Page 12 of The Breeding Cave

CHAPTER TWELVE

LUCIANO

“A date,” I muttered to myself on the way to Pine Grove Forest.

Who the hell did she have a date with tonight? Maybe she had just used that as an excuse to leave because she didn’t like me. I was too grumpy for her, apparently .

Joseph glanced back at me through the rearview mirror, but didn’t say a word.

I gritted my teeth. But what if she really did have a date tonight?

It had better not be with Brent. I swore I would choke him straight to death if it was. I had already told him to stay away from her, but what if he had smooth-talked her into going out with him again?

Tonight, she should be at The Breeding Cave, on all fours, desperate to take my cum.

Not out.

A low growl left my throat, and I redirected my attention to the forest that surrounded us. Years ago, this place had nearly burned to ash from our war with the Dragon Clan. Now, it was finally prospering again, which meant that it was time to rebuild our pack too.

But I couldn’t do that without Yeosin.

“Get me information on a black SUV. License plate JWGSH89.” I stared out the window and gritted my teeth at the forest. “I want to know the name of the owner, their address, pack or clan affiliations, and why Yeosin’s afraid of them.”

“Yeosin?” Joseph repeated, glancing in the rearview mirror.

As soon as she had seen that car this afternoon, she had gone off in the opposite direction.

“She was fucking terrified,” I growled, my canines extended. “Get me everything on them.”

“You were out with Yeosin in your human form?”

“She’s a new employee,” I said. “Nothing more.”

She couldn’t be anything more. Not after what had happened. I couldn’t protect her. That was obvious. But if she really was only my employee and a surrogate, then …

How’d I hear her thoughts earlier?

Wolves could only hear thoughts of their packmates or their mates. My pack had been destroyed years ago, and my curse prevented me from having a mate the way everyone else could. Plus, I hadn’t marked Yeosin.

I wanted to … badly. But I hadn’t.

Joseph hummed from the front seat, a smirk creeping onto his face. “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ask her to be an employee?”

“No, but it’s convenient.”

“If she had not agreed, what would you have done?”

Lifting my hard gaze, I stared at him in the mirror. “Not agreed to be my employee? I?—”

“If she hadn’t agreed to The Breeding Cave,” Joseph said. “Would you’ve found another?”

A vicious growl left my throat. He didn’t break a sweat, but I was having none of this. How fucking dare he even ask that? He knew what would’ve happened.

My lineage surviving was the most important thing.

Joseph smirked even harder. “I’m sure your answer is something like, You know I would’ve, Joseph. But I’ve known you since you were a boy, Alpha . If she’s your mate, you can tell me. There’s no harm in you being possessive and protective over her?—”

“She’s not my mate,” I snarled. “You know I can’t have one.”

“You don’t think the Moon Goddess spared you?”

“Spared me? She cursed me.” I balled my hands into fists, my claws slicing right through the skin on my palms. “None of the alphas can mate anymore. It was our punishment. We should be glad that she didn’t take away our ability to have children at all.”

Joseph pulled up in front of the house I had been rebuilding deep in the woods … my old packhouse. “I’ve never seen you get so … angry before over this question. Seems like, even if Yeosin isn’t your mate, you still have feelings for her.”

“She’s nothing more than a fertile human woman who can bear my pups,” I said, shoving my door open and storming out of the car. “I’ve known her for a handful of days. I don’t have feelings for any woman. Especially not one who’s human.”

After offering me a, “Mmm,” which meant that he didn’t believe me, Joseph nodded and drove off back toward the city to retrieve Yeosin herself.

I slid my tongue across my canines and walked into the house, fuming in annoyance.

Yeosin was out on a date. A date!

And Joseph had had the nerve to piss me off.

Once I yanked the wooden door open, I stepped into the house, the air thick with the scent of charred wood. It had been years, and that scent still haunted me to this day. No matter how much Molly cleaned it, it would never leave.

Memories flooded through my mind—the crackling fireplace on winter nights with my parents when I had been a boy, the scent of my sister’s cooking lingering in the air, the echoes of my father’s belly laughter. And then the thought of Yeosin sitting here with me seemed to creep in.

I breathed through my teeth and walked further into the house toward the stairs, now just a frame that led to the second floor.

The scent of musty old books from the library lingered in the air.

Another growl left my mouth, and I raced to the bathroom to splash some water on my face, the cold snapping me out of my delusions.

When I peered into the mirror, I glared at the man from twenty years ago.

The man who had lost everything. Whose body was decorated with scars that would never heal, not even with the powers of a beast. Whose packmates had called out, pleading for someone to come save them.

The man who was too much of a coward to do anything, but wished things had been different.

Before they had all burned away by dragon fire, I had promised my pack that their deaths wouldn’t be for nothing. I promised that we would rebuild and remember their memory forever. I had promised not to indulge in pretty things or heavenly women until we had a pack back.

Yeosin would do that for me. That was all I cared about.

My chest tightened, and the feeling made me want to hit something.

Joseph was wrong. I wouldn’t have cared if she hadn’t accepted my invitation. I would’ve found someone else. I would’ve stalked them until I knew they were the right one and dragged them to the cave with me.

But Yeosin had accepted. And so she would push out pup after pup for me with those wide birthing hips.

That was all I needed her for.

That was all I fucking needed her for.

I didn’t care that she thought I had a resting bitch face—whatever the fuck that meant.

What did it mean? Was that why she thought I was grumpy all the time?

Was it from the way I looked at her? If she only knew that I had to be grumpy or else my beast would take over and ravish her, then she’d think differently of me.

Besides, what did it matter to me that she was on a date? She wouldn’t be able to take too many of those for long. She would be pregnant with my pup before the end of the month, and I’d lock her away in my home to care for her.

Another low growl escaped my mouth, my vision blurring with red.

Yet my mind continued to wander back to one thought. Who the fuck is she out with?

And in the pits of my fury, someone banged on my front door.