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Raine’s lip curled. Her wit, regardless of the situation, never ceased to surprise him. He hoped she would retain it in the years to come. “I have been thinking about this. There’s a chance it could be your blood.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“It hurts shadows, possibly reapers.”
“Is that a shadow thing?” she asked.
“No other shadow has had toxic blood. I’m not sure we can classify it as a gift or a result of you being female,” Raine said.
“How do we find out?”
“We won’t know for sure unless another female transitions or you develop an ability, but I am curious whether your blood affects reapers as it does us.”
“I hope so. We don’t seem to have any other advantages.”
The mystery around Dannika continued to elude him. Was she simply the next stage of evolution, or did her blood origins play a more important role? The questions continued to pile up while the answers remained elusive.
“Dannika, is there anything in your past that relates to Steele? Anything we uncovered at the archive that seems familiar?”
Dannika scrunched her face. “I’m an orphan. Why would anything look familiar to me?”
“Killian’s interest in you concerns me. I think it’s to do with your blood.”
Steele leaned forward, wariness in his eyes. “What are you suggesting?”
Raine pointed between Steele and Dannika. He was so focused on his mate he was missing the clues in front of him. “I should have seen it before.”
“They do have similar bone structure,” Colton said.
Raine nodded. “Look at her eyes. They are the same as Steele’s.”
Steele sucked in a breath. “If she is my descendent, and Killian knows, that would explain his interest in her. I wonder how he found her, and which of my children she’s related to?”
“That doesn’t explain why her blood is dangerous to us,” Colton said.
“Perhaps it is nature’s way of protecting her. An aberration because of her being female,” Steele said.
Dannika huffed. “Grandpa or not, you call me an aberration again and I’ll kick your ass. You are already in my bad books.”
Steele’s lip twitched. “I accept all responsibility for my actions, but this also explains my need to protect you. It is more than instinct. I would die for you.”
Colton nodded. “I feel the same, though I can’t explain it.”
Dannika’s eyes widened as she looked at Colton. “If I’m related to Steele, how does that explain our connection?”
Colton shook his head. “I transitioned. While I am Steel’s chosen son, I am not of his blood.”
Raine’s wolf growled as his shadow fought to emerge and attack the cougar it saw as competition. “What connection?”
CHAPTER16
Dannika tasted danger in the air. It caressed her tongue every bit as sweet as chocolate. Her shadow rose in response to Raine’s question. His anger.
“I can’t explain it, and neither can Colton,” she said. “We feel compelled to protect one another.”
Black smoke rolled off Raine’s shoulders before he got his shadow under control. “Is it like a mate? Like us?”
Dannika rubbed her chest, connecting with her shadow as she looked at Colton. “No, but it would devastate me if something happened to Colton. It’s like he’s part of me. I didn’t feel that way about you right away. With Colton it was instant.”
