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Dannika rubbed her chest, attempting to ease the pain. “None survived?”
“We never retrieved all the bodies. Some may have escaped, but the reapers likely tracked them down. Without a clan, there was no one to protect them. The cougars and bears would’ve welcomed them, but their animals wouldn’t endure in such an environment. They likely took to the forest until the reapers found them.”
“And he has been trying to kill you ever since,” Dannika sent.
Steele nodded. “Killing me will make him even more powerful. He wants my blood more than anything and will destroy anybody to get it.”
CHAPTER14
Raine stood. “What is our next move? If Killian is slaughtering your descendants, then we need to inform Maddock and Ryder.”
Steele crossed the room and stood in front of the window. “Let me talk to Ryder. He is already aware of my descendants. I will inform him Killian has found them and is murdering them. We based our original arrangement on protecting the Panthers.”
Raine detected the hitch in Steele’s voice. “Why did Ryder help you hide the Panthers?”
Steele glanced at Raine. “Ryder mated and had two children. Twin boys. One was a bear and as you know, he was killed by reapers ten years ago. His twin brother was a panther. Ryder faked his death, and we moved him to the panther clan.”
“What happened to him?” Raine asked.
“We never found his body after the panther clan was destroyed, but he never returned to his father, so we assume he perished in the attack.”
Dannika looked at the men. “Wouldn’t you have found his body?”
Raine shook his head. “Not necessarily. If a reaper is powerful enough, he can kill you in the shadow pathway. Killian has a knack for knowing when we exit a stream.”
She blinked several times. “There are dead shadows in the pathway?”
“Yes,” Steele said.
She shivered. “That’s not creepy at all.”
Steele sat down, placing his hands in his lap. He leaned forward, mimicking Dannika. “It’s rare to get caught in the shadows by another, but it’s possible. Raine will teach you to protect yourself.”
Raine glanced between Steele and Dannika. Their bodies mirrored one another, their stance and inflection identical. “Steele, do you know why Killian has taken an interest in Dannika? Does it have to do with your family?”
Steele shook his head. “I have been trying to figure that one out myself. I lost contact with some of my children. I considered that she could be a relation, but if that were true, he would want her dead. To drink her himself.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t? Just because he says he wants her doesn’t mean he plans to keep her alive.”
Steele’s eyes snapped to Raine’s. “She’s a unicorn among shadow shifters. By all rights, she shouldn’t exist. Killian wouldn’t kill her. He would bleed her to see if her blood is compatible. Normal shadow rules don’t seem to apply here.”
Dannika’s face paled. “Bleed me?”
Raine cleared his throat. “He wouldn’t bite you. He would drain your blood and drink it. When the madness hit him, he’d kill another.”
Dannika’s eyes widened. “Madness?”
“When you don’t make the kill, your demon goes insane. He would have to have another human available after drinking your blood.”
She shuddered. “This has happened before?”
“It has, with rare blood types. The reapers got their hands on a human with null blood. They bled him for years until Killian’s demon got the better of him, and he killed the man.”
His heart turned over when his eyes met hers. The anguish and denial made his wolf whimper. She wasn’t scared; she was determined, and that terrified him.
“I’d rather die.”
“It won’t come to that. I would never let you fall into reaper hands,” Raine said.
