Eclipse of the Soul: The Interdimensional Saga, Book 2 by J.L. Hendricks

going to lose my heart
to him. I know the deal with him. So please stop acting like my big brother and
stay out of it!” I had started to get quite angry and my voice got louder with
the last few sentences.
    I stood
there with my hands on my hips and once I said my peace, I let out a big breath.
Lancer came over to me and grabbed the back of my neck and brought his face
down to mine and said in a steely voice, “I am not your brother, nor do I want
to be.” Then his lips crashed into mine.
    I only
hesitated a moment before I kissed him back. The kiss was much more passionate
that I thought him capable of. I brought my hands around to the back of his
head and ran my fingers through his long hair. When he deepened the kiss I
thought I might have moaned just a bit. Then he pushed away from me and strode
out the door without a backward glance.
    What
the heck was that?
I couldn’t breathe. That had to be the best kiss I have ever had. I bent
over and put my hands on my knees to try and catch my breath. My whole body
tingled and it took me quite some time to calm down and think clearly.
    ◊◊◊
    The next
day was a big op and both squads were preparing to go out that night to search
for the rippers. I tried to avoid Lancer as much as possible and was so happy
when I saw my name next to Toren’s for training that day. Toren was one of the
new warriors assigned to Squad 2. His specialty was fighting with knives.
    We spent
two hours going over the different types of knives I could carry on my belt and
throw at the enemy. It turned out I had a knack for throwing knives. I asked
him about throwing stars and he just laughed at me. “B’Lana, those things would
barely even nick a ripper. Why would you care to use any of them?”
    I thought
about it and realized that they would only be good on humans. Rippers were too
tough to care about some metal hitting their skin and barely grazing it or
sticking in less than an inch. Most likely, the stars would just bounce off
them.
    After
our two hours on the range, I was consistently hitting the inner three rings on
the targets and could hit the eyes at least seventy percent of the time. While
a knife to the chest of a ripper wouldn’t kill them, it would slow them down.
Maybe even enough to decapitate them. But a knife through the eye was a kill
shot.
    I was
feeling pretty good about at least one skill. Now if I could just do better
with hand to hand . Toren told me that another guy, Cash, in his squad was
really good with hand to hand combat and I should ask him to work with me. I
set up some training with him for the next day. He said he would be happy to
demonstrate some moves.
    I spent
the rest of the day in my room. Not to avoid Lancer, or so I told myself; but
to set up my new bed and arrange all of my new clothes. Ash had gone out and
picked up my bed while I was working with Toren.
    We all
had dinner together that night before the big op. I was still trying to avoid Lancer,
as I wasn’t sure what to make of the kiss the previous night, so I sat between
Toren and Cash and chatted easily with them about some of the ops they had been
on in the past.
    I did
catch Lancer looking at me a few times during dinner. He was on the opposite
side of the table but at the other end next to Ash. Who kept looking between Lancer
and me. I knew he had picked up on the fact that Lancer and I were avoiding
each other. I tried to keep my attention on the guys in squad two.
    After
dinner I went to the surveillance room and took up my spot as both squads
geared up. They each had their own vehicle. The general had agreed to buy two
black Hummers in hopes that we would blend in better when out on missions. They
both came with four wheel drive and the following week were scheduled to get
outfitted with bulletproof armor and camera’s that covered all angles of the
vehicle. After my abduction from the van, it was decided that all vehicles
would have cameras and we would start requiring passwords when