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

a banshee’s got to do to keep from being a verbal punching bag? Become a leader?

When I moved to join them, Seke gently caught my wrist. “Are you all right?” A golden-tanned hand reached out to run down my hair near my left ear.

I nearly sighed at the contact, my eyes closing. When his hand pulled away, my eyelids fluttered back open, and I noticed he was rubbing his thumb and middle fingers together, smearing something between them.

“Were you cut by the glass?”

Duh, Aria. He’s not interested in you that way, I admonished myself. He’s your captain, too. “Uh, no. That’s not mine.” I should feel guilty that I’d made Raven bleed, but she and Cole had played dirty.

His eyes cast toward the splintered mirror. “Care to explain what was going on? Decided we needed to redecorate in the middle of training?”

“Sort of.” I shrugged, trying not to inhale his masculine scent too obviously. It was a nice change from suffocating in BO. “I decided to reenact a scene from one of my favorite movies. Except, the big rock was replaced by buckling mirrors. It was kind of necessary — the only reason I didn’t end up blacked-out and face-down on this lovely, fluid-stained mat like the giant in the film.” I tapped my foot to said soaked mat. Luckily, it didn’t reek... too much. A bit of guilt rose as Seke continued to stare at the broken glass. “I can pay for a replacement.”

“No need. These kinds of things happen when training. So, the team decided today’s lesson was about fighting blindfolded?” Seke stepped closer, squishing my breasts as his chest invaded their space, the contact causing them to heave with veiled want. He was wearing a thin, white tank top that did nothing to hide those glorious golden pecs from view. It always surprised me when he wasn’t dressed to the nines, but damn if I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

My breath stalled as the contact continued, at the heat his perfectly sculpted body exuded.

He’s your captain; he’s your captain. But he wasn’t acting like it, which wasn’t supporting my libido-squashing chant.

My nod was delayed, slow, and stilted as I stared into his hazel eyes, their beautiful hue more green than brown today and rimmed by thick ebony-black lashes most women would kill for. It didn’t make him look feminine in the least; it only drew attention to his irises, to the subtle glow of his skin…

“I have another way to teach that same lesson if you’re interested.” Those soulful eyes gleamed with a naughtiness I hadn’t expected. One side of his full lips curved up in a smirk, the corner creases of his smile hidden by his dark, well-groomed facial hair.

I bet that goatee would feel amazing as he—

“Are you up for some more sensory play?” The question caught me off guard, the phrasing stalling my brain right there in the gutter where it had dropped when he’d invaded my breast bubble.

He couldn’t be inferring what I thought he was inferring. Sure, we’d exchanged a few suggestive comments and smoldering looks over the months we’d been training together, but that was it. It was like there was some invisible line we’d toed. And now, he was holding out a metaphorical hand to help me across it.

“Bring it on, sensei,” I cooed in my best seductress voice.

It left a lot to be desired, but my failed siren impersonation fled from my thoughts as Seke lifted a hand. Thick, black, smoke-like tendrils swirled around it, coalescing until they formed a thick layer as black as night where it writhed.

I flinched, reactively taking a step away as the appendage and the shadows coiling around it moved toward my face. I remembered being engulfed by the shadows the first time we’d trained together and wasn’t in a hurry to experience that again.

“Trust me,” he whispered, his breath washing across my upturned face.

Eyes locked, I couldn’t refuse him, so again, I jerked my chin in a nod as my heart jackhammered in my chest. I wasn’t sure if the quick rate was caused by the sexual undercurrent or the worry over what those shadows could do to me.

“Trust me.” His hand covered my eyes as if he wanted to surprise me, but the longer he held them there, the less I could see.

The shadows wound, squeezed, and banded until they were so thick it was as if I stood in a coffin. It was amazing how losing your sight could make even the largest space cause claustrophobia. Something grazed my arm, startling me.

“Relax. Breathe, Aria. You know I would never hurt you, don’t you?”

After taking a moment to calm myself, I nodded, breathing out my misgivings. I trusted Seke; he wouldn’t hurt me. Another visceral sensation, this one at my shoulder, felt like a sustained poke, like the finger still indented my skin. Air tickled the ear at the opposite shoulder, and I flinched. A little.

“Where am I?”

Warm air, which I assumed to be breath brushed the nape of my neck. I turned one-eighty, figuring I’d be facing where I believed him to be.

Metal clanged from further in the room, I assumed from the weights area, the sound ricocheting around the room.

I walked forward steadily. I knew there wasn’t anything on the mat that would impede me. Except, after about four steps, my toes collided with something cold and heavy.

“Holy fuck! Shit! Ow, that hurts.”

“Probably best not to venture forward when you most likely don’t know the layout of your surroundings.” I could hear the laughter tingeing Seke’s voice. “Now, come to me.” I half expected him to laugh evilly and add my precious at the end.

“I thought I was on familiar turf, Captain,” I groused. “How do I know you won’t try to trick me again?” My trust was wavering.

“Trust me, remember?”

“Well, I did before you put an anvil in the middle of my path.”

I heard steps and angled my body toward the sound but didn’t move forward. Instead, I waited,