Warriors of Poseidon 02.5 - Shifter's Lady

retreat. She closed her eyes and lifted her face toward the ceiling, raising both hands, palms up, at her sides. A faint silvery blue glow whispered around her still form until she was bathed in light. A nymph rising from the sea in starlight.
    He suddenly wanted her with a painful urgency. His body hardened to the point of pain.
    He scrubbed his face with his hand, disgusted with himself.
     
    I‟m nothing if not the king of bad timing.
    Shifter’s Lady – Warriors of Poseidon 2.5

Page 50 of 84
    After nearly three full minutes, Marie opened her eyes. She bit her lip and shook her head, then stood there heaving in deep breath after deep breath.
     
    “What? What‟s wrong?”
     
    “This has never happened to me in three centuries,” she said, visibly trembling. “Alaric‟s mental pathway is shut down. I cannot reach him. For good or ill, I cannot return to Atlantis.”
     
    Marie sat alone in the vast, gleaming steel and stone kitchen, toying with the remains of a sandwich. She‟d eaten nothing all day, but worry and concern had robbed her of what little appetite she‟d been able to muster. The mug of hot tea failed to soothe her, as well. The abyss gnawing at her insides had nothing to do with food or drink but everything to do with her inability to contact Alaric or Bastien. Granted, her mental reach did not extend far enough to contact Bastien if they were more than a few hundred landwalker miles apart. But Alaric was so powerful that even the suggestion of contact from a fellow Atlantean was sufficient for him to receive the message.
     
    Always in the past the high priest had immediately opened the pathway between them at her call. Now there was nothing. No sense of being blocked, simply nothing at all. As if…
     
    As if Alaric no longer existed.
     
    But she refused to even countenance that thought.
     
    Ethan‟s voice came from the doorway in that lazy drawl that he turned on and off seemingly at will. The mere sound of it shot liquid lightning through her.
     
    “You hold that mug any tighter, and you‟re going to break it.”
    Shifter’s Lady – Warriors of Poseidon 2.5

Page 51 of 84
    She refused to look at him, afraid her face would betray her reaction to him. “Then I will go to the mug store and purchase you a new mug. Conlan made sure I had some of your currency before I left Atlantis,” she said lightly.
     
    “Really? How much do you think a special mug like that would go for?” He walked over to where she sat on a high stool, not stopping until she could feel his breath in her hair.
    “That‟s a unique, genuine Miami Vice commemorative mug from 1985. Probably irreplaceable.”
     
    She lifted the mug and examined it. “Who are these men with the oddly lacquered hair?
    Are they heroes among your people?”
     
    He threw his head back and laughed, and Marie watched him, fascinated. “Do you know that I have not seen you laugh like that before now? You become a different person when you laugh so freely,” she said, lifting a hand to touch the dimple that had appeared on his cheek.
     
    The smile faded from his face. “I haven‟t had much to laugh about, beautiful. I think, under different circumstances, being around you might change that.”
     
    The room closed in on her, making the simple act of breathing difficult, but she decided to be bold, no matter the consequences. She would soon leave, never to return, more than likely. Her duties would not allow frequent or extended absences.
     
    “I would enjoy the opportunity to bring you laughter. Under different circumstances, as you say,” she whispered.
    Calling on the Goddess for quite a different kind of courage, Marie stood and took his face between her hands and drew it down to her own. “I‟m going to kiss you now,” she said.
     
    Shifter’s Lady – Warriors of Poseidon 2.5

Page 52 of 84
    “I‟m going to let you,” he replied.
     
    Then she lifted her face and kissed him, but it was vastly different from the kisses they‟d shared before. She touched her lips gently to his, coaxing and then persuading his response. He stood rigidly in her grasp, hands clenched at his sides, as though afraid to touch her and break the moment.
     
    She reveled in the power of taking the lead in their caress and lightly licked the seam of his lips. He groaned in the back of his throat and immediately opened his mouth, tilting his head to more fully meld his lips to hers. She twined her fingers in his thick, silky hair and