Page 73 of The Breeding Cave

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

LUCIANO

When I stepped through the door of the prison, someone hurled Alvin’s body toward me. I didn’t have time to react as he collided against my chest and sent me flying back into the dark walkway that we had spent a good ten minutes trying to navigate.

The warriors around me backed up, shifting into their beasts, and I did the same, my nails extending into long talons and my canines dripping with saliva. I ripped my claws into his chest, sending him in the opposite direction.

A flood of screams and fire flowed out from the prison, and Yeosin’s scent followed.

Mate. Find mate now.

But I had to take care of this asshole before he could hurt anyone else. Besides, her scent was strongest on him, exploding in waves and waves from his groin. A growl ripped from my mouth, and I lunged at him.

What did he do to her?! Where is she?!

Alvin breathed fire at me, the heat so intense that I could feel it burning through my fur and my skin. But I didn’t care. I saw red. I saw rage. Yeosin’s scent was all over him—her scent that only I should know!

More fire exploded through the room, and I breathed it in. If I didn’t end this soon, then it would surely kill me and everyone else in the walkway with me. I swiped my claws across his neck, breaking through the thick skin.

“Go! Find Yeosin!” I growled to the others.

Once they disappeared into the chaos, I snapped my hands around Alvin’s neck, ducking out of the way so he couldn’t hit me with another wall of fire. A roar left his mouth, and he began flapping his massive wings to shake me off him. I held on for dear life, sinking my claws into the flesh.

He lashed his tail out, swinging it from side to side and hitting me in the shin each and every time in an attempt to wear me down, to kick me off. His fire was so hot that my hands began to burn.

It poured from his mouth in bursts, setting the ground ablaze around me. Smoke filled the air, and I held my breath. All this pain … it fueled me. His fire had destroyed my pack decades ago, and I refused to let that happen again.

We were so close … I was so close to finally being happy, to having a family.

I wouldn’t lose that. Not for a second time.

A snarl left my mouth, and I sank my canines into his neck when my hands gave out. I tore through the scales and muscle, the sickening taste of dragon blood filling my mouth. His groan turned into a screech, and he flailed his body around uncontrollably.

“I warned you,” I growled. “Yeosin is mine!”

With one swift, vicious motion, I tore into him, ripping through the thick, scaly hide of his neck and reaching his innards. His body convulsed against mine, flames sputtering in his throat before his head lolled forward and his lifeless body fell against me.

Fire dripped from my entire body. I shoved him off me and heaved.

Yeosin. I need to find Yeosin.

I spun around, heart pounding, and sprinted toward the prison door. Inside, fire burned the cages; phoenixes were flying through the air, battling warrior dragons; and beasts were doing what they could on the ground.

“Yeosin!” I shouted through the flames, my body still burning. “Yeosin!”

My beast clawed at my insides, desperate to find her, to make sure she was okay. She had to be. I needed to see her, hold her, feel her against me. She was pregnant, and she had gone down here all alone.

I let her come down here alone.

I scanned the prison, hoping to find her, but locked on to someone else’s gaze entirely. My entire body froze, and I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. She stood there, staring back, in the middle of the battleground, untouched by the flames.

“Mom?” I whispered.