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LENGTH: Category
SENSUALITY: Carnal

Cover art (c) Jenny Dixon 2004
ISBN 1-58608-344-9
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Rating: Contains graphic sexual content, explicit language, and graphic violence.

"Four Hearts! This is Ms. Morin's third and final book in the Atalantium series and must not be missed for those who have read the others. If you have not read the other two I highly recommend them but they don't necessarily have to be read to enjoy this book. This story has lots of surprises and will have you guessing until the end. I found this to be a very exciting and very fulfilling end to a wonderful series. Eros is a wonderful hero with a wonderful talent to provide sexually fulfillment to his lady. Claire is a very strong and powerful woman who fights for what she believes in and is willing to fight to the death for her man and her beliefs." Lisa Wine, The Romance Studio

MAIDEN OF ATLANTIS

By

Marie Morin

© Copyright by Marie Morin, February 2004
Cover art by Jenny Dixon
ISBN 1-58608-344-9
New Concepts Publishing
www.newconceptspublishing.com

Chapter One

The dolphin beached itself. Claire Holiday had been gazing absently at the ocean, mesmerized by its restless, ceaseless movements into an almost meditative state of calm and had lost all track of time when she saw it happen.

The calm felt good after the emotional hurricane she’d just been through. It was something she’d desperately needed, and instinctively sought, when she’d headed for the beach after life, as she’d known it for almost three years, ceased in the blink of an eye.

If she hadn’t decided to drop by the apartment, she might still be living in her own little fantasy world. That one, fateful decision, had cost her her boyfriend, her job, her home---everything. She frowned, slowly tracing her way back to the root of her mistake—falling for her boss and moving in with him. She ought to have known then that he ‘shopped’ at the office when he was on the hunt.

Who was she kidding? She had known. He’d broken it off with his previous house mate/girlfriend just before they’d become an item. At least, that was what he’d told her and the story she’d been determined to believe because she’d been blinded by her infatuation. She realized now that the ‘mental case’ he’d been living with before her probably hadn’t been stalking him at all. She’d probably thought they were still together until, like Claire, she’d had her face rubbed in it.

What goes around comes around—it sucked, though, to have to be the one to pay when he was really the guilty one.

The dolphin brought that merry-go-round of self-castigation, anger at Mark’s duplicity and her willful stupidity to an abrupt halt. She hadn’t really been aware that she’d been watching it until it made for the beach. She was on her feet before she even realized it, gasping in pained surprise as if it was her that had just plowed across that stretch of sand, as if she felt the impact and the abrasion of the sand tearing at tender, exposed skin.

The dolphin flopped and wiggled awkwardly for several moments and finally lay still, breathing frightened gasps. Drawn to its distress, Claire moved cautiously toward it despite her uneasiness about the danger inherent in approaching a wounded, wild thing, peripherally aware that several other people had rushed over to gape at the animal.

As she approached, it looked directly at her, its jaws working as it emitted a series of noises. She wasn’t certain whether it was warning her away, or if it was merely giving voice to its distress, but she halted, waiting until it seemed to grow calmer. Finally, when it ceased trying to move, she approached it and knelt beside its head, touching its crown.

She frowned when she realized she couldn’t sense any true pain. Ordinarily, she had a sort of sixth sense about pain and could ferret it out the moment she touched an animal—sometimes without even touching it. "What did you do that for? Hmmm?" she cooed soothingly to the animal absently as she looked it over. There were no wounds readily apparent. She hesitated, but she realized almost immediately that it was doubtful any of the crowd looking on would know what she was doing and, in any case, they were strangers. It wasn’t likely she’d run into them again even if they suspected—and if they did, who would believe them?

Closing her eyes, she concentrated, feeling her palms grow warmer and warmer as she stroked the animal soothingly, searching for the illness or injury she knew must be internal.

Abruptly, the skin beneath her palms changed in temperature and texture.

Her eyes flew open. The dolphin had vanished. In its place lay a man, but even as her gaze moved over him with a will of its own, her mind refused to assimilate what her eyes told her she was looking at.

He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen, and just as beautifully formed—and completely naked. She snatched her hands back when she realized abruptly that she’d frozen, her palms pressed against his lower abdomen beside one truly impressive erection.

"You were right," the man said, his voice carefully neutral. "She’s an empath and a healer. I felt the touch of her mind."

Claire gaped at him uncomprehendingly, still too stunned and confused to grasp what was happening or even who he was speaking to. His heavy, dark brows were drawn down at the center, forming almost a v above the bridge of his narrow, almost aquiline nose. His finely etched, sensual mouth was pulled into a thin line, but he seemed more curious, or perhaps empathetic, than angry, for something gleamed in the depths of his golden gaze that flashed a warning into her mind.

Too late, she whirled to see who he’d spoken to. Even as her gaze raked the people—an older man of indeterminate years, a young, blond man who looked to be in his late twenties, and a red headed woman a few years older than she—who’d joined them on the beach, she realized that, unlike her, they were here with a purpose. Her upper arms were seized from behind by the younger of the two men, lifting her to her feet. The woman approached her in two swift strides, placing her palm on Claire’s forehead before Claire could even think to scream for help. Immediately, the world drifted away from her, although she didn’t completely loose consciousness. It was rather more like the drug administered before surgery. It made her feel heavy, her thoughts disjointed. It deprived of her will, separated her mind from her body so that she could not command herself to struggle.

