Page 30 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER THIRTY
YEOSIN
“Why isn’t Molly here?” I asked.
After our little sexcapade in his office, Luciano brought me right back to the penthouse. And I couldn’t help but notice that it was empty. No sign of Molly anywhere, which was extremely unusual. She was always here. By always, I meant always. She didn’t even go out to get groceries.
“Molly isn’t watching you any longer. This is the second time in less than twenty-four hours that I asked her to keep watch on you and something happened,” Luciano said. “She’s not fit at the moment.”
My lip quivered. “B-but it’s not her fault.”
“You’re right,” he said. “It’s not Molly’s fault that you can’t follow orders.”
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Can she come back?”
I didn’t want to admit this to him, but she was my only friend. It was sad, really. But Alvin had completely upended my life, secluded me, and when I wasn’t having it anymore, he decided to break up with me and demand money from his clan.
Then, of course, my stupid self had had to betray Molly and run away this morning.
“Did you punish her?” I whispered, chest aching.
“Do you want me to?”
“No!” I exclaimed, tears pricking my eyes. “Please, don’t. She doesn’t deserve it.”
While his punishments to me had been nothing short of pleasurable, I had a feeling that Luciano had more than just a bit of a temper with everyone else. Since he had been a regular at Pink Ivory, he had scared the living daylights out of me.
I could only imagine what those hands were capable of …
Heat coursed through my body. Get yourself together, Yeosin! Torture is NOT sexy.
But if it was Luciano doing the torture to someone—like Alvin—for me …
I shook my head to get the thought out of my mind. No, no, no, no, no, no! Stop it!
“Brent will watch you while I attend my meeting,” he said.
“What’s your meeting about?”
“Killing every last member of the Dragon Clan.”
I opened and closed my mouth a handful of times. “B-but I thought you said you tried …”
“We did,” Luciano said. “Decades ago, and we lost.”
“So, how are you going to defeat them this time around?”
Luciano stared at me for the longest time, his gaze shifted back and forth between his grumpy one and his beast’s possessive one. Luciano was doing this for both of us, but mainly because I had asked him to help me.
But I didn’t want him hurt or putting himself into danger.
Someone knocked on the door.
“That must be Brent,” Luciano said, ignoring my question.
Before heading to the door to answer it, he captured my jaw in his strong grasp. I expected him to say something harsh, something grumpy that only Mr. Grumpy would say.
Instead, his voice was soft, pleading almost. “Please, don’t be difficult for him. Don’t leave. Don’t sneak out. You’re in danger.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I won’t sneak out.”
“You said that last time.”
“Well, I mean it this time,” I said.
After my run-in with Alvin at Pink Ivory, I knew that I had massively fucked up. This wasn’t a game. Luciano really was trying to protect me, but I didn’t think he could do it. He had promised he would, but how could he protect me from the flames in my dreams?
His beast’s gaze flickered through his eyes. He pulled me closer to him and kissed me on the mouth. Not a heated type of kiss, but a soft one that made me feel like he wanted me more than for me to have his children.
Though I knew that was the only reason he cared.
I will never be more than that to him, but that’s okay. At least I have him now.
The knock came again. Luciano pulled away and headed to the foyer. When Luciano opened the door, a doorman stood in the hallway with a square package.
“Delivery for Mr. Bates.”
Luciano sniffed, as if he could smell something … unpleasant. He stepped into the doorman’s line of view of me, dropped his gaze down to the box, then lifted it back to the doorman.
“Who is it from?” he asked, not taking the package. “I’m not expecting anything.”
The doorman’s gaze shifted to me. “From Alvin.”
Moments passed, and then Luciano reached for the package. But instead of taking it, he wrapped his hand around the doorman’s throat and slammed him up against the wall so hard that the wall dented and the drywall fell in chips at his feet.
A wave of fire burst out from the doorman’s throat. The flames, aimed at Luciano’s face, spread around and licked his skin. But before they could burn him badly, Luciano ripped out his throat, and the dragon fell to the floor. Dead.
When Luciano turned toward me, a burn stretched from the bottom right side of his face up to the left side of his forehead. “Grab your stuff and don’t fucking argue with me. You’re leaving tonight, and we’re never coming back here again.”
I moved closer to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeosin,” he growled. His burn mark suddenly began healing itself as his beast emerged from deep within his body. Eyes burning brightly, he drew his tongue across his canines. “Grab. Your. Stuff.”
“What’s going on here?” Brent asked from the doorway with a jar of pickles.
“You’ll take Yeosin to the cave,” Luciano said as if the man he had just killed wasn’t lying in a puddle of blood. He rolled up his sleeves and picked up the package. “This building has been compromised.”
“Any sign of Joseph?” Brent said. “I’ve been asking around, and nobody has seen him.”
“Joseph is gone?” I asked, eyes wide and worry building up inside my belly.
Is he gone because of me too? Did I come into Luciano’s life and hurt everyone?
“Yes,” Luciano said, lengthening one of his nails into a sharp, bloody talon and cutting through the tape of the package. It ripped open with ease, the blood from the doorman dripping off his fingers and into the package.
My nosy ass looked over his shoulder into the square package, and a piercing scream escaped my lips. I shuffled backward until my back bumped against Brent’s chest, my heart thumping in my ears.
It wasn’t just anything in that package.
No, it was Joseph’s head.