleven years, she’d been completely alone, staying under the radar of the ruling king, King Anwar, who’d done his best to eliminate the entire royal family. The problem was that now that she was back in her country with her family, she was so damn angry about everything. Having me as her bodyguard seemed to be at the top of the list of things that annoyed her.

  I knocked on her door gingerly, ready for anything, because she went from calm, cool and collected to straight-outta-Compton in two point three seconds.

  The door swung open and there it was, that ever-present scowl that constantly marred her otherwise pretty face. “What?” she demanded.

  “I need to know your schedule today,” I told her patiently. “If you’re planning to leave the castle and what time.”

  She fixed me with a glare. “I need to be at the new school building at one to show around the new headmistress.”

  I nodded. “And until then you’re in the castle?”

  “Yes.”
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br />   “Okay, I’ll text you at 12:45 to tell you which vehicle we’re taking.”

  “Thank you.”

  I turned and was halfway back to my office when she called after me. “Xander?”

  “Yes?” I looked back at her.

  “I apologize for my behavior at the last drill. I wasn’t feeling well and took it out on everyone, but especially you.”

  I nodded. “No worries. I had pneumonia a couple of years ago and it’s miserable. I wish I hadn’t had to drag you out of the tub like that.”

  “Erik, Sandor and I had a talk about that, and the drills will be less frequent from now on, and there won’t be any if anyone is unwell.”

  “Good to know.” I gave her a nod and continued on my way. Nice Elen usually only lasted a few minutes and then was followed up with nasty, sarcastic or brusque Elen. She was exhausting. Good thing she was beautiful, so at least I had something to look at, because almost every time she opened her mouth, something terrifying came out.

  If I was honest with myself, the whole package that made up Elen was hotter than hell. Her sassy mouth made me want to laugh most days and the smokin’ hot body, well, I did my best not to look at it inappropriately. She knew I could, and had on more than one occasion, throw her over my shoulder when it came down to it, and I was almost beginning to wonder if she liked it or something. Not the other night, when I’d dragged her out of the bath. That had been genuine fury. Other times, though, it was like she goaded me because she could, and I threw her over my shoulder because it was the easiest way to get her to do what I needed her to do. It was also kind of fun.

  I headed down to the security offices on the first floor and found Joe, Sandor, and the rest of our small security force already there.

  “Did she bite?” Sandor asked, since he knew I’d been checking in with Elen before coming to the daily briefing.

  I grinned at him. “Just a little nip this morning. I’m sure it’s only because she’s still recuperating. She’ll have full fangs within the week.”

  “If she finds out how you guys talk about her,” Lennox said with a grin, “she’s going to put a hurt on all of you.”

  “You gonna tell her?” Sandor asked his fiancée, arching a brow.

  She gave him a sweet smile and batted her eyelashes. “Maybe. But I can be bribed.”

  He leaned over and whispered something that made her laugh, but I stopped paying attention as I poured a cup of coffee. They were so in love it was a little nauseating. I liked both of them, and Lennox and I had briefly served together in Iraq, so she was a friend, but all the romance was too much for me. Historically, I was a romantic kind of guy, but it had been so long since I’d had a girlfriend, I wasn’t sure I remembered how.

  “Okay, first on the agenda today is the addition of—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m late.” Ace Ross came strolling in and we all got up to greet him. Recently retired from the CIA and a longtime friend and ally of the royal family, it was great knowing he would be working with us. His new fiancée, Shannon, was a teacher in Cologne, Germany, and she would be finishing the current school year, so he’d be part-time until summer. The plan was for them to then move here permanently. They were here this week during her spring break to discuss her working at the new English school that would be opening in the fall.

  “Ace will be working with Sandor for now, continuing to set up the new intelligence agency,” Joe continued as if nothing had happened. “That may change this summer when he joins on full-time, but for now, he’ll be in a consultant role.”

  “We’ve been running on a skeleton crew for months,” I said, eyeing Joe. “No one has time off or breaks, and while I’m happy to do my job because I love it, at some point, we’re all going to reach a breaking point. Elen’s outburst the other night was exacerbated by the fact that she was sick, but it’s the first sign of burnout. I don’t imagine we can continue this pace much longer without mistakes. So any help is both appreciated and needed.”

  “We have to hang on until June,” Sandor said. “That’s when most of our team will come back to Limaj and we’ll be able to form an actual schedule, instead of just moving people around.”

  “They’re coming back, but bringing most of the kids with them. So while there will be more of us, there will also be more of them. We need more bodies.”

  “We’re working on it,” Joe said. “But getting people we know and trust to move to Limaj and devote their lives to a country and a royal family they know nothing about is a lot tougher than it seems.”

  “I did it,” I pointed out.

  “You knew me and I knew them,” he said.

  “Do you have suggestions?” Sandor asked me.