The world spun dizzily as she was lifted into someone’s arms. With an effort, she lifted her head and looked up at the man carrying her. It was the man she’d thought was a dolphin—Or maybe he was a dolphin? Maybe her distress had effected her mind?

She didn’t believe that. She’d been upset, but certainly not enough to loose her mind. And yet, she’d thought this man was a dolphin. What would make her think that?

A splash of water on her feet distracted her and she looked around. She saw that he was carrying her into the sea. The woman and the other two men walked beside them, their gazes focused at the water---not a boat of any description within sight---there was no where to go but the sea. Alarm filled her despite the—whatever it was that the woman had done to her to make her feel so peculiar.

You will not be harmed. I give you my word.

Claire looked up at the man carrying her, confused. She hadn’t seen his lips move. "I don’t understand. What did I do? What do you want with me? Where are you taking me?

The rebellion has begun. You are the key we’ve been seeking.

"Rebellion? Key? What kind of key? You’ve got the wrong person. I can’t even keep my own life in order. There’s no way I could be the key to anything—unless you want everything to fall apart."

Ironically, that is exactly the role you will be expected to play. You will bring Atalantium to its knees and then we will overthrow the council and free Atalantium from the watery grave they have buried us in.

Even the lethargy that held her in sway couldn’t prevent a knee jerk reaction to that comment. "Atlantis?" She’d barely uttered the exclamation, however, when the man carrying her suddenly dove beneath the waves.

She caught her breath and held it, bracing herself for the water she knew would be pouring over her any moment.

It never happened. Instead, as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realized that she was beneath the water, but untouched by it, almost as if unseen hands were holding it back—or she’d been trapped inside a bubble. She kept expecting it to burst, kept expecting to feel the salty burn of the sea in her eyes and nostrils, but she remained untouched.

Finally, losing interest in the thing she couldn’t see or even touch, she turned her head to look around her. Dimly through the gloom, she saw the people from the beach—except they weren’t people anymore. They were merfolk. With an effort, she looked at the man carrying her and discovered he no longer held her in his arms. Instead, she seemed to be floating before him, almost as if she really was encased in a bubble of air, or maybe a clear plastic ball that he was manipulating.

In a strange sort of way, it seemed to make sense—except that she couldn’t figure out how they’d gotten her inside of it. Maybe she’d been unconscious for a while?

Oddly enough, she didn’t even feel any surprise when she sat that the handsome man who’d captured her wasn’t a handsome man anymore. He was a merman like the others. She supposed she wasn’t really surprised because he’d been a dolphin just a little while ago.

Her last thought before she drifted into unconsciousness was that, when they found her lifeless body on the beach, they were going to assume she’d drowned herself over that snake she’d been living with.

How humiliating to know everyone would believe she was that stupid!

Chapter Two

Claire was in an unfamiliar room when she became aware of her surroundings again. Afraid to move at first, she glanced around at what she could see without moving her head. A damp chill seemed to radiate from the stones that made up the two walls she could see from her position. Strangely, they glowed, giving off a soft, greenish light that dispelled much of the gloom, but seemed to cast as many shadows as it chased away. Above her, perhaps eight feet from the floor, were bars. The remaining two walls, she saw when she turned her head, were made up of bars, as well, cutting her off from a much larger room. In the shadowy back of the room, she saw an assortment of wooden boxes and barrels, and decided she must be in a warehouse.

Cautiously, Claire sat up and looked around. The man/dolphin/merman she’d found on the beach sat in a chair against the far wall of the room she found herself in, simply staring at her, his face completely devoid of expression. It was dim in the room. At first, she thought he might be sleeping but almost the moment she thought it, she saw him blink.

He looked like a man. Ordinary didn’t come into the picture. There was nothing remotely common about him. His dark, almost ebony hair, hung well past his shoulders in a way few men wore their hair anymore—except maybe a rock star or a model for some kind of hair product. He would’ve been handsome, she thought, from just about anyone’s perspective, in a purely masculine way, but he also had an exotic, almost foreign look about him that lent an added dollop of sex appeal.

She was completely mad to even think about sex appeal, she knew, but she couldn’t look at the man without being clobbered with it.

He was still starkly naked, but oddly enough given her puritanical soul, he didn’t seem the least indecent, no more than a beautifully formed statue would seem so. She frowned at that thought, amending it. She wasn’t in the habit of feeling lustful toward beautiful statues—admired them, yes, but they didn’t make her feel warm all over just looking at them.

She’d had no clue she had such a wild imagination. She’d been told she had no imagination, but that had been her boss/ex-boss/ ex-boyfriend so maybe that didn’t really count.

Either he’d been dead wrong about her, or somebody had slipped her some kind of hallucinogen.

Could drugs cause this sort of hallucination, she wondered?

