Warriors of Poseidon 01.5 - Wild Hearts in Atlantis

high alert and stopped, waiting.
     
    Kat, walking with her head down, bumped into him and stopped. He glanced down at her, and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of her slumped shoulders and the tortured sorrow in her gaze. "What is it? Why are we stopping? Ethan said to meet him in the pool room," she said, voice low and hoarse.
     
    "Really? One of his own is murdered, and he has time to play a game or two of pool?
    Not much of a leader, is he?" Bastien heard the sharp sarcasm in his own voice and realized it might not be the proper tone for a liaison to take. Then the atmosphere in the airy entrance hall changed a split second before he sensed the danger and whirled to face it, daggers drawn, body poised in front of Kat.
     
    The man standing in the entranceway was completely familiar to Bastien, though he'd never seen him before. Three centuries of protecting humankind from shapeshifters had taught him a few lessons. This man was the alpha. It was clear in his stance—shoulders thrown back, legs apart. Head thrust aggressively forward.
     
    This had to be Ethan, and he expected instant subservience.
     
    Too fucking bad.
     
    Kat moved to walk around him, and Bastien put out a hand to block her. "Perhaps you could introduce us," he said, eyes never leaving Ethan.
     
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
    Page 43 of 85
    Ethan's lips drew back from his teeth a little, but he said nothing in response to Bastien's comment. Simply folded his arms across his chest and waited.
     
    Kat pushed Bastien's arm down and looked up at him. "Ethan is the alpha of my pride,"
    she said, impatience in her voice. "You don't need to protect me from him."
     
    "Oh, is that what he's doing?" the shapeshifter's voice was silky. "Maybe you could tell your friend that you're mine, and he interferes with pride business at his own risk."
     
    The fine hairs on the back of Bastien's neck went up at the words. "I know about pride hierarchy, shifter. Be advised that Kat belongs to no man, least of all one who allows his female to attack Kat with her nastiness."
     
    He heard Kat's sharp gasp at his words and figured he'd pay for them later. But something deep in his soul had rebelled at hearing the man refer to Kat as his.
     
    She's mine.
     
    Ethan snarled and shot ten feet toward them in one giant leap. Bastien raised his daggers and prepared for battle. But Kat stepped between them, holding her hands up.
    "Don't make me use my secret weapon," she said, weariness infusing her voice. "Don't we have better things to do when Nicky… when he…"
     
    Bastien waited for the alpha to stand down. The man's muscles tightened and then relaxed, and he inclined his head to Kat and Bastien. Bastien thrust his daggers back in their sheaths, then put his arm around Kat's shoulders. "You are correct, yet again."
     
    He squared his shoulders and held out a hand to Ethan. "My apologies. I mean to offer insult neither to your family nor to your honor, and I offer sincere condolences on the loss of your pride brother. I am Bastien from Atlantis, and we need to talk."
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Ethan waited a long moment, then grasped Bastien's hand and shook it. "No apologies are necessary. I can understand why a man—or an Atlantean—would want to defend Kat's honor. She is one of our pride's greatest treasures. Her… gift is of incalculable value to our defenses."
     
    Ethan's eyes narrowed as he stared pointedly at Bastien's arm resting on Kat's shoulder. The smoldering possession in the way Ethan looked at Kat made Bastien want to smash something. Or someone.
     
    Kat spoke up again. "We need to talk about Nicky, if you two are done marking your territory. Which, I might remind you, does not include me."
     
    Ethan evidently agreed, at least to the part about the need for a conversation, since he held up a hand to direct them to the room from which he'd just entered the hallway.
    Bastien smiled his best liaison smile. "After you."
     
    Ethan's lips twitched in a half-smile, and he strode in front of them toward the doorway.
     
    Bastien reluctantly released Kat's shoulders, but stopped her gently when she began to follow the shapeshifter. "Are you well?"
     
    "No. No, I'm not well in any way," she said. "But we need to do this."
     
    Bastien followed her through the doorway into an enormous room dominated by an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Ah. The pool room. Someone was doing