Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

be around when it happened. It was bound to be personal, that kind of emotional overload.
     
    Too personal for an Atlantean warrior, sworn to the service of his prince and the sea god, who‟d vowed to live his life free of even the most casual emotional attachments.
     
    A doctor wearing bloodstained scrubs pushed through the doors to the waiting room and looked around expectantly. “Nichols? Michelle Nichols?”
     
    The blood drained out of Grace‟s face, but she jumped up out of the chair. “Yes, that‟s me. I mean, I‟m her friend. What happened? Is she okay?”
     
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    The doctor frowned, and Alexios started across the room. It wasn‟t news he wanted Grace to hear alone.
     
    “She lost a lot of blood, and she had a collapsed lung,” the doctor said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “I‟m not going to lie to you. We did the best we could, and now we wait and see. If your friend‟s a fighter, she just might have a chance.”
     
    Grace stood frozen, seemingly unable to speak. Alexios put an arm around her and shut down the part of his brain that wanted to think about how right she felt there. She was merely a soldier temporarily in his command, and it was his turn to stand for her.
     
    “Thank you, Doctor,” he said. “We‟ll wait for news.”
     
    The doctor nodded, barely glancing at Alexios, and then the man‟s head snapped up for the customary double take Alexios had grown so bitterly accustomed to over the years.
    “I hope you don‟t mind my professional curiosity, but how did you get that facial scarring? And have you ever considered cosmetic surgery?”
     
    Alexios‟s eyes iced over as he regretted, once again, the fact that he couldn‟t just stab humans who had balls bigger than their brains. “Your concern is misplaced, Doctor, although I thank you for it,” he gritted out, trying not to choke on the words.
     
    Grace turned toward him and rested her head on his chest. It was the first sign of weakness she‟d ever shown in his presence, and a wave of fierce protectiveness washed through him.
     
    “I need some air,” she murmured. “Please, Alexios, please help me. Get me out of here.”
     
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    Alexios tightened his arms around her and nodded to the doctor. “Thank you again.
    We‟ll wait for any news, as I said.”
     
    Losing all interest in Alexios, the doctor started to move off, but then stopped, a trace of sympathy crossing his face. “She‟s going to be in the ICU for quite some time. You two should go get cleaned up and get some rest.”
     
    Nodding again, but not bothering to reply, Alexios steered Grace toward the exit. The doors opened with a hydraulic swishing noise, and the three men outside turned toward them, hands automatically reaching inside jackets. They relaxed slightly when they saw it was Alexios and Grace.
     
    “All clear out here,” said the stocky one who‟d moved the Jeep for them. Spike, maybe.
    Or Butch. One of the odd names-that-weren‟t-names that the rebels used. “Any news?”
     
    Grace shook her head, but didn‟t speak. Fine tremors shook through her body, and Alexios knew the meltdown was finally on its way.
     
    “Almost everyone is doing well, as you said,” Alexios reported tersely. “Michelle was in surgery a long time, though, and the doctor said she lost a lot of blood. He said she‟ll make it, if she‟s a fighter, and we all know that she is.”
     
    He addressed the words to the man, but they were meant for Grace. She drew in a shuddering breath, and he knew at least part of the meaning had penetrated.
     
    “She‟s going to make it,” he repeated. “But Grace needs some air. We‟re going to walk a little bit. You‟re sure the way is clear?”
     
    The taller man, older, with leathery skin and a hawk-like nose, nodded. “We‟re good.
    We were sure with dark coming on that the vamps would start showing up, but we ain‟t Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    seen hide nor hair of ‟em. The boys are patrolling all the way around the hospital for the shifters, too.”
     
    Alexios nodded. “We won‟t go far.”
     
    He herded Grace down the sidewalk and away from the lights and sounds of the ER.
    She walked with a jerking, halting gait, like a marionette dancing on the strings of a drunken puppet master. When they reached a low stone wall, partially hidden