Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

of Poseidon 06
    Page 133 of 188
    Christophe moved back and out of arm’s reach before returning his daggers to their sheaths, being sure to let everyone in the crowd gathering around them see the many weapons strapped to his body. Then, just for extra insurance, he channeled enough power to cause his eyes to glow a bright green.
    The crowd around him jostled to get away.
    “We don’t want any trouble, sorcerer,” one of them said. She was a tall female, curvy and muscular both, leaning against the bar. Her dark hair hung in a thick fall to her hips, and the promise of a wicked sensuality shimmered in her eyes. “Maybe you should go somewhere else to drink this night. Or at least let the human leave and you can stay and play with me.”
    Fiona captured his hand and stared defiance at the shifter. “I think not.”
    Amusement warred with anger on the woman’s face, but she finally settled on the first. Smiling at them, she indicated they should follow her. She made a gesture to the bartender, who nodded, and then she strode across the floor in a way that probably made every male in the place thank the gods for the invention of pants. If Christophe hadn’t met Fiona, he would have been one of them. Now, strangely enough, the shifter female’s rolling hips didn’t cause him even a twinge of desire.
    She sat at a large table in the back of the pub, one that had been completely empty in spite of the large crowd. A slender man walked out of the shadows from a back room and silently joined her. She indicated the chairs across from her.
    “Please. Sit.”
    Christophe moved one chair so its back was to the wall as much as possible and sat, pulling Fiona into the chair to the left of him so anybody in the crowd who tried to get to her would have to go through him first.
    “Fee, this is the alpha and her mate,” he said.
    The alpha laughed; a deep, throaty sound of sex and pain and pleasure. “Correct. Most mistake me for my mate’s tame lapdog.”
    “They’re fools, then,” Christophe replied honestly.
    She laughed again and extended a hand. “Lucinda. This is my mate, Evan.”
    He shook her hand. “Christophe, of Atlantis. My m—uh—partner, Fiona.”
    Damn, but he’d come close to saying the words “my mate, Fiona.”
    Fiona glanced at him as if she’d noticed his slip, but she said nothing.
    Evan wasn’t as courteous. “Claim her before another does, my friend.” He had a slight accent. Spanish, perhaps.
    “I don’t know you well enough to be your friend yet,” Christophe replied evenly. “And we do things a little differently in Atlantis than you do in Pack hierarchy.”
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
    Page 134 of 188
    “Maybe I’m the one who should claim him,” Fiona said, clasping her fingers around his on the table.
    “You have bite, little human,” Lucinda said. “I almost feel like I recognize you, but you’ve never been in my pub before.”
    “No, I haven’t. But it’s a lovely place,” Fiona said, gracious as usual in spite of her circumstances. “I’ll be sure to tell my friends about it.”
    “Be sure not to,” Lucinda said dryly. “They might wind up as lunch. Now. Christophe of Atlantis, tell us why you are here, and what you want. I’d also like to hear if you have any American friends we may know.”
    He knew what that meant. Squeezing Fiona’s arm so she didn’t start singing that ridiculous song again, he smiled at the alpha and her mate. “Lucas of the Yellowstone Pack sends you his fond regards.”
    “Does he?” She tapped a very long, crimson-tipped nail on the table. “Just who is he?”
    Christophe grinned. “Lucas said if you asked me that, I should remind you that he rescued one of your children who’d strayed too near a geyser on your vacation.”
    Lucinda smiled—a real smile—and the force of her power washed over his own. “Stupid pups have no sense at that age. Now that all of them are teenagers or grown, I long for those innocent days.”
    She turned to Fiona. “Do you have children?”
    “Not yet, but I hope to one day,” Fiona said. He could tell she found the question to be overly personal and slightly offensive, but she presented a calm, smiling face to their hosts.
    “Did you hear that, sorcerer?” Evan laughed and threw an arm around his mate’s shoulders. “Are you ready to be a daddy?”
    “Have I done anything to offend you?” Christophe was getting a little tired of the man’s attitude. Sure, being