Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

descended into pure terror. He stared at her, curled up in a huddled ball on the floor, and self-disgust for how he had failed her became utter loathing. He sat there, his body shuddering with the force of it, but he could have fought it. Could have beaten it. Except for yet another emotion.
    Desire. Desire crescendoed into raging lust. His hands clenched with the need to touch her.
    Take her. Plunge his cock into the heat of her body and pleasure her over and over and over.
    “Ah, look, the big strong guy is shaking. Think he’s crying for his mommy?”
    Brennan jerked his head up to see the two guards standing near the bars of his cell. He bared his teeth at them in a snarl, but they laughed. They laughed, and he knew he would kill them.
    They spent several minutes at the bars, taunting and jeering, but thankfully Tiernan didn’t wake up. When one of them made a crude suggestion of what they might do with Tiernan, Brennan lost all control and hurled himself at the bars. As before, the electricity slammed him back, but this time it nearly knocked him unconscious. The stimulant in the potion evidently stimulated everything—emotion, sensation, and even thought—because Brennan found his mind racing at the speed of a bolt of lightning, examining, analyzing.
    Solving.
    He would be still. He would not react. Another jolt of that electricity might kill him, and Tiernan needed him. He sat, stone-faced, and ignored the verbal abuse from the guards until, bored, they turned away and retreated to their chairs and their food.
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    He would endure, and then he would destroy, and Tiernan would be safe. Tiernan would be safe. He repeated it in his mind, over and over, and it became his mantra. Several hours later, when Litton arrived, Brennan was still repeating his vow.
    Tiernan would be safe.
    Litton walked up to the cell, standing a prudent distance from the bars. Apparently he’d heard about Brennan’s repeated attempts to crash through them. A few seconds later, Smitty walked in, followed by several of his thugs, all armed with pistols.
    “It’s time to wake up, Ms. Baum,” Dr. Litton said in a grating, singsong voice. “We’re going to experiment on your lovely brain now.”

Chapter 30
    Brennan shot up off the floor, the berserker rage flooding his brain again. Must protect Tiernan, who was sitting up, groggy and blinking sleepily.
    Smitty studied him like he was a rat in a cage. Maybe he was, but they would not harm his woman.
    “You touch her, and you will pay,” Brennan snarled. “I will hunt you down, no matter how long it takes, and I will torture you for years before I let you die.”
    Litton paled and danced back a few steps, but Smitty just smiled and gestured to the thugs and their guns. “Mouth making promises your circumstances can’t keep? You’re locked in a cage, and we’ve got guns. Try anything, and we shoot her first.”
    Tiernan scrambled to her feet and backed up. “Please. Dr. Litton. We’re on your side, remember? I’m sorry I got carried away before, it’s just that Susannah was my friend, but we agree with what you’re doing and we can help. Brennan has money and I have contacts in the news and—”
    “Shut up,” Litton said. “You gave yourself away. Do you think I’m stupid, to be deceived by a pretty story or a pretty face now?”
    “You should relax, miss,” Smitty said, not unkindly. “It hurts less if you don’t fight.”
    Either Smitty’s calm or Tiernan’s fear evidently gave Litton courage. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said, a cruel smile on his face. “Brennan goes first. We activate him, and not only will he sign over his fortune, but we can dispense with all this chest-beating nonsense.”
    Brennan dropped his hands to his side, in order to appear as nonthreatening as possible. “Yes.
    Take me. I will go quietly, just let her go.”
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    Litton threw back his head and laughed. “Nobody is going anywhere. A journalist on the loose with this story? Right. I may as well shoot myself in the head now.”
    “Don’t let us stop you,” Tiernan said, and Brennan wanted to applaud.
    “We’re going ahead with this. Now. Get him out of here and strapped into the chair,” Litton ordered Smitty.
    Smitty didn’t move. “Is Devon okay with this? I thought he wanted you to wait for him. I don’t have any plans to run afoul of the top