Page 14 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
YEOSIN
I shoved him off me. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Touch me and pretend like everything is okay.”
My body reacted way too much for that. He couldn’t use his touch to comfort me. I had a couple of bones to pick with him, including him showing up at my workplace, not giving me aftercare or giving me that money in cash.
“Are you angry with me?” he asked.
“It’s not like you care,” I growled through my teeth.
Really, I wasn’t angry with him. I was angry with myself for feeling this way about him, for allowing my body to react all gooey to him, for not putting my foot down to demand the money in cash like I’d thought I would receive it.
“Yeosin.”
“Don’t call me that!” I exclaimed. “My name is Alana.”
No, it wasn’t.
We both knew that.
I hated when people called me Alana, but when he said my real name, it did something bad to me. All my thoughts seemed to disappear into thin air because I was desperate for someone to respect and love me.
“You’d prefer I call you Alana?”
Just the sound of that nickname coming out of his mouth made me shudder in disgust. I furrowed my brows harder and pressed my lips together because I actually would hate it if he called me that.
“We need to talk,” I said.
I had been thinking and overthinking everything since the Dragon Clan had followed me earlier and since I had seen Alvin in the city.
“You’d prefer I call you Alana?” he repeated.
“Why are you being a dick?”
“I’m not being a dick. I’m asking you a question because I know you hate that name.”
“I put up with a grump at my job,” I said. “I don’t need it from you either.”
While it wasn’t completely a lie, it definitely was my excuse to get out of answering his question. I wanted him to call me Yeosin, but I didn’t want to admit to it. Admitting to it would mean that I would hear it every day for as long as this went on.
“You can’t show up at my workplace,” I said. “I could’ve gotten fired on my first day.”
He placed his hands on my upper arms and slowly drew them down. “I needed you.”
“It couldn’t wait? At least until I was out of the building?”
“No,” he murmured deep into my ear.
I shivered underneath his touch and wished that I weren’t in this situation with the Dragon Clan. My entire life would be so much easier. I would’ve never come to this cave, never felt these … things for this beast who wouldn’t tell me anything.
Suddenly, a branch snapped just outside of the cave, and the beast pulled away from me. He sniffed the air, but didn’t move toward the entrance of the cave or relax behind me. “Who was in that car earlier?”
“What car?”
“You walked out of your building with your boss and stared at an SUV with the license plate of JWGSH89 this afternoon. Who were they?” His claws began extending against my skin. “An ex?”
“No!” I exclaimed. “They were nobody.”
“Who?”
“Nobody.”
“Who?”
“Why do you care?!” I shouted, so caught up in all my emotions from earlier today and all the messages I’d been getting from the Dragon Clan. “You won’t even show me your face. You don’t trust me, so I can’t trust you.”
“You can trust me.”
“Then tell me your name.”
A low growl rolled out of his throat. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Tell me something!” I exclaimed. “Who are you? Why do you want me to have your child? What’s with this cave? And why can’t you show me who you really are? Do I know you, or are you just too ashamed?”
The words came out harsher than I’d expected. I was upset, but that wasn’t an excuse.
“Sorry,” I whispered, dropping my gaze. “I don’t mean ashamed in a bad way. I just don’t understand why I can’t know anything.” Tears welled up in my eyes. “You’re expecting me to carry your child when I don’t know anything about you.”
After a long pause, he turned away from me and walked to the front of the cave. Moonlight bounced off his back, illuminating all the muscles that he had. I sucked in a breath and tore my gaze away because if I looked for any longer …
“I lead a pack of beasts,” he started. “That’s all you need to know.”
“What kind of beasts?” I asked.
“Lycans.”
“So, like … wolves?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? Because I swore that I read a story where?—”
“Wolves are weak,” he growled, then suddenly, his voice dropped to above a whisper, so low that I could barely hear it. His shoulders rounded forward, and he quickly tilted his head to the side. “Maybe that is what we are now.”
My eyes widened slightly, and I stepped toward him. The closer I approached him, the more I realized how scarred his back was, and parts of it almost looked … burned, as if he had been in a bad fire.
What had happened to him? Was his pack hurt? Destroyed?
“Is Molly in your pack?” I asked, deciding to shift the conversation.
“Yes.”
“And Joseph too?”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer to him, realizing how deep those scars were. Whatever had happened to him, it was bad. No wonder why he didn’t want to talk about it. I could only imagine …
“How many people do you lead?”
“Only a couple hundred now.”
“Were there more?”
He tightened his hands into fists, and I realized that I had overstepped this time. I hadn’t come here to ask all these questions. My one goal tonight had been to demand that he give me the money in cash.
I can’t be invested in his history. I can’t have feelings for him.
“Never mind. That’s not what I want to talk about,” I said. “I need the money in cash.”
“Molly already told you that it’s not safe to walk around with that kind of?—”
“I know the consequences, but I need it.”
“Why?”
I pressed my lips together. “Please.”
“Tell me why, Yeosin, and I’ll give it to you.”
I crossed my arms and glared at his shadow. “I’m not telling you.”
I wasn’t only embarrassed, but I also didn’t want him to look at me any differently. He might be using me as a surrogate, and he might be a beast whose face I would never get to see, but I still … felt some type of way about him.
A type of way that I had never felt with Alvin.
“I’ll ask you one more time,” he said. “Why do you need it in cash? Is anyone threa?—”
“No!” I exclaimed, turning away from him. “I like cash better. That’s why.”
It was bad enough that my parents were disappointed in me after Alvin had ripped me off, but I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me too. I could handle this myself. I had been for the past few weeks now.
This wasn’t his problem anyway. He seemed like he had a bunch of his own.
Besides, I would be fine …
At least, I hoped.