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V ictor had barely opened his eyes after Evergreen teleported him and Dudley to the Ascension Center when his best friend grabbed his hand.

“Hurry up,” Evergreen hissed as he hustled them through the hallway.

“Slow down,” Victor pleaded.

“Slow down?” Evergreen repeated incredulously. “Are you out of your damn mind? Why would I slow down? I have to meet your mates.”

“They are waiting for us, and we are having lunch with them,” Dudley pointed out from behind them. “We do not need to run.”

“Who’s running?” Evergreen demanded as he yanked on Victor’s arm.

“I’m going to trip,” Victor complained, trying to keep his balance.

Evergreen huffed. “Normally I applaud you wearing a heeled boot, but today it’s irritating.”

They’d been frighteningly expensive, but Victor loved the mixture of patterns on his boots. Like his bedroom, the dominant colors were pink and aqua. They were a great compliment to the blue-green pants he’d paired with a vivid top in the same rose shade as his footwear.

It was rare for Victor to indulge himself with such an extravagant purchase, but he worked hard and saved far more than he spent. Or at least that was how he consoled himself when he thought about how much money had left his bank account for a single pair of boots.

Since it was pointless to argue with an excited Evergreen, Victor glared and didn’t comment as they turned a corner and raced along another corridor.

“Stop giving me that look; I know you’re excited to see your men,” Evergreen chided.

“Of course I’m excited, I just don’t usually head for them at a breakneck speed.”

“Well, you should,” Evergreen retorted. “You’re wasting precious time you could be spending with them.”

Victor barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Thankfully, Evergreen dragged him through a pair of double doors, and Victor caught sight of a serious sentinel with dark eyes full of mysterious things he wanted to explore. At his side was a fallen knight with a bright smile that never failed to fill Victor and his kitty with joy.

Pulling away from Evergreen, Victor raced to the pair. He lifted to his toes and took Phillip’s cheeks in his hands. The cinnamon-scented Phillip bent and kissed Victor. It was no chaste peck. Lust punched Victor in the belly as their tongues dueled. If Victor had been anywhere else, he would’ve plastered his body to Phillip’s tall frame, but he was mindful of their audience and his form-fitting pants.

Pulling away, Victor winked at him before he took a large step to his right. To his delight, Keegan grinned and settled his mouth on Victor’s. Unlike the aggressive Phillip, Keegan waited patiently for Victor to take charge of their caress. Happy to give Keegan what he wished, Victor cherished the smell of sunflowers as he tasted the fallen knight.

Hoping no one noticed that his dick had indeed risen to the temptation of his gorgeous mates, Victor softly ended the kiss and stepped between the two men Fate had given him. He settled a palm on each of their backs and introduced them to his closest friends.

“Which one of the fallen knights over there staring at us prefers to share unwanted statistics with people?” Evergreen asked loudly.

“Do not start trouble with the Order of the Fallen Knights,” Dudley warned.

“Excuse me?” Evergreen asked. “I didn’t start anything. The Order of the Fallen Knights did. Over at the Sentinel Brotherhood, we treat mates with respect and don’t poke our noses in other people’s business.”

“While that is true, we must maintain a professional working relationship with the Order of the Fallen Knights,” Dudley replied. “Phillip, it is a pleasure to meet you. As a sentinel, I must apologize for delaying our acquaintance. I regret that we have yet to find ourselves sparring in a gym at the sentinel complex. Evergreen would not allow me to speak to you until Victor introduced him to you and Keegan.”

“You can change the subject all you want, but I still say it’s rude to say anything negative to someone about their mate,” Evergreen remarked as he crossed his arms.

Victor shook his head and couldn’t stop his smile. “Behave yourself. We need to get some food; Keegan has class in an hour, and Phillip has dragon training with Jeremiah.”

With a glare for the fallen knights watching them silently from a nearby table, Evergreen stalked away to grab a tray.

“I like your friends,” Keegan whispered as Victor and his men followed Evergreen.

“Me too,” Phillip said. “And I hope we will have a chance to spar soon, Dudley. I have been looking forward to meeting you and Evergreen. My spell was written to tell me much about the office managers of my race, and I am grateful to finally have a chance to get to know you.”

“I will ensure you have my phone number so we can arrange it soon,” Dudley said.

