Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

wordless howl of pain and feral wrath.
    Into the silence, broken only by the echoes of his rage, a familiar voice called out a quiet challenge.
    “Brennan,” Alexios said. “You need to put the nice human down, or I’m going to have to kick your ass for you.”
    Brennan dropped Tiernan to her feet and whirled around to face the new threat, recognizing but not recognizing his friend through the red, shimmering haze of berserker fury that smashed through his mind. His skull pounded with the driving need to hurt, to kill, to tear and maim.
    To protect.
    To protect Tiernan. His only purpose as the rest of his mind fractured.
    “Tiernan?” he said, his voice hoarse and broken. “Tiernan is safe?”
    Alexios nodded, but didn’t take his hands off his daggers. “Tiernan is safe, my friend. She’s right behind you.”
    “I’m right here, Brennan,” she said, the sound of her voice like a balm to his ragged soul. “Turn around and look at me. Please.”
    He turned, and she put her hands on either side of his face and looked up into his eyes. “I’m here. I’m safe. You saved me from those vampires. You killed them all.”
    “Killed them?” he croaked. “Safe?”
    “Come back to me, Brennan.” She put her arms around his waist and leaned forward into him, sharing her warmth with his cold, cold heart. “Come back.”
    Brennan pulled her closer and stood like that, unmoving, for several seconds, holding her as tightly as he dared, content simply to breathe in her scent and bask in her warmth.
    Alexios cleared his throat. “I think we probably need to talk.”
    Brennan cautiously opened his eyes, and blew out a sigh of relief when his vision was clear. The berserker haze was gone. The miraculous healing power of holding Tiernan in his arms had restored him to some measure of calm.
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
    Page 92 of 232
    “Are you able to let me go now?” Tiernan asked, an expression of utter trust on her face, and he pressed a brief, hard kiss to her lips and released her from his arms, but kept her hand clasped firmly in his own.
    As he turned to face Alexios, he had a sobering realization. Everything that he was—everything that he would be from now until the end of eternity—depended entirely on this woman and her trust and happiness. If he’d seen the slightest bit of doubt in her eyes, it would have broken him.
    “This isn’t what it looked like at all, then, is it?” Alexios said, studying Brennan and Tiernan as he sheathed his daggers. “You were attacked, not attacking her?”
    Brennan felt an actual physical pain slice through him at the words. “You could doubt me after so many centuries?”
    Alexios shook his head. “I could never doubt you, my friend. But you’re under the effects of a very powerful curse right now and we don’t know what that’s doing to you. If you thought Tiernan was trying to leave you . . .”
    The vise grip that squeezed Brennan’s chest at the thought was enough to underscore Alexios’s words. “No, you are correct, unfortunately,” he admitted.
    “I’m not going anywhere,” Tiernan said, glaring at Alexios. “And Brennan doesn’t need this from you after he had to face two human thugs in the hotel and three murderous vamp guards out here.”
    Alexios scanned the area. “If there were three, there could be more. I don’t suppose they happened to tell you what they were up to?”
    “They did, actually. They wanted Brennan and me to go back to the hotel, but when we didn’t immediately go along with the plan, they decided that they’d force us.”
    Brennan tensed all over again, remembering the dead vamps’ threats against Tiernan. “They weren’t overly concerned with keeping us uninjured, either. I fear that something has changed in the overall strategy.”
    A trilling birdcall sounded through the darkness and Alexios smiled. “We’re here,” he called, and moments later Grace stepped through the trees, her bow drawn and an arrow at the ready.
    She nodded at Tiernan and Brennan and lowered her bow.
    “When I was leaving, I overheard some of the guards saying that three of the vamps haven’t reported in, so they’re going to send out a search party for you two,” she said. “This would be a good time to get out of Dodge.”
    Brennan stared at her, confused, but Tiernan supplied the translation. “She means we need to get out of here, fast. Reinforcements are on the way.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of