Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

them. Depending on their strength, they can prevent us from using any of our Atlantean abilities at all, such as the one I’m going to try to communicate with now.”
    He closed his eyes and called out to Alexios on the common mental pathway all Atlanteans past the age of puberty could access, but he found only silence at first. He took a deep breath, forced down the emotional overload still whirling through his senses, and tried again. Perhaps Alexios had not recognized him.
    Alexios? Can you hear me? We have news of an attack and wanted to learn if Lucas and his Pack were safe.
    There was another brief silence, and then Alexios’s familiar dry tone rang strongly in response.
    That was you? Interesting. Oh, and open your door.
    Brennan crossed to the door and flung it open again, this time far more pleased to see their visitors. Alexios, Grace, and Lucas stood in the hallway, all of them looking grim. He moved away from the door and stood next to Tiernan while the three entered the small room. When they’d closed the door, Tiernan moved forward as if to shake hands with Alexios, and Brennan’s hand shot out, almost without his own volition, stopping her with an iron grip on her arm. Rage, as dark and deadly as it was unreasonable, flashed through his body at a sudden very unwelcome memory, and every muscle in his body tightened to battle readiness.
    “You touched her,” he said to Alexios, trying to focus through the red haze that moved rapidly to obscure his vision. “She was naked, and you put your godsdamned hands on her body.”
    He tried for calm, and failed. Tried for serenity, but Tiernan pulled her arm away, trying to escape him, and serenity shattered. He caught her arms and yanked her up to face him, forcing the words out through his clenched teeth. “I am sorry for this, but it appears I must kill him.”
    Tiernan blinked, her lovely dark eyes enormous in her too-pale face, but then, shockingly, she laughed. “What? You’re apologizing to me? Seems like you want to apologize to him.”
    “Damn right,” Alexios snapped, both hands suddenly holding daggers.
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 50 of 232
    Brennan hadn’t seen Grace move, but her bow was now drawn, the silver-tipped arrow pointed directly at his head. He released Tiernan and pushed her behind him, out of the way of danger.
    “Oh, there is going to be a lot of apologizing going on, my friend,” Grace snapped, but to Brennan’s surprise, she was directing her comment to Alexios. “Do you mind telling me exactly where you had your hands on another woman’s naked body?”
    Alexios whipped his head back and forth between Grace and Brennan, a helpless expression crossing his face. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and finally managed to reply.
    “Boston?”
    Tiernan made a funny snorting noise, moving up next to Brennan again. “Boston! I was expecting ‘only her hip, honey,’ or ‘just her arm to help her when she passed out,’ but he says, ‘Boston.’” Her cheeks and mouth quivered strangely and then she dissolved in laughter.
    “Boston!” she cried out, bending over. “He said Boston.”
    There was total silence in the room, except for Tiernan’s helpless laughter, and then Grace lowered her bow, her mouth quirking into a smile. “He did, didn’t he, the big lunkhead?” She started laughing, too. “Boston! Well, now I’m not worried. At least it wasn’t, oh, Cleveland.”
    For some reason, that started Tiernan off on a new round of laughter, and the two women laughed so hard their breath began to sputter in broken gasps. Brennan, all urge to murder one of his closest friends in the world having vanished completely, stared at Alexios and Lucas, totally mystified. “Boston? Why is that funny?”
    Alexios shot a hard stare at him and then, evidently satisfied that his own death was no longer imminent, sheathed his daggers. “I have no idea,” he confessed.
    “Women,” Lucas said, shrugging. “You guys okay now? Nobody going to kill anybody else?”
    Brennan bowed toward Alexios, a deep shame for his reaction coursing through him. “I cannot hope for you to forgive me for my actions, my friend—”
    “Oh, save it,” Alexios said, grinning. “I’m going to enjoy seeing you brought low by a woman like the rest of us.”
    Grace, her bow slung over her shoulder and her peals of laughter dying down, elbowed Alexios in the ribs. “Raised high by a woman, isn’t that what you