Page 45 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
YEOSIN
Ten minutes later, Luciano approached familiar territory with me still in his arms. We had gotten way too far away, and I couldn’t remember which way the battle was anymore, so I couldn’t go back to help if I tried.
“Fuck!” someone hissed from about a quarter mile ahead, near the cave.
Luciano set me down, and I followed the rambling of curses. Brett stood with a pair of jeans hanging low on his hips, a pained expression on his face. A sizzling burn stretched from his right shoulder, across his chest and ribs, then down his abdomen to his jeans.
My eyes widened, and I grabbed his hand and tugged him into the cave. Would the hot spring help soothe his burns? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that Luciano had some medication back there. I believed Molly had brought it at one point.
Some jealous hothead growled behind me, but I shot him a glare and continued walking with Brett toward the back of the cave. How could Luciano be jealous right now out of all times? I was directing Brett to get healed, for fuck’s sake!
Once we made it into the back room, I dropped Brett’s hand and rummaged through the goods in the corner. There had to be something, somewhere, right? There were scented soaps, lotion, shampoo …
In the middle of my search, I heard chatter coming from the other area of the cave. I glanced over my shoulder to see a group of Colossals walk into the room, including Ruby. Luciano stepped in front of me and growled at them.
I stopped what I was doing and turned around to see Brett eyeing them down too.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Luciano snarled, claws and teeth lengthening. “Now!”
The Colossals were burned so badly. So, so badly …
My mind wandered back to the battle. What scared me the most was that the dragon who had tried to capture me … he looked so familiar. His facial structure was one that I had seen before, but I swore that I had never laid my eyes upon a dragon in real life.
Maybe he was one of Alvin’s goons.
“Stop it,” I shouted at Luciano, standing in front of the Colossals. “They protected me.”
“Get out of my way, Yeosin,” he growled at me.
I glared up at him and crossed my arms. “No.”
His lip twitched. “Yeosin.”
“Luciano, they haven’t been the cause of the fire in my nightmares,” I said.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then who?” Luciano growled. “Who burned you?”
I opened and closed my mouth a handful of times, my heart racing. Should I tell Luciano about the monster? He hadn’t seemed like he would harm me, but when his gaze landed on me in the middle of the battle, my body had burst into flames. It wasn’t the Colossals.
“The monster that I saw in the forest on our way to the meeting,” I admitted. “It was him.”
“And how do you know that wasn’t one of their sick illusions?”
The Colossal who had appeared outside the cave the other night stepped forward. “I will admit that I put Brent to sleep just outside the cave so I could speak with Yeosin and warn her away. But I have not touched her in her sleep.”
“You don’t like her, so I don’t fucking believe you,” Luciano snarled. “How do you know it wasn’t them?”
I shrugged because I knew he wouldn’t believe me. “It’s just a feeling.”
“Who is the monster?” he asked.
“He’s … he has wings, and his body can erupt in flames.”
“A monster with wings who can erupt in flames?” Ruby said. “Sounds like a dragon.”
My throat dried. He did sound like a dragon, didn’t he? But he wasn’t dangerous.
At least, I didn’t think he was.
“It is obvious that the Dragon Clan doesn’t want to kill Yeosin,” another Colossal said. “If they did, they would’ve used fire to kill her back in the forest. She was out in the open, easily targetable. One of the dragons tried to snatch her away.”
“They want to torture her,” Luciano said. “They’ve burned her before.”
“Why? Why burn her, but not kill her?”
“Alvin is my ex-boyfriend, but he always seemed so uninterested in me.” I shook my head, not able to understand it myself. “I’m not sure what he wants with me, though he loves control and power over people.”
“And this other monster, this other dragon, wants to burn you alive?”
I squeezed my eyes closed, my head beginning to dully ache. “I don’t know.”
Every single day that passed, more questions popped up.
Why did Alvin want me back after breaking up with me? Who was this other dragon? What did he want with me? And why had this all suddenly started to happen after Luciano gave me a proposition?