The Prince's Bodyguard

by Wade, Jena

  I chuckled. “Thanks Cheryl. I appreciate that.”

  We talked for a while longer, switching the topic to Haven House and the needs they still had. It was nice to bury myself in plans for that instead of wallowing in my own problems. This situation wasn’t going to resolve itself today. I just needed time, and a little bit of luck. Maybe Cheryl saw something I didn’t. Perhaps if I did sit down and talk with Xavier, I might be surprised.

  He couldn’t have faked the desire in his eyes when we were together during my heat. That wasn’t just lust. It was real and magical. I just needed to know if it was forever.

  Chapter Twelve

  Xavier

  I roamed the halls of the palace after my conversation with Iain. Kalwin refused to tell me where he was so I was left to my own devices. I could call the king but keeping it out of the press would be impossible and if I wanted to stay in Iain’s good graces, that was not the way to do it.

  So I walked. Deep in thought and with a heavy heart. I never should have run from his bed. I should have stayed and told him how I felt about him, instead I’d run to the king and backed Iain into a corner with this talk of marriage.

  I approached the billiard’s room. Prince Cort’s guard stood at the door. I nodded as I passed, then stopped.

  Cort was alone in the room. I stepped inside. “Your Majesty, may I have a word?”

  Cort put down the book he held. He raised a brow as he looked at me. His lips curled into a slow smile. “Finally realized that Iain gave you the slip, huh?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” I bowed.

  “Sit,” he said.

  “I’m surprised that you approve of this, Your Majesty.”

  “Stop with the formalities. It’s Cort to my family, and most likely you will fall under that category soon.”

  “I have my doubts.”

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I know Iain is safe. I will not tell you where he went. My brother is not the dramatic type, so when he and Kalwin pulled the ol’ switcheroo, I knew it was serious.”

  “You’ve spoken with him?”

  Cort nodded. “He didn’t give me any details. He’s never been one to share his personal affairs with many besides Kalwin. I just assumed his abrupt departure had to do with you.”

  “Unfortunately, yes, it does.”

  “I trust this will all be straightened out soon, yes? Otherwise I will need to craft some excuses to tell my parents. I can only hold them off for so long.”

  I stiffened. I wanted to promise that it would all be resolved tomorrow, but I could not. “I’m not sure.”

  “My parents have good intentions. Like the mess with Gus. They wanted to see him married, they want grandchildren like many other parents of grown children. They just seem to go about it the wrong way sometimes. And they worry about Iain and they do love him very much. They’ve never quite known what to do with him, and since omegas cannot hold a position as an advisor to the king, they have let his talents and passion for our country go to waste. I don’t intend to make that mistake. One of my first initiatives will be to bring our protocols into the 21st century. And, if I have my way, Iain will be one of my top advisors, just don’t tell Iain that yet.”

  “Of course.” I wasn’t sure what there was for me to say. Cort was correct, his parents were out of date in a lot of their thinking and they didn’t pay near enough attention to their youngest son, but I couldn’t speak ill of my king.

  “Bring him home, Xavier. Whatever the two of you need to do, I will help with. I do have quite a bit of pull around here. You have time since your charge is nowhere around and you can’t be assigned elsewhere without explaining why you aren’t guarding Iain. I trust that the two of you can work this out between yourselves, but if necessary I can always mediate.” He grinned and his eyes sparkled with mischief.

  I’d never gotten a chance to get to know the future king other than on a profession level, now I got the feeling there was a lot more to him than met the eye.

  “Of course, Your Majesty. I will.”

  ***

  It took me five days. Five miserable days of searching. But it was worth it when I opened that door and Iain’s eyes went wide.

  “Xavier. How in the hell did you find me?”

  I grinned. “It's complicated. And honestly, I'm just shocked that it worked.”

  His shoulders slumped in defeat and he peeked his head out to look down the hall. “Is it just you?”

  “Just me,” I said. “No one else at the palace knows I am here. And your location is still safe from your parents.”

  He nodded. “Come in,” he said, and he pulled the door open.

  I stepped into the small apartment, a far cry from the suite of rooms he had at the palace, but likely it was a step up from the accommodations he’d had while in Esmour. I wondered which of those locations he preferred? That was a topic we'd explore another day.

  “Going somewhere?” I said, indicating to the suitcase next to the couch.

  The apartment was absolutely pristine as if he was—“Are you running? Where are you going? I'll follow you. And I will find you, Iain.”

  Iain rolled his eyes. “Don't be so dramatic. I was coming back to the palace. I’ve had enough time to think and make sense of things. Besides, I have the rehearsal of the rehearsal for the royal wedding next month, and God knows there have been a million changes I haven't been made aware of yet.”

  “Do all of your brothers know where you are?”

  Iain nodded. “They respected my decision to take some space.”

  I nodded. “I understand wanting to have time to yourself.”

  “Oh really, Xavier? You understand what it's like to be the forgotten prince of the royal family?” Iain didn’t give me a chance to respond. He headed toward the kitchen. “Would you like some coffee?”

  I shook my head. “Good, because I'm actually all out. I packed up all the food.”

