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“Are you going to teach me how to do that disappearing thing?”
“A shadow doesn’t disappear. It enters the darkness. Follows the tunnels that only we can see. To human eyes, we become invisible, fading into the night, but in reality, we have taken another path.”
Fighting had been one of the few things Dannika had excelled at. She calmed the skitter of excitement that trembled in her voice. “Let’s start with that, then. Show me how to travel the shadow pathways.”
Raine shook his head. “Like human children, a shadow must learn to walk before he can run. The tunnels are dangerous. They vary in size and length. Some are faster than others, and an inexperienced shadow may inadvertently take two tunnels at once. The result can be catastrophic.”
She tapped her finger on her lip. “They vary in size and length. Some are faster than others and inexperience can make you take the wrong tunnel. Are you sure we’re not talking about your cock?”
Raine grunted. “You will find that I’m unlikely to put up with your crap, but I’m not lacking in experience. You are more than welcome to test that theory.”
Her heartbeat raced, and it wasn’t in fear. “What happens if you take two tunnels?”
“Part of your body arrives at the end of one tunnel, while the rest arrives at the other. It is not uncommon for a fledgling to lose a hand or leg during training, but if you lose your head, it’s over. Not even a shadow can regenerate from such an injury.”
Her eyes widened. “You can regenerate a limb?”
“We must revert to shadow form, but yes.” Raine’s shadow warrior emerged. “Let’s test your skills. Attack me.”
Dannika should have been afraid. Yesterday, a sexy man with black mist rising from his body would’ve been something out of a horror show. Now, the iridescent blue eyes had the consciousness within her rising with fascination. It wanted to fight the warrior in front of her, but that wasn’t all it wanted.
She lashed out with an ineffective punch. Raine swatted her knuckles to the side as if he were shooing away a butterfly.
“You are better than that. Get your head in the game. If you don’t learn how to fight, you die. “
“You think you’d tire of the threats by now,” she snapped.
“It wasn’t a threat. When the reapers come, and they will, if you don’t know how to fight, you will die. It is a fact.”
Her heart accelerated. “The reapers will come here?”
“The reaper faction is growing. If the shadow clans don’t unite, then we will fall and reapers will rule over humanity.”
Dannika swallowed the bile rising in her throat. “Reapers want to rule humanity?”
“Humans are cattle to reapers. Most would be food. For the women, it will be worse.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, that sucks.”
Raine’s lip twitched. “In more ways than one.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” She shook her hands out, then stretched her neck from side to side.
“Are you done? You’re no longer human. Those actions are irrelevant. You won’t get sore muscles, and you won’t get fatigued from physical exercise.”
She put her fists in front of her face, bending her knees. “No fatigue? You must be a machine in the sack.”
Raine’s body tensed. “Yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “Arrogant much?”
He beckoned her with one hand. “So mouthy. Why don’t you find out?”
She smiled sweetly before she attacked. This time, there was no distraction. She faked left then ducked down and punched him in the stomach. His abs were like steel and did more damage to her knuckles.
“Shit.”
“You need to stop thinking as a human. Shadows control their essence on a molecular level. We can be as penetrable as the mist or as deadly as a steel blade.”
