BREAKING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 1)

Chapter 14

The beginning of November welcomed an endless deluge of rain. It matched my mood. I'd awoken with a striking pain in the star-shaped scar on my stomach. I'd rubbed at it to ease the soreness, hoping it was nothing to worry about.

A few times I'd worked myself up to ask Gran about Mum, about her being a Darkmore, and failed each time. The words wouldn't come, or the courage. Fawn, Arden and I had returned to the archives whenever we could without raising suspicions and in that time, we'd more or less turned the place upside down. The name of the thirteenth coven still evaded us. We were going to have to widen our search.

Downstairs, Arden was sprawled out on the sofa, sleep still claiming him. Gran was nowhere to be seen, probably at the Catacombs by now. I grabbed the basket from the kitchen wall, slipped on my wellington boots and went outside.

The rain slowed, though grey clouds still loomed ahead, heavy and threatening. More was on its way. Last night's downpour had soaked the ground with puddles forming in the broken path's valleys.

The chickens, Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum were making a lot of fuss. Rounding the corner into the back garden, I found all four hens were outside their house, flapping their wings hysterically and running around in a frenzy. It was probably the most exercise the lazy creatures had ever had.

"Hey, what's going on here?" There was no damage to the chicken coop, just the door wide open. They were simply spooked. I shrugged and leaned over the wire to collect the eggs.

Then I froze, thinking I'd heard a noise, a groan perhaps. In the dull, rain-soaked early morning, the groan came again. Louder this time and pain-laced. Setting the basket down by my boots, I crept a few feet over to the shed where I thought the sound had come from. The broken door, which needed lifting to open it, creaked as I swung it open to reveal...nothing. Nothing that shouldn't be there. Cobweb-coated garden tools, a box of my old toys and the rusted bones of a bicycle which had seen better days.

Another cry of pain. Close too.

A feather caught my eye, blackened by the rain. Then behind it another and more beyond, trailing around the back of the shed. My stomach turned on its head, heart battering my rib cage. Silken feathers, rain-drowned and matted with a darker substance.

I swallowed hard and forced myself to move, following the line of feathers as though they were breadcrumbs in a fairytale. His boots came into view first, filthy and dusted with grey sand. My eyes travelled up muscle-defined legs. Patches of red-black stained the denim. Rain clung his bare torso. He lay twisted at an awkward angle around the back corner of the shed, his very core snapped in two.

My heart faltered.

"Rafe?"

The long eyelashes feathered against his bruised cheeks flickered up. Pain dulled the hazel colour of his pupils, the green flecks not so bright under the misted gaze. Though not even swelling or brutal wounds could dampen his beauty.

"Riley?" His swollen lips struggled to release my name.

Kneeling beside him, my knees sunk into the clogged soil. A hiss followed by a cry of raw pain roared from his mouth as he tried to turn to me.

"Hush, try not to move. What happened?" I placed a hand on his shoulder. It burned from the cold, making him flinch at my touch. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"It was worth it," he whispered. "I'm not too late."

"What was?" But Rafe's eyes rolled back into his head.

"Wait here. I'll be back in a minute." I tiptoed back inside. For a moment or two, I leaned against the front door gathering my breath. The truth that affected me above all else, Rafe was back.