  I leaned against the sofa, unsure of where to stand or what to do. It was odd to be so out of sorts in front of Iain. I’d spend so much time the past few days thinking of what I was going to say to him, and now that I was here, and he stood in front of me, my mind was blank.

  “Do you want me to take you back to the palace?”

  Iain shook his head. “No. Maybe? I hadn’t really thought about what it would look like for me to just show up.”

  I shrugged. “Walk in the front door, I guess.”

  “How did you find me?”

  I grinned. “That took some doing. I knew you had to still be in the city, because getting one of the princes on a plane would have been one hell of a feat. It took some time, but I went through a lot of Kalwin’s tabloid shots of him out in the city. He goes to the coffee place downstairs quite a bit. So I thought maybe he had a place here in this building.”

  “How'd you get the room number?”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “I didn't. I was here yesterday, knocking on doors.”

  Iain’s jaw dropped. “Knocking?”

  “Yeah, I did the first two floors and then had to leave before I was escorted out. I came back today. I've been up and down the hallway once already. Did the left side, then the right.”

  A smile tugged at Iain's lips. “Very good detective work.”

  I grinned. “Well, it worked out in my favor. Though, I was sure I’d be escorted off the premises sooner or later.”

  “You could have just waited for me to come back.”

  “I was worried that you weren't going to.”

  Iain sighed. “I wasn't going to leave my family.”

  “I didn’t think that, Iain. Not for a moment. I knew you needed space, and I wanted to give that to you. But I also know that I need to speak with you, without the distractions around. Alpha to omega.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Iain

  The fact that he was here, in front of me still hadn’t set in. I was just about to leave, to crawl my way back to the palace and start my new
journey in whatever role a newly married omega prince had.

  “So, what’s next Xavier? Are you going to take me back to the palace where we'll begin planning our extravagant, over-the-top, way-too-expensive wedding? Even if we keep it small, you know my parents will make a show of it. And it will have to be last minute of course, because we can’t let anything about our relationship get to the press, and we wouldn’t want to overshadow the real royal wedding, since that one's not too far away.” I slumped back against the sofa because it was clear we weren't leaving right away. And dammit if I really didn't want to. It was nice to spend time with Xavier away from the palace and away from all the distractions.

  He looked nice here, at home. It fit him. He’d taken off his leather jacket and placed it over the back of the sofa.

  “I messed up,” he said. He sat down across from me and leaned on his elbows on his knees.

  I raised a brow. I had expected a lecture, but this was a nice surprise. “Go on.”

  “The one rule the royal guard has, the one that we swear never to break.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, sleeping with your one of the royal family. To be fair, you were also protecting me from being taken against my will by the other guard, so… it cancels out, I guess.”

  “No, not that. I mean, yes, I did stop that from happening. But to be honest, sleeping with the royal family isn't the one rule.”

  I snorted. “I should hope not. I would hope you guys have several rules for how to behave yourselves while protecting the royal family.”

  Xavier shot me a look and I clamped my mouth shut.

  “We do but sleeping with the royal family isn't uncommon. I mean, not in your generation, of course. But you do know the story of your great-great-great grandfather and his guard, right?”

  “Yes, of course. Although, we all had to learn that one in secret. It isn’t exactly written down on the family tree or talked about in Royal Family 101. We don't talk about great granddad in his transgressions with the alpha of the guard.”

  “The king’s consort and the head of the royal guard had quite the family together,” Xavier said.

  I remembered the story fondly, though it had to have caused quite a scandal at the time or maybe extra-marital affairs were normal back then. And this particular one was more of a love story than a torrid affair.

  “Yes, es, they did.” His line still continued today. The king at the time, granted a title to his husband's illegitimate children. The family chose to stay out of the limelight, but we did see them at royal events, including Cort’s upcoming wedding.

  “So, what?” I said.

  “While it is most certainly a fire-able offense, it is not the rule that I broke.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “I broke the rule when I fell in love with you.”

  I sucked in a breath, not believing the words that had just hit my ears. “Xavier,” I said. “You don't have—”

  “I'm not making it up, Iain.”

  I shuddered when I heard my first name on his lips. His voice was gruff and low, giving me no reason to believe that he was lying.

  “I'm not just saying that to sway you one way or another, towards marriage or away from it. I know getting married will make your parents happy and avoid whatever scandal they think will come of us being together. I am more interested in what you want. You, Iain Neale Genthner. What do you want as a man, as an omega? Not as a prince. Would you take me as your alpha?”

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  Xavier was by my side in an instant, pulling me into his arms. He cupped my cheek, brushing away the tears that had formed in the corner of my eyes.

  “I want you,” I said. “Everything else can fade away. I just want you.”

  He grinned. “You and I could live in this apartment forever if that was what you wanted.”

  “That sounds great,” I said. I sucked in a deep breath and let out slowly. “But I can't run from my title.”

  He shook his head. “No, I suppose not.”

  “And there's something else you should know…”

  His brow furrowed. He pulled me into his lap and I snuggled against him. In his arms was my happy place. I felt comfort and calm for the first time since seeing the lines on the test a few days ago.

