Page 127 of The Breeding Cave
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.”
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-SIX
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.
