Ancient Sentinel

ANCIENT SENTINEL ANCIENTS RISING SERIES KATIE REUS Ancient Sentinel Ancients Rising Series Copyright © 2023 Katie Reus * * * Cover art by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs Editor: Julia Ganis This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work. CONTENTS About Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Epilogue Dear Readers Acknowledgments About the Author Complete Booklist He never expected her… Jaguar shifter Ren never thought he’d fall for anyone again—not after the last woman he opened his heart to tried to cut it out. Literally. But the moment he met Grace he fell hard and fast for the sweet human. Except she’s made it clear she’s only looking for friendship, and he wants it all. But he’ll do anything to claim her heart. Grace officially has a crush on her friend—a quiet jaguar shifter with kind eyes and deadly skills. However, he hasn’t given any indication he wants more than friendship. So she vows to move on—until they’re given an assignment by their Alpha. When they’re stuck together under the same roof, sharing one bed, it becomes impossible to hide her attraction. But then an unknown threat surfaces, putting Grace’s life in danger, and Ren will stop at nothing to protect the woman he knows is his mate. CHAPTER ONE As Grace reached the bottom step into the foyer, her sister Luna was stepping out of the living room. She narrowed her eyes at her sister and a split second later they both sprinted for the kitchen. “Ha!” Grace made it inside a moment before Luna—and found their older sister Jo, and Jo’s mate Cas, making out by the coffee pot. “Ugh, you guys!” Luna sidestepped her and practically shoved Jo and her dragon mate out of the way as she dove for the pot. “Snooze you lose, sucker,” she said, practically cackling as she started pouring herself the last of the coffee pot. Grace glared at her sister, no heat behind it. “At least start another pot.” She was verging on whining but didn’t care. She needed coffee stat—because she was on a mission. Today was the day. Yep. It definitely was. Grace was tired of ignoring her feelings for her friend Ren, tired of pretending they didn’t exist. She needed to get whatever this weirdness was out of her system. Which meant she actually needed to talk to Ren. And then maybe…get him inside her. Which sounded super dirty but whatever. She wasn’t going to get over the jaguar shifter anytime soon. Not when she saw him practically every day—and wanted way more than friendship. Before all that, however, she needed coffee. Her liquid courage to pump her up. “You’re such a baby,” Luna grumbled, practically shoving her mug at her, but her mouth curved up into a grin. “I know you need it more than me, especially today.” “Why especially today?” Cas frowned as he looked between the two of them. Grace inhaled deeply, took a sip of the perfectly doctored coffee. She and Luna drank it exactly the same, because they were both awesome. Three sugar scoops and two pours of creamer. Well, milk, since that was all they could get after The Fall. After taking a sip, she shrugged at her brother-in-law. “Come on, why?” He looked at Luna now. “None of your business,” Luna said with a grin as she started scooping out coffee grounds for a new pot. “I’m part of the family now.” The giant dragon looked almost hurt as he glanced between all three of them, his gaze landing on his mate. “Don’t I get to know family stuff?” Jo’s eyes were wide as she looked at Grace, her expression pleading. “Come on, he’s not going to say anything.” “Fine, but keep it zipped.” She motioned a zipper across her lips. “And no big brother over-the-top stuff, okay?” She’d quickly learned that once he was officially mated to Jo, he’d slid into a protective big brother role with ease—and dragons were already overprotective on a regular day. He frowned, but nodded. “I’m going to maybe…see if…” She cleared her throat. “Oh my God, she’s going to put herself out there with Ren,” Luna said in exasperation. His frown deepened as he slid a casual arm around Jo, pulled her close. Grace was so glad her older sister had found such happiness—and with the sweetest, if deadly, dragon. “Put yourself out there?” he asked. Jo nudged him. “She’s going to make a move on him.” “I’m not making a move. I’m just…testing the waters. Seeing if maybe he’s interested in me.” She was still figuring out the logistics. Because she’d never actually asked a guy out. Men or males had always asked her out. But she was impatient and needed to know if the spark she felt for him was just one-sided. The uncertainty was killing