  “What is it, my prince? Whatever it is, we'll take care of it together.”

  I laughed. “Funny you should phrase it that way. I'm really hoping I can hold you to that. I'm pregnant.”

  Xavier's eyes went wide. “Really? For real? I know that… Wow,” he said. His gaze lingered on my belly. The whites of his eyes so visible as he continued to stare.

  I rolled my eyes. “You can't see anything yet. It's extremely early.”

  Still, he put his hand there. “Our child. Wow.”

  “My parents are going to have a hey-day over this,” I said and I wiped at my nose with my sleeve.

  “Your parents? We're not even thinking about them right now. This is just you and me, Iain. Nothing else matters. I know they mean well, but—”

  “They miss the mark sometimes. Most of the time,” I said. They wanted our lives to fit in a royal box, with no room for what we wanted or needed.

  “I had a chance to speak with Cort while you were away.”

  “Cort? You’re on a first name basis with the heir apparent?”

  “I guess so,” Xavier said. “He told me that since we're going to be brothers and I could call him Cort.”

  “Brothers, huh?” I said. “Feel free to call him a royal pain in the ass then.”

  Xavier smiled. “Well, I'm not going to get quite that familiar with him.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Xavier raised an eyebrow. “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, I'll marry you.” I laid my head on his chest, the heat of his body warming me. His arms held me around my hips. “I don't want the huge event. Just my brothers and our friends. I mean, I only have like two friends. Do you have any friends?”

  Xavier laughed. “I have a few. Luckily, all of them are in the guard. So that takes care of security.”

  I laughed and buried my face in his chest, inhaling his alpha scent. It sent calming waves through me and my body relaxed. “We're really doing this?”

  “We really are. And your brother will support us in whatever fashion we want. Large or small. On palace grounds or off. He said he would take care of it.”

  “So he is serious about bringing the royal protocols into the 21st century?” I knew Cort had ambitions to do that but hadn’t had a chance to speak with him about it since I’d returned home from Esmour. Too much had happened.

  “He absolutely is. It's time he started speaking with your parents about it. And he feels that this is his opportunity.”

  “Well, in that case, I'm more than happy to help. Anything that will make our child's life a little easier. And my nephew’s as well.”

  Xavier placed his forehead against mine and trailed his fingers down my cheek. “I missed you, omega.”

  I chuckled. “Were you a little bored without me to guard?”

  “I was sad because you weren’t there to hold. Frustrated because you weren’t there for me to grovel to. Terrified that I’d ruined the best thing that had ever happened to me. I love you,” Xavier said.

  My insides turned all gushy, my heart beating wildly. This was the moment I’d wanted the morning I’d woken up from my heat. The cuddles, the declaration of love, the promises of forever. “I love you, too. Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Iain

  Walking into the palace was surreal. I went in through the employee entrance with Xavier since he was the one driving. When we went inside, we passed the security desk. Margaret, the receptionist, and administrative assistant to the head of security blinked at me.

  “Your Highness,” she said quickly as she stood to bow. Confusion flashed across her face, but she kept her composure.

  I smiled and bowed back. “Hi Margaret. It’s great to see you a
gain.”

  She looked down at her monitors. “Yes, Your Highness. Welcome home. But you’re… You're in your room right now?”

  I peered over to see what she was looking at. It was the hallway outside my room, the camera focused on my door where a guard stood outside.

  “Yes, and that's exactly where I'm going to go.” I winked at her.

  She looked over to Xavier.

  He shrugged. “Don't ask.”

  “Can you tell me where my brothers are?” I asked her. It would save us hunting them all down or sending out a mass text. It was evening in the palace and as far as I knew, they were all home but that didn't mean they weren't scattered throughout the place.

  “Actually, they're all in the billiards room. Looks like they're getting into the game cabinet.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “I assume you’re off the clock?” I asked Xavier.

  He grinned and nodded. “Pretty sure that's a permanent state for me now.”

  I laughed. “Oh, you'll find out just what it's like to be part of this family. You're never off the clock.”

  “Maybe we can get a body double for me, like you have with Kalwin?”

  My eyes widened. “That's brilliant. We could hide away anywhere.”

  I laced my fingers into his as we walked out of the security office and into the main lobby of the palace.

  This was our showroom. It served no functional purpose, but to be a backdrop for photo opportunities and the occasional palace tour. It was odd to walk through the palace like this, hand in hand with my boyfriend, fiancé, baby daddy, as the Americans would say. He was all of those things and so much more.

  We walked together, up the stairs and down the hall to the billiards room. We passed many of the staff members, some of who didn’t give us a second glance. But I did catch a few knowing looks. It didn’t surprise me that the grapevine was full of rumors about me and Xavier. I wasn’t bothered by it though.

  Laughter filtered out of the doors of the billiards room. Xavier nodded to the security guard standing at the entrance. The man gave no indication that he noticed our interlaced hands and he didn’t act surprised to see Xavier with me on a less than professional capacity. Had Xavier’s team been informed? I knew he’d begun the transition of the royal wedding planning, but how much did the security detail know about us?