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

“Only if you ask nicely, Silver.”

My head cranked around, and I gawked at the thin, raven-haired woman outside the door, standing haughtily, with arms crossed, between a beefy dreadlocked man and a petite redhead.

22

“I think it would be beneficial to re-admit Aria onto our HD team.” Seke tentatively broached the subject with his team as they gathered around for dinner at the bunker after a particularly long day.

He hadn’t imagined how hard it would be to divulge to Aria the fact that he’d known Enid back when her mom had been an official Harbinger… before she’d vanished. He’d realized the information would be hard to digest, especially with their… with the intimate moments they’d shared. Seke was a little thrown-off himself.

Now that he knew the vampires hadn’t all been taken care of, he knew there was a fifty-fifty chance Enid hadn’t simply been killed. The vampires both feared and revered the banshees. One group slaughtered. The other group... Anytime they could get their hands on one still living, well, it would probably have been better to die.

That was not easy to accept, but he hadn’t anticipated how strongly Aria would react to his simply knowing her mom. He hadn’t even made it to that part of the discussion about Aria’s revelation that vampires still walked the Earth, nor explained the ring. He’d underestimated the connection between mother and daughter despite the fact that Enid had only been present for a short time in Aria’s early life. Aria had clearly never let go.

He understood on some level. He had found it impossibly hard to walk out of that motel room and let Aria go… at least, for the time being.

And that was just based on his instincts as a captain. His romantic feelings for her compounded the urge to help, to protect, but didn’t invent it.

“Captain, we recognize you have a... soft spot for the banshee,” Cole said with a bit of a pained expression, evidently thinking along the same lines as his captain. “But I thought you were just going to check on her.” He’d always hated to go against what Seke wanted, but sometimes he allowed himself to dissent as he had when he’d come to speak to Seke a few days ago about the distraction Aria had become.

“Sometimes, a newcomer just doesn’t quite fit into the fold,” Ember continued, “and you have to let them go, find their place in the world.”

“Especially when the newcomer’s arrival coincides with the death of an actual teammate,” Brenna interjected with a roll of her dark eyes and a huff. The little shifter had always been reticent of change. Seke expected it was a product of her upbringing. The raven community was small, tight-knit, and very watchful.

That, of course, made her a natural choice for the HDPU as prison was certainly a place where a keen lookout was needed. Reapings were not the only time to be vigilant when stuck among hardened criminals in close quarters.

The raven shifter seemed to believe a banshee was not suited in the same way. Seke wasn’t sure he agreed; Aria had helped them identify Carter. Either way, he did know Aria needed a family, a support system, a team, particularly right now. She’d survived on her own for many years, but that was in hiding. The vampires knew about her now.

“You all realize that Aria is not the reason for Jessica’s death, yes? I understand that you are… jaded, maybe now more than ever, but do you not see how good not only a banshee but Aria, in particular, could be for us?”

“You’re just saying that because you want to fuck her.”

Seke’s eyes flashed, and his shadows gathered to swell like a swirling cloud that clung to his taut body as he turned to address the insubordinate little fledgling. His eyes would have been as dark as her bird’s in his state of repressed fury. “Do not undermine the effectiveness of me or any other simply because you are bitter and cold. Your refusal to adapt will be the downfall of this team, and Jessica will not be the last casualty. Teamwork, cohesiveness, and adaptation have always been the backbone of this team. Do not let rigidity cause your demise.”

Seke had held his tongue before. Jessica’s death had hit them hard, and they had needed to grieve. He understood that. But he assumed that in healing, they would realize they not only needed Aria, but they wanted her.

“Look around you. We are diminished in number and in abilities. If you don’t learn to embrace the tools that will help us, your teammates could be forfeit. Like Jessica.”

After a heavy beat where his team seemed to hold their breath at the reminder, Brenna raised a hand.

“Yes?” Seke asked with apprehension.

She pointed at Ember. “But, uh, she can come back.”

The Egyptian god raised his brows. “Are you confident in that? And what about Cole? Or me?” There was a bit of a growl in the last question. “Aria needs our help with something. We can assist her with that challenge first, and then you can decide about letting her rejoin permanently,” he bartered. One mission together wasn’t too much to ask, and Seke suspected the test would work as he hoped.

“Help her? Why would we help her? I don’t owe her anything.”

Maybe his hopes were misplaced. Maybe he had too much confidence that they would grow. He hoped that wasn’t true, and as he made eye contact with each of the harbingers he’d come to think of as family, he knew he hadn’t been wrong to believe in them.

Brenna was the first to crack, which brought a smile to Seke’s face, though he quickly quashed it so as not to discourage her. Throwing up her hands and bringing them down to slap her slim, jean-clad thighs with a flourish, she huffed. “Well, fine, then. We’ll help the inept little screamer, but don’t