Cassander sat forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “We need humans because shifters are all males. Our mates are human.”
“Mates?” My brows creased.
“A mate is chosen by magic. A perfect counterpart to their shifter male. But the shifter doesn’t know who the person is until after they have sex and a test is done.”
“So shifters are magic?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of test does a shifter perform on an unsuspecting human after sex? You would want to know, so I imagine you do it every time, right?”
“We do. And it’s very simple.”
“What?”
“Another shifter pricks their hand. If it heals instantly, then they are an actual mate to whoever they slept with.”
“Magic makes it heal?” I was catching on.
“Yes. Shifters and mates are immortal.”
I sucked in a lungful of oxygen. “You can’tdie?”
Cassander peered down at his hands and picked at his leather pants. “There are two ways a shifter can die. One is their mate kills them. The other is the seer kills them.”
“What’s a seer?”
He cleared his throat. “There’s only one seer alive at one time. The seer has special abilities. But the seer’s primary job is for killing. If there’s a shifter who goes insane over time, the seer takes him out. Or if a mate or shifter want their existence gone—forever is a long time to live—then the seer performs an investigation to see if it is for the best and handles it accordingly.”
Godric growled deep in his throat.
I glanced at him but quickly peered back to the man giving me all the answers. “Does a shifter actually need a ‘mate’?”
Cassander was right.
Forever was a long time to be with someone.
“Yes. They are the only people we can breed with.”
I blinked, finally getting there. “That’s why the shifters are really helping to save the human race. It saves them from extinction.”
Finn smirked. “Bingo.”
My eyes slowly squinted in distrust. “Wait. You said you’re immortal. If you’re immortal, then you heal fast, right?”
Cassander nodded, still picking at his pants. “We do. Heads grow back. Hearts grow back. Even if we’re burned down to ash, we form again.”
I snorted. “Then why didn’t Godric’s finger heal?”
The train went completely silent.
“So you’re lying to me,” I accused.
“We’ve told you the truth. You just haven’t put it all together yet.” Godric turned his stunning eyes on me, his gaze unwavering now. “The reason why a different shifter has to perform the test on the human is that a mate’s shifter or a shifter’s mate can physically hurt each other. The test would read that the human wasn’t a mate if her sex partner did it since a mate’s shifter can hurt them. They wouldn’t heal.”
I blinked.
Stared. Trembled.
