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Jeremiah? Who the hell was—
The Hellhound turned back to her. “Your Majesty?”
“I need you to keep my son safe for me. Please.”
Remi stared at her, eyes burning with tears at her pleading voice and anguished face. Gone was the stoic queen, replaced by his loving mother, who had only ever wanted him to be happy and protected.
The Hellhound—Jeremiah—nodded brusquely, closed fist covering his heart as he gave a short bow. “I will, ma’am. With my life if necessary. You have my word.”
4
SUNSHINE
It didn’t even take a full day, and Jeremiah was regretting his promise to the queen.
Not because he couldn’t keep her son safe from whatever asshole was trying to come after the royal family. No, because he was pretty sure he was going to kill the kid himself.
After learning the truth of the situation, the crown prince had spent the entire rest of the day in his room with his music turned up so loud it hurt Jeremiah’s sensitive ears. A servant had brought him dinner, but the guy couldn’t even be bothered to answer the door when she knocked. Jeremiah had ended up taking the tray, then pounding on the door until it finally flung open.
Remington had jerked the food out of his hands without a word, then slammed it shut again.
Jeremiah wasn’t sure what infuriated him more: the kid’s ungrateful attitude or his seeming inability to take the threats against his family seriously. He didn’t know how he’d survived into adulthood without realizing that being the crown prince meant there would be restrictions on his movements and activities. It was like Remi thought he could just live a normal life since he didn’t look like he was a Siren. In fact, he and his younger brother both could probably pass as human most of the time.
The young princess, Sadie, was the only child of the king and queen who had noticeable scales along her jaw and down the outside of her forearms, even in the shadows.
But for Remi—and Percy—it was only in direct sunlight that you could see the soft iridescence, marking him as part Siren. That, and when you got up close on him and could see his eyes, their striking lavender color was a dead giveaway.
Not that Jeremiah thought they were striking. He’d barely even noticed them or how pink Remi’s lips were. Or how good he smelled—like coconuts and the freshness of a sea breeze.
Regardless, it didn’t matter how well Remington thought he could blend into the human world. The prince had to understand that Jeremiah wouldn’t put his safety at risk. Period. He didn’t care how much the kid pouted in his room about it either. In fact, if he stayed in his room for the next few days, that would make his job even easier. He didn’t mind coordinating with his team from the hallway outside.
Of course, he didn’t get that lucky.
Once Remi had finally fallen asleep the night before, Jeremiah had let a couple of royal guards come relieve him to make sure the prince didn’t do something stupid like sneak out of his bedroom. Even though it had been well past midnight, he’d spent a couple more hours responding to emails and messages he’d missed earlier in the day and then going over some of the threat assessment reports Thorne had provided him and the rest of his team. Jeremiah was focusing on anyone the royal guards had deemed an actual threat, and the others would be reexamining anyone who had been written off to make sure they really weren’t a threat.
When he’d shut off the lamp next to his obscenely comfortable bed, he’d figured he’d be able to sleep in, not anticipating the lazy prince to be an early riser…
Jeremiah was woken up bright and early by sharp, excited screams that had him jolting out of bed, his hellfire heating his hands. He was racing into Remi’s room before he was even fully awake, prepared to take on whatever had caused the commotion.
He came to a dead stop when he saw Remi, still lying in bed, covered by his twin siblings, who were jumping up and landing on top of him—first one, then the other—while talking animatedly about all of the things they were going to do now that Remi was home.
Their high-pitched voices were grating on his ears, but their genuine excitement at having their big brother back in the palace made Jeremiah wonder if he’d judged the prince too harshly. He’d seen firsthand how shitty people could be after experiencing a life-threatening incident. Some shut down, some became hysterical, and still others pretended it didn’t happen.
He’d assumed the prince was just a spoiled brat who cared more about the fact that his life at university had been interrupted than that his family was being threatened, but maybe that hadn’t been fair. Maybe… Maybe Remi had just been trying to protect himself by downplaying the seriousness. It happened, but it usually meant Jeremiah and his team had to work harder to keep the person safe since they were unwilling to change any aspects of their routine.
Luckily, he wouldn’t have to worry about that for the time being since he’d convinced the queen to keep the family locked up tight in the castle grounds.
He couldn’t really see Remi’s face, just the occasional flutter of his hands and a muffled “Okay, okay, whatever you want.”
He didn’t even sound annoyed, even though he hadn’t gotten much more sleep than Jeremiah had and could have arguably been upset at being woken up at the crack of dawn. Something warm unfurled in Jeremiah’s chest when Remi wrapped his arms around his brother and sister and started tickling them, sending the twins into hysterical giggles.
Shit. He rubbed between his pecs. Was this heartburn? He didn’t think Hellhounds could actually have that.
He didn’t make a sound, but something alerted the twins to his presence, and it wasn’t until they jolted around and stared at him with wide purple eyes that he realized he was only wearing his boxer briefs. Normally, he slept nude—less chance of losing clothing if he accidently lit up in his sleep—but he was glad he’d kept them on the night before. He definitely hadn’t been thinking enough when he’d woken up to stop to put anything on.
Clearing his throat, he crossed his hands over his crotch and stared back at the young royals. “Good morning,” he said gruffly, sounding like broken glass over gravel, thanks to the whopping two hours of sleep he’d gotten.
At the sound of his voice, Remi shot upright in his bed, jerking the twins back instinctively before he locked eyes on Jeremiah and relaxed slightly, seeming to remember who the strange man in his bedroom was. The instinctive urge to protect his siblings brought that warming sensation back to Jeremiah’s chest, but he did his best to ignore it.
