AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Raine rubbed his chin. It was the first time he looked uncomfortable. “It is not optimal, but keep in mind that the longer we are with a woman, the more attention we garner.”
Dannika’s eyes flickered. “Tell me.”
“When a shadow finds a suitable woman, he moves in with her and promises that she is his one and only. This part is true. Some shadows marry their women, anything to give them what they need in the short time they have together.”
Dannika’s stomach seized as her hands became clammy. “What do you do to them?”
“After the breeder is pregnant, her shadow partner stays with her until the baby is weaned from the breast.”
Dannika swallowed hard. “What happens after the baby has been weaned?”
“A shadow fakes his and the baby’s death.”
Dannika backed away. “That’s monstrous. How could you do that? Those poor women.”
“It isn’t ideal. While physically the women are unharmed, the emotional trauma is severe. We have protocols to assist our children’s mothers, but recovery takes years.” He stepped toward her.
She held up her hand. “I can’t be a part of this. No woman would completely recover from the loss of a child or even a man she loved. You don’t understand what you are doing. You build these women up, give them the perfect man, the perfect life, and then when she has given you everything you want, you rip it all away. You’re emotional serial killers.”
“Dannika, we had no other way.”
She narrowed her eyes. “That’s bullshit. There are women who would’ve carried your children. You could’ve paid them and there would have been no emotional trauma.”
“We are yet to find a surrogate that our shadow connects with. Impregnation will only occur with a female our shadow chooses. You assume that the shadows want to leave their women. They don’t, but staying with them puts them in danger. It’s only a matter of time before the reapers find a shadow and his child. If the woman is with them, she’s dead.”
“Why can’t you just breed with any woman who is fertile?”
Raine shook his head. “The origins of the shadow warrior are dark. We believe that a shadow must love the woman he has a child with. While she lives, even after he has left her, he will not take a lover. His focus remains on the child they brought into the world.”
She bit her lip. “There is no circumstance that makes up for what you’re doing.”
“There is. The survival of humanity. Without shadows, the reapers will annihilate your species. Their hunger knows no boundaries. And with human blood, they don’t age.”
“Don’t justify your actions. Nothing you say will convince me that shadow reproductive protocols are acceptable. They are an abomination and if you agree with them, then you are too.”
She turned to walk away. Raine moved in the blink of an eye, pulling her against him. “I didn’t dismiss you.”
She clutched his shoulders. “I didn’t ask for your permission.”
His eyes searched hers. “So defiant.”
“You have no idea,” she snapped.
His lip twitched. “I plan to find out.”
He pressed his mouth to hers. It wasn’t a soft, gentle invasion. Dark fire poured down her throat, consuming her insides, pooling there like a cauldron of liquid lava. Heat burned through her veins, carrying their erotic fire in every direction. Every cell hummed with desire.
Raine’s kisses were an addiction, one she wouldn’t survive if she didn’t back away. She pulled back, but his lips trailed hers, returning her to the blazing oasis.
He drove every sane thought from her head. She remembered being mad, but couldn’t fathom why as the fiery sensations consumed her. Her body burned with need as the man holding her enslaved her body, wrapping her heart in silky fingers of dark mist.
The consciousness inside her rose, connecting with Raine’s. He growled low into her mouth, and a shiver ran down her spine. It wasn’t fear. It was in anticipation. Memories of the last time she showed an interest in a man bubbled to the surface.
She shoved him away from her. “I’m not an animal.”
Raine’s eyes flickered with fire and excitement. “Yes, you are, but if you trust me, I will prepare you for the shadow shifter world.”
“And if I don’t?”
