Page 58 of The Breeding Cave
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
YEOSIN
“Get off me,” I growled through gritted teeth, trying to shoulder Alvin away.
Alvin shoved me back, and I landed on the ground with a thud in his nest of gold and twigs and souvenirs that he had stolen throughout the years. In the mess of items were several glowing orange orbs, like the ones Luciano had earlier.
“Little Mouse,” Alvin murmured, “I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not anymore.”
“I hate you,” I snarled, more so to myself.
There was no reason to say it aloud. Alvin knew how I felt about him, and it would be a waste of breath to go back and forth with him all night. I needed to find a way out of here even if he did plan on not letting me out of his sight.
I pulled my knees to my chest, the shackles clacking against the hard floor, then averted my glare from Alvin to the orange orbs.
What are those things? I picked one up and rolled it around my hand, letting it burn my skin.
Alvin leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “Curious?”
“Yes,” I said. The more information I could get out of him, the better.
“They’re eggs from your mother.”
“Eggs? My mother?”
A low chuckle escaped his disgusting, shit-talking mouth, and he stalked around the room as if he were a god. I inhaled another whiff of smoke and stifled a cough. I didn’t know if I could believe anything he said.
“Luciano didn’t tell you?” He chuckled. “He probably didn’t even know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
Alvin shook his head. “Weren’t you friends with Gideon too?”
“No, Gideon isn’t a friend.”
Lie. I’d had regular conversations with him, and I would have considered him a friend before he started burning me regularly! Still, I didn’t know what I thought about him anymore. Was he a friend or foe?
“Don’t lie to me, Little Mouse,” Alvin murmured, crouching down to my height.
I lifted my gaze to him and glared harder. “Let me out of here. Why are you doing this?”
“I’m doing this because you belong to me, just like your mother did.”
“Stop with the lies,” I snarled. “All everyone does is tell me half-truths. Either tell me everything or go back laughing with all your friends. It’s not like I can escape from here. We’re on a fucking cliff, and you’ve shackled me.”
After giving me another shit-eating grin, Alvin turned away. I wasn’t sure how I had ever liked—never mind loved —him. We had been together for a few years, and he had lied and lied and lied to me about everything.
Now he was my captor.
“If you want the truth, Yeosin, I want you to beg for it.”
“I’m not going to beg you for anything,” I growled.
Before I could say another word, Alvin captured me by my throat, lifted me into the air, and slammed me against the hard wall made of rock. Something in my spine cracked, the sound echoing through the room. I winced and bit my lip hard to hold back a cry. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes.
What the fuck is wrong with him?!
“Beg. Me.”
“No.”
Alvin lengthened one of his nails into a large dragon claw and drew it down my chest. I glared at him and kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to beg him for shit. I didn’t need the answers that badly. They wouldn’t be true anyway.
“Beg for it.”
When I refused again, he sank his claw into the skin above my sternum, slicing so deep that I could feel him touch the bone. I bit back another cry, a thin layer of sweat beginning to cover my lower back.
Fuck, this hurts.
He sliced the talon lower and lower until he reached the top of my belly. Something feral inside me snapped, and I remembered the little pup that I was growing inside me. I couldn’t let anything happen to the baby. I would never forgive myself.
“Stop!” I cried. “Please, stop.”
“Beg, Little Mouse. Beg.”
“Please,” I said as his finger moved a millimeter lower. “Please, tell me.”
“Make it believable.”
“Please!” I cried, sweating and bleeding all over my belly. “Please, I want to know!”
Alvin pulled his talon out of me and dropped me to the ground. I landed with another thud and cradled my belly bump, tears streaming down my cheeks. Inside, I could still feel the faintest of heartbeats.
“Please, tell me,” I whimpered. “Please. Please. Please, tell me, Alvin.”
Alvin sucked the blood off his finger and walked to the edge of the room, overlooking the forest outside. “Your mother belonged to me. Your mother was my prisoner. I had only found out about you after I captured her. She had given you to another family to protect you.”
“Why was she your prisoner?” I asked so he wouldn’t hurt me again.
“It wasn’t just her. I captured all the phoenixes, so the prophecy wouldn’t come true.”
I stared at my belly and shook my head, brows furrowed. What did he mean by phoenix?
“You’re a phoenix,” Alvin said. “Born to eliminate the dragon race, and I cannot let that happen. I will do anything to stop that from happening, Yeosin, even if that means capturing you for the rest of eternity, like I have with the others.”
“I’m not a phoenix,” I said. “It’s impossible. I was a human before Luciano bit me.”
“That’s what I wanted you to think because I didn’t want to lock you in the cells with the rest of them,” Alvin murmured, moving closer to me once more. He leaned down and placed his hand on my sternum.
I flinched away, expecting him to hurt me further, but instead, he began healing me.
“Wh-what are you doing? Why wouldn’t you want to lock me away? That’s what you’re doing now, isn’t it?”
“Now, it is, yes,” he murmured. “But I’m not locking you in the cells with the rest of them.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Little Mouse, I already told you …” He pushed some hair off my face. “You’re mine.”