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Raine shook his head. “They won’t be looking for you specifically. When a shadow travels the pathways, it can be tracked. The only reason you weren’t is that we didn’t think to look. The reapers are always checking shadow movements. Once they know about you, it is over.”
She looked so forlorn. He wanted to scoop her up and hold her. Every instinct was to protect her from any kind of pain, but he needed her away from the shelter. The human world was no place for a shadow.
“I’ll move. I’ll go somewhere new and start again,” she said.
He took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter where you go. They will find you. You think you can avoid the shadows, but that is not the case. We have to train you because eventually, the pull will be too much. It’s like asking a human not to breathe. Shadows can’t coexist in the human world.”
He knew he’d made a mistake the moment the words left his lips. Her eyes flashed as she leaned forward. “That’s bullshit and you know it. Shadows enter the human world to find a woman.”
“That’s a necessity, and it puts both the shadow and his female in danger. When we leave the shadow world to procreate, we don’t enter the shadow pathway. It’s difficult and takes discipline, and it’s only a matter of time before we fail.”
She shook her head. “Just because the men failed doesn’t mean I will. You proved you can interact with the human world. That you can have sex. You choose to cut and run. What’s worse is you don’t kill your women; you just use them and emotionally destroy them before you leave.”
Every male hated the realities of their species. The pain of leaving the mother of their child. Watching her from afar as she cried for her husband and newborn.
Dannika didn’t understand.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Every shadow hates this aspect of their life. It’s far worse than you can imagine. Some men don’t come back. They die by reaper hands after watching the death of the woman they love. You’ve assumed that they wanted to leave. But tell me, if you were holding your child in your arms, would you leave the person you love to protect them? Staying with a woman after a child is born insures both the child and the mother die.”
Her forehead creased. “Why would the child be in danger?”
“All males transition to shadow. The moment that happens, he needs someone to protect him. Guide him through the trials of our world. No human mother can do this.”
“I don’t want to be a shadow. I can’t be.”
Raine glanced down at the array of leftover food. “It’s difficult at first to accept your human life is gone. There are many things that you will have to give up. This place is one of them.”
Her face hardened. “No.”
“Tell me, Dannika. What have you eaten since the attack? Are you hungry yet?”
Dannika glared at him. “You’re worried about my diet? Seriously?”
“There’s a reason you haven’t been hungry for human food. It will no longer sustain you.”
Dannika threw up her hands. “What do I have to do to prove to you I can exist on my own?”
“Simply eat something.” He crossed his arms. “Prove you can provide yourself with adequate sustenance.”
“Fine.” She grabbed a grilled cheese from the pan and gulped it down into bites. “There. You happy now?”
“Depends.”
She pointed at the door. “You said if I ate, you would leave. The door is that way.”
He stood like a statue as she gave him an intimidating look. It may have worked on humans, but it had no effect on him.
“Well?” she asked.
“I’m waiting for whatever that was to hit your stomach.”
“You don’t know what grilled cheese is? It seriously deserves its own food group.” Her hand went to her stomach as her brow furrowed.
“No. I haven’t eaten human food in over a hundred years, but I remember the last time I tried. I didn’t encourage you to eat the food because I wish you to go through the pain you are about to. It was the only thing that made me except that the human world was lost to me.”
Dannika doubled over, clutching her stomach.
Raine jumped over the buffet as if it didn’t exist. He gave Margo a halting stare when she moved toward them. “Dannika is sick. I’ll take her to the bathroom and then take her home.”
