Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Natalia

I’m used to drills, but I’m usually in charge of Casey and Levi or just myself. I’ve never had a guest like this before, especially not one who’s physically challenged at the moment. I know in my gut Sandor did this on purpose to test me, and I’m not sure what to do. I know what I’m supposed to do, but damn, making the choice between leaving Cooper behind or allowing him to slow us down significantly is difficult.

“I need a weapon,” he says, wincing as he pulls on sweats.

I hesitate.

“You’re going to have to leave me behind,” he says. “Give me a weapon to protect myself. I know it’s a drill, but you’re supposed to behave as if it’s the real thing, right?”

I nod.

“Do you have an extra weapon?”

I don’t respond and simply run to my closet, reaching up to engage the fingerprint sensitive lock on my biometric gun safe. I pull out my personal weapon, a Sig P626 9mm pistol, and hand it to him.

“It’s loaded. Are you ready to go?”

His eyes gleam as he straps on the holster I have it housed in.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Our eyes meet, and I head for the door.

We probably lost about six or seven seconds talking about the gun, but that’s okay. We have ten-second margins of error. The only issue will be getting through the halls to the nearest tunnel entrance. I know he can’t make it in the allotted time, but I can probably help. He’s bigger than I am, but he’s not huge like Sandor or Axel, who are both massive.

“Do your best to keep up,” I call over my shoulder.

At a time like this, where the drill happens when I’m off-duty, I don’t have anyone specific to protect. The idea is for as many of us as possible to get to the tunnels and the meeting point, which is what we would do if this was truly an attack. We gather in a couple of places and from there we would be assigned protection duty.

Cooper nods. “You do what you have to do. I’ll make it.”

“You don’t know where the tunnels are, so I need to guide you. Let’s just do the best we can.” We hurry down the hall toward the stairs—elevators are prohibited during a drill or attack—and I hate watching Cooper grimacing in pain, but there’s no help for it.

There’s noise in the stairwell and I look back at Cooper.

He’s dragging.

Moving, definitely faster than most people who’d just gone through the physical abuse he’d suffered in Iraq, but definitely not like normal. Or like me.

I turn and reach for him, putting an arm around his waist.

“Come on,” I urge. “We can do this together.”

“Dammit, Nat, we can’t! I’m going to mess this up for you.”

“This is a test,” I hiss, nudging him along. “They know you’re here. They know what you’ve been through. They know if I’m not on active duty with someone in the family, I’m never going to leave you behind. They’re testing me to see if I can save you in time.”

“Fuck.” He picks up speed even though I can sense how much it’s costing him. Luckily, he’s a tough sonofabitch who just survived being tortured by the Taliban so he’s going to push through. I hope so anyway.

We get to the tunnel at the end of the hallway, and I reach for the lever beneath a gilded decorative antique table. The door swings open and I punch numbers into the concealed keypad. A hidden pocket-style door slides open, and I push him inside.

“It’s a slide,” I say. “The end might be painful, but you need to go.” Before he can acknowledge, I push him into position, and he disappears from sight.

I glance behind me, which is what I would do if this were a real attack, and then push the buttons that will trigger all the mechanism that hopefully puts everything back in place so someone coming down this hallway wouldn’t even realize there was a secret passage.

It’s all very cloak and dagger, but after multiple attacks both on the palace and Parliament House, which is where the government meets, Sandor and Erik decided this was the safest course of action.

The tunnels have been here for centuries, but most of the originals have become dead ends and/or replaced with new ones going in different directions. This one is a newer one, put on this floor because there weren’t any.

As I throw myself down the slide, I feel a moment of silliness, wondering when the last time I was on a slide for fun. Or had any fun, really. Other than a few evenings with Logan where we went into town and walked around the shops, a couple of romantic dinners, and some game nights when I was stationed in Iraq, there’s been very little anything that even remotely resembles fun.

I land at the bottom with a jolt and find Cooper there catching his breath. The landing is a little jarring, and I’m sure it didn’t do his ribs any favors, but he’s a trooper. And the strongest man I’ve ever met.

“The meeting point isn’t far,” I tell him. “How are you doing?”

He grunts. “I’ll make it, but I’ll pay for it tomorrow.”

I grab his arm and toss it over my shoulders. “Come on. I’ve got you. And don’t give me any of that macho, alpha bullshit. I’ll suck your dick later to make it up to you but right now, lean on me.”

He chuckles. “If I’m completely honest, macho alpha bullshit is currently unavailable.”

We hobble the rest of the way to the meeting point, and I nearly cry with relief. I know my time isn’t great, but I’m sure it’s at the low end of acceptable. As far as I’m concerned, this is a win.

“Very nice.” Sandor nods at me. “With one point five seconds to spare.”

I don’t roll my eyes because he doesn’t like it during drills, but I really want to.

“I’m impressed,” Joe says, marking something in his notebook. “Good job, Natalia.”

I’m currently the only Protector who’s still in training, other than Dax, who took my place in Iraq. We do drills regularly, and we’re always timed because they feel strongly about getting everyone out in time, but since I haven’t had my official ceremony yet, I’m technically still being assessed.

