Warriors of Poseidon 01.5 - Wild Hearts in Atlantis

feeling like a pudgy Amazon next to the delicate beauty. Somehow, she was sure Fallon knew it, too. Too tall, too strong, just too everything for the human males, And too wrong for the shifters. Kat would never be the belle of the ball; she was long since resigned to it. But she'd like, just once, to gel an invitation to the damn dance.
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Just once find a man who wasn't intimidated or disgusted by her. She wasn't sure which was worse.
     
    "Are you coming to the gathering tonight? Oh—wait. That's right. You're not really one of us. You're probably not invited," Fallon said, voice dangerously near a purr.
     
    Kat wanted desperately to walk away. Wouldn't give Fallon the satisfaction of seeing her cowardice. "I was invited. Just not interested," she replied, putting all the bored indifference she could manage into her voice.
     
    Fallon arched one eyebrow. "Really? And yet I would have thought your ranger instincts would have gone crazy over the mere idea of us forming an alliance with the Lord High Vampire of the southeast district. I've heard he and his blood pride have interesting tastes in entertainment."
     
    Kat had heard the reports. Humans tortured for days, used as playthings for the bastard's sick, perverted pleasure. She clenched her hands into fists, barely realizing that her nails were cutting into her palms. "You're lying," she said flatly. "There's no way Ethan would join forces with the vamps. Especially not Terminus's bunch. The two of them nearly killed each other last year after Terminus played his games with three of Ethan's youngest members."
     
    "Haven't you heard? Terminus is dead. Some new gang in the northeast who've allied with those idiot rebels or something. Anyway, things change." Fallon started to walk off, turned. "Not everything, apparently. Still not a real cat, are you? Tell me, how does it feel to work with wild panthers and realize you'll never, ever be able to become one?"
     
    Kat tightened her lips, knowing anything she said would only prolong the encounter.
     
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    Fallon laughed, and the sound of it scraped like shards of glass over an open wound.
    "Poor little freak Kat, with her pathetic human mother. And really, what were they thinking to name you Kat when you'll never be one?"
     
    As Fallon clacked away toward the door on her ridiculous heels, Kat tried to think up a blistering comeback. Unfortunately, the grief burning in her throat blocked the words from coming out, just as the human DNA swirling in her bloodstream blocked the panther from coming out.
     
    Pathetic.
     
    Ethan leaned against the wall nearest to the sealed chamber's door and looked around, fighting every instinct in both of his dual natures in order to appear relaxed and nonchalant. His cat had gone feral beast inside him—wanted to rip through his skin and attack the bloodsuckers in the room. Panthers didn't care much for the smell of dead things that walked around.
     
    But politics was a hunt better played by the human side of his existence. The vamp standing in the center of the room was a master gamesman and expected easy domination over Ethan.
     
    Organos was in for a nasty surprise.
     
    "So, the rumors are true," Organos concluded. "The lost continent of Atlantis is evidently more than a fairy tale for pathetic humans to tell their children. These warriors attacked and destroyed Barrabas and his blood pride, and it is said that Anubisa has gone into hiding."
     
    Ethan smiled, deliberately showing a lot of very sharp teeth. "Hiding? Or did the Atlanteans kill her, too?"
     
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    Organos hissed, and his own fangs slid down into place. "You will speak of our goddess with respect, or this alliance will end before it begins. No human could ever defeat Anubisa. She plans strategy far beyond our understanding."
     
    Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Really? She doesn't share strategy with you, either? How exactly is this shapeshifter—vamp alliance going to work if we don't even know what's going on?"
     
    "You will know what I know as soon as I know it. Surely you agree that our goal of complete human subjugation is worth a little uncertainty."
     
    Studying the vampire's face was an exercise in futility. Organos gave nothing away with his expressionless features. He could have been made out of cold white