Page 47 of The Breeding Cave

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

LUCIANO

“Why are we here?” Yeosin asked, her arm wrapped around mine as we ascended my office building in the elevator.

When the door opened on the top floor, I stepped out and started toward my room in the back.

“I need to grab a few things, and then we’re out of here. We’re out of the city. We’re out of the forest. Well, at least you are.”

“What do you mean, I am?”

Instead of answering her, I pursed my lips to not get angry. I knew she wouldn’t like what I was going to propose, but I didn’t care. This was all to protect her.

“What do you mean, Luciano?” she asked, tugging me back.

I clenched my jaw. “You’re going to the mountainside.”

Yeosin crossed her arms and glared. “Do you think that’s going to solve it?”

“It’s going to keep you away from harm, so I don’t have to worry about you during battle.”

“And what if the dragons find me at the mountain? You won’t be there.”

“They won’t find you.”

“Yes, they will,” she hissed, then dropped her gaze. “They always find me.”

Knowing that I would get nowhere arguing with her, I continued toward my office and turned on the lights. She followed after me, staying quiet.

“What do you have to get here anyway?”

“Nothing. Nothing important.”

“It obviously is important if you’re bringing me here after what just happened.”

I hurried to my desk. There were a few important, essential papers that I needed to take. My laptop too. But that wasn’t why I had come; I could’ve gotten those any day. Could’ve had someone send them to me if I needed them that badly.

No, I was here for one thing and one thing only.

When I opened the bottom drawer of my desk, I saw the shiny gem that had been passed down through generations glowing at the bottom. Yeosin looked over my shoulder and stared down at it, the glow bouncing off her big brown eyes, making them look magical.

Things were getting bad. And I didn’t know how to solve them. All this time, we had been hiding away, running away from those wild dragons. I just wanted to live a simple, quiet life. But after seeing them today, I knew I had to do something.

No more sitting around. No more trying to protect her in a cave.

We couldn’t. Soon, they would find us, if they hadn’t already discovered where we were staying.

There was only one place that I knew should be safe.

And I really, really, really didn’t want to leave her alone.

I knew that I couldn’t, that I shouldn’t.

But the mountainside was far, far, far away. Would the dragons venture that far, or could they?

“Don’t answer me then,” she said, glaring at me. “I’m still not going to that stupid mountain. Not without you.”

“Yes, you are.”

“You don’t understand,” she growled, her nails lengthening into claws.

“The Dragon Clan always, always, always finds me. You can try to hide me for one hundred thousand years, and still somehow, they will find me. I could die and come back to life, and they would know that it’s me.

You don’t understand, Luciano. You can’t understand. ”

“I do understand, and I’m not going to let it happen.”

“You don’t get a choice. They will find me. They will torture me. They will kill me if that’s what they want to do.” She dropped her gaze and shook her head. “I still … I still can’t wrap my mind around what they want with me. But they want something.”

“There are warriors there who will protect you.”

“Those warriors aren’t you.”

While it was never my intention to fall in love with her, I found myself softening at her words. She had done something to me that I couldn’t quite understand, but as her mate, it was still my job to protect her.

“Luciano,” she whispered. She placed a hand over her belly. “We have a child now. I don’t want you getting hurt, never mind losing your life. After what I saw today … I know there’s no way you can kill them. There’s no way I could kill them. The only people who could help us are the Colossals.”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to work with them. I hated them. I swore that they were the cause of this. They never had anything good in mind.

“Please, Luciano, listen to me. If you’re going to make me go to the mountain, then you’re coming with me.”

“You don’t understand,” I growled. “This is my pack. They killed my family. I promised to avenge them, and all I’ve been doing is running and hiding. No more. I’m not gonna do any of that shit anymore.”

“But—” she started.

“No,” I cut her off, shaking my head. “You said it. We have a family, and I’m not going to let them take away my family again. Not the one that I made.”

Instead of responding to me like I thought she would, she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to her.

My body was rigid, tense. But her hand, it felt so good.

She intertwined our fingers for a moment and blew out a little breath, her eyes fluttering closed.

Then she placed my hand right over her stomach, and I could feel the second heartbeat inside of her.

The baby … the baby was growing quickly. Or maybe … maybe she had gotten pregnant far before I thought she was. Maybe she had gotten pregnant that first night after I met her. Could she have? I had sworn up and down that I couldn’t have a mate. But we clicked so effortlessly.

Had she really gotten pregnant that first night together?

Never mind that … she was right.

I couldn’t defeat the dragons. But I wasn’t going to stop.

I scooped up the gem and stuffed it into my pocket. It burned on touch, and it was a scar that would never fully disappear. Whatever this gem was, it was important. My mother had given it to me, but had never fully explained what it meant. But it was fire—that much I knew.

And if it was fire, maybe it had something to do with the dragons. And if it had something to do with the dragons, maybe it could defeat them.

I didn’t know, honestly. The only person my mother had told was Gideon. He had been obsessed with that gem hanging around her neck. Now I would never know. I would never fucking know what it meant.

But I would do anything—any-fucking-thing—to figure it out. Maybe this gem, this fire, could defeat the dragons once and for all.