Page 31 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
LUCIANO
“Joseph!” Yeosin cried, dropping to her knees in the puddle of dragon blood.
Steam emanated from her knees, the only part of her body in direct contact with the blood, and I quickly pulled her to her feet, examining two new burns on her legs.
What the—was she allergic to dragons?
No, that couldn’t be it. She had said her ex-boyfriend was the leader of the clan.
If she were allergic, then she wouldn’t have been able to survive with him. Never mind how she could get burns in her sleep, if Ella really had told me the truth earlier at the office. Who the fuck knew anymore? None of this made sense.
But I had to figure it out. It was the only way to keep her safe.
Brent furrowed his brows. “Why is she burn?—”
“I don’t know,” I said.
Yeosin’s knees wobbled, and I placed her on the couch. She doubled over and threw her head into her hands, her body trembling. “How could they do this to Joseph?! He was the nicest person I’d ever met. W-w-why?”
As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have time to answer questions, nor did I have the answers. The war between the beasts and dragons had started so long ago. They had taken so many of my friends, family, and pack for reasons that I would never know.
“If you run into any trouble at the cave, contact me immediately,” I commanded.
Brent nodded. “I’ll protect her.”
I snatched him by the collar and yanked him closer. “If I find out that you’ve touched her, I will do to you what I did to him,” I said, gesturing down to the dragon at my feet with his throat torn out of his body.
He held up his arms. “I won’t. I won’t! Who do you think I am?”
“A wild animal.”
A smirk crossed his face, but when I tightened my grip on his collar, he immediately dropped it.
“I swear I won’t. You can trust me to keep her safe. I know she’s important to you. I got an entire show of it this afternoon.”
After giving him a once-over, I released him and grabbed some clothes for Yeosin, stuffing them into my backpack and handing it to Brent. Then I held the door open for them. Yeosin stood and glanced down at Joseph’s head, tears streaming down her face.
“Wh-why did they do that to him?” she sobbed. “Is it because of me?”
“No,” I said.
“I-it is!” She sniffled. “Can’t you revive him?”
“No.”
“Jeez, you could be nicer,” Brent said, ushering her out into the hallway and lowering his voice. “This is the first dead body she’s seen.”
“There’s not a body,” I said.
Brent rolled his eyes. “I know you don’t have any, but you could fake some compassion.”
I glared. “You can’t have compassion in war. The Dragon Clan has now tried to kill her twice—that I know of. I don’t fucking know why they waited until now if her ex is their leader. But find something to occupy her with.”
Once he offered a nod, I placed my hands on Yeosin’s shoulders and steered her to the elevator. Brent followed after, and we rode it down to the garage. Brent slipped into the driver’s side of an SUV, and I placed Yeosin in the passenger seat.
“Wh-why do you have to go?” she stuttered, curling her fingers around my jacket. “Please, don’t go.”
“I have a meeting.”
Tears shone in her eyes. “Luciano, please.”
I cupped her face in my hands. “This is to keep you safe.”
After she wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands, I shut the door and watched them drive off. Brent would be smart enough to leave the SUV at the base of the mountain, cover her scent among the woods, and walk up to the cave. I had to put my trust in him.
But my beast … my beast didn’t trust anyone after what the dragons had done to us.
Once they were out of my sight, I pressed my lips together, shoved my hands into my pockets, and walked down the chilly streets toward my meeting with Alpha Theo and the Colossals several blocks away. I needed to clear my head, and sitting in a car wouldn’t do that.
The sun had set an hour ago, and the streets were dark with shadows.
What is going on with Yeosin? Legs burning from dragon blood? Burns in her sleep?
I had never seen this in my entire life, not even during the last war with the Dragon Clan, and I hadn’t heard it in any stories passed down through my family. I’d have to stop by the packhouse tonight and find any history books we had left.
At the crosswalk, I stopped and glanced to my right into an alleyway, immediately feeling like someone was watching me. Someone leaned against the brick building, but I couldn’t see their face with the shadow. Hell, it almost didn’t even look like they were there.
“You’re not strong enough to protect Yeosin,” he said. “You’ll never be.”
“Who are you?” I asked, nails lengthening into claws.
“Yeosin knows who I am.”
“Well, I don’t,” I snarled. “Tell me before I kill you too.”
“Killing me would be a mistake.”
“Then answer my question.”
A long pause.
“I’m an ally.”
When he turned his head, the moonlight illuminated the right side of his body. And before he vanished into thin air, I caught sight of the burns that covered his skin from head to toe, burns deeper than Yeosin’s, burns that should’ve killed any beast.
I turned around to find where he had gone off to, only to see him behind me.
This time closer.
“You should stay away from the Colossals,” he said. “They’re good at mind games.”
“I am the last person who wants to work with them,” I growled, not liking how much he knew about Yeosin, me, and our arrangement with the Colossals. “We don’t have any other choice to keep Yeosin safe.”
“You have Yeosin,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at the figure. “How the fuck do you know so much about her?”
“Because she’s my fated mate.”
And then he was gone again. This time for good.