Page 122 of The Breeding Cave
I grabbed the dungeon door’s handle and blew out a low breath. I couldn’t wait.
Behind me, my best warriors—the ones who had survived the dragon attack years ago—moved restlessly, growling and scraping their claws together. Muscles tensing, I yanked the door open.
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-ONE
YEOSIN
One moment, I stood in front of Alvin in complete and utter shock, my back turned to him and my feet glued to the ground. The next, he lifted me in the air by the back of my neck, turned me around to face him, and offered me the most menacing of scowls.
“You should’ve stayed away after you escaped. I wasn’t going to come looking for you.”
“Bullshit,” I spit at him, kicking my legs forward. “Let me go!”
Had Gideon really betrayed me? What was he doing in there? What were the beasts and Colossals about to walk in on, especially if the Dragon Clan knew we were attacking?
“Truly, I wasn’t going to come after someone who was willing to sacrifice her own life to survive.” A low chuckle escaped past his jagged teeth, his eyes glowing hot. “I thought you had died. And I thought that stupid fucker wouldn’t have the courage to burn your entire?—”
Before he could say another word, I slammed my foot forward, hitting him right in the shin. I might’ve had access to some of my powers, but I didn’t know how to use them yet. I didn’t know how to escape or how to get out of this mess.
“Don’t call my mate stupid. He’s a better and smarter man than you will ever be.”
Suddenly, his bones began to break and his skin shifted into rough scales as he transformed into a dragon right in this small, crammed space of the dungeon. The walls broke to pieces from the sudden shift and crumbling down around us.
I saw the scent of the prison before I smelled it. My eyes widened as hundreds, if not thousands, of cages filled with phoenixes surrounded me. Alvin dragged me down the pathways, forcing me to see all the phoenixes he had captured, like they were trophies.
“I was willing to keep you as my own, in my chambers, the ultimate prize,” he murmured, continuing to drag me along on the dirt path to a large cage in the back of the prison, one that had bars so thick that I could barely see into it. “But I can’t take any chances with you.”
After kicking and screaming and trying to summon my powers, I snatched on to his hand and sank my claws into it.
Where are my powers when I need them the most? He can’t trap me in here with the rest of them.
Where has Gideon gone?
He wasn’t here either.
Alvin snapped open the cage and hurled me inside, stepping in with me. He curled his hand around the front of my neck and pressed his body against mine. “When I finish slaughtering your mate, I will bring you back to that cave and breed you myself.”
“No, you won’t,” I spit at him, hitting him right in the face. My blood boiled, literally burning my skin from the inside out. I grabbed his face and sank my thumbs into his huge eyes. “You’re not going to touch me, you fucking bastard!”
“Not going to touch you?” he snarled, slamming the door closed and locking it. He threw me to the ground and stalked toward me once more, one of his eyes bloody from my attack. “You’re my property now. I will do what I want with you.”
I grabbed some dirt and threw it up at him, scurrying out of the way before he could grab me again. Fire burned from his mouth, spewing into the cage around me, the taste choking me. I needed to get out of here now.
But how?
Come on, Yeosin. Think!
When the fire and dirt cleared from the air, I made eye contact with the woman who I had seen in my vision through the bars. I could barely see her, but I remembered her eyes. She had been so hopeful that I could do this, and I had let her down.
“Alvin,” I snarled, “I’m not going to let you get away with?—”
A sharp pain stabbed through my abdomen, a pain so excruciating that I doubled over onto my knees. At first, I thought he had stabbed me or set fire to my stomach, but when I looked down, there was no wound, no fire, nothing.
What is happening? What’s going on? Get up, Yeosin! It can’t matter right now.
“Get over here, you bitch,” Alvin growled, snatching my hair and slamming me against the wall.
