Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

damaged and the Atlantean magic will not recognize me again.”
    “Never,” she said firmly, sending a wave of warmth through him. She believed in him, and though he could not credit her with any good sense for doing so, he offered his thanks to Poseidon that she did.
    “I can‟t reach Conlan or even Alaric, either,” he admitted. “They are too far, or perhaps they have turned against me. They know we are here; you told them the Star was in San Bartolo. I cannot believe they have not come to our aid, unless I truly am exiled.”
    “They‟re your family, Justice. They won‟t give up on you,” she said. A flash of remembered pain crossed her face, but she shook her head at whatever thought had caused it. “I know about families and abandonment, and your brothers were willing to die for you. Don‟t give up on them, because they won‟t give up on you. I can feel it.”
    Hope tried to send up a tentative flare, but he ruthlessly crushed it. Better to be surprised than to have to live with the anguish of shattered expectations. “We can discuss that another time, mi amara . If the vampires return again, I cannot bear for you to be anywhere near this place.
    If you are harmed, then I will drown the earth itself in my rage. Perhaps not even these villagers will be safe.”
    She folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin. “I trust you. You just worked all afternoon to help them; you‟d never harm them. Don‟t make me have this discussion with you again. I‟m not going anywhere until you can get us all out of here, and you admitted that your energy is nearly gone.”
    It was true. He‟d used the Nereid power of transport to take a wounded child and his mother to the nearest medical clinic, and the use of his new power had exhausted him so much that he‟d nearly lost himself in the energy stream on the return trip. Once the particles of his being had been scattered and spread across the universe, he never would have returned to himself.
    Never could have found Keely ever again. Terror knifed through him at the thought. No, he would not risk travel in that manner until he was sure his energies had returned.
    She put a hand on his arm. “If you could travel by mist again, or do that super-speed thing, or anything that would help move these people, that would be one thing. But you‟re not superhuman—”
    Suddenly she stopped speaking and laughed tiredly. “I guess you are superhuman, though, aren‟t you? It‟s not like the average human can do any of the things you‟ve done today. Eleni even calls you Señor Superman.”
    “Yeah, well, my cape is at the dry cleaners,” he said savagely. “I‟m no superhero, Keely; I‟m a monster. Part of me thinks these people are fools and sheep who deserve to be abandoned.”
    Stepping closer to him, she put her hands on his cheeks and pulled his head down to hers.
    “But you won‟t do it, and the choice is what makes you different from the monsters.”
    Slowly, smiling up at him, she lifted her face and kissed him gently. He let her take the initiative and stood perfectly still, exquisitely sensitized to the feel of her lips on his. She feathered kisses on his lips, chin, and jaw until a flash of heat seared through his body like a stroke of lightning, and he couldn‟t bear it anymore. He lifted her in his arms, flashed across the clearing as quickly as he could, and withdrew to a spot a few feet within the trees, so they were blocked from view.
    “Justice,” she said with a little gasp, but he swallowed her gasp and lifted her, pressed her back against the tree, and caught her mouth with his own. He kissed her and every ounce of finesse, every art of gentleness he‟d ever known deserted him so that he was as rough and clumsy as a school-boy.
    He wanted her more than he‟d ever wanted any woman. How could he be so unrestrained?
    The need was too great, too overpowering, and if he didn‟t have her wrapped in his arms and naked underneath him soon, the pain would take him again, back to madness and burning and the dark. Every ounce of his being was centered on his lips as they devoured her and on his cock as he bucked against her.
    He must have her, or he would be lost forever.
    But he was saved; he was whole. She was his well-being and his heart and his home. She was kissing him back , and all was right with his world. The warm taste of her mouth, sweet from the cup of hot chocolate she‟d drunk with their meager dinner of canned goods,