by Wade, Jena
“Iain, I won’t last long.”
“Don’t hold back,” I said. I gripped my cock and pumped. Stroking myself as I rocked.
“Can’t baby, not with you.”
I held his gaze as I moved. Twelve hours ago, I was a blushing virgin who’d barely looked in his direction despite the intense crush I had on him. Now, I held his gaze as he bucked in place.
I knew a moment before it happened. I saw his release build in his eyes as he let loose inside of me. I followed soon after, cum raining down on his chest, marking him as mine. He was my alpha in that moment, in my heart. Always.
He rolled us over until I was underneath him and kissed me. I opened for him, reveling in his taste. I feared I’d never get another moment like this. I held him tight as the heat left my body. It was truly over now. We would have to move and get up eventually, but for now, I stayed. I stroked his back as my eyes fluttered closed and I let sleep take me once again.
Chapter Six
Xavier
I woke up and the shock of what had transpired between Prince Iain and I seeped in slowly. I didn’t even allow myself a moment to enjoy the omega snuggled against me and the way his breath tickled my chest each time he breathed. His scent surrounded me, but it was muted now that his heat had passed. It was no less enticing though. Prince Iain was and always would be my kryptonite.
How had I let things go so far? I couldn’t bring myself to regret a single moment of it. Iain was amazing. He always had been.
Being with him was everything I had ever dreamed it would be. A memory that I would cherish for a lifetime. But a memory it would have to remain. There would be no repeats of the last night.
I got out of bed and stood at the foot of it to watch my prince sleep. He was curled against the pillow I had been using. The heat flush that covered his cheeks and neck just hours earlier was gone.
I put on my clothes and snuck out into the hallway, making my way quickly to my own quarters. The palace was quiet this time of day, but of course I was on camera and I passed several of my colleagues as they stood guard outside of the royal family’s rooms. None gave any indication if they knew what I’d done last night. And how would they know? I was assigned to guard Prince Iain and I most certainly hadn’t let him out of my sight.
I showered and got dressed in my uniform. I knew exactly what I had to do, but I wasn't looking forward to it.
The king would have to accept my resignation. I'd broken protocol. I’d slept with his youngest son. His only omega son. I wouldn’t blame him if he threw me in the dungeon. We were under strict orders never to get involved with the royal family in any way, shape, or form. Our job was to protect the family, not befriend them. Being that the entire Royal Guard was alphas, we were also under strict orders not to get involved with the royal family’s only omega son.
I made my way to the king's office. I didn’t know if he was available, it was likely that he wasn’t considering he was the king of a country. The man was busy. But damnit, this was important. I wasn’t going to let the king find out about me and Prince Iain through the grapevine. I knew there would be whispers and rumors, there were no secrets in the palace.
It had been an entire day since I’d entered Prince Iain’s room and not come up for air. Perhaps his majesty already knew.
I took a deep breath as I knocked. Brom, the king’s personal guard opened the door.
“Xavier, we’ve been expecting you,” Brom said. He was younger than me, and hadn’t been on the guard as long. He was chosen as the king’s personal guard because he was damn good at his job and his size and the level of intimidation it tended to provoke.
“Oh, I,” I cleared my throat, determined not to waiver. I wasn’t ashamed of being with Prince Iain, but I did need to be honest about it. “I need to have a discussion with His Majesty.” They were expecting me? Shit. I was headed to the dungeon for sure. My only regret would be not telling Iain, not kissing him goodbye before I left this morning.
“Sure, if I can just have a moment,” Brom said and he closed the door. I waited there for five minutes. A few times I heard an odd clank of metal. Handcuffs? Chains meant to keep me bound in a jail cell?
Finally, the door opened. It was the king himself.
“Your Majesty.” I bowed.
“Xavier, come on in. This is about Iain, yes?”
I thanked my years of training that I was able to keep my face from displaying the turmoil that boiled inside me. I nodded.
“Come on in.”
I followed the king into his office. He sat down behind his grand desk. Next to him sat his omega, Neale Steinhauer Genthner, the king’s consort. He and Iain resembled each other very much.
“I sent Brom away,” the king said. “I knew that Iain was in his room experiencing his heat when the alarm sounded yesterday. I was told you were the bodyguard closest and that you had to remove his other guard from the room?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The king nodded. “I understand that Iain was not hurt during the exchange, but I can only imagine how scared he must have been. That guard has been removed from the grounds and will be undergoing therapy to work on his control. At this time, we do not plan to reinstate him with the Guard, however if you believe he isn’t a threat to our son or anyone else, we can be persuaded.”
That was good news. “No Your Majesty, you made the correct call.”
“You have been in Iain’s room for the past day, correct?”
I nodded. This conversation was not going the way I’d expected. I wished I’d been more prepared. What had I come here to confess?
“And how did that go?” The king stared me down. He leaned forward on his desk, hands folded in front of him.
“Sir—we—the prince and I—”
He held up a hand. “That tells me everything I need to know.”
His consort took a deep breath. “Is our son all right?”
