Page 37 of Mortal Curse (Shadow Shifter)

Dannika tried to remember what she had signed, but her memory was hazy. “What was your sister’s name? Did she die in the attack?”

Raine shook his head. “No, Theresa passed two years before from influenza.”

Dannika tightened her hold on him. “I’m sorry. She sounds amazing. What did your father do?”

“He was a blacksmith. He was skilled and traveled to other towns to deliver his orders. I remember him teaching me how to prepare the forge, but honestly, I try not to think about my parents. In the end, reapers killed them.”

She nibbled her lip. “How did you become a shadow?”

“I woke up to the screams. When I ran from my room, my father was dead on the floor, and a reaper was drinking from my mother. Her beautiful blonde hair dripped with the blood running from her neck. I never saw the reaper behind me until it was too late. I was ten years old and small for my age. Too skinny to provide a decent meal, but the reapers were full from my parents.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest. “What happened?”

“The reaper leader was hunting. He looked down at me and laughed before he slashed my neck with his claws. The draw of blood was too much. He sucked from my neck when Maddock and the shadow wolves arrived.”

“What did the reapers do?”

“They did what they always do—they ran. Until recent years, the shadow clans outnumbered the reapers, but the balance is shifting. If the clans don’t find a way to work together, the reapers will annihilate us.”

She took his hand in hers, running her fingers over his. “So, you began the transition?”

“No. I would’ve died. A powerful reaper had infected me, but Maddock saved me. He forced me to drink his blood and brought me back to the clan caves. He explained his species. He told me that they hunt the reapers and asked me if I would like revenge. I was angry, dying, and in pain, both physically and mentally. I agreed.”

“You make it sound like you made the wrong decision.”

He smiled. “Not at all, especially not now. Maddock didn’t lie. The transition was a painful process, as you know. I screamed for two days as my tiny body reformed.”

She frowned. “My transition was not two days.”

He nodded. “It’s rare for males to survive the transition, but I am the youngest to endure it. When I finished conversion, I had the body of a teenager. I was muscular but awkward. Maddock was patient during this process. He became my father, my mentor, and my leader. I owe him my life.”

“It’s hard to imagine Maddock like that.”

“Don’t judge him too harshly. While I believe you are a miracle, a gift, you are the first female of our kind. We have existed in the shadows, with the same set of rules for centuries. Until you, there was nothing we couldn’t explain.”

She huffed. “I guess I take that ‘dare to be different’ motto to a whole new level.”

Raine laughed. “You do, but I am thankful. You’re as unique as you are beautiful.”

“Did your dad teach you to flirt like that?”

He winked. “My human father used to say my mother was a looker with gams that made a man dizzy.”

Dannika blinked. “Gams? How old are you?”

His eyes sparkled. “I was born in nineteen twenty-one.”

“You are over a hundred years old?”

“Yes. I transitioned at the beginning of the 1930s.”

She smacked him playfully. “Damn. You’re the hot one hundred.”

He laughed with the overtone of his beast. “I like that you think I’m sexy. The feeling is very much mutual.”

“Shadows aren’t immortal, are they?”

“No. We age at a much slower rate than humans. Though we usually die in battle, we can live hundreds of years.”

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