LOGINHIS BODYGUARD (BOOK TWO)CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONEI slammed the car door harder than I needed to the second we pulled up to the estate. The event had drained every last drop of patience I had left. Cameras, fake smiles, people who used to talk shit about me now pretending we were old friends — I was over it.All I wanted was a shower, a drink, and to be left the fuck alone.Rafael, of course, was right on my heels like always.“Slow down,” he said, voice low and steady in that irritating way of his. “You’re making yourself an easy target.”I spun around on the gravel, heat already crawling up my neck.“What the fuck, bro? I’m not a child. Stop acting like I’m going to trip and break my neck.”Rafael didn’t even flinch. He just stepped in closer, his broad body cutting off my path to the door. The man was built like he was carved from stone, and right now he was using every inch of that size to box me in.“You’re not a child,” he said quietly. His eyes dragged over my face, slow and
EPILOGUEThe sun was warm on the garden that afternoon. Two boys, seven and five, ran in circles around the old oak tree, laughing so loudly that the birds flew away in protest. Their names were Elias and Theo, and they had inherited their fathers’ stubbornness and their mother’s golden eyes.Rowan sat on the stone bench beneath the tree, one hand resting on the gentle swell of his stomach. He was pregnant again — their third child. This one had been a surprise, but a welcome one. He watched his sons play with a small, tired smile on his face.“Elias! Theo!” Rowan called out, his voice carrying across the garden. “Do not climb that high! Your fathers will have a heart attack if you fall.”Elias paused halfway up the lowest branch, looking guilty. “But Papa, I can reach the big branch! Theo cannot because he is smaller!”Theo puffed up his chest. “I can too! Watch me!”Rowan sighed, rubbing his belly. “Both of you, down. Now. I mean it.”Dante stood a few feet away, arms crossed, watch
CHAPTER 177NARRATOR Rowan stood in the corridor outside the throne room, staring at Lucien’s ruined face. Blood still poured from the empty socket where his eye had been. The rage that had been simmering inside Rowan for days finally snapped.He stepped forward without a word and placed both hands on either side of Lucien’s face. Golden light flared from his palms, bright and warm. Lucien sucked in a sharp breath as the wound began to close. Flesh knit together. The bleeding stopped. Within seconds, the injury was gone, and the eye returned.“Rowan…”Rowan’s eyes were glowing brighter than they ever had before. When he spoke, his voice carried an ancient weight.“He doesn’t get to take anything else from us.”He turned and walked away from the throne room. The golden wings of light that had appeared earlier now burned steadily at his back. Every step he took left faint glowing footprints on the stone floor.He could feel Seraph’s essence. It was fleeing toward the old ruins outside
CHAPTER 176LUCIENSeraph had disappeared during fighting and I had found him first before Dante.The throne room was a fucking slaughterhouse.Blood covered the floor in thick, dark pools. Bodies of loyal guards and servants were scattered everywhere. Some were still twitching as the last of Seraph’s magic tried to claim them. The air smelled like death and burnt shadow.Seraph stood in front of the throne like he already owned it. That twisted black-gold fire still clung to his body, but it was flickering now. He looked tired. Good. I wanted him exhausted when I killed him.I stepped over a dead guard and walked straight toward him, both blades drawn.“Seraph.”He turned slowly, that same smug smile on his face.“Lucien.”I didn’t waste time with more words.I attacked.Our blades met in a shower of sparks. The sound echoed through the empty throne room. Seraph was fast, but I was faster. I drove him back with brutal, heavy strikes, forcing him away from the throne.“You should have
CHAPTER 175KADEAfter what Seraph said, I ran immediately.“Evacuate the children,” I told the guards standing in front of me. “Every single one. The ones from the orphan houses, the servant quarters. Get them out through the eastern tunnels. Now.”He nodded once and ran.I stayed behind with whatever men I could spare. It was not enough. I moved through the chaos with my sword in hand, cutting down anything that moved with black veins. My men followed close behind me.“Hold this corridor!” I shouted. A young guard beside me was breathing hard.Another guard came running from the opposite direction, covered in blood.“King Kade! The eastern tunnel is clear! The first group of children has already gone through!”I nodded, wiping sweat from my eyes.“Good. Keep sending them. Do not stop until every last one is out.”The guard hesitated.“Your Majesty, you are bleeding.”“I am aware,” I said. “Keep moving.”I turned back to the fight. The air was thick with the smell of blood and burn
CHAPTER 174DANTEThe final assault came at dusk.Seraph did not send his cultists this time. He came by himself.He walked through the front gates of the palace like he owned them, cloaked in a twisted version of Rowan’s golden light. But where Rowan’s power burned clean and bright, Seraph’s version was corrupted, black fire wrapped in false gold. It moved like living shadows around his body, and every step he took left scorched footprints on the stone.I met him on the grand staircase.Lucien and Kade were already fighting below with what remained of our forces. Rowan stood a few steps behind me, his own golden wings flickering in and out as he tried to hold the line. I could feel the strain on our bond. Seraph’s magic was pressing against it, trying to tear the connection between the four of us apart.Seraph stopped halfway up the stairs and smiled at me.“King Dante,” he said, voice layered with too many tones at once. “You finally came out to play. I was beginning to think you wo
CHAPTER 16ROWANI stirred slowly, my body pulling me out of the deepest sleep I'd had in months. My eyes fluttered open to the soft afternoon light slipping through the heavy curtains. The room felt... different. Warmer. Heavier. That scent still lingered everywhere—pine, smoke, and something so d
CHAPTER 21ROWANI stumbled out of the restroom with my heart pounding so wildly in my chest that I could barely hear anything over the rush of blood in my ears, my gala suit completely soaked through with warm, sticky crimson that dripped down my arms and splattered onto the polished marble floors
CHAPTER 20ROWANThree days later, the guards arrived at my door precisely when the invitation had specified, their expressions as impassive as ever beneath the elaborate silver masks that marked the gala's theme, and I followed them down the winding corridors without a single protest because fight
CHAPTER 15ROWAN Nyra scrambled off the floor first, smoothing her torn dress with shaking hands. Her cheek glowed red from my slap, hair wild and makeup smeared. She straightened fast, chin high, and launched into speech before I could even catch my breath.“Your Majesty,” she said quickly, voice