“We do apologize to you,” Prince Daniil says to Cooper. He’s Sandor’s brother and currently the President of Parliament. “We knew it would undoubtedly be uncomfortable, but this was a rare opportunity to see how Natalia reacts when there’s someone she cares about in danger but who isn’t part of the royal family.”

“Totally understandable,” he replies. “No worries.”

I love how they’re talking about me like I’m not standing right here.

Not .

“Normally, they’re at three in the morning,” Lennox says dryly, bouncing one of her newborn sons on her hip. “But I vetoed that. For both of us.”

“I appreciate it,” Cooper says.

“I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to formally introduce you to everyone,” I say.

“I thought you said this was an all-hands drill?” Cooper says, looking around.

“It is,” Joe replies, “but full-time palace staff go to a different area. Ace is over monitoring that part of the drill. The royal guards don’t participate because obviously we’re not going to leave entrances to the palace vulnerable for a drill, and some of the family no longer lives on site.”

“And Luke is out on a date,” Casey says, wrinkling her nose, “so Marcus is with him.”

“He’s out on a date ?” Joe asks, arching his brows. “I thought it was just a group thing?”

“It is, but there’s a girl he likes. They went to the soccer match together. Marcus, Harlow, and Isla are all there to chaperone. So to speak.” Casey shrugs playfully.

“Harlow is my sister,” Lennox says to Cooper. “She moved here and teaches at the international baccalaureate school we opened. And Isla is married to Dax, who essentially took Natalia’s place in Iraq to finish that part of his Royal Protector training.”

There are a lot of names and faces to learn, but Cooper doesn’t seem at all intimidated.

“You guys run a pretty tight ship,” is all he says. “It’s impressive.”

They talk logistics for a couple of minutes before Casey interrupts impatiently.

“Can I please put the baby to bed now?” she asks, tapping her foot.

Sandor chuckles. “Yeah. Go ahead.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” King Erik tells her.

“I’ll walk with you,” I offer, since it’s expected anyway. There’s no way we’d allow Casey to walk all the way to the royal apartment carrying Levi without an escort. There are a lot of steps and some of the newer tunnels aren’t well lit. That’s done by design, of course, to confuse anyone who manages to get down here that’s not supposed to be here, but it’s a hassle during drills.

“Someone will get Cooper back to your room,” Joe calls after me.

“Thank you.” I nod and fall into step behind Casey. Levi’s squirming to get down and she lets him but keeps a hand on the back of his shirt.

“I know these are necessary,” Casey murmurs, “but they’re exhausting. It’s part of the reason Xander and Elen are moving into their own place soon. Sandor and Joe firmly believe having these drills will make it so second nature that it will save our lives during a real attack. Like the last one. It was only a month ago, so it’s still a little raw, I guess.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” I whisper guiltily.

“Don’t do that. You’re entitled to a few days off. There was no way to know something was going to happen.”

“Yeah, but Lennox went into labor. She could have died.”

“She was going into labor whether you were here or not, and she didn’t die. Everything is fine.” She pauses. “Because we do these super annoying drills, everyone was prepared. We all knew what to do.”

“I feel terrible for Cooper,” I say. “But he’s as tough as they come.”

“You may want to treat him to a little something special later tonight,” Casey teases as we get to the stairwell that leads back up to the palace. The tunnels consist of different levels in different places, and there are a dozen secret entrances, all with different lock codes. One of the things we’ve all had to do—including Casey and all the teenage children—is memorize and learn them all. It’s a lot, and I feel bad for the kids, but this is part of the life we lead here.

“I hope this doesn’t scare him off,” I say after a moment.

She shakes her head. “If this scares him off, he was never the right guy. And frankly, I think it’ll take a hell of a lot more to scare him off than palace drills.”

“We already have so much working against us. We were having a conversation about it all, and then one thing led to another…” I flush even though she can’t see me in the semi-darkness.

“Who initiated? You or him?”

“Definitely him.”

“So you wanted to talk and he wanted sex?”

“We both wanted to talk and once I admitted I didn’t want him to leave, to go finish his recovery in the States, that’s when he initiated.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s all you need to know, Natalia.”

We step up to the door that leads to the Royal Apartment, and I punch in the code. “Is it?” I ask in confusion. “What do I know?”

“We already talked about this, but we can go over it again since you’re spectacularly resistant to listening when it comes to this particular subject.” She puts Levi down and he immediately heads for his toy box.

“You don’t have to—” I begin.

“Oh, but I do. So, listen up because we only have about six minutes before Levi realizes how late it is and how tired he is and starts to melt down.” She puts her hands on her hips. “As far as what you need to know: One. You know he wants to be here because he could have lied and said he didn’t have permission. Two. You know he really likes you because… that whole sex in Iraq thing, which was totally against the rules, and also, see number one. And finally, number three—from what you described, the moment you admitted you didn’t want him to leave, he did what men do to show you not just what they want, but what you want. And now—” Levi lets out a wail as he drops a toy car on his foot, and Casey scoops him up without losing her train of thought. “—my toddler is ready for bed.”

“Wow, I should have stayed in the tunnels.” Erik comes in through the front door, and Casey gives him a dirty look.

“Did you seriously use the elevator?”

His eyes widen innocently as he reaches for Levi. “Of course not, dear. I took the stairs just like you did. Now, let me get my little prince into the bath.” He hurries down the hall and Casey and I both burst out laughing.