Page 44 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
YEOSIN
One moment, Luciano had been fighting with Alpha Theo. The next moment, we were trapped within a ring of fire, being smothered by the smoke. I was pushed around and separated from Luciano as the group of warriors tried to find where the dragon had disappeared off to.
The sound of large wings flapping through the air echoed around the forest, and suddenly, there wasn’t just one dragon, but three of them, breathing fire down upon the forest around us.
My heart pounded inside my chest so loudly that I could hear it in my ears. I scanned the forest for a place to escape, but couldn’t find any openings that weren’t thick with fire. Flames licked my shins, and I scrambled back on my ass to get away from them as quickly as I could.
The heat …
God, it is getting so hot so quickly.
Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. Warriors shifted into Colossals. Where was Luciano? I couldn’t see or hear him above the cackling of fire, through the giant bodies, the blood, the chaos.
I gasped for fresh air, inhaling nothing but smoke.
I need to get out of here now.
One of the dragons locked eyes on me from above and suddenly swooped down, flying right toward me. Ruby, who had barely looked in my direction since we had made it here, shifted into her huge form, knocked him out of the air with one hand, and picked me up with the other.
A piercing scream left my mouth, and I flailed my legs in the air.
What is happening? How do I get out of here? I need to protect my baby.
Once she squashed the dragon underneath her foot, she placed me on the other side of the fire. I landed with a thud and stumbled back to regain my footing. After peering at me for another moment, she turned back to the attack.
Chaos ensued around me, and I backed away from the fire while scanning the woods for any sign of Luciano. I hoped that someone had gotten him out of there because I had lost sight of him, and I couldn’t lose him.
As I looked around, my gaze landed on a figure in the woods—one that was on fire, but wasn’t fazed by it, one like the monster that I had seen earlier. When his eyes found mine, flames suddenly engulfed my body.
They didn’t hurt, but my skin melted.
“Yeosin!” Luciano scooped me up in his beast form and pulled me to his body, the flames almost evaporating on contact. He pressed me against his chest to shield me and ducked under a canopy of trees. “We’re getting you out of here now before they find you.”
But the Dragon Clan had already found me. They were here, weren’t they?
As we retreated through the woods, I stared over Luciano’s shoulder at the battle unfolding behind us. Colossals swapped at the dragons swooping through the air, breathing fire down upon the trees.
My eyes burned from the smoke, and I shifted in Luciano’s arms.
We couldn’t leave them there. Ruby had actually protected me from a dragon. While we thought they were the enemy, an enemy wouldn’t help us. An enemy would let me burn and laugh as it happened.
“We have to go back,” I said, clawing at his back. “Please.”
He continued running. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No!” he growled, silencing me. “We’re meeting Brent at the cave, and then I’m going back.”
“I’m coming with you!” I shouted. “You’re not going alone. I’m not going to lose you.”
“As long as a baby is in your belly, you’ll always have a piece of me, Yeosin.”
All my brattiness disappeared, and I remembered the promise that I’d made to myself. I would have the baby for Luciano before I died, which meant that I couldn’t die yet. I couldn’t run into the fire. I had no powers. I was helpless.
But the monster from the forest earlier was right.
Against the Dragon Clan, the beasts were weak without the Colossals. The beasts couldn’t save me. They were very strong, but they couldn’t reach the skies. They couldn’t fly. They couldn’t protect me.
Maybe only I could protect myself.