Page 76 of The Breeding Cave

LUCIANO

With our baby in the crook of my left arm and Yeosin holding on to my right, I stared at the packhouse that lay in ashes. Nothing except some foundation was left standing, and the fire from the dragons’ attack had burned the trees down around it.

I had never thought that I would be back, never mind with a mate and child.

“When we rebuild it, it can be everything it once was and more,” Yeosin whispered.

“You’re right,” I said softly, wishing that it were rebuilt now, wishing that I would have the chance to raise my daughter in the house that I had been raised in, that my father had been raised in, and his father too. “It’ll be more.”

But all that I really cared about was that we were all safe.

“I knew you’d be here,” someone said behind me.

Yeosin and I looked over our shoulders at Mom as she walked toward me with some other phoenixes following her. Still, I couldn’t wrap my mind around how she was here. How hadn’t she died? Why hadn’t she come to visit me?

I had so many questions that I wasn’t sure she could answer.

Mom moved her gaze from me to Yeosin, her smile widening even more. “I see you’ve met your mate, Luciano. She’s stronger than even she knows.” Mom pinched Yeosin’s cheek gently. “You’re going to have your hands full.”

“Why didn’t you tell me Luciano was your son?” Yeosin asked, rubbing her cheek.

“Because some things are better left unsaid,” Mom said, peering back at me. “There are questions I don’t have the answers to and answers I can’t begin explaining in a believable way. But with time, the truth will be revealed, and everything will make sense.”

“How?” I asked. “How are you here?”

“Would you believe me if I said it was magic?” Mom asked, peering down at our baby and tickling her belly with her forefinger. Our baby giggled, her smile wider and brighter than any newborn’s that I had ever seen. “You need some clothes for her.”

“I don’t know what I would believe,” I said honestly, taking a small step backward.

I loved my mother, but I didn’t trust her completely yet. Gideon had come back from the dead, just like Mom had. He had gained my trust, and then he betrayed me. Or at least that was how it seemed. I hadn’t seen him since he had disappeared with Yeosin.

“Things will be hard to explain, Luciano,” Mom said, her face remaining unchanged.

“Explain them anyway.”

“I’m sure you saw it with Yeosin,” Mom said. “Her body died, but she was reborn in it.”

“Yeah, but I buried your body,” I said. “Just like I buried Gideon’s.”

“We were dug up,” she said. “By Gideon’s father.”

“Gideon’s father?” I asked, venom on my tongue. “The man you cheated on Dad with?”

Mom peered down at her feet. “Luciano, you don’t know how I felt … I can’t explain it.”

I pursed my lips and nodded because I would never know how cheating on a mate felt. I would never know how betraying the one person who had been made for me felt, how having a child with another felt.

It was disgusting. Vile.

Suddenly, a wave of hushed whispers echoed throughout the forest. I placed our baby in Yeosin’s arms and stepped in front of her and my mother, preparing for another dragon to attack. The forest had been too quiet …

“Hey, hey, hey!” Brent called. “That you?”

I blew out a breath, relaxing only slightly as he and the other warriors came into view. Colossals walked with them, dragging imprisoned dragons after them. Everyone who was still alive seemed to walk upon our old packhouse.

“You made it,” I said, gently squeezing his shoulder.

He threw my mate a wink. “You think I wouldn’t make it back to see Yeosin?”

She giggled behind me as I let out a low warning growl.

“Did you grab them?”

“Grab what?” Brent asked while the others dispersed and mingled with each other.

Some of the beasts were amazed at the sight of the phoenixes and stared at them like they were the most fascinating beings ever created.

After all, they had been a myth all this time.

“The phoenix eggs,” I said. “They were in Alvin’s room.”

Brent furrowed his brows and shook his head. “After we killed the dragons inside the castle, we searched every inch of that thing. There were no eggs.” He peered over at Yeosin. “Are you sure you saw them?”

“Yes,” she said, clutching our baby to her chest. “I’m positive.”

“Well, they weren’t there.”

“What the fuck do you mean, they weren’t there?” I growled at Brent.

Yeosin froze behind me. “Gideon has them then. I know he does. I can feel it.”

With my hands on my hips, I rocked backward. “We can’t make decisions on feelings.”

“We can make them on my feelings,” she said.

Yeosin was right. To my understanding of how she explained her feelings and her connection with other phoenixes, we could make them based on her feelings. If she felt like Gideon had them, then he probably did.

I had trusted Yeosin once, and she had almost died. But this time, I felt that she was right.

Gideon had the eggs, and we didn’t know why.

“Gideon released me from the prison,” Mom said, speaking up. “But he apologized right afterward, then disappeared. I don’t know why he didn’t save the rest of us, only me. I know he saw Yeosin in the cage beside me with Alvin on her.”

“He took the eggs,” Yeosin said. “It’s the only possible explanation.”

“Where is he now?” I asked Mom.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. He didn’t say, and I didn’t follow him. I was busy releasing the rest of the phoenixes before anyone could capture us all again.”

“Fuck,” I cursed underneath my breath, running a hand through my hair. “Fuck!”

Yeosin placed her free hand on my chest. “It’s okay for now. The phoenixes are free. That’s what matters. We’ll find the eggs, and when Gideon returns—because he will return—we will deal with him then.”

The anger was still bubbling inside me, but I pushed it away. “We’ll find him.”

“We will,” she whispered.

I looked down at my mate and our child, who was safe in her arms, and I knew we would make it through this. And I would do anything to protect what was mine. No matter the cost.