Page 57 of The Breeding Cave
Ella curled a finger around a lock of her hair. “But, Luciano, I have a?—”
I snatched her upper arm, sinking my claws into her flesh. “My fