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“Something I need to tell you?” Remi frowned, taking a half step back. “What are you talking about?”
The sound of footsteps approaching stopped him from pressing for more information right there. He glanced around and then decided they were close enough to the stairs that led up to their rooms that they should just go there for privacy.
“Come on.”
He waited for Remi—who rolled his eyes but followed, his gait stiff and far less amusing than it had been a few minutes ago—then led the way up to his borrowed bedroom.
As soon as the door was closed behind him, he turned on the prince. “Are you seriously fucking making plans to go back to school?”
Remi’s lavender eyes widened in surprise before narrowing. “Excuse me? Do you think I truly have a say in anything that happens in my life? Have you not been paying attention?”
Jeremiah jerked back at the raw pain and anger in his prince’s voice, the hurt radiating off him and seeping into Jeremiah’s nose and heart. “Why was that woman asking you about some fundraiser, then?”
Making an annoyed noise, Remi limped away from him, hands moving in the air as he explained. “Because my mother has decided that if there hasn’t been another attack or progress made on finding the culprits by the end of the month, then things can go back to normal basically. She’s going to bring the twins home and fly me back to school, but with a larger protection detail to be on the safe side. She said she was going to talk to you about it, but obviously she hasn’t if you’re this upset about—”
Jeremiah grabbed one of his waving hands as he moved past him, giving it a tug until Remi tumbled against him. His protective instincts finally began to settle once they were pressed against one another. He knew all the way down into his useless, damaged soul that the only place Remi would ever truly be safe was with him.
“She hasn’t said anything to me about that, no,” he said softly, clasping the back of Remi’s neck with his free hand to hold him even more firmly. Heat raced through him at the way Remi shivered and made a tiny sound of pleasure. “I’ll let her know I don’t think it’s a good idea. That only gives us a couple of weeks to—”
“It won’t matter,” Remi said softly, eyes falling to half-mast. He leaned forward and buried his face against Jeremiah’s chest, inhaling deeply. “Once she decides something, you can’t change her mind. And…”
“What?”
“She said your contract is up at the end of the month and you’ll be leaving anyway.”
Jeremiah snarled, shifting his hand up into Remi’s hair, gripping firmly, and jerking his head back so he could meet his eyes. “I don’t give a fuck about the contract. If she insists on sending you back to Hillsland before we find who’s behind this, then I’m coming with you.”
Remi’s perfect pink lips parted. “You will?”
“Little princeling…” Gods, he wanted to say so much. To tell him he’d never let him go. That his Hellhound had decided for the both of them long before Jeremiah had even admitted to himself that he was attracted to Remi. That he would claim him as his mate in every way imaginable and tie them together for eternity.
But he couldn’t say any of that.
Because Remi was a prince.
And Jeremiah… he was simply a patchwork monster. A beast created by two things that should never have crossed. He had no family. No title.
Nothing to offer a man like Remi.
“Sunshine?” Remi whispered, his hands slowly creeping up his abs and a tiny, hopeful smile on his lips.
Glancing away, Jeremiah cleared his throat and said gruffly, “I will. It’s my job to keep you safe, and I take that seriously.”
Remi stiffened against him, then tried to break free, but Jeremiah couldn’t convince his hands to release their hold. Putting emotional distance between them was what he’d wanted, but he had no control over his body as his arm wrapped around Remi to hold him more securely.
“Let me go.”
“Remi—”
“I mean it!”
He leaned down into Remi’s face and growled. “No.”
Completely unafraid, Remi lifted his chin. “Yes. You made yourself abundantly clear. You’re a professional, and I’m just a job to you. Got it.”
“I didn’t say that,” Jeremiah gritted out, knowing he was a hypocrite even as the words spilled out of him as he refused to let him go. “But what happened last night… it can’t happen again. We can’t… We just can’t, Remington. It was just something that happened, and we should move past it.”
Remi sucked in a breath like Jeremiah had slapped him, but then his face turned frigid. “Good to know. I didn’t realize hand jobs came with self-defense lessons, or I’d have asked Greg to teach me years ago.”
