Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

Atlantean, but however desperately my need for you burns inside of me, I will not take you while you have the slightest doubt.”
    He clenched his hands into fists at his sides and then released them as a shudder raced through his body, and the thought that his reaction was due to suppressed need—for her—almost made Tiernan change her mind. Almost. She searched for something to say that could bring the tension in the room down a notch, but before she could come up with anything, her phone rang again. Thank goodness for Rick and his inability to be ignored.
    She offered Brennan a tentative smile. “I’d better get that.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 48 of 232
    He nodded, then bent to retrieve his shirt. As she pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened it, she watched him cover up that glorious chest and didn’t even try to pretend that her primary reaction was not relief but regret.
    “Tiernan?” Rick’s voice barked in her ear, reminding her that she was supposed to be answering her phone. “Are you there? What the hell is going on there? Have you seen CNN? There was another attack tonight, right there in Yellowstone. The victim’s girlfriend is blaming it on wolf shifters, and it looks like it might get ugly for your contact Lucas.”

Chapter 7
    Brennan concentrated on breathing. Nothing else. Long, deep inhale, and then long, slow exhale. He must find his focus. His center. As Archelaus, one of their mentors in the training academy, had always taught them, every action originated from a place of serenity that formed the core of a warrior’s being.
    His serene core was blasted to the nine hells right now. He turned slightly to keep Tiernan in his line of sight while she spoke to someone named Rick on her telephone. He had no way to judge the parameters of the curse, or to know if “out of your sight” meant something as simple and brief as turning his back for longer than a moment or two. What if he fell asleep? She would be out of his sight when his eyes were closed in sleep. Was he doomed only to remember this amazing woman for the duration of a single day?
    He wanted to howl and rage at the injustice, but there would be no point. He’d known for far too long that gods dealt in caprice, not justice. He had been doomed so long ago by the terms of the curse, and this was simply another, more horribly twisted, level in the torture. He had found her only to know that he would lose her. It was no more or less than he deserved, after what had happened to Corelia and his child.
    Even if he could somehow build a future with Tiernan, she was human. She would live only for a brief time, and then when she died, the Tiernan-shaped hole in his soul would never, ever be filled. He almost laughed at the sheer malicious genius behind Poseidon’s curse, but stopped himself. He had the strangest certainty that the laughter would come out as a howl.
    Tiernan closed her phone and told him what her colleague had said about an attack as she flicked on the television and scrolled through channels looking for park news. She stopped at a channel showing a local news reporter standing in front of their hotel. “That’s here,” Tiernan said, turning to him. “Maybe—but, no. She’s smiling. It’s probably a taped segment. Wonder who that is with her.”
    The reporter smiled her insincere smile into the camera as she wrapped up an interview with a haughty-looking man in front of the entrance to their hotel. “Dr. Litton, thank you for sharing your insights about the IAPN conference. It sounds fascinating. We’ll be waiting to hear all about breakthroughs in neuroscience. Now back to the studio.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 49 of 232
    As the television image changed to one of tiny dancing dogs singing about soap, Tiernan switched off the set. “So that’s Litton. Good to know. Nothing about the attack yet; I’m wondering if it was connected with our scientists. Can you call your contacts and see if they know anything?”
    She held her phone out to him, but he shook his head. “If you value your technology, do not give it to an Atlantean. Something in the composition of our bodies or our magic wreaks havoc on small electrical fields and destroys them.”
    She glanced at the lamps and then back at him. “What about large electrical fields?”
    “The lamp is not a problem. However, large electrical fields pose a hazard to us, and we, to a lesser extent, to