Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

neutralized any potential move.
    “I don’t think so, sorcerer,” Lucinda said, pointing to Fiona. “If you so much as blink, they will rip her throat out. Now make your pretty fire go away.”
    Christophe analyzed every option available to him in the space of a single breath, but the damn alpha spoke the truth. She had the upper hand, for now. He extinguished the fireball.
    “Now you’re in a great deal of trouble,” Lucinda said, and then she started laughing.

Chapter 30
    Fiona had the craziest urge to give in to the giggles. The entire situation had a distinct evil villain vibe to it, and she half expected Bond, James Bond, to show up any minute and get Lucinda to launch into a monologue about her plans to take over the world. Didn’t look like that was going to happen, though.
    Instead, Fiona drew a deep breath and analyzed the situation.
    Chance of escape? None.
    Chance of winning a battle, against these odds? None. Or at least none before she’d be dead and bleeding out on the floor. Christophe might be able to fight them or escape, or both.
    Chance of negotiating? Better than average.
    “Lucinda—”
    Somebody smacked the back of her head, hard.
    “Speak to our alpha with respect, human. You’re not fit to say her name.” The words came out in an animalistic growl, but she had no problem understanding either their meaning or their menace.
    “I do apologize, but that is how she introduced herself to me. Is there a form of address you’d prefer I use?” She smiled calmly, as if this were any cocktail conversation in any drawing room in the country.
    “You’ve declined my very reasonable request,” Lucinda said, stalking her way across the room. “I don’t care what you call me, you’re in trouble.”
    Christophe roared out a warning, and Evan, his nose crooked and bleeding, smashed a chair into the back of Christophe’s head. Christophe went down hard but was back up in a few seconds.
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
    Page 137 of 188
    “If you touch her, I will kill you all,” Christophe said, his voice carrying throughout the room. His eyes burned like deep green pools of molten emerald and flashed a warning or a signal to Fiona. She had no idea what he was trying to convey, not that there was much she could do about it anyway. She was surrounded by drunken, angry, excited, and possibly hungry shifters. That last adjective alone accounted for the shiver of terror trailing its cold fingers down her spine.
    “You should watch your mouth, warrior,” Lucinda replied. “She will be dead before you can make your first move.”
    Fiona could tell by the way Christophe clenched his fists that he knew as well as she did that it was the truth.
    “Please let them entertain us, my mistress,” one of the shifters called out to his alpha. “If we are not amused, they can be food.”
    “I can be very entertaining,” Fiona said quickly.
    A few of the shifters laughed, and she smiled at them. Diplomacy never hurt, though she didn’t think they’d go as far as disobeying their alpha. Lucinda was the key.
    “You offer, then?” Lucinda smiled. Her mouth surely hadn’t had so many teeth in it before.
    “No,” Christophe shouted. “She doesn’t understand. Take me.”
    “Too late, Atlantean. Offered and accepted,” the alpha replied, never taking her eyes off Fiona. “Well, little human, which will it be? Fight or fuck?”
    Fiona gasped. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Little too late for that. Now you entertain my people. If they decide you’ve done a good enough job of it, we let you go. Do you choose to fight or fuck? Either will suffice. Pain or pleasure?”
    “I don’t—I—who would I have to fight?” Delay. Keep Lucinda talking. Fiona’s heart was about to beat out of her chest, and she was sure the shifters surrounding her could hear it, since they were crowding closer and closer, some snuffling at her like . . . animals.
    Brilliant, Fee. Of course, like animals.
    Evan shouted out a laugh. His nose seemed to be healing already. “Guess you’re not satisfying her, Atlantean, if she’d choose to fight a wolf shifter rather than fuck you for our viewing pleasure.”
    “I’ll only be satisfied when I have a wolf-skin rug in front of my fire,” Christophe said, scorn dripping from his voice. “Why don’t you fight me, if your Pack wants some real entertainment? Or is the little puppy afraid to come out from behind Mommy?”
    Evan launched himself at Christophe