Within minutes everyone had a tray, and Keegan was kind enough to introduce Evergreen, Victor, and Dudley to the other four fallen knights before everyone was settled at a nearby table. Thankfully, Evergreen was cordial, but he was not overly chatty to the men and women. Although Victor wouldn’t start a spat with anyone present, neither he nor his cat was interested in talking overmuch to the two fallen knights who’d tried to dim Keegan’s light.

“Alaric won’t admit this because he pretends not to like fallen knights, but he’s been bragging about you both,” Evergreen said. “He has a lot to be proud of. A sentinel with a dragon and two mates, and a fallen knight scoring very high in both the mental and physical tests.”

“Keegan’s accomplishments are extremely noteworthy,” Phillip commented. “Like Alaric, I am proud of him.”

“Don’t minimize your gifts,” Victor told Phillip.

Phillip’s mouth tightened. “Fate has been extremely kind to me. I am the first sentinel with a dragon. The lone one resurrected with a beast. Shortly after I was granted a second chance at life, she gave me the ultimate gift of two extraordinary men. I have accomplished nothing. It is Fate’s efforts Alaric brags of, not my own.”

“I’m so glad you said that,” Evergreen replied.

Victor’s bite of salad hung in mid-air as he stared at his best friend. “You are? Because I’m not at all. The last thing either Keegan or I want to hear is Phillip downplaying his efforts to balance this precarious relationship he’s forced to navigate with his dragon.”

“Exactly,” Evergreen retorted. “Eat your salad and I’ll explain. Samson struggled horribly, and a lot of it was because he needed purpose. Phillip is a sentinel. What do we know about sentinels? They are hypercompetitive. As far as I know, they are the lone race who strives to be uniform. Anything that sets them apart from their brethren freaks them out. So, what is sticking poor Phillip in a room by himself for most of the damn day going to do? Make him feel like shit, which antagonizes the very relationship he’s trying to strengthen with his dragon.”

“I do not seek to anger you, but I spend some hours in the gym working on my dagger training,” Phillip said. “There are also appointments online with Jeremiah to strengthen the bond with my dragon.”

“And we all know that sentinels train because they love it. You aren’t in the gym because you need to strengthen those skills. Your resurrection spell will always push you to train. That isn’t an improvement on anything, and you know it,” Evergreen responded. “Hanging out with Jeremiah probably doesn’t take long. You need more to do with yourself. Tell Alaric that. He’ll listen to you. You’re the only person he’s going to listen to about this, okay?”

“Can Phillip tell his boss what to do?” Keegan asked.

“Explain it, Dudley,” Evergreen ordered with a wave of his fork.

“I spent a century in the former compound,” Dudley remarked. “There was no Skeleton Seven. We had Alaric but no one else. He was not the Lich Sentinel to us. While he was our leader, he had a duty with a far greater importance. He was our friend. Alaric has our best interests fully at heart and would find it odder were we to keep secrets from him than to speak to him directly about our wants and needs. I have learned we are unique in this way, and like my brethren, I applaud that which makes us stand out from other races.”

“I did not speak to Alaric about it because until recently I worried about my dragon disrupting any task he chose for me,” Phillip ventured.

“Things are better now though?” Evergreen asked.

“Yes, my dragon grows fonder of Keegan and Victor with each passing hour, making our own bond stronger,” Phillip replied.

“So, you’ll talk to Alaric?”

Phillip smiled. “This afternoon.”

“Good. Like every sentinel, you require purpose,” Evergreen said. “You’re built differently, and I love that about sentinels. But sometimes strengths can also be weaknesses if they aren’t honored properly. Together, you and Alaric can figure out a way to give you accomplishable goals.”

“Evergreen, I hope you and Dudley are prepared to have a fallen knight best friend,” Keegan commented, wearing that bright grin Victor adored.

“A cute fallen knight with big brown eyes and a killer smile as a bestie?” Evergreen asked. Victor’s cat grumbled at the way Evergreen complimented Keegan, which was odd, but he ignored it. He wasn’t sure why his beast was suddenly acting so overprotective. “Yeah, I think I can manage that. Now that we have Phillip squared away, let’s talk about those sexy kisses, boys. I loved them. I want to see more of them.”

“Ignore him; our kisses are private,” Victor said.

“Please,” Evergreen retorted. “We’re going to be spending entirely too much time together for you the three of you to keep from sharing tons of kisses. You can choose not to tell me anything, but I still get to watch and drool.”

“Maybe we should find new friends,” Victor told his mates.

“No, I like them,” Phillip replied.

“Same,” Keegan added.

“Traitors,” Victor teased.

