Dannika tapped her lip. “See, that’s the problem. You think you can negotiate with me, like you have any right to dictate my life. You and your friends are nothing to me. If I have to kill you to get out of here, I will.”
Steele leaned towards Maddock. “I really like her.”
Raine’s lip twitched. He glanced at Steele before focusing on Dannika. “Then stop talking and kill me.”
With a wicked grin, Dannika prowled towards him. Her hips swayed in a well-rehearsed approach. Raine’s gaze tracked down her body as she reached him. Before he could react, she punched him in the gut, then stomped on his instep.
He didn’t flinch, but just arched his eyebrows.
She kneed him in the nuts and scrambled back.
Raine grunted. His eyes turned black before returning to the iridescent blue. “Inventive and painful, but I’m not human. Would you like to reconsider your attack?”
She sneered at him. “Overconfidence will get you killed.”
Raine shook his head. “It’s a pity. I actually thought you would survive.”
Her stomach knotted as he approached. She tried to duck his attempt to grab her, but he wrapped his arms around her. Her fist slammed down on his balls, forcing him to release her. She spun with her knuckles in the air.
Maddock laughed. “That’s the second time she’s gone for your balls, Raine. Maybe she likes you.”
Steele’s eyes narrowed on her. “She’s a street fighter and will use any means possible to incapacitate her attacker. This is not her first fight.”
Maddock nodded. “Steele is right. Stop coddling her. Get this done, or I will.”
Raine met his leader’s gaze as the whites of his eyes blazed and dark shadows moved over his skin, molting the color. The iridescent blue eyes became his only distinguishing color.
Dannika backed away. While his features remained the same, his skin turned gray as the color leeched from his body. Black mist rose from his shoulders before sharp talons protruded from his knuckles.
“You’re a reaper,” she said.
“I am a shadow warrior.” His voice held a hollow echo of something behind the man.
She glanced at the circle, looking for an escape, but as her eyes met each man from the clan, their shadow warriors emerged. “Shit.”
Raine’s hand was around her throat before she knew what had happened.
Something inside her erupted. Her skin darkened. Her eyesight shifted as the world around her turned gray.
There was only her attacker. She spun, scratching his arm with her fingernails.
The men surrounding them murmured amongst themselves.
She focused on the man in front of her. Her predator. Her prey.
Raine circled her. “There you are. Now, let’s see if you have a soul.”
Moving within the shadows was nothing like the real world. There was no wind, no pain, and no fatigue. There was one moment and the next. Split seconds of darkness and light, all moving toward a singular goal: survival.
Raine caught her multiple times, but she moved within the shadows as if she was born to them. They called to her. Worshiped her. Protected her. Yet there was something missing. A piece of the puzzle she was yet to solve.
She was so caught up in the strength of her shadow warrior, its ability to plan and execute an attack, she made a fatal mistake. One too many moves, and Raine had her pinned to the ground. His claws were at her throat, pressing into her neck.
A drop of black blood trickled down the talon piercing her flesh. The hunger that gnawed at her in shadow form receded as the life force within her rose. Her body tensed as the consciousness inside her attempted to communicate. Images of running through a lush forest. Gray fur and razor-sharp teeth flashed through her mind, but she didn’t understand the message.
Maddock stepped forward. “Enough. She has no animal. You are unwilling to kill her. I relieve you of this burden.”
Raine stood between Dannika and Maddock. She thought Raine would fight his leader, but when Maddock’s shadow warrior emerged, she understood that wouldn’t happen. Maddock was more than a warrior. He was massive, and his shadow was black. The awareness inside her recognized him. Snarled its hatred of the alpha.
