Page 71 of Mortal Mate (Shadow Shifter)

Dannika put her hand on Colton’s arm. “We’ll find a way to make you leader without a death match.”

Colton gave a curt nod. “I hope so.”

He was about to turn away when Raine held out his hand.

“Thank you for your help in protecting Dannika. She is my world, and she’s fond of you. Don’t make any rash decisions, and if the Bokor contacts you, come to us before you answer his call.”

Colton shook his hand. “Be good to her.”

“I will protect my mate with my life.”

Colton dissolved into the shadows.

Dannika nibbled her thumbnail before Raine guided it away from her lip. “I’ve been thinking about Colton and my feelings toward him.”

Raine’s body stiffened. “Your feelings?”

She smiled. “He feels like a brother. Is that weird?”

Raine arched an eyebrow. “No. I like him as a brother.”

They both laughed as Raine took her hand and led her to their room.

He made love to her slowly, conveying without words what she meant to him. There were no lies between them. When the shadows connected, it was as if they were one soul. One being. Dannika and Raine against the world, united in the singular purpose of protecting humanity.

She lay her head on his chest as they caught their breath, drawing tiny circles on his stomach.

He kissed the back of her head. “I want to have a mating ceremony. Like the one our ancestors had before the demon invasion.”

Dannika tipped her head up. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

He smiled like a schoolboy. “Yes. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you. That never changed.”

Her eyes searched his face, but with their shadows connected, there was nothing there she couldn’t feel. His adoration was absolute.

“I will mate you, Raine. I will be your wife, and we will bring the clans together. Killian is planning something. I can feel it. We need our allies.”

Raine slipped his hand behind her neck and kissed her, tender strokes of his tongue against the seam of her lips. “You’re right, but for now, I wish to savor this miracle.”

EPILOGUE

Killian coalesced beside a large evergreen. The wolf clan removed the dead from the clearing and buried them in the forest, returning them to the land. How pathetic. They went through the motions with no clue their world was about to change.

He turned when he felt the shadow pathway open and his son emerge. “Did you get it?”

His son nodded. “Yes. It was where Maddock said it would be.”

Killian returned his gaze to the clearing. “Maddock was weak, an unfortunate, but necessary sacrifice. We are ready.”

“We have everything except Dannika’s blood.”

Killian’s eyes flickered. Venom dripped from his incisors as he smiled. “Leave that to me. The time of the shadows is coming to an end.”