Fatal Sight (Harbingers Of Death Book 2) by LeAnn Mason (book club reads .TXT) 📕

far: forget finding a field that fits. It was turning out nearly impossible to find teammates with whom I fit.

“Back off, buddy. You don’t want me to show you my capabilities. I promise.” At least, telling off this asshat had diverted my mind from the nausea rolling through my unsettled innards. Until…

There goes the rest of lunch.

“What the fuck?” Stone huffed, disgusted, trying to relieve himself of the liquid bile newly adorning his skin-hugging black t-shirt. His arms lifted as if he could escape the yellow splatter reeking of acidic juices and phlegm as it wafted from his person in the ocean gales.

“Sorry about that. Guess you can tell your friends that a banshee got seasick on you. Maybe the shirt could be a collector’s item. A trophy,” I said brightly after wiping and rinsing my mouth with the bottled water still in my grasp, spitting the resultant liquid out into the ocean.

I thought about spitting it on Stone to “help” wash him down but decided to leave him to handle my gift how he chose.

When fiery scarlet irises burned into me, morphing within the rapidly de-humanizing face, I realized it probably wasn’t a bright idea to goad a hellhound. He could hide his retaliation from view with those cloaking powers... among other skills I had zero clue about.

Shit. Guess I’m just not a dog person.

I waited with bated breath while I watched Stone grapple with his canine nature, which definitely wanted to take a bite out of me for that stunt.

He pushed into my space again, bending me over the railing. Again. The smell of my sick burned in my nose as my face was practically shoved into the mess. “You’re mine, banshee,” he whispered, his breath hot on my ear, which added another layer of shiver-inducing creepiness to the words.

My stomach heaved again, bubbling and crawling to escape. Only this time, it wasn’t vomit.

My banshee scream erupted from my body like lava from a volcano. There was no stopping it, and I rejoiced internally when Stone flinched, clapping his hands over his sensitive canine ears and stumbling backward across the deck in a hasty retreat.

Banshee scream for the win.

8

“Put your teeth near my ass again, and you’ll get them punched out of your mouth.”

Seke sighed. “Brenna.”

Normally, the admonition and a simple look from her captain would quell the raven shifter. But tensions were high. His subsidiaries were reacting to the grief in various ways — such as anger, lashing out at those around. He didn’t blame them. He too was struggling with the monumental loss of Jessica… and Aria.

The team might not admit to it, but both were affecting them all. Aria had been new, but she’d been working her way into all of their hearts... especially the god’s.

Seke hadn’t expected that pang deep in his chest. He’d grown aloof, apathetic over his long existence. And he certainly hadn’t thought he’d grown that close to Aria, but distance makes the heart grow fonder. It was only once she was gone that he noticed the differences she’d made in his life, the improvements.

“He started it! Tell him not to bite my ass.”

Cole must have resumed human form because he responded. “There’s nothing in the rules preventing me from doing so. You can’t call uncle on a real mission.”

“On a real mission, no one turns into a fucking hellhound.”

Seke’s eyes drifted closed, and his fingers rose to massage his temples. The bickering had picked up recently. With his team at each other’s throats, there was no reprieve. Feelings got hurt, and training sessions had to be broken up.

Before, they’d picked on Aria, but she’d been able to take it… and dish it right back. She’d let it fuel her, and in the time he’d spent working with her, she’d learned to channel it with control instead of letting it snap back in a heated uppercut or knee jab.

With the stress, he’d been sleeping poorly, worried as he was about whether letting Aria go had been the right choice... worried about how she might be fitting in with her new unit. The director had told him her first switch didn’t go well. He knew she’d struggled with the HDPU, but perhaps they could have worked through the kinks. It wasn’t her fault what had happened to Jessica.

And then, there were the dreams Aria haunted in an entirely different capacity...

“Want me to knock their heads together, boss?” said a throaty voice near his elbow. “See if I can smack some sense into them?”

“No. Thank you, Ember.” Seke took a deep breath, lifting his head. “I’ll handle this.” He was captain. If his team was in disarray, it was up to him to soothe their ruffled feathers and quiet their angry barks.

“You have to be ready for anything,” Cole was snapping at Raven, pushing into her space. The two were chest to chest, eyes flashing at each other. Fists weren’t flying yet, but they would, and Seke feared that it would be more than a friendly spar.

“Enough!” The shadows responded to his emotions, slithering from the corners and swirling around the pair of bickering teammates. Maybe they’d pay attention to his direction now. “I will not have you acting like children. We will conduct ourselves like professionals, like a team, working together.”

“Uh, Captain?” Ember’s small voice was meek, pleading.

“What?” he snapped, trying and failing to get a grip on his anger, turning to her, irritated at the interruption.

Ember’s cinnamon eyes were wide and her face frightened. That caused him to draw back and follow the direction of the phoenix’s pointing finger. Cole and Brenna were being pressed down to their hands and knees, hair whipping as the shadows lashed out at them. They were barely visible beneath the thick weight of Seke’s power.

“Shit.” The god dropped his hands, sending the shadows back to their nooks and crannies.

Cole and Brenna blinked up at him, hair windswept, eyes wide. They were silent, finally.

“I’m sorry. I...” Seke shook his head. He needed