She got up finally and moved to the stone walls, touching them, more than half expecting that she would discover there was no wall there at all. It was solid, but it didn’t feel like stone. In fact, it didn’t feel like anything she’d ever touched before. Something jolted through her palm and into her arm, almost as if it was electrified. She snatched her hand back, curling her fingers into her palm.

Her heart was jolting against her chest wall, but she realized after a moment that she wasn’t hurt. Turning away from the wall, she moved to the bars, stopping before she touched them.

"Where am I?"

He said nothing for so long that she’d almost decided he wouldn’t answer at all. "In the heart of the rebel stronghold."

His voice surprised her. It didn’t sound quite the same as before. She decided she must have imagined the strange conversation they’d had before when she’d thought he was speaking inside her mind—or maybe she was imagining this?

Despite the suspicion, Claire stared at him in dismay as his words finally sank in, most particularly the one. Was it possible she wasn’t hallucinating now? That she really was here? How in God’s name could she have gotten mixed up with a bunch of terrorists? What would they want with her?

She moistened her dry lips, tasting salt on them—from the ocean? "Look—I think this is a mistake—I mean, I’m sure it’s a mistake. I don’t know who y’all thought you were grabbing back there on the beach, but I swear I’m not her." She watched his face for any sign that her comments had had some effect, but could see nothing to suggest it. "I didn’t see a thing—coming here, I mean. You could let me go and there’s no way I could tell anybody—if I wanted to, but I’ve got no reason to. So, why would I?"

He stood up abruptly and moved toward her.

Claire gaped at him, too stunned to figure out whether there was any threat in his demeanor or not. As he neared the bars, however, she fell back several steps.

He walked through them, as if the bars had been nothing but an illusion, and Claire’s mind simply shut down as he grasped her shoulders, hauling her up against a chest as unyielding as a stone wall. You will not survive here long, outlander, if you do not learn to mind your tongue.

She was staring straight at him, her jaw at half cock, when the words entered her head. His lips never moved. It took her several moments more to realize she hadn’t heard him with her ears. She’d heard him in her mind. Fear blasted the frozen shock from her and she began struggling to thrust him away. This thing wasn’t human. He’d looked like a dolphin, and then a man, a merman, and now a man again. He spoke with his mind. He was probably some horrible thing toying with her mind, making her think she was seeing a human like herself when, in actuality, he had a dozen arms and ten eyes.

His lips tightened. He gave her a tiny shake. I am as human as you are.

"I’m not falling for that! Maybe you can trick my mind into seeing things that aren’t really there, but you gave yourself away when you walked right through those bars."

Cease! The rattle of your tongue will convince them you are not as valuable to them as they thought if you attract the attention of the Guardian.

Despite the threat, she glared at him. "Good! Then they can take me back where I belong. Because I’m not of any use to them, and even if I could be, I’m sure as hell not helping anybody that takes me against my will!"

They will kill you, little fool, if they find they have no use for you. Only here, in this place, are your thoughts protected from the Guardian. They would not risk releasing you and making their plans known.

"I don’t see how I could make their plans known when I don’t know them!" Claire exclaimed in dismay.

They will be made known to you.

Claire ceased trying to struggle free. It was useless, in any case. "Couldn’t you just take me back? Now, I mean? Before I know anything they don’t want me to know," she whispered urgently.

His lips tightened in anger. I would not betray my people for an outlander… however beautiful.

The power of such a compliment out of the blue was nothing short of amazing. Claire was instantly diverted. "You think I’m beautiful?" Claire asked, stunned.

Frowning, he released her abruptly. If you are to live, you must do as you are told—exactly, without question. And you must cease to speak unnecessarily. Even here there is the possibility that your voice might be heard.

She wasn’t really listening to his voice in her head anymore, however. The comment had set off a barely conscious chain of thoughts in her mind that evolved almost instantly into a plan that was more hopeful than practical. Claire grabbed his arm when he would’ve turned away. "If you’ll help me, I’d be so grateful. I mean it. I’d do anything," she said in a desperate whisper. "Anything," she added for emphasis, placing her hand on his chest suggestively.

She could do this. He looked human. All she had to do was pretend he really was. She’d fuck a snake if it’d get her out of this place in one piece. She could bathe later, wash it from her body and her mind—if there was a later.

To her surprise, his face twisted in fury. He caught her shoulders once more, his grip punishing. Before she could consider whether it had been wise to provoke him, he pulled her up on her tiptoes and lowered his mouth to hers. There were no preliminaries. He did not coax her lips to part, woo her with a tender, coaxing caress. He covered her gasp of surprise with his mouth in a kiss that was part fury, part hunger, and thoroughly devastating to her senses. His mouth was moist, hot, punishing. His tongue, plunging boldly inside her mouth to plunder and tease her with savage possession, sent heat spiraling through her that sapped the strength from her knees.

She made a little sound in the back of her throat that was part pleasure, part despair, realizing dimly that she was totally out of her league. He was the aggressor, the conqueror, not some poor supplicant that she might bend to her will by favoring him with a little flattery, a few chaste kisses and promises she had no intention of keeping.

She was clinging to him for support by the time he broke the kiss and set her away from him.