Story Excerpt
Beauty and His Guardian

flame div

Bay walked out into the living room and headed straight for the communication panel on the wall by the front door. He'd been here long enough to figure out who he needed to call to find out what in the hell was going on.

"This is Commander Baylor of the King's Royal Guard," he said as soon as the call connected. "What can you tell me about these explosions? Is the city under attack or is this an isolated incident?"

"It seems to be centered at the detention facility, sir," the commander of the security forces replied. He was the same man who had helped Jynx when people were trying to kill him. "I have men headed there now."

"Let me guess, someone is trying to break the prince out of prison?"

Commander Torak frowned. "It looks that way, but how did you know?"

"I just had a feeling that this wasn't over." It had been too easy to arrest the prince and prove his involvement with the attempt on the king's life. Granted, Bay was pretty sure the guy was guilty, but he wasn't the mastermind of that mess.

"Do you have adequate security personnel to deal with this or should I call a unit of guards down from my ship?"

"I have it handled, Commander."

"Fine." Bay disconnected before the commander could say another word. He had seen the commander bristle at the question and wished this wasn't a penis measuring contest. He just wanted to offer help if it was needed. He didn't care whose dick was bigger, although he was pretty sure it was his.

Bay brought up the galactic weblink and waited for the call to connect. When it did, he crossed his arm over his chest and gave a small bow. "Sire, may I speak with your consort?"

King Nicolas sighed. "If you must."

Bay almost smiled, but the situation was too dire.

"Baylor," Cooper said when he appeared on the screen.

"Sire, there's been an attack on the detention facility where the prince is housed. I offered the assistant of our guards. At the moment, the security commander believes he has it handled so, with your permission, I will place a unit of guards on standby."

Cooper's jaw clenched before he nodded. "I want a full report as soon as you can get one. If Ruk is involved in his, it might lead us to him."

"You believe Ruk is behind this?"

"Honestly, no. He had his chance with the prince and lost. I think he's moved on to another plan to get Nicky."

Made sense.

"What would you like me to do?" Bay asked.

"You go down there and make sure the prince doesn't escape. If the commander gives you any shit, plant your fist in his face."

Bay grinned. "Yes, sire."

He liked this side of Cooper. The human had become downright bloodthirsty ever since his Marsovian genetics had been activated and he'd transformed into the man he was today.

"Report to me as soon as you know anything."

"I will, sire."

Cooper disconnected the interweb link. Bay turned to look at Jynx. "I don't suppose I could convince you to stay here?"

Jynx snorted.

"I didn't think so."

Jynx was wonderful in just about every aspect of his personality. He was sweet, caring, smart, and so damn sexy, he made Bay's teeth ache. Unfortunately, he was also stubborn. Bay didn't even need to see the man's jutted jaw to know he would argue if Bay tried to make him stay behind.

"Well, come on if you coming. Cooper wants me to get down to the detention facility and see if I can figure out what is going on. He wants to know if Ruk is behind this, and if not, who is."

Jynx paled. "You think Ruk is behind this?"

"No and neither does to King's consort, but I'm not ruling anything out. Until I know for sure, everyone is suspect."

A little color came back to Jynx's cheeks as he raised an eyebrow. "Even me?"

Bay grinned as he grabbed Jynx and pulled him close. "You're at the top of the list."

Jynx laughed as he leaned into Bay.

Bay pressed a kiss to his lips before turning them toward the door. "You'll stay by my side at all times, understand?"

"Yes."

"If anyone tries to separate us, no matter who they are, use our link to alert me. Things are going to be pretty crazy and I don't want you getting lost in all of this."

"Consider me carbon bonded to your side."

Bay still had misgivings about Jynx going with him, but he also didn't want to leave the man behind. He really didn't like it when Jynx was out of eyesight. It was very hard to protect the man when he didn't know if he was in danger.

Once they got outside and hailed a hovercraft, it didn't take them very long to get to the detention facility. They had to get out of the hovercraft a couple of blocks away due to security barricades and there were a lot of people moving away from the area, but it was still closer than the apartment.

Bay kept a firm hold of Jynx's arm as they walked down the sidewalk toward the facility. He didn't trust that there wouldn't be someone dangerous in the throng of people trying to escape the fallout from the attack.

When they reached the security checkpoint, Bay looked around for someone who looked as if they might have some level of seniority. No one specifically stood out, but he knew there had to be someone in charge.

He spotted a man in a security uniform standing off to one side, his arms crossed as he looked out over the crowd. Bay would have dismissed him except there was something in the way he was looking at the crowd, almost as if he was scanning the people milling about for signs of danger.

He was the one Bay wanted to talk to.