“I—yes he is.” I looked between the two of them and it was almost as if I was a school-aged boy again in the principal’s office. “I didn't—it was—I mean—” Fuck, I couldn’t talk.
“We’re not worried that you harmed him in anyway. We know you are an honorable man and that whatever happened between you two was consensual. We didn't fear for a moment that you would do anything to harm him.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I wouldn’t ever let anything happen to Prince Iain. Or anyone in the family. It is my job to keep you all protected.” For however long that may be. The king didn’t seem angry with me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t in trouble or that I wouldn’t be fired.
“So, you and Iain, hmm? That is an exciting new development. I’ve always suspected he had a crush on you, but don’t tell him we knew. See, honey, we'll get these kids married off one by one.” The king grinned as he looked over at his husband.
I raised an eyebrow. “Married?”
The king narrowed his eyes at me. “Well, what was your plan? To quit your job and leave our son?”
I stared at the king, open mouthed, unable to make words. That had been my plan. I hadn’t thought far beyond that. I didn’t want to leave Iain, but surely he would never be allowed to be with the likes of me? I was a common bodyguard; he was a prince.
“We'll have an additional guard assigned to him, but being in a relationship with a bodyguard is not a terrible idea. It will be good for Iain to have someone,” Neale said.
“I am not of any sort of noble birth.” It was a lame excuse, an extremely outdated one, but it was the first I came up with. I was making a mess of this. I should have talked with Iain before going to his fathers. Now the two of us were practically engaged.
“Please, that is hardly of any concern,” the king said. “Neither is Wendell. We don't love him any less. We're not snobby.”
“No, of course not. Your Majesty, I didn't mean that.”
“You do want to be with our son, right?” Neale asked, concern filled his eyes. And though I’d never seen the king’s
consort angry ever in my career at the palace, I knew in that moment that he wouldn’t tolerate anyone toying his child’s emotions.
We had that in common. I wouldn’t allow Iain to be hurt in any way either. He was mine to protect, mine to love.
The immediate answer was yes, I cared deeply for Prince Iain, but a marriage so soon? Was that the answer? “I was going to resign, sir.”
“Iain deserves more than a one-night stand,” the king said. His hands balled into fists.
“I agree—"
The door opened and somebody came in. “Your Majesty, you're needed for a press briefing. They would like to know about the alarm yesterday. And also, we have the wedding meeting in five minutes.”
“Of course,” the king stood, and I stood along with him. “I expect you will make this right, Xavier. Until then, we will hold off your resignation. We'll have all of your on duty time assigned to Iain from now on. Dismissed.”
I bowed and left the room.
Chapter Seven
Iain
I wasn't surprised when I woke up the next day and the bed was empty. I shouldn't have been. I expected it. He was a guard who got caught up in the moment and I was a prince who should have known better than to get involved. But I was incredibly grateful for the experience and deliciously sore.
What would happen now?
Would we just go on like nothing happened? I had no way of knowing who Xavier was usually scheduled to guard, or if he was even assigned to a member of the royal family. Maybe he had moved up the ranks and did more of the coordination work for the palace.
Would Xavier quit his job because he’d technically broken the rules? I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.
I didn't want that to be my fault.
We could just go on like nothing happened. Pretend that we’d spent the night locked in my room avoiding whoever had broken in. I assumed the situation hadn’t been that serious in the end since we hadn’t been escorted to a more secure location.
No one had to know what had transpired between me and Xavier.
I didn't have time to worry about it though. I had plans for the day. I grabbed my phone and sent out a few text messages to some key people to see what I could help with for the day. I had a lot to catch up on and there wasn’t a moment to lose. I was already a day behind schedule. My meeting with my fathers had been pushed back a couple more days, since they were up to their necks in wedding planning and my unexpected heat had thrown a wrench into things. I needed to get back to a regular schedule and resume the activities that had kept me busy before leaving for Esmour.
My friend got back to me right away, letting me know that she would be waiting for me at Haven House, a group home located in the city. Apparently, it was the perfect day to visit, because they had an outing planned with the younger kids.
The group home housed the children that were currently in the Swena foster care system but had not been placed with a family. These were kids that were abandoned at birth or whose parents had lost their parental rights. It was a cause near and dear to my heart, which was how I met and become friends with Cheryl, who managed the home.
I got dressed and left my room. Jerome was there, having returned from his few days off with his family.
“You could have taken more time,” I said without preamble.
He shrugged. “I can only take so much time with my mom asking me when I'm going to settle down and find a nice omega and start giving her grandkids.”
I laughed. “She didn’t waste any time starting up that conversation.”
“It was literally this first thing she said to me, right after, ‘Jerome, you’re too skinny.’”
I grinned. I’d met Jerome’s mother on a few occasions and loved her dearly. She just wanted the best for her son. “That's what happens when you’re the oldest. When you’re the last born, like me, no one pays any attention.”
Jerome laughed. “I try to redirect the conversation to my brother, but she always tells me he has plenty of time before he needs to settle down. And he’s only a year younger than me.”
“See. The youngest get the most leeway.”
