Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

“Like I’m going to be able to sleep now? Trapped in the mad scientist’s evil lair? I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole, but instead of Wonderland, I’m in the middle of one of those really bad horror films.” She pulled her knees up against her chest and rested her head on her folded arms. “If a killer tomato shows up, I’m out of here.”
    Brennan stared at her and then shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “Probably better that way,” she said, closing her eyes. A shiver suddenly raced through her body and she curled herself up even tighter. The concrete floor was cold and the room was freezing. She just hadn’t had time to notice it before.
    A moment later, something soft and warm landed on her head. She smelled Brennan and knew it was his shirt before she even opened her eyes. Pulling it close, she allowed herself a brief respite of imagining that the warmth of the fabric was the comfort of being back in Brennan’s arms. Then she forced herself to let go—both of his shirt and of fantasies of what she could never have.
    She held it out to him, trying not to stare at his muscular, bare chest. “I can’t take this. You’ll freeze.”
    He shook his head and shoved the long waves of his black hair away from his face. “My body temperature runs hot. I have no need of that and it might help you.”
    Memories of just how hot his body temperature was flashed into her mind, and her cheeks warmed up quite a bit. He smiled that slow, seductive smile of his, and she was afraid that he knew exactly what she’d been thinking about.
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    “Tell me about Susannah,” he said, surprising her. “If you can bear to talk about her.”
    She thought about it before responding, but realized she really did want to talk about her friend. She never had before, except for the basics, to Rick and a few others. She’d had a friend who was a shifter. Who’d been killed in a confrontation with police.
    Tiernan had never really told anyone about Susannah. She discovered that she wanted to share her friend with this man whom she might actually have been able to love, under different circumstances.
    “She loved coffee, which was a great quality in a roommate. All day long, not just in the morning,” she said, smiling at the memory. “All of those fancy, flavored kinds, you know. Irish cream and gingerbread spice. She’d surprise me on the weekend with breakfast in bed, sometimes, always trying to get me to try a new kind of coffee.”
    “She sounds like a wonderful friend,” he said. “I cannot imagine Alexios bringing me breakfast in bed.”
    She laughed a little at the idea, but her smile faded as reality crushed in on her. She was trapped in a cell that she might never escape with her mind intact. She’d—she’d—“I killed that man,” she whispered, the image of his bloody body vivid in the forefront of her mind. “How can I live with that?”
    She stared at Brennan, searching his face for answers. “How do you live with it?”
    “You live with it because you have no choice. He was attacking you, and you were defending yourself. You did not intend to kill him, even though you had just seen him torturing your friend.” He held out a hand, as if to reach for hers, but then lowered it before it touched the bars. “Tiernan, you have no blame in this.”
    “I know you believe that, but I definitely have blame,” she said bitterly. “I dragged you into this through my arrogance that my crack undercover reporting would get us in, get the story, and get us out. All the blame goes on me.”
    Brennan’s face hardened and, if possible, grew even grimmer. “And I am a warrior with centuries of experience in dangerous situations. Is not mine the greater fault?”
    “But—”
    “No. Enough of fault, please. Tell me more of Susannah. You said she brought you breakfast in bed. Was she a good cook?”
    She pulled his shirt more tightly around her shoulders, sinking into its warmth and his clean, seawater scent for a moment before she answered. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to distract me.”
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    “Is it working?”
    “A little,” she confessed. “The mind has an amazing capacity for denial, doesn’t it? If I think about Susannah, I don’t have to think about what might happen to me tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow Alexios will arrive with