Warriors of Poseidon 01.5 - Wild Hearts in Atlantis

be as keen as a panther's, but his hearing was preternaturally sharp. "Moaning. That way." He pointed through a grove of trees and took off at a dead run. The moaning had sounded human.
     
    Even in human form, Kat moved like the panther she was and seemed almost to flow through the underbrush to meet him as they found the source of the moaning. It was a shapeshifter—another panther. The man stared wildly up at them, throat drenched in scarlet blood from the wounds that ripped through the side of his neck. "Kat? It was Terminus," he said, voice rasping with the effort. "Tell Ethan. Terminus did this."
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Kat dropped to her knees next to the man, tears streaming down her face, already barking orders into her radio. She gave their location, then dropped the radio on the ground and reached for the man's wrist, trying to check his pulse. "Nicky? No, Nicky, no.
    You have to hang on. We'll get help, I promise."
     
    Tears streamed down her face, and Bastien stood there, helpless with rage. Wanting fiercely to grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and spirit her away from any possible danger. Knowing he couldn't. He fisted his hands on the hilts of his daggers and scanned the area, though his senses told him the attackers were long gone. Those were vampire bite marks, and the morning sun burning down was sufficient evidence that the vampires had gone to ground.
     
    Nicky held up a hand to Kat, and she clasped it in both of her own. "I'm sorry, Kat," he managed, hoarse voice fading even as the light in his eyes did the same. Bastien watched as the man's eyes changed. Turned to panther eyes. His death was fast approaching.
     
    Kat shook her head wildly back and forth. "No. You tell me you're sorry later, when you're better," she commanded.
     
    "You deserve to know, Kat. Ethan… Ethan wants you. His plan… his… " Nicky's chest heaved in a shuddering gasp, and then his head fell to the side and his hand slid limply out of Kat's grasp.
     
    Kat lifted her head to stare at Bastien, agony in every line of her tear-stained face. "But it's Nicky. He can't be dead. He's my friend."
     
    Bastien couldn't stop himself. He knelt to sweep her into his arms and lifted her, cradling her to his chest. It was imperative that he soothe her; his soul demanded it. "Shhh. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. May Poseidon and the gods of your ancestors watch over him on his journey into the light."
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    He bent his forehead to touch hers, trying to transmit his sympathy and sorrow for her loss. Wishing he could take the pain into himself and protect her from it.
     
    She clutched his shirt and gave in to a firestorm of sobbing, but it lasted less than a single minute. Then, abruptly, her tears stopped. Her breathing slowed down from its frantic pace until it was rhythmic again. Measured. Calm.
     
    She looked up at him, and the force of the anguish in her eyes dimmed, as he stared into them. "Please put me down now," she said, clearly trying to pull her dignity around her.
     
    His arms tightened involuntarily, but he forced himself to release her. He gently set her down, so that she stood on the path before him.
     
    "You see," she said, utterly calm. Features utterly still. "I am not merely half shapeshifter. I am half human. My gift, as you call it, blocks me even from the wholly human emotion of mourning for a childhood friend. I'm neither human nor shapeshifter, but a bastard hybrid—half of each."
     
    Her lips twisted with evident self-disgust. "And half of nothing is still nothing."
     
    Before he could speak, he heard the hum of the all-terrain vehicles thundering up the path behind them. Voices calling out for Kat. She shouted out to them, and the opportunity was lost.
     
    But Kat's gift apparently only worked on aggression. Because the torment racking through Bastien at the sight of her pain and self-loathing didn't abate in the slightest.

Chapter Seven
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Bastien entered the enormous house designated as the home and headquarters of the Florida panther alpha, walking slightly in front of Kat. He didn't like what he'd heard of this Ethan character, and every protective instinct he'd ever possessed was on overload.
     
    The sensations of predator and violence permeating the house didn't help, either. He tuned his senses to