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Steele’s eyes flickered with black smoke before he rubbed them with his fingers. “The female shifters were as aggressive and intelligent as their male counterparts. They fought alongside their mates to save the next generation.”
She couldn’t imagine the determination it took to accept the demon souls. Women and men united to save their children and humanity. “Then they died.”
“After winning the war and closing the portal, the women became ill. They died off one by one, leaving us cursed and alone.”
They were victims, but the mating habits of the shadow shifter world were atrocious. There was no circumstance that made it acceptable. “Then you turned to the humans.”
Steele took a deep breath. “Our cats needed a female. The men attempted to find mates in the human world. Eventually, they did.”
Her stomach flipped. “What happened?”
Steele picked at the armrest of his chair. “It took time to woo the women. They instinctively see the predator in us, but eventually a few shadows found happiness, and male children were born to us. That’s when we realized the full extent of the curse.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“The human women die. One way or another, we kill them.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How?”
CHAPTER19
Dannika wrapped her arms around herself as her shadow reached for Raine. The moment they connected, warmth seeped into her skin. Her soul. Despite his anger and the flicker of insecurity her revelation about Colton had caused, his instinct to protect her hadn’t wavered. Even if she rejected him, Raine would still die for her.
Steele glanced at her with sad eyes. His hesitancy to answer created a chill in her heart. “The men tried to take human women as mates. Those first years went well, and they believed they had found a suitable solution. They lived with their women and visited the clan, unbeknown to their wives.”
“Lying to their wife isn’t ideal, but as long as they were happy.”
Steele shook his head. “The women showed signs of insanity after prolonged exposure to us. Our demon affects the surrounding humans. It’s not their fault. It’s mother nature warning them we are a danger to them. You have already experienced the malevolence of the human world.”
The morning she’d returned to the shelter was forever etched in her mind. Margo had been hostile, and the patrons she’d considered friends and decent people had been adversarial and mean. She had only returned for a couple of hours. What would have happened after months of exposure?
“I have, but the men would never hurt their wives. Would they?”
“No, but the demon would. Humans are food to the demon race. In time, the women saw us for what we are. They see the demon, and it drives them to insanity. It takes years, but the result is the same.”
“What happened to them?” she asked.
Steele rubbed his chin with his forefingers. “There is a scroll in our archive. It tells a story of the cougar shadow shifter who entered the human world and found a mate. Two years later, his child was born. He was happy. Content. He visited the shadow clan on the weekends when his mate visited her family. This reprieve extended their cohabitation. Their child was three years old when his mate showed signs of mental instability.”
Dannika swallowed hard. “What kind of instability?”
“She began taunting her shadow mate, cutting her wrists, forcing him to save her. This happened several times before she threatened to kill their child.”
Dannika put her hand to her mouth. “Dear God. What happened?”
“A shadow will do anything to protect his child. He killed his mate and returned to the shadow clan. As this wasn’t an isolated incident, mating protocols were put in place. Never stay with a woman for more than four years. Now, it’s been reduced to three.”
“Why? Are the women showing signs of instability earlier?”
Steele’s eyes flickered into the shadows of the room. “No. Once the shadows began to turn reaper, the mates and children were in danger. Reapers thrive on fear and pain. They incur an incredible high when they kill the bride of a former friend, destroying remnants of their former life.”
Dannika hissed. “I never considered that fact. The reapers were once your friends. Family. You know all of them.”
“Most of them. Lately, many have transitioned directly to reaper. This never happened in our past, and we aren’t sure what instigated the change.”
Dannika’s eyes narrowed. “Are the reapers taking the victims before they transition?”
“No. We have had members survive a transition, but immediately kill a human. It’s like the drive for human blood outweighs their reasoning. I can’t explain it.”