He shook his head, then straitened as if he just realized we were home now and we had to act more formal. “Where to Iain?” he asked. “Whoops, I mean, where to, Your Highness?”
I groaned. “Please. I'm not going to expect any of that from you or anyone on my team.”
“It's the reality of where we are,” he said. He kept his back straight, truly assuming the stance of a bodyguard. My stomach dropped. I’d forgotten that we weren’t supposed to be friends.
“Yeah, but I make the rules, and I think we’ll stick with you all calling me Iain.”
“Whatever you say, Your Highness.”
I shot him a look. “We are heading to the group home. From there Tiffany says they are going on an outing.”
“What does that mean, exactly? I’ll need to have clearance, and back up in case we’re going someplace crowded.”
“I have no idea.”
“Iain, I really should know all of the places we plan on going today, so we can prepare and have our security team ready before we arrive. It should be fine today, but in the future—”
I held up a hand. “I know. But I’m already behind on what I wanted to accomplish since being home. Let’s go, and I’m sure it will be fine. The press hardly took note of me arriving back to Swena, I doubt they will show up at Haven House.”
“Your Highness! Prince Iain.”
We both turned around to find Xavier hustling down the hallway. He wore a fresh uniform: a black suit along with an earpiece.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. I shot a glance at Jerome. He stood at attention, losing his relaxed demeanor he usually had with me. Xavier was his superior and it was frowned upon for the guards to get too friendly with the family, though I preferred it.
“I have been assigned to you for the foreseeable future,” Xavier said. He kept his face blank, not looking at me with the flush of desire he had just twenty four hours ago.
Good for him for being able to turn it off.
My eyebrows shot up. “Pardon me, what now?”
“You are my responsibility. I’ll be taking over as your security detail. Today, tomorrow, the next day.” He said it so casually, as if that wasn’t a huge deal at all.
I shook my head. “No. You've never been assigned to me before. Why now?” I looked to Jerome for help, but he looked straight forward as if he wasn’t a part of the conversation. He’d gone into full bodyguard mode rather than friend mode. “I'm going to be late if we don't leave now. Why don’t you stay here, and we’ll figure this out later?”
“No. Jerome and I will handle your security detail today. Then we’ll work on having your schedule planned out in advance.”
Anger brewed within me. “I’ve never—”
“You do now,” Xavier said. “Personally, I’ve always felt that you didn’t have enough attention paid to your security and now you will. Like the rest of the royal family, your schedule will be planned in advance and you’ll have a team of two assigned to you at all times.”
My jaw dropped. I didn't want to have this conversation and I wasn't prepared for it. “I’ll discuss this with the king after Jerome and I return from Haven House.”
“Have we closed the streets to the location and alerted neighboring businesses that we’ll be in the area?” he asked Jerome, not me, which only irritated me more.
I rolled my eyes. “Please, I'm the youngest royal son, not the heir apparent and certainly not the king. We can just go. We’ll drive in normal cars like normal people. There is no need to disrupt the lives of Swena’s citizens just because I have a meeting.”
“I don't think that's the best idea,” Xavier said without hesitation before turning his gaze back to Jerome.
“I don't think you have a choice,” I said. “I'm leaving now.” I stamped my foot for good measure. I had been a prince all my life, but I’d never thr
own a fit like I was now. Shame filled me for my behavior, but dammit, I was not backing down.
Xavier took a deep breath. “Fine. But from now on we follow protocol.”
I wanted to scream. I hadn’t been following protocol for several years now, long before I had left the country. The Royal Guard had never taken much interest in what me or my detail did. So why now? Was it due to the royal wedding or because of what had happened between us? I couldn't believe that just twenty hours earlier, we had been together, joined in the most intimate way, and now we were arguing over my schedule and what I was allowed to do.
I knew Xavier was a stickler for the rules, but this was my life. “Fine,” I said. “We'll talk about it tomorrow. I plan on discussing this matter with the king before it goes any further.” My father would be on Xavier’s side. My security detail, or lack thereof, was a direct result of being the forgotten prince, and nothing to do with my fathers’ approval of the lack of security.
“I've already run everything by them. They're on my side,” Xavier said. “I’ve filled them in on the details.”
My blood ran cold. So he’d gone straight from my bed to my father’s office? My stomach knotted as the knowledge of his betrayal sunk in. What had he told them? I felt as if I’d taken a sucker punch to the gut.
Fuck.
***
The drive to Haven House was short and though I didn’t wish to say much, I wasn’t about to let Xavier’s presence force me into silence. Instead I inquired about Jerome’s mother and how she had faired in the past year while we’d been gone. I pretended that Xavier wasn’t there and didn’t even look in his direction.
Once we arrived at Haven House, we went into the back entrance. No media had been alerted that I would be there. Not that it would have mattered anyways. The lot of them were all at the palace, hoping to get a glimpse of Wendell, my new brother-in-law, and the newborn baby. Or perhaps they were hoping to see Cort with his betrothed. Though I had yet to see the two of them together, and I doubted the press had either.