Page 24 of Fated Surrender

“Try it and I’ll skin you alive,” Madison said coldly.

Shit.He had said that out loud. He parked the truck at the diner one hour and twenty minutes later. He stared at the neon red “Open” sign.

“Go take your lumps like a man. That’s what you get for keeping secrets,” Madison said, opening the truck door before climbing out and slamming it shut.

He got out and joined her on the sidewalk.

“Why couldn’t Gabriel just walk outside to take the call?” He shook his head, holding the door open for his mate.

“Probably because he didn’t know you were a fucking Sentinel and thought you were in danger,” she said loudly.

Connor froze and looked into the diner from the doorway. Every head had turned to stare at him. He looked down and realized he had forgotten to change back into his diner clothes. Right now, he really did look every inch a Sentinel.

“Thanks, Madison,” he said with clenched teeth.

“Any time,” she said, smiling up at him sweetly, before waltzing by and taking a chair next to her brother.

Connor walked in and went over to where his ma waited for him in front of the counter, standing next to Pa who was sitting on one of the barstools.

“Hey, Ma,” he mumbled. His ma walked over who pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace.

“Don’t you ever scare us like that again! Now. What in the world is going on with you, Connor? You haven’t been sleeping, you’ve lost weight. You’re distracted and distant. Are the Sentinels bothering you? What did Madison mean when she said you were a Sentinel? She is mistaken, right?” Ma fired off question after question.

He took a deep breath, held both of her hands in his, and led her to the table to sit next to Aleks and Rebecca. He nodded at Pa and sat next to his mate.

“Madison is right, Ma. I am a Sentinel. I was recruited out of college to work a serial killer case at the suggestion of my college advisor. He was also a shifter, and he knew that I applied what I learned about psychology and took into consideration the animal aspect of things. It’s why he suggested me. The serial killer was suspected of being a shifter by Sentinel,” Connor explained.

“The trip you took to help battered women in Virginia?” Ma asked.

He nodded.

“We were tracking the killer. He was a wolf-shifter. He would shift to his animal and lure small boys out of their homes at night. He would abduct them, rape them, and hide the bodies in the foundations of houses that were being built that summer in a shiny new housing development.” Connor looked around the table.

Everyone looked horrified. Ma had her hand to her mouth.

“Once I figured out how he was getting the boys, we set up a wide net. I was the one who nearly caught him in the backyard of the house we were watching. The little boy was reaching out to pet him. He saw me and ran. When he realized we were closing in on him, he left a trail of boy’s bodies leading back here to Arkadia. He was going after the one that got away,” Connor said and looked at Gavin.

All the blood drained from his brother’s face.

“That’s why you stayed by my side when you came back from school that summer. You were working a case?” Gavin demanded.

“Did you find him?” Rebecca asked in a small voice.

“Yes. I shot him between the eyes at the edge of the perimeter next to a broken block of cement,” Connor said quietly, hanging his head.

“Harvey Miller,” Bran whispered.

“We had to demolish every house in that development. You see, he had been working construction on those houses since they broke ground. In the end we found forty-two bodies. None of it made the news, of course. Sentinel and the council kept that quiet. But, that was the case where Sentinel decided it needed a shifter profiler. So, I took the job. It was my way of atoning for not taking care of Harvey Miller when I had the chance. If I had, those boys wouldn’t have died.” Connor stared at his clasped hands.

“The trip to Vegas that summer?” Aleks asked, in a tight voice.

“I was recovering from the case. I had a bit of a breakdown. Depression, insomnia, nightmares. When I do this work I get inside the mind of the killer. While working the case, I’m haunted by the images of the dead, after the case I have nightmares where they blame me for not doing more. Then as more time goes by, it gets better. After a while, I couldn’t do the work anymore, so I came home. They only contact me when it’s bad, and they have no other leads,” he explained.

He felt hands grab the front of his suit jacket. He was easily lifted out of his chair, before a large fist connected with his jaw. Stumbling backward, he was caught by Mojo, who helped him to stand. When he looked up he saw Aleks breathing heavily, rubbing his fist.

“How could you keep this a secret? I’m your brother, I could have helped you!” Aleks yelled.

Connor took three steps and got in his eldest brother’s face.

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