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How fortunate that she was not drawn to warriors.
Especially not tall, lean, hard-bodied warriors who looked at her as though she were some particularly delectable dessert.
Ethan smiled slowly, a dark, dangerous smile that spoke of pleasures whispered in the shadows. Heat swept through Marie, and her lips involuntarily parted on a small sigh. Ethan’s gaze whipped down to her mouth, and he pointedly stared at it, his smile fading. The heat between them was palpable, cutting through the biting winter wind that carried hints of swamp and sea. Marie shivered, though whether from the chill or from the expression on Ethan’s face, she could not tell.
Or, at least, she would not admit. Not even to herself.
She deliberately turned her back on Ethan and faced Kat, the lovely, tall park ranger who was clutching Bastien’s hand and chewing the glossy polish off her lips. Marie held out her arms. “Forgive me, my new sister. The journey through the portal seems to have tired me. I am so pleased to meet you at last!”
K
at hesitated for only a moment and then flashed a dazzling smile that gave Marie much reassurance as to her brother’s choice.
“I’m so happy you’re here!” Kat said and then rushed forward to envelop Marie in an exuberant hug. “We have so much to talk about. I can’t wait to show you around.” Kat glanced at Bastien, smiling. “Bastien told me that this is your first trip out of Atlantis, ever. I can’t even believe how much you need to catch up on! We’re going to have a blast!”
Alaric cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. We must offer our farewells now, then. Bastien?”
Bastien’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. “Marie, you know I would prefer it if you return to Atlantis and reschedule your visit for a time when I could be here to protect you.”
From behind her, Marie heard an almost inaudible growling sound. Startled, she quickly turned around but saw only Ethan. However, it was a very different Ethan from the man who’d greeted her mere minutes ago. Gone was the sexy, speculative smile. His eyes were glowing golden flame, and his fists were clenched at his side. She blinked and watched the panther as he visibly forced himself to calm, straightening his hands and quirking his lips into a semblance of a smile as he stared at Bastien.
“As I said, Atlantean, I will protect your sister as my own. Do you doubt my word or honor?” His words dropped like heated stones into the sudden silence, and Marie felt the tension between the men shoot up to an unbearable level. “Even now, my pride-brothers surround this area to guard and protect.”
“I doubt neither, shape-shifter, but you would feel the same about Kat, and you know it,” Bastien returned, in a tone far more reasonable than Marie had expected from him. Evidently the liaison role he’d undertaken had affected him in more ways than merely touched the surface. The brother she’d always known would have led with his fists. This new brother used logic. Marie smiled at Bastien, delighted at the change.
“And yet Kat is now under your protection, and I am at peace with her decision, however wrongheaded it may have been,” Ethan said smoothly.
The interplay between the men was fascinating to observe, but for once in her centuries of existence, Marie was impatient with merely acting as observer. She held her arms out at her sides, palms up. “I find I have tired of being talked about as though the decision were not my own. Lady Kat, perhaps you will take me into your lovely home, so I might freshen up and be settled?”
Kat grinned and gestured to the small cabin. “It’s Kat. And I’d be delighted to, Marie. I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.”
Marie crossed to her brother and stood on the tips of her toes to press a kiss onto his cheek. “Be well, and find Lord Justice. Do not worry about me. As I have repeatedly told Alaric, Conlan, and what seems to have been three dozen of your fellow warriors, I am not defenseless. The goddess protects her own.”
Bastien lifted her off her feet in a strong embrace. “I know this is true. Be well, and I will return as soon as we find Justice and free him from—”
Marie touched his lips with her fingers. “Do not speak her name here in this place. Names hold power, and I do not wish to attract her attention to your beloved’s home.”
Bastien nodded and stepped back, then bowed. “I will return as soon as I may,” he repeated.
Alaric, who had remained uncharacteristically silent, spoke up. “Send a message should you have need of me, First Maiden.” He bowed to her, then gestured with one hand to draw the portal to open for his and Bastien’s return to Atlantis.
Marie nodded her thanks, then turned to walk toward the cabin and give Kat and Bastien a moment for a private farewell. Ethan, who had remained standing behind her as if frozen into place, now blocked her path. He stared down at her, and the heat she’d felt earlier at his mere glance intensified until she wanted to lean into him and soak up his warmth, wrap herself in the flames that the touch of his skin must surely generate in her body.
She drew in a deep breath and forced her expression to one of calm amusement. “Must I have the same talk with you that I have had with my brothers so many times over the centuries? The one about individual responsibility? Where I explain in very simple words that I am no fragile Atlantean flower to be cared for and coddled in a hothouse?”
Ethan leaned forward slightly, his hands behind his back, and raised one silken, dark eyebrow. “Simple words might be a really good idea, beautiful,” he said softly. “Because I’m having a hell of a fight with my inner cat right now, who wants to carry you off, strip you bare, and lick all of that deliciously creamy skin of yours.”
She inhaled sharply as his words sent tsunami waves of shock and heat slapping through her nerve endings. Before she could summon a properly stinging response, he lifted a hand and touched a curl that had escaped her braids. “And as for individual responsibility, I intend to be completely responsible for seeing this glorious hair unbound and spread all over my bed. So consider that, Lady Marie, and maybe you’ll be the one who wants to run back to your hothouse.”
Her much-prized serenity completely deserted her. “You…you—”
“Yes,” he said firmly. “Me. Remember it.” Then he bowed to her, flashing another of those mocking smiles, and strode off, sketching a half salute toward Bastien and Alaric over his shoulder. Marie glanced at her brother, wondering if he’d caught the interplay between her and Ethan, but Bastien was talking intently with Kat. When she looked back toward Ethan, she saw nothing but a tawny blur disappearing through the trees. She finally let out the breath she had not realized she was holding and continued toward the cabin on knees gone suddenly weak.
Life with the landwalkers was going to be far more fascinating than she had ever imagined.
Ethan leapt into the trees, shifting as his feet left the ground. In panther form, he ran as far and as fast as he could, determined to outpace the overpowering hunger she’d awakened in him.
Marie.
