“Okay.” Maximus put his fingers through his hair. “Let’s start with who gave you the false Intel that instigated your departure?”
“Lucius.” His feisty little mate sent her Empress a pointed stare.
The other woman paled. “He….” She shook her two-toned blonde and aqua head. “He couldn’t be involved. Lucius was injured in the attack and might not survive. Crushed rose petals in aerosol form were sprayed in his face to neutralize him. He was then electrocuted and shot in the chest.”
“The rose petals are what Gryphon sprayed in my face, as well.”
And no one but a siren knew of their weaknesses, he and Gabriel hadn’t even known of the rose petals until now. “If Gryphon was working for him, that would explain how he knew your weakness, Sameya.”
“E’Neskha, the only siren with the ability to identify another siren’s mate—aside from the parties involved—is Lucius. He knew the mating compulsion would weaken me. They attacked at my weakest moment.”
The Empress clasped her hands between her breasts, and tears welled in her eerie colored yes. “You’re wrong. I cannot believe he would do this. And you’re not mated!”
In denial! Maximus allowed Sameya to handle the situation.
“He taunted more than once how he’d like to see me fall to my alpha mate, E’Neskha.”
“You two never got along. Have you found your mate? Is that part of all of this?” The Atlantian leader shot a cagey glance at him and Gabriel.
“I wouldn’t sleep with Lucius even after he tried to force me. When I kicked his ass, it made things worse.” Maximus’s fangs hit his bottom lip and the tiger beside him executed a low grumble of displeasure in the back of his throat. Sameya ignored them. “One day he’d tease that my mate was a vampyr. The next day a shifter. I thought he was being a jackass like always, but…he knew, E’Neskha. I’m certain of it. Even you cannot deny he resents my position with you.”
“Sameya, he is my baby brother,” the words were nothing more than a whisper. The horror etched onto the woman’s face said it all. Confirmed betrayal would rip her soul apart.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could come to another conclusion. But the facts are mounting against him. I raped Tyrone Gryphon’s memories, and confirmed, as we suspected, the traitor resides in Atlantis. But only fuzzy images of the infidel remain in his head.” She motioned toward Gryphon to indicate whose head she referred to. “Adjusting memories is one of Lucius’ gifts. No other. Maybe he adjusted your memory with his power so you’d think he was injured when he really wasn’t. It’d further his cause.” Seemed plausible to Maximus. For the first time, Sameya offered solace and placed her palm on her leader’s shoulder. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe he’d harm you. Me, yes, but not you.”
Silence lapsed between them as they stared at one another. Maximus wished he grasped the inner workings of a woman’s mind, but he couldn’t glean what these two were thinking.
“For good or bad, E’Neskha, we must return to Atlantis and—”
“I’m returning forthwith. I’ll confront Lucius.” The Empress sniffled, and Sameya nodded.
“You know he won’t confess his deeds, but I’ll join you.”
“We’re coming with you.” Sameya jerked to face Maximus, while her Empress swiveled toward them, her gaze shrewd. Before his siren could argue, he said, “No way are we letting you out of our sight with your life in jeopardy.”
“Get over yourself, Maximus. I can take care of myself.”
“Made all the more obvious by our recent capture.” He made a show of flashing his fangs. Gabriel would’ve understood it was his silent way of saying ‘that’s the end of the conversation’. Sameya’s violet eyes flared, and her jaw hardened in a clear sign of mutiny. “We need to be there to assist should your secret be turned against you once more.”
“A nick of wormwood brought you down, Maximus. How’s that helping?” Ouch. She hit below the belt with that one.
“It took ten of them to bring me down.” Gabriel stalked to Sameya and got in her face. “You’re not going without us.”
“Don’t get cocky, shifter. With my choker gone, I could serenade you easily. The weakest siren in Atlantis could. Turned against me, you’re a whole shitload of help!”
A rumbling came from deep within Gabriel’s throat.
In case she didn’t get the hint, Maximus said, “So you know, you’ve pissed him off.”