Fatal Sight (Harbingers Of Death Book 2) by LeAnn Mason (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

of someone walking in on them that had pulled him from the moment. And that was enough to remind him to keep up his guard. If what he was doing was something his team would disapprove of, then it was not acceptable.

He had enjoyed Aria’s presence a bit too much, the way she challenged him, pushed him to learn and grow himself in a way he hadn’t done in years, but he hadn’t again let himself touch her out of a training capacity, and then, only briefly. He had already let it go too far.

His back hit the railing, and his eyes shut again as his mind drew to the surface the image of crushing hurt on Aria’s face when he told her about her reassignment. She’d been too attached as well. He’d led her on. That hadn’t been fair.

“Good,” Seke said aloud. It was for the best that they’d been separated.

He collected himself, squaring broad shoulders, leveling his chin, and brushing nonexistent dirt from his attire. His team needed him… and he, them. They would get through this together.

Seke caged off his heart and headed back to his team. The banshee would not distract him anymore.

9

I wanted to gloat, saying, “You wanted to hear me scream, there you go. Check off ‘witness banshee scream’ on your conquest list. Maybe bleeding from your ears will add another nice color to the t-shirt for your wall.” But my mouth was otherwise occupied. My tete-a-tete with Stone was over anyway; at the sound of my wailing, the rest of the team came running.

The Water Unit must have been very accustomed to the crashing of the waves and deafening roar of the wind to have heard me over that chaos — and from within the captain’s area and below deck, from which another man stumbled. But hear me, they did. And they snapped right into action, despite having told me I was their first banshee experience.

The new guy and Stone, whose hand-covered ears continued to block me out, were watching Charon’s mouth move as the ferryman shouted instructions, proving he was indeed the HDWU captain. I realized they were lip-reading, a mode of communication adapted from the loudness of their environment. Apparently, Stone did have another skill I didn’t know about.

I copied, staring at the gruff man’s beard, but apparently, it was a skill Stone could hold over me. Too much beard, not enough lip for me to catch a lick of what came out of the man’s mouth.

I need to work on that if I’m going to be screaming all the time on these teams. I can’t afford to be clueless.

So focused on my task, I nearly fell overboard when Sena surged out of the water beside me, leaning over the railing to also stare at Charon.

Shifting away from the fishtailed being as she dripped on the deck, my gaze followed Charon’s pointing finger as he jabbed it toward the port side… or was it starboard? Either way, he was telling the team there was something in the water.

Still screaming, I stared and saw… more of the same. Ocean, in about every direction. So, why had my banshee abilities kicked in?

The mermaid dropped back into the water, and the second man, who was lithe with long legs, dove after her, shifting in midair into the shape of a horse.I leaned over to gawk as he splashed in.

I thought Seke said all harbingers were carefully selected for their roles?

Horse shifter wasn’t the most water-ready choice… But the equine-shaped dude was having no problem swimming as fast as the mermaid through the choppy waves, and it hit me.

Holy shit. A real-life Kelpie.

Mesmerized by the corporeal version of an image I’d viewed in the old tomes in Seke’s library, I jumped when Charon surprised me with a clap to the back.

He motioned toward the water where my new teammates were swimming in the direction of a target I couldn’t see. Sunken shipwreck? They put distance between us quickly, traversing with the expertise of Olympic swimmers unaffected by the tumultuous oceanic waters tossed about by the building storm.

Shaking my head adamantly, I tried to slide out from under the captain’s insistent hand. Even if I had flippers or scales like those aquatic supes, I would drown as soon as I went in with my trap open wider than a feeding whale’s.

Ducking, I about-faced and smacked my gob right into Stone’s vomit-coated chest. Seeing as my mouth was open, if my throat hadn’t been otherwise occupied, I’d have upchucked again.

Fuck me.

The sea dog’s grin was wide and teeth canine-sharp as he reveled in my disgust. He said something inaudible. While I continued to screech my lungs out, adding to the storm’s cacophony, the hellhound wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me against his squelchy chest, a definite vindictive glint in his red eyes.

Are all hellhounds assholes?

Before I could extract myself when the hand on my back drifted lower, he clapped a hand over my mouth, muffling my noise, and leaned in close. Stone yelled right into my ear, his overly moist lips moving disgustingly against my lobe. The urge to simultaneously shiver with revulsion and puke into his hand was strong. “Shame you didn’t bring a bikini. Time to sink or swim, screamer!” Then, he toppled us overboard.

What was with dudes hitching me to them and then toppling into abysses?!

When our fall slowed without splashing into freezing water, I cracked my squeezed-shut eyes open to inspect just how dire my situation was. Stone had hold of a rope and was lowering us in a controlled but unrelenting descent toward the ocean surface.

The sudden need to inhale cut off my unhindered scream, and I snapped my mouth shut a second before we crashed into the water.

There’s a new way to shut me up. Good to know.

When I attempted to swim back to the surface for air, the douche-hound tugged me deeper. I opened my eyes and nearly lost my precious lungful in