Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

branches, and a gaping hole appeared in the hedge.
    She whistled. “Well, if you give up the mysterious kidnapper thing, you could try gardener, I suppose.”
    When he didn’t respond, she glanced over her shoulder and wasn’t really surprised to see him gone. “Bond, James Vampire Bond,” she murmured, before she leaned down and moved sideways through the gap in the hedge, toward the light.
    “Miss?” The long-missing valet rushed down the sidewalk toward her. “What happened to you?
    Are you all right?”
    He took her arm and she stood up, scanning the area to see how many people had seen her climbing out of the hedge. But luckily the driveway was momentarily clear. Or maybe it wasn’t “luckily” at all. Maybe the vamp had waited for privacy before he let her go. Vampires did have Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    better than average hearing, or so the rumor went.
    “Miss? Talk to me. Are you okay? Your neck is bleeding,” the man said, pulling her toward the hotel in a fast walk, almost as if he were afraid to be out after dark.
    She clapped her hand over the bite mark and managed a smile. “Oh, if you only knew me. Just clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. I fell through those bushes in these terrible shoes. Can you grab my bag for me, please?”
    He started to protest, but she narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin. He recognized defeat and moved to lift her case from the sidewalk, where she’d dropped it when she’d been snatched by Captain Mysterious. She took advantage of the moment and grabbed a tissue from the front pocket of her backpack and wiped her neck with it, wincing at the sight of the fresh blood. She wadded it up and stuffed it in the pocket of her jeans as the valet turned around.
    “Ready to get checked in and get a good night’s sleep?” he asked, pasting a strained smile on his face. “Meetings start tomorrow morning at eight A.M. It looks like it will be an interesting conference.”
    She handed him her keys and indicated her car, then took a slow, deep breath as she stared at the empty space where the Lamborghini had been parked. “You know, somehow I don’t doubt that at all.”

Chapter 3
    Yellowstone National Park, southeast section, official wolf shifter Pack territory Brennan stepped through the portal from Atlantis and took a deep breath of the crisp air. He had always appreciated the scents of the park, so different from those of the more delicate and flowered trees of Atlantis. The spruce and pine trees scented the air with an aroma that smelled exotic to him, even after so many visits over the centuries. He wished he could fully savor the experience, but there was nothing left to him of pleasure or appreciation. Nothing of joy.
    He wondered again, as he had so often before, when he would surrender to the bleakness of his destiny—and end it. Soon, perhaps. But not today. Not until his curiosity about the woman Tiernan had been satisfied.
    He turned to face the portal. A cluster of soaring lodge-pole pines stood sentinel on a nearby ridge, casting shadows over the portal as Alexios and Grace crossed through. Grace had one hand on the hilt of the dagger sheathed at her hip and her other hand on her ever-present bow.
    “You weren’t kidding about wilderness,” she said, looking around. “And what the heck is that?”
    In a single, smooth motion, she pulled her bow off her shoulder and had an arrow ready to let Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    fly at a group of large shadows moving at the base of the trees.
    Alexios smiled and, with one finger, gently pushed her arrow down. “That’s a bunch of bison, city girl.”
    Grace lowered her bow and stood staring, her mouth falling open a little. “Bison? I’m standing in the wilderness, surrounded by buffalo?”
    “‘Surrounded’ is not accurate,” Brennan pointed out. “They are in a single group, more than thirty feet away from us. If they were behind us, as well, perhaps, but—”
    A calm voice cut him off. “Surrounded by wolves is a little more to the point.”
    The first word had Brennan whirling around, daggers drawn, but as soon as he saw Lucas’s familiar face, he relaxed and slid the blades back into their sheaths. The alpha wolf shifter stood a good ten paces away, surrounded by a half dozen of his Pack in their wolf shapes.
    Alexios strode forward to meet his old friend, and the two clasped arms. “Well met, Lucas.”
    “Welcome to my home,”