Page 56 of Mortal Mate (Shadow Shifter)

The skin on his chest knit together as his body shook. Sweat beaded on his brow as he shivered. Muscles tensed beneath his dark skin.

“Your physical injuries will heal. For a while, you’ll feel better. It will give us a small reprieve from the transition. Tell me about your mother.”

Stern grimaced. “We lived on the reserve when I was younger, but my father passed when I was three. My mother took a waitressing job in Seattle. We lived there until I joined the Corp. She returned home when she got sick.” He took a deep breath. “She was a fighter and deserved a better son. One that saw her more.”

His guilt was another dagger in Dannika’s heart. “She knows you loved her. That’s all that matters.”

His eyes closed. “The reaper had fangs.”

“They prey on humanity. Drink human blood.”

His eyebrows arched, though it ended in a grimace. “Vampires?”

“They aren’t undead, but their venom is deadly. It starts the transition, and while I gave you my blood to increase your chances, few males survive.”

His muscles seized. “What’s happening?”

“Your body has entered the transition. You’re converting to a shadow shifter. I wish I had something to offer you other than pain and death, but that’s the reality of the shadow clans.” She echoed Raine’s words. She remembered every one, but hadn’t experienced the pain of saying them. She wasn’t sure which was worse: experiencing it or inducing it.

Stern’s body twitched, moving incongruently as every limb worked against one another. He attempted to speak, but the muscles in his face would no longer comply. He stared at his chest in horror. She recalled the moment her shadow had entered her soul.

“The demon soul is merging with yours. It infuses every cell of your body, like a virus. Your body continues to burn, making you pray for death. Beg for it. And when you think it’s finally over, the shadows slide into your flesh, your bones, saturating the tissue with dark agony.”

“The room is going dark. The colors of the world are being leached from my eyes,” he panted.

“Yes. You are seeing our world. Now we wait to see if you stay in it.”

Black mist rolled off Stern’s body, swirling in the air, turning it into a grey haze.

“This is the world we live-in.”

He leaned to the side, vomiting black blood. “I’m being burned alive from the inside out.”

She pushed the emotion from her voice. “I know.”

He flopped back onto the bed, taking an even breath. “The pain is easing.”

“You call it the calm before the storm. We call it hope before oblivion.”

Stern never had time to reply. His body arced in the air as his shoulders dug into the mattress. His jaw locked in an unshed scream before the bones in his back broke. His eyes glazed over when his heart stopped beating. Blood trickled from his mouth and stained the white sheet red.

Her demon scented the air with excitement, the smell of death and blood too intoxicating to ignore. Her shame had it backing down, returning to the confines of her soul.

His first heartbeat thundered as if it were her own. It thumped once, twice before raging out of control.

His arms broke, followed by his legs, leaving him like a human pretzel as the shadows raced along his body, consuming his flesh.

When the shadow finished its feast, it slithered into his heart to begin the repairs on his body, consuming his humanity along with his blood.

It took only minutes for his skin tone and shape to return to normal, but when his eyes opened, there was only rage and madness.

His claws erupted from his knuckles before he attacked.

CHAPTER29

Dannika’s back slammed against the wall from the momentum of Stern’s attack. A small potted plant, the singular item on her nightstand, smashed on the floor, shattering the pottery and sending dark soil across the pine floor.

Stern’s eyes were black as his hands circled her throat. As he squeezed, she let her shadow emerge, removing the need for breath.

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