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often proved fatal. Lucas snarled again, but crouched low.
     
    Alexios had barely caught sight of the four remaining shifters, lurking at the edge of the tree line, when Christophe‟s razor-sharp blades of ice arrowed through the air and sliced through their necks.
     
    The Atlantean power over water could be quite deadly when wielded by an expert. Too bad it had to be Christophe.
     
    “That‟s four at once,” Christophe said smugly. “The ale is quite definitely on you three.”
     
    “Are there any more of them, Lucas?” Alexios knew the shifter‟s keen sense of smell would discover any remaining attackers.
     
    Lucas‟s heavy head lifted as he scented the air. Then he slowly shook his head back and forth, taking a few steps away. The shimmer of the Change hung in the air for a few moments while Lucas returned to human form. The Change had healed the worst measure of his wounds, but what remained showed how badly he‟d been hurt in the fight.
     
    Alexios bent to clean his daggers in the rushing waters of the river, then dried and resheathed them, not trusting himself to talk just yet.
     
    Lucas evidently didn‟t have that problem. “Private meeting. Private. I don‟t quite see how bringing your goons along fulfilled that request,” he snarled.
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    “Goons? Did he just call us goons, Brennan?” Christophe asked. “Listen, doggie boy, I can show you goons —”
     
    Alexios sliced a hand through the air, cutting him off. Turned back to Lucas. “Are you freaking kidding me? Did you set me up? What in the nine hells was this?”
     
    Lucas‟s rage and the shimmer of the incipient Change hung in the air for a moment, but then the shifter visibly forced himself to calm down. “Set you up? Set you up? I called you here to ask for help. Which, as you might guess, wasn‟t easy for me to do in the first place. Do you really know me so little that you think I would set you up? I was going to ask you to stand as second pack-father to my sons, you damn fool.”
     
    Brennan bowed, elegant as always. “Congratulations on the imminent birth, and may the waters of your world serve to nourish your family now and for always.”
     
    Lucas‟s eyes widened at Brennan‟s formal speak, but he inclined his head. “Thank you.
    As you may or may not know, the pack-father protects the children as if they were his own—would die for them. The first must be Pack, but there is precedent for naming a second. I‟ve chosen you, Alexios. Maybe that was a mistake.”
     
    Alexios ran a hand through his hair, wincing when he hit the part of his scalp still tender from the shifter‟s attack. “It wasn‟t a mistake. We‟ve been friends for a very long time, and I am honored beyond the telling of it that you would ask me to serve as second pack-father. I accept, if you still want me.” He offered his hand, and with only a moment‟s hesitation, Lucas grasped it in his own. A shared understanding passed between them, and Alexios knew that he, too, would protect Lucas‟s children with his life.
     
    “Lovely. Really touching. Maybe we can eat chocolate and watch a chick flick next,”
    Christophe said. “Or maybe we can figure out how in the nine hells they knew we were Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    here? Whatever else that was, it wasn‟t random. Not only were they here for us but they seemed to be targeting Alexios personally.”
     
    “I also had noticed they were focusing on Alexios,” but I am not a particular fan of romantic comedy films,” Brennan said. “Lucas, did you mention this meeting to anyone else?”
     
    Lucas was already shaking his head. “No. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you about what was going on. Vampires enthralling shifters. Pack acting contrary to our own best interests. Something big is going on—something different. The vamps have found a way to permanently enthrall shifters, Alexios. I don‟t need