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.