Page 40 of Fractured Souls
My mother’s enraged cry filled the space and burst my eardrums, thrusting me back into the land of the living.
“Fuck,” Draven grunted as he caught me against him. I sobbed against his shoulder, unable to control my visceral reaction. I could feel the intense emotion surging through the group, and I knew they’d seen everything.
I had never been so thankful for that connection, but also so distraught, because I had just been handed everything and nothing. I had a family…but I knew deep down that my mother and father were dead. There was no way they’d survived the attack from whoever was after them.
Draven’s wings wrapped around me, holding me in a comforting embrace as I let out a shuddering breath.
“Let’s get what she needs and get out of here,” Adriel demanded. I picked my head up and felt my heart squeeze. The door had opened up to reveal rows and rows of stone tombs going back as far as the eye could see, each surrounded by a wealth of treasure and books.
I watched as my men collected as many books as possible, and while I felt useless, I also couldn’t give up the comfort I had from Draven.
“I don’t even know what to think,” I whispered, my head pulsating in pain.
“I know, little lamb,” Draven soothed. “We’ll figure all of this out, I promise.”
I nodded, believing him.
Unfortunately, I had been so distracted in my emotionally distraught state that when I heard voices from above near the entrance of the stairs, a cold chill crawled up my spine.
Draven’s voice was rough. “Shit.”
“Guys,” I drew out, my raspy voice filling the air, “I think we need to get the hell out of here.”
CHAPTER14
Lorcan
I hadno idea who was coming down those stairs, but the immediate concern on each of my men’s faces was enough to make me panic about their safety. We clearly needed to leave, now, but how the fuck did we do that?
“Grave robbers?” I floated the concept, trying to think of the most reasonable explanation…but shit—if that was true, they worked really fucking fast. We’d only opened the crypt minutes ago. Had someone been following us? Or maybe they were always watching this area?
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Desmond growled. “We made sure no one was following us. Hell, no one should have been able to see us walk up to the graveyard, let alone enter it.”
The guys were rushing around the room, each of them emerging with books piled high in their arms as the voices grew louder from above. Looking at the Darklace family members’ graves and belongings, I decided to try and do the one thing I could to help.
I followed my instincts and approached the doorway, allowing my magic to slither up the wood frame as I imagined the door swinging shut, protecting the contents inside.
Air whooshed over us as the door shut with a satisfying slam.
Sending up a prayer to the Cosmos god, I hoped like hell that we’d gotten all the info we could have possibly gathered. I watched as my magic lit up the closed door, and I felt reassured once again that it was sealed. Despite the intruders being able to get down into the crypt, they wouldn’t be able to touch the treasure buried alongside all four families. It wasn’t a perfect situation, but it made me feel better.
“Hold tight everyone.” Adriel’s voice was sharp as his magic surrounded all of us like plastic wrap, nearly suffocating. The space went dark and I clung to Rhett, his hand coming out to catch me as he balanced his books in the other hand. The moment only lasted for a second before daylight had me squinting, our feet landing on the solid ground of the graveyard right outside the crypt.
Fresh footprints in the dirt under our feet and voices growing more distant as they descended into the ground told me we’d been seconds away from a confrontation, if not less.
“They shouldn’t be down there,” I hissed, feeling a surge of defensive anger. Clearly my magic agreed as well because almost immediately the lid to the stone crypt slammed shut with a solid thud.
“Well, that fixes—”
Cash’s words were cut off by blood curdling screams echoing below ground. I stared in shock, and my siren looked on, equally freaked out.What the fuck was happening? Holy shit. How much danger had we been in down there?
The screams faded after seconds, and silence followed the incident.
“Something was down there with us,” Draven noted casually. “I felt it, but it was so subdued that I assumed it wasn’t a threat.”
“To Lorcan,” Zander explained.
“And when we left, anyone else was then viewed as an enemy to the crypt,” Adriel finished.