“You guys will have to come over to our apartment and have dinner,” Evergreen insisted. “I can show you all the plants Dudley keeps alive despite my best efforts to murder them just by existing.”

“But he’s not at all bitter that he’s the one who’s half druid,” Victor quipped.

“People literally joke that I have a black thumb,” Evergreen complained. “Bax and Ben once tried to replace all my office plants with plastic ones. Talk about humiliating.”

“If you can’t grow things, does that mean you can resurrect people?” Keegan asked.

Evergreen nodded. “Yes, and I know I should be grateful. I am grateful. But half my heritage is druidic. I want to walk through the fields and have things grow around me like in some fantasy book. You know, birds singing and flowers opening right in my face. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

“Do you think you want those things because your mate is a druid?” Keegan asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t know, would I?” Evergreen retorted. “Do you see my super-hot mate anywhere?”

“How do you know he will be super hot?” Dudley asked.

“Because Fate will guarantee he is super hot to me, even if everyone else thinks he is horribly ugly,” Evergreen explained. “That’s how it works.”

“Since I cannot interpret beauty except in my own mate and I have not met him yet, tell me if Victor’s mates are ugly or not,” Dudley requested with a grin.

“This is why people complain about sentinels,” Victor muttered. “Except for Phillip. He’s the only sentinel no one should ever bitch about. I can assure you they are both super hot.”

“You’d think that no matter what because we’re your mates,” Keegan teased.

“Now I get why Victor called you Sunshine on the phone with me,” Evergreen said, aiming a saucy grin at Keegan. “Look at that smile and the way you so effortlessly annoyed Victor. I adore you, Keegan.”

To Victor’s surprise, his normally easy-going and placid cat rumbled ferociously in his head again—this time far louder than the first roar.

“Woah,” Evergreen said, his eyes widening. “Sorry. Wow. You guys are very protective of Keegan.”

“I’ve never heard two people growl in unison,” Dudley commented.

Victor hadn’t been aware he was making a sound, but he forced himself to stop. At his side, Phillip ceased too, but his jaw flexed.

“Sorry, guys,” Evergreen remarked earnestly. “Seriously, I didn’t mean to overstep. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable with my little flirting, Keegan.”

“No, I’m good,” Keegan said. “Phillip. Victor. I’m fine. I promise. I like Evergreen. He can tease me.”

“Tease me all you want, Keegan, but I’ll think before I open my mouth again. Your mates are still eyeballing me like they want me dead, and it’s making the hair at the back of my neck stick up,” Evergreen confided.

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” Victor remarked. Pain sang up his fingers, and he realized it was because he had a death grip on his fork. Victor set it aside. He laid a hand on Phillip’s thigh and found the muscles bunched beneath his palm.

“It is an important clue,” Dudley murmured. “You are both overprotective of Keegan. You must keep that in mind for Phillip’s dragon.”

“My apologies, Evergreen,” Phillip eventually said. “Intellectually, I know you were doing nothing wrong, but my dragon wanted to shift. Dudley is right. I must be mindful of how my dragon reacts to my mates.”

“Are you okay now?” Keegan asked.

“Yes, no shift is imminent,” Phillip assured him. Victor released a long exhale as Phillip laid a hand on Victor’s. The muscles in Phillip’s leg also relaxed. It soothed Victor’s kitty. “He is nearly calm again. Evergreen, you do not owe us an apology, and I hate to think of you suppressing any of your personality by overthinking your words.”

“No worries, I’ll flirt with you instead unless Victor is going to maul me for that too,” Evergreen quipped.

“Find your mate, then you can flirt with him,” Dudley suggested.

“You’re a sentinel. Go track my mate and bring him here,” Evergreen retorted.

Phillip chuckled. “I hope we can arrange a meal at your home soon. It will be delightful to spend more time with you both.”

“Oh, for sure, Phillip,” Evergreen said. “Except Dudley will have to skip it because he’ll be busy tracking my mate.”

Dudley rolled his eyes, and Victor laughed. He was still taken aback by the ferocious response from his cat, but he respected his beast. Neither Victor nor Phillip could tolerate Keegan being teased. Was it a clue into a past where the three of them were separated? It was really no use wondering; there would be no answers. Bar the minor hiccup of a dragon almost shifting in the cafeteria to protect Keegan, their first meeting with Evergreen and Dudley had gone off with barely a hitch, which pleased Victor. He wanted his mates and best friends to get along.