Page 114 of The Breeding Cave
A man … filled with anguish but refusing to let anyone see it.
As my chest tightened, a tear slipped down my cheek. How much pain was he holding inside him? How much pain had festered since the first time the Dragon Clan had attacked and taken everyone away from him? When would he show me this pain so I could help him through it?
The scent and the sight of my burning flesh wafted up into my nose. Like his sob, I could feel the scent too—orange and red crisps and ashes, the sound like sharp nails scratching at the insides of a coffin.
Luciano fell out of my hold and dropped to his knees. The bones of my hands cracked away from my body and remained in his tight grasp. He clutched on to the stone and tried to stand back up, a sob escaping his mouth.
“Please, stay with me,” he murmured. “Please, don’t leave me. I need you.”
I knelt in front of him and took his face in my hands, kissing his mouth. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he whispered.
Just as confused, we looked at each other, his eyes widening more and more and more, filling with trembling tears. He shuffled backward, his gaze all over my body. Murmurs erupted all around the room as everyone stared at me in amazement.
But I could look at nobody other than my mate.
“Yeosin,” he whispered, shaking his head as if he didn’t believe it. “Yeosin, you’re …”
“Alive,” I said, breaking out into a choked laugh. “I’m alive. I’m here. Always.”
Luciano wrapped me into his embrace and pulled me closer to him, his nose buried into the crook of my neck, right against the mark he had left so long ago. He kissed me over and over and over, as if to make sure that I was real.
Still, I could barely believe it either.
Once Luciano pulled back, tears covered his face. “I’m sorry … our baby …”
I placed his hand over my stomach. “Our baby is still alive. Don’t worry.”
When she kicked against his hand, Luciano let out another sob, this one like a kick to the gut. He dropped his hand to my belly and rested his forehead against the bump, holding on to it like he had with my skeleton.
I pushed my hand through his thick hair and pulled him closer, hearing and feeling and seeing his heart beat pounding through the air. Nothing could compare to this moment, to the newfound feelings and sensations running through me.
“I love you, Luciano,” I started. “But this war isn’t over.”
After Luciano pulled away from me, I took his hand and looked around at the others. They stared between me and the wings that had formed on my back, ones similar to Gideon’s. I stood up in front of Luciano, who remained on his knees.
“We must set the other phoenixes free, and you all need to help. They are trapped in the Dragon Clan’s dungeons. I have seen them. They’ve been held captive, and only after setting them free will you all get to live in your homes again.”
The group murmured to themselves, worry etched on their faces.
“We can’t,” Molly said to my left. “We’ve already tried once and failed.”
“Last time, we didn’t have Yeosin,” Luciano finally said.
He stood next to me and captured my hand. And for the first time in a long time, I finally saw the strength return to his eyes. I had thought we had lost it forever.
“Yeosin and Gideon will guide us,” he continued.
“Gideon?” the others repeated. “He’s dead!”
“He’s alive,” Luciano said. “Just like Yeosin, he’s a phoenix.”
“He will aid us, along with the Colossals,” I said. “The dragons are powerful, but they will not be able to withstand an attack from all of us. We must free the phoenixes and avenge those the dragons have killed. And we must do it now, before they find us here.”
CHAPTER
SIXTY-SIX
