Page 75 of The Breeding Cave

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

YEOSIN

Fire blazed all around us. I gripped our baby in my arms as Luciano carried me through the chaos. Dragon and beast corpses lay in puddles of blood in the prison around us. I shielded our baby’s eyes and squeezed mine shut too, all the sensations too powerful.

“It’s going to be okay,” Luciano murmured. “Don’t worry.”

Luciano slipped through the door into the corridor that Gideon and I had hidden in less than an hour ago. The stench of blood and rotting flesh drifted through my nose, and I opened my eyes in time to see us passing Alvin’s body.

Chunks of his body were scattered around the dark hallway, and his dragon scales were littered down the pathway. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes because I knew that my mate had done this. My mate had killed Alvin for me. For us.

After weaving through the halls, Luciano finally found a hole in the ceiling above us that led to the outside. He set me down onto my feet, then took the baby from me, cradling her in his large arms. “Can you make it up there?”

“Yes,” I said, though I wasn’t sure how to use my flight yet.

I stared up at the hole in the ceiling and took a deep breath, trying and trying and trying to summon my wings, like the other phoenixes had. A moment passed, and then I felt Luciano’s hand on my hip.

“Don’t worry about your powers right now,” he said. “Jump, and I’ll lift you.”

Warmth spread through my chest, and I used all the strength I had left in my legs to leap into the air. Luciano lifted me higher, shoving me as hard as he could. I gripped the edge of the ceiling and pulled myself outside.

The heat from the sun hit my exposed skin, and I looked around to see the outside was just as chaotic as the prison, except out here, the Colossals were fighting the dragons. Fire raged in the trees. We needed to get to safety as soon as we could.

I dropped to my knees and leaned over through the hole, reaching for the baby.

Once Luciano handed her to me, he leaped out with the use of his beast. Then he scooped us into his arms once more and began a trek through the battle, dodging fire and dragons falling from the sky.

“Hold on tightly,” Luciano said.

When I gripped on to him as tight as I could, he shifted into his beast. Teeth lengthened into canines. Skin turned into fur. Muscles grew underneath me. And he was off into the daylight, running as fast as he could.

I didn’t know how long I held on to him with our baby. Maybe an hour, maybe four.

But he only slowed once the forest became more familiar and The Breeding Cave came into view. He shifted back into his human form and slowed to a stop just out front, finally setting me down and guiding us into the cave.

Memories of our first night here flooded through my mind, and I found myself collapsing onto one of the boulders inside with our baby tight to my chest. So many nights ago, we had been here for the first time.

And now?

Now we were back here, safe, as a family.

“We’re safe now,” he whispered.

I let out a shaky breath. “We made it.”

Luciano leaned on the boulder beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling us close. I rested against him, my head against his chest. All the fear, the fire, the dragons seemed to disappear from my mind.

We were safe. We were really safe.

A tear slipped from my eye, and Luciano was quick to swipe it away.

“Yeosin,” he whispered, “we’re going to be okay.”

“Gideon, he …” I said, my chest suddenly heavy with guilt. “I should’ve listened to you. Gideon betrayed me, betrayed us . He left me alone down there. He … I wouldn’t doubt if he alerted the dragons.”

“I know,” Luciano said, pulling my head onto his chest. “But I think he was the one who let the phoenixes out. Still doesn’t mean I like that asshole. Next time I see him, I’m going to kill him. But all that matters now is that you’re safe.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Luciano said. “Gone. But I’ll deal with him if he comes back. What’s really important is that we find all the phoenix eggs. I saw my mom … she was one of the phoenixes that Alvin had imprisoned. She told me that we need to find the eggs.”

“Your mom?” I asked, eyes widening. Was that the woman I saw in my visions? “I saw some of the eggs up in Alvin’s bedroom. All the way at the top of the mountain. They’re in his hoard.”

Luciano nodded. “Brent went up there. He’ll find them and retrieve them then.”

“What if Gideon gets to them first?” Fear rushed through me. “What will happen?”

Luciano paused. “I don’t know, but he won’t.”

“You’re so sure of it.”

“I trust Brent. Do you?”

I sucked in a breath. “Yes, I do.”

“Then all that’s left for us to do right now is to go back.”

“Back?” I asked. “Back where?”

“To the packhouse. We’re going to rebuild our lives, Yeosin. Together.”