Page 24 of The Breeding Cave

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

YEOSIN

“Stop!” I scream at the top of my lungs, but the smoke around me traps my voice.

Flames burn my body—from the tips of my fingers to my shoulders and down to my toes. I roll around on the ground, back and forth and back and forth, like the teachers at school had taught me—because my parents never did.

Tears stream down my cheeks, but they quickly evaporate away from the fire.

“Stop it!” I shout, getting glimpses of dragons circling above and burning everything that I love to the ground.

Everything is so in and out, and I can’t remember what happened directly before this.

All I know is that my entire body is on fire.

From across the forest, I spot the beast lying against the entrance of the cave, his entire body burned so badly that I can barely recognize him. But I can smell his distinctive scent, tormenting me because I can do nothing.

Absolutely nothing to stop this madness.

He confided in me about this happening before—I am sure of it.

And while I want to protect him, to make sure this never happened again, to give him a family lineage that he so desperately wants, I can’t. I am nothing more than a helpless human, caught in this mess with creatures I never thought were real.

“Stop!”

Except the dragons continue to breathe fire down upon me.

The smoke around me becomes almost unbreathable. I cough and try to breathe as much as I can. I do what I need, what I think will help. But no matter what I try, I can’t put the fire out.

Flames engulf the beast.

I need to help him.

Once I make it to the cave, I drag the beast’s burning body down the small walkway to the hot spring. Will hot water cool him off enough? Will it stop the fire? I don’t know, but I have to try.

I have to try. I have to try. I have to try.

I can’t lose him.

Out of all the people burning in the forest with us, out of all the people important to me, he is the only person I recognize. He is the only person I care about, which is sad.

I don’t know his name. I don’t know who he is in real life.

All I know is that he makes me feel special, even if it is only because I will one day have his children. If that is all my life becomes, then I am fine with that. But I am not going to lose him like this.

The dragons—no, the Dragon Clan isn’t going to win.

I refuse to let them win.

“Please,” I whisper, dumping his body into the lake and jumping in after him.

Almost immediately, the water swallows the flames that emanate from both of our bodies. I pull his face out of the water and tug him to the rocks, using all my strength to lift him out of the water so he won’t drown.

His body begins healing itself. Not all the way, but the immediate wounds.

I climb out of the water, watching his abilities make him whole again, and I curl my arms around myself and look down at my body. My skin is burned off almost completely—some to the muscle, some all the way down to the bone.

Tears well up in my eyes.

We are alive, but at what cost? Surely, the beast will find someone else. He can’t have someone like me. How will it look for a beast like him to be with one like me? My insides are still on fire, somehow burning still.

After brushing my fingers across his face, which is slowly healing itself, I place a soft kiss on his lips and wish that things can be different. I wish that … I could’ve actually a relationship at some point. I wish that he actually loved me.

When my lips left his, I walk away from the hot spring and head toward the exit of the cave. While I will never get my happy ending, I can make sure he gets his with Ella, a strong woman who can give birth to his children.

I can surrender to the Dragon Clan.

I can end this.

“You wanted me?” I scream, arms up in the air to let them know that I am not a threat once I step out of the cave.

I have never once been a threat to them, though they treat me that way. I don’t have any power. I don’t have any magic. I am just a normal human who had fallen in love with a beast who doesn’t love me back.

I drop to my knees and stare up at the dragons. “I surrender.”

Instead of them stopping this madness, they breathe more fire down upon me until my body is engulfed in flames. The smoke thickens around me, the direct line of fire blazing all over me.

“Please, stop this torture,” I whisper. “I surrender.”

But that isn’t enough. It will never be enough.

My body is burning to a crisp, but my mind will not let me lose consciousness. I am forever in a state of pure torture. I don’t know why they want to put me through this. They have tortured me enough.

Yet if it will save the beast and his pack, if it will give them some more time to escape and find somewhere new to start a family, to live a life, then I will happily endure this pain forever.

* * *

Suddenly, my eyes shot open, and I stared up at the ceiling in the beast’s penthouse. Breathing heavily, I sat up in the bed and spotted Molly and Ella at the base of the bed, Molly with tea and Ella smirking.

“What’s happened to her?” Molly asked, eyes wide. “Her body …”

I opened and closed my mouth a handful of times, confusion spreading through me. Why was I back here? Last thing I remembered, I had been at the cave with the beast. And what was Ella, out of all people, doing here?

“What’s she doing here?” I asked Molly.

“She’s come to heal you.”

“To heal me? But I?—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Molly looked back at Ella. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Ella said.

Molly grabbed Ella by the collar and slammed her up against the wall. “What did you do to her?! I brought you here to heal her. Why are there burns all over her body?! If you did this, he’ll kill you!”

She held her hands up. “I didn’t do anything. I haven’t even touched her yet!”

Healing? Wounds? Burns ? All over my body?

I slipped out of the bed and hurried to the mirror, eyes widening in horror when I saw myself.

The burn from the Dragon Clan on my back wasn’t the only one that I had anymore.

There was one on my cheek, and another on my chest, and another around my forearm, and more … so many more all over my body.