  “I think we need some Limaji people on the team—not including you and Daniil, of course. Isn’t there anyone in the military we trust enough to bring over?”

  Daniil shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve spent the last year getting to know everyone, but it takes time to build trust and there’s no one I would bring into the castle at this point.”

  “Natalia is in training,” Sandor said, referring to a member of the military who was supposed to be joining us. “But she’s not ready. Not at the level we need her to be. I predict at least a year, and I plan to send her in the field with Ace once he’s had time to settle in. She’s tough, but green, and that’s dangerous.”

  We all nodded in agreement, but it brought us back to my original point.

  I didn’t mind working hard but there were signs of burnout everywhere, including with Erik and Sandor. We were all tired, and I was positive Erik was more exhausted than the rest of us put together. Not only did he have a country to run, he had a wife and children, including a new baby. He never slept and I felt for him, but some of this was his and Sandor’s faults. He and Sandor were beyond picky about who they hired, and while I understood it, eventually it was going to catch up to all of us.

  Right now, we were stretched very thin. Lennox guarded Queen Casey and the new baby, Prince Levi. Sandor and Joe guarded Erik whenever he had to travel or make public appearances, though at home Erik was capable of taking care of himself and asked that no one disturb him when he was with his family. Prince Daniil, who was Sandor and Elen’s brother, was also a member of the Royal Protectors, though his connection was more complicated because he, too, was currently a member of Parliament. He was on call for emergencies only, so he didn’t work as a bodyguard while he was the Minister of Defense.

  Logan was in Monte Carlo guarding Leni, Erik’s daughter with his first wife, along with Casey’s twin daughters, Joss and Jessie, who currently lived with their father. Since their father, Jayson, was now married to Erik’s ex-wife, it was convenient, if not a bit confusing.

  Jonas was in Las Vegas guarding Casey’s twenty-year-old daughter Sasha while she was in college, as well as keeping an eye on Crown Prince Luke, who lived with Casey’s other ex-husband, Nick. Luke would be coming to Limaj once the new English school opened, which was why it was such a priority, but in the meantime, our team was all over the place.

  My partners in crime here in Limaj were Axel and the newest addition to the Royal Protectors, a guy named Marcus Rabinowitz. He was big, brawny and one of the toughest motherfuckers I’d ever met, but a total pussycat when he was off duty. He’d come to us straight from Special Forces and didn’t say much. His duties alternated between general castle security and picking up the slack for Daniil and Sandor when they were busy with other things.

  My main duty was looking out for Elen if she had to go anywhere. If she was in the castle, like she was this morning, I was free to do other things, but we’d be leaving in a couple of hours. Which meant a long afternoon of being her verbal punching bag.

  The conversation about potential new members to the Royal Protectors went on around me, but I mostly tuned it out. We talked about this regularly, and other than the addition of Marcus, nothing had changed. It was frustrating, but since I loved the job in general, I wasn’t going to make a
big deal out of it.

  “With the wedding coming up,” Sandor spoke up, getting my attention, “there will be a lot more travel going on, and Lennox will be less available. I want her to be able to enjoy the process of planning it and—”

  “You know I hate every single thing about the idea of planning a big-ass wedding like ours, right?” Lennox leaned back and folded her arms across her chest.

  Sandor laughed. “I think you’re excited about certain aspects of it, and with Casey, Elen and Edita helping you plan it, you hate it a lot less than you thought you would.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, okay. Says the man who literally hasn’t done a single thing to help.”

  “I’m paying for it,” he pointed out.

  “Technically,” Erik spoke drolly, “I’m paying for it.”

  Several of us started to laugh, and though I enjoyed the banter, my thoughts wandered again. I was restless, anxious to do something other than work out and deal with a cranky princess on a regular basis. I just didn’t know how to tell my boss I was bored.

  4

  Elen

  After a few days, I was better, but the cough had lingered and I definitely didn’t have my strength back yet. Pneumonia had kicked my ass and was a huge reminder that I needed to take better care of myself. I was trying, but I also understood Erik’s need to get the country back on its feet. He’d accomplished a lot in the fifteen months since he’d taken over, but it was slow going. Some members of Parliament didn’t like the direction he wanted to take the country, which was essentially the twenty-first century, and others simply didn’t trust women. It took a lot out of me and mostly I wanted to hit people.

  Not today, though. I was finally getting to meet Shannon, Ace’s fiancée. They were staying here at the castle, but I’d been quarantined in my room because even though I’d started on antibiotics, I’d been contagious for a while and hadn’t wanted to get anyone sick. Today I was finally meeting her to verify that we were on the same page for the job at the school. Casey had done an initial interview and she seemed interested, so we were going to the site today. Construction was going on to finish the interior renovations we’d chosen, but if we were going to open in the fall, we needed someone running the show. Especially considering I might be leaving.