Page 39 of Fated Surrender

“Don’t be such a pussy. Come here, man,” Jaws said before pulling Connor down and kissing him nosily on the cheek.

“Don’t mess up his makeup,” a deep voice said from the back of the group.

“Fuck you, Casper,” Connor said, wiping his cheek.

“Casper?” Liam asked.

The extremely tall, well-built tank stepped forward. “Funny, huh? Big, black man with Casper as his call sign. What can I say? Someone used it a long time ago and it stuck,” Casper said, spreading his hands.

“It can’t be any funnier than a wolf named Bear.” The second mountain-like man moved from Casper’s side and clapped a beefy hand on Connor’s back.

“Guys, sorry. Baron, Ricochet, Casper, Jaws, Bear, meet my brothers. Aleks, Benedict, Duncan, Emmett, Finn, and Gavin. To the left are our town leaders, Liam Lewenhart, Bran McGregor, Caleb Donovan, and Prince Gabriel.” Connor turned to his family.

“These guys are the squad I served with when I was active duty,” he explained.

“It’s like a damn reunion,” Jaws said.

“Except for Spider,” Casper said quietly.

All of the Sentinels clenched their fists and looked at each other.

“It’s why we insisted on coming. To keep your family safe and to find the sick fuck who killed Spider, to make sure he dies,” Baron explained.

“We can’t tell you how much it means to us that y’all are here. In the envelope of photos that Connor got, he targeted our pregnant mates,” Aleks said, grinding his teeth.

“Don’t worry, big man, we got you covered. Besides our squad, we have one more patrolling the perimeter. He’s not getting anyone else,” Ricochet said, looking up to Aleks.

Connor had to shake his head. Ricochet was one of the exceptions to recruiting, coming in at only five-foot eight inches tall. After he managed to choke out the members of the review board for recruiting, they took him more seriously when they woke up.

Connor heard the slightest click, and his body was moving before his mind had a chance to process what he heard.

“Down!” he yelled, tackling Aleks to the ground before he heard a man yell out in pain.

“On the roof across the street. Find him,” Gabriel ordered. Three vampires immediately darted forward. Connor looked up to see the prince standing back straight, eyes a burning red.

“Man he is one badass-looking motherfucker,” Ricochet joked, holding his shoulder as sweat beaded on his forehead.

Gabriel turned and looked down at the injured Sentinel, his eyes settling into an eerie, emotionless, doll-like state.

“Only to those who threaten to harm what is mine,” Gabriel said, his fangs elongated.

“I take that back, the red was cool. That soulless black is creeping me out.” Ricochet grinned up at Gabriel, who shrugged and grinned back, though his was more feral.

“Anyone else hit?” Connor demanded, sitting up.

Aleks whacked his shoulder.

“What was that for?” Conner asked, rubbing his arm.

“I’m the older brother. I save you. Don’t forget that.” Aleks frowned at him.

“Trained Sentinel.” Connor pointed to his own chest. “Baby on the way,” Connor said, pointing to Aleks. “Sorry, I win.”

“He’s got you there, Aleks,” Liam said, helping Connor to stand.

“How do we know he’s not still up there about to shoot?” Bran asked.

“Because he knew that from the time the shot was fired until we found his location would be approximately three minutes. He didn’t have time to stick around,” Baron explained.

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