Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

senses.
    Lost. He was utterly and completely lost.
    Brennan. Brennan! Are you awake in there?
    Alexios’s impatience rang through the mental pathway.
    Brennan tilted his head toward the far wall of the dance floor, and Tiernan instantly began moving that way. I am here. What have you discovered?
    There’s a very heavy vamp presence in the guards. Way more than one would expect for guarding a bunch of science geniuses. They’re either expecting trouble or they’re planning to cause some.
    Brennan and Tiernan stopped dancing at the edge of the dance floor and walked toward an empty corner. “Alexios,” he said to answer the question in her eyes.
    She nodded but said nothing, waiting.
    I would guess the heavy guard is planned for me, at the very least. Can’t allow the rich benefactor to escape, after all.
    Alexios was silent for so long that Brennan thought he’d cut off communication, but then he sent another message.
    You’d be exactly right. We’ve just been shown pictures of you and Tiernan, although they call her Tracy, so at least her cover isn’t blown. You’ll be honored to know you’re both high priority, not to be let out of our sight. Force strongly discouraged, but allowed if you prove difficult.
    Brennan’s primal warrior’s instincts kicked into overdrive, and he only realized he’d clenched his hands into fists around imaginary daggers when Tiernan took one of his hands and gently unpeeled his fingers.
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    Difficult? I will kill them if they try to touch her, he told Alexios. I will peel their skin from their bodies and hang their internal organs in the sun to burn. Yes, that could be difficult for them.
    Colorful. I’m in. Talk later. Watch Grace for me.
    With that, Alexios cut off the connection, but not before Brennan sensed an impending threat.
    Alexios and Lucas were facing something big and possibly very, very bad. He needed to get out there and help.
    “Alexios is in danger,” he murmured in Tiernan’s ear. “I need to go to his aid.”
    “Did he ask for help?”
    “No, but—”
    “I understand you need to help your friend,” she said, so quietly it was nearly subvocal. “But we’re being watched very closely, and I’m not sure how you can get out of here without being extremely noticeable.” She cut a glance toward the podium under the sweep of her long, dark lashes, and he pulled her into a hug, using the action as cover to glance where she’d indicated.
    It was Litton, of course. Staring at them and not bothering to hide his scrutiny.
    “The good doctor is being just a little too overt for a scientist planning to grovel for money,”
    Tiernan murmured. “Makes me think Plan B is to kill you or try to enthrall you and keep your money, too.”
    “After all, if they go along with my plans, they get ten million,” Brennan said. “If they make me a mind slave, they get it all.”
    “How much are you supposed to be worth?”
    Brennan shrugged, more interested in the delicate curve of her ear than in talk of money. “I don’t pay very close attention. When our former king insisted we work with human banks and investments, I began to do so. I would imagine I am at an even dozen or so by now.”
    Tiernan blinked. “A dozen what? Atlantean dollars? Starfish? What do you even use for currency?”
    He smiled down at her. “No, we do not use currency in Atlantis. We have no need. My funds are concentrated in American dollars, although I have considerable overseas investments, of course.”
    She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “So you’re telling me you have twelve million dollars? For real?”
    “Of course not.”
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    Tiernan laughed and blew out a big sigh. “Whew. I was really going to have a problem hanging out with you since you’re so much older and if you were a millionaire, too. It’s not like I’m the sugar-daddy type.”
    He searched his memory for the term, but could not find it. “I don’t know what ‘sugar daddy’
    means, but I do not have twelve million dollars. I have approximately twelve billion dollars.
    Should we get another drink? I need to get word to Grace.”
    He started toward the bar, but halted when he realized she was no longer with him. He pivoted on his heel, ready to protect her from any danger, but she was safe. Safe, but standing exactly where he’d left her, with a very odd look on her