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Raine moved away from her. As their shadows disconnected, she shivered from the jolt of betrayal. Then the feeling disappeared. Icy fingers wrapped around her heart as Raine’s shadow withdrew from her.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you want to hear,” she said.
His glacier blue eyes pulsed. “I appreciate your honesty. We need that if we’re going to figure out what’s happening between you and Colton.”
Dannika wanted to reassure Raine that her feelings for him were just as strong as they ever were, but nothing she said would change her feelings toward Colton. She turned to Steele. “What about fledglings and children? Are your feelings towards them the same? Is it similar to what you feel for me?”
Steele studied her before he replied. “For the most part. You get a fledgling later in life, but Colton was young to survive the transition. Almost as young as Raine. The opportunity to train a teenager creates a deeper bond, as you raise them as well as train them.”
She imagined the young Colton, scared and confused, having lost a loving parent, a sister, and his entire world at such a young age. It must have been reassuring to have someone like Steele guide him. She fought the urge to comfort Colton.
“What happened to your family, Steele?” she asked. “I mean, after they left the ship? Did you ever see them again?”
Steele shook his head. “I couldn’t. My presence left them in danger. I had clan members checking on them from time to time. I advised them to separate for their own safety. I told them I was murdered because of a business deal. They did as I instructed them.”
Dannika blinked. “If they thought you were dead, how did you instruct them?”
Steele smiled. “I thought the idea was ingenious. I sent them letters postmarked before my death. They believed I knew the end was coming and arranged for their safety.”
Dannika’s heart stuttered. “Walking away from your wife and children must’ve been agonizing.”
Steele’s eyes swirled with black flames. “I wanted to die. If it wasn’t for our former leader, I’m not sure I would’ve made it, but surviving to ensure your children’s safety is a primal instinct, whether human or shadow.”
“You don’t know where your descendants settled?” Dannika asked.
“No. If I did, I would’ve eventually checked on them. My first years as a shadow were the darkest of my life.”
“What about Charles? You must’ve known he was a descendant?”
Steele nodded. “He kept our last name. Returning to Graydon was the beginning of the end for him. Of course, he didn’t know that. When he applied for a job at our company, I interviewed him. I knew he was my great grandson. If I didn’t hire him, he would’ve gone somewhere else, and I figured I could watch over him provided it was at arm’s length. I was wrong.”
“Have any other descendants returned to Graydon County?” Dannika asked.
“Yes. There’s a few, though I’ve had no interaction with them.”
She swallowed hard. “Then it’s possible that we’re related.”
His eyes met hers. “More than possible.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, attempting to thaw the ice in her blood. “So if we run with the theory that Killian wants me for my blood, why isn’t he abducting the other descendants? He killed Charles for the high his blood will provide.”
Steele frowned. “I’m not sure I agree with Raine’s theory that Killian can feed from you. Yes, everything about you breaks our rules, but you are a shadow, and reapers can’t drink shadow for sustenance. I’m not sure what effect your blood would have on a reaper. Killian doesn’t know it is like acid to us.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Reapers can’t drink from a shadow?”
“No. They bite shadow warriors to infect us with their venom, but they can’t feed on us.”
She ran a hand down the sheer curtain, letting the silky feel distract her from the vise on her heart. “The shadow wolves died from the poison in their blood.”
“Not exactly. The wolves were bitten, which impairs our ability to regenerate, but only because they were bitten over a dozen times. The stab wounds to the neck killed them, their heads were essentially severed, ” Steele said.
She flicked the curtain away. “That doesn’t explain the differences in my blood.”
“While your blood may be different, and Killian may bleed you, I do not believe it is to drink your blood.”
She frowned. “Then why was that reaper watching me?”
“He may have planned to drain you himself. Perhaps the reaper he assigned to watch you let his instincts get the better of him. You understand that reapers are like rabid animals. While they possess cognitive thinking when their needs are sated, they have little control when they are hungry.”
