Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

late and we all need to get some rest for a full day of meetings tomorrow, but I wanted to take a moment to welcome you all to the first annual meeting of the International Association of Preternatural Neuroscience.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 67 of 232
    A ragged cheer went up from the scientists, who then looked vaguely embarrassed to be caught doing something so common.
    “Not a lot of rah rah in neuroscience usually, I’m guessing,” Tiernan whispered, a grin quirking up the edges of her lovely lips. Brennan became distracted by thoughts of tasting her mouth, and he lost the next few sentences. Or minutes. When he returned his attention to the scientist, Litton was concluding his remarks.
    “—thrilling breakthroughs in science, for today and for all our tomorrows. Thank you.”
    Everyone cheered and clapped, and Litton’s forehead flushed a bright red as he basked in the approval of his peers.
    “It’s not lies,” Tiernan said, her brows drawn together. “He believes that whatever he’s up to is going to cause ‘thrilling breakthroughs.’”
    “For all our tomorrows?” Brennan asked, his voice dry.
    “For all of somebody’s tomorrows. Probably the power-mad vamps he’s working for.” She turned her head, subtly scanning the room. “Speaking of which, I think I’m going to go get one of them to ask me to dance. See what I can find out.”
    Brennan heard a low growling noise and realized it was coming from his own throat. “I cannot allow—”
    “Allow?” she asked sweetly. “I’m sorry?”
    He swallowed the broken glass that had somehow gotten lodged in his throat and tried again.
    “It will be difficult for me if you do this.”
    Compassion softened her face. “I know. The curse. But you have to understand that it’s not really me you want, it’s just the random nature of the curse making you think so.”
    “There is nothing random about Poseidon or his curses, I assure you. But I will do my best to carry out my part in this mission.”
    Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, she put her hands on his shoulders and stood on her toes to kiss him lightly on the lips.
    “I know you will. I will, too. Now I’m going to go dance. Why don’t you go have a drink?”
    “I do not drink when—” He followed the direction of her gaze and saw Grace at the bar, pouring drinks. “I believe I will go have a drink, while you dance with a vampire.”
    “Get one for me, too, will you? I think I’m going to need it,” she said grimly before pasting onto her face the somewhat vacant smile he thought of as her disguise.
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 68 of 232
    Brennan took another long, calming breath before he headed toward the bar. Grace might have news. Important news. Anything to distract him from the thought of Tiernan dancing with a vampire.
    Tiernan sauntered through the crowd, offering a smile here and a flirtatious look there, trying not to hear the conversations between individuals because it was distracting. Too much posturing, deception, and outright lying had stretched her nerves so taut that she felt like she might snap, especially on top of the effort it took to maintain an illusion of lighthearted calm for Brennan’s sake. She felt the weight of his gaze on her even now, and hoped Grace made whatever drink she gave him a double. She didn’t chance a look at him, because he was so gorgeous in that tux that she’d been happy just not to drool on him or fall into his arms like some swooning maiden from one of the various centuries he’d lived through. He was an unbelievably sexy man, and that hint of danger just added to his appeal.
    Leashed power in evening clothes.
    The conversations filtered through to her as she passed various knots of people standing in twos and threes. It wasn’t like she could put her fingers in her ears, no matter how much she might want to avoid hearing the lies, so she gritted her teeth and smiled through the pain of nerves scraped raw.
    So many lies.
    “—and then he said my paper was the best he’d read in years, and sure to be published.”
    Lie.
    “My wife and I have a very open marriage—”
    Lie. Big lie.
    “Litton is a genius, but he’s a crackpot, if you ask me. I heard—”
    Ah. Truth at last. So the good doctor had a reputation even among his peers. Wonder what they’d think of him if they knew he was secretly funded by vampires and working toward the enslavement of