Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

adorable little baby boy. If we’re going to give young Prince Aidan an Atlantis that can rise to the surface, and a surface worth rising to, we need to solve the puzzle behind how these vamps are suddenly able to enthrall shifters when they never could before.”
    “Tiernan says that whatever they’re doing to the humans is different, too,” Conlan pointed out.
    “She and her contacts have proof. Brain scans and the like. This isn’t just temporary anymore.
    The vamps are changing the humans’ entire brain-wave patterns to keep them permanently in thrall.”
    “At this rate, the bloodsuckers will turn all of humanity into nothing but herds of sheep for their dining pleasure in a matter of years—or maybe even months,” Alexios added. “I volunteer to go. Lucas, the alpha of the Yellowstone wolf pack, is an old friend. He even gave me the honor of naming me second pack-father to his new twin boys, and I have yet to see them or bring a birth gift.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    Ven grinned. “And I’m sure the lovely Grace will bring along her bow and arrows and keep your ugly butt in line.”
    Brennan was intrigued to see the dark red flush that rose in Alexios’s scarred face, partially hidden by the long waves of golden hair that had once so intrigued the women of Atlantis. Of course, that was before Alexios had returned from one of the darker levels of the nine hells, with his face and his soul scarred beyond—or so they’d feared—any hope of redemption. To be precise, only the left side of his face was scarred, a going-away present of sorts from the vampire goddess Anubisa after two long years of torture.
    Grace had brought Alexios back into the light. Brennan wished he had the capacity to feel the joy for his friend that he knew everyone else shared. Alexios’s new lady love, who was both human and more, as a descendant of the goddess Diana, was indeed a formidable warrior in her own right.
    “Grace doesn’t need to put herself in any more danger, especially now,” Alexios muttered, a look of grim resignation on his face. “But I may as well spit into the wind as tell her that.”
    Almost as if on cue, the door opened and Grace walked in, accompanied by Conlan’s new bride and infant son, High Princess Riley and Prince Aidan.
    Ven started laughing. “Busted! It’s like they have radar.”
    Conlan swiftly crossed to his wife, who handed him the baby. The intense emotion on Conlan and Riley’s faces as they gazed at each other and then at the child stirred something dry and barren deep inside Brennan. He filed the sensation away to consider later. A curiosity, no more.
    Riley suddenly looked up and cast a startled glance at Brennan. “Brennan? Was that you?”
    He bowed. “I beg your pardon, my lady?”
    She shook her head, sunshine-gold hair flying. “No . . . It’s nothing, I guess,” she said, her brows drawing together. “I thought . . . No. Nothing.” She laughed. “Being aknasha and a new mother certainly is interesting. Not only can I pick up emotions from everyone around me, but I’ve got an overload of my own to deal with. It makes my mind play tricks on me.”
    Brennan raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t elaborate. He briefly wondered if her emotional empathy had sensed some emotion hidden deep down in his psyche, but he had to discard the idea as impossible. Although there had been that one time when Riley’s sister Quinn, an even more powerful aknasha, had claimed to feel buried emotion from him . . . But he’d doubted Quinn’s claim then, and he doubted it now. Poseidon’s curses were not so easily broken. He’d spent many lifetimes coming to that realization.
    Grace, a study in lean elegance with her swimmer’s body, honey-gold skin, and long, dark hair, crossed the room to Alexios, whose entire face lit up at the sight of her. She leaned into him for a moment, then took a position against the wall next to him and flashed a saucy grin at Conlan Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    and Ven. “So, boys. What’s up?”
    Alexios looked simultaneously chagrined and amused. “You probably shouldn’t call the high prince and his brother ‘boys,’” he muttered.
    Ven laughed. “Please. She’s fine. Great, even. Trust me, it’s way better than ‘pigheaded fool,’
    which is what I got from Erin this morning before I’d even gotten out of bed. Seems like my suggestion I go along on her trip to