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Dannika moved to the couch and sat down, pulling her feet underneath her. She looked small and forlorn. Her adversarial personality and quick wit made it easy to forget her diminutive size. With her head down and her hair loose, silky strands sliding against the couch cushion, she looked like a porcelain doll. One that would break if you threw it down one too many times. How many punches had his little treasure taken?
“What do the reapers want? You’re in a war, but why?”
Raine sat on the couch beside her. As much as he wanted to pull her into his arms, he knew she needed some space. Time to process the gravity of the situation and her new reality.
“With the loss of their animal, reapers also lose the ability to procreate. Transition is the only way for them to procure the next generation.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “They transition to shadow first. They have an animal, but without our guidance, they would feed on humans and become a reaper.”
“Yes. They rarely get their hands on the human without our interference, but it has happened.”
She glanced at the door. “The clans don’t get along. Why?”
He didn’t let the flutter of excitement show on his face. Her mind was so quick, jumping from one deduction to the next. She was far more intelligent than Maddock realized, and it was something Raine would have to hide from the wolf leader.
“We are ruled in part by our animals. In the wild, bears, wolves, and cougars don’t mix with one another. We have been trying, for the sake of humanity, to put aside our animal animosities. Until your emergence, there hadn’t been an official clan meeting in over a hundred years. While I made an effort to open lines of communication in recent years, Maddock’s role has been peripheral.”
She nibbled her lip. The innocent action had Raine’s entire body hardening. The desire to kiss her, to run his tongue along the seam of her lips, to taste her skin, was primal and addictive.
“You seem to be looking for a reason to unite. As much as Maddock hates me, he still used me to get the clan leaders here. Why?” Dannika asked.
“We’ve been trying to unite the clans for some time. The reapers are gaining in strength. More and more shadow shifters are turning. We are trying to understand what is causing the shift in our numbers.”
She leaned toward him. “Something has changed recently?”
He nodded. “In the last ten years, the reaper clan has doubled in size. In the past, shadow shifters didn’t turn reaper until they lost hope. This process usually takes hundreds of years, but mere fledglings have been turning reaper, and we don’t know why.”
“You make it sound like they’re building an army.”
His eyes flashed. “They are.”
“For what purpose? To take control of the shadow shifters?”
Raine’s eyes burned. He wanted to spare this reality. “If they can destroy the remaining shadow shifter clans, they will enslave all future generations of shadow and human alike. We will be nothing more than reaper breeders, and humans will become their cattle.”
She put her hands to her mouth. “That’s unthinkable.”
Shouts vibrated in the hallway outside. A scream pierced the air.
Raine leapt up, pulling Dannika behind him.
A reaper burst into the room.
Red eyes, flickering with fire and hunger, zeroed in on Dannika. “Time for you to come home, little girl.”
Dannika flipped off the reaper. “I’m not going anywhere with you, ass wipe.”
The reaper launched at her with extended claws. Raine pushed her aside as his shadow wolf emerged. He bit into the reaper’s shoulder as they collided in midair. Their growls and shrieks vibrated around the room.
Raine was aware of Dannika crawling to the corner. She opened the black ivory box and pulled out the dagger.
He shifted to his human shadow form and continued to fight with the reaper. It was young, and no one he recognized. Judging by its lack of strength, it had little training.
Dannika tossed the dagger to him. His reflexes were perfect, snatching the dagger out of midair before he stabbed the reaper in the stomach. It screamed, but the blow wasn’t fatal. The reaper had twisted in Raine’s grasp at the last minute, and the blade had missed its heart.
Raine yanked the blade free, intending to remove the reaper threat. A shrill sound echoed through the caves, and the reaper dissolved, racing through the dark pathways, disappearing into the night.
Dannika pointed at the dagger that dripped with black blood. “What is that thing?”
