Free Read Available at Goodreads

Good morning (afternoon, evening, whatever time it is in your neck of the woods).

As you may know, each year Goodreads M/M Group hosts an annual free read event. This year's event is called Love Has No Boundaries, and here's how it works. Readers are given picture prompts to claim and write a letter for an author, in hopes of having a story told. The authors then claim the letters, interpreting the letter and picture to create a short story. Check out the thread for many great stories by some extremely talented authors.

I've been priviledged to participate in this event for all three years, with short contemporary, coming of age, freinds to lovers, Sweet Dreams, a fantasy, elf story, In Dreams, and now this year, once again, I'm offering something different, a sci-fi: The Sentinel.

Thank you, Brett, for your letter and inspiration.

PHOTO DESCRIPTION:
A sepia tone photograph shows a handsome man, bare-chested, who sits cradling a baby in both hands. He has short hair and a muscled body, and he gazes adoringly at the baby.

STORY LETTER:
Dear Author,

This man is a protector, a fierce and rugged man with a checkered past and an absent family… and yet he holds our new daughter with such tenderness and care. He loves my entire clan of a family nearly as much as he loves me, and despite his horrid birth family, he has become the brother, the son, the cousin, the uncle that they never knew they were missing.

He loves us all, and protects us all… even when the proverbial s*$% hits the fan.

Please tell our story, how he came to be so gentle and loving of my family, OUR family, yet can be so fierce, so distant, from the rest of the world.

Sincerely,

Brett

STORY INFO:
Genre: science fiction
Tags: futuristic, other world, enemies to lovers, military, men with children
Content warnings: character death, off-page child abuse
Word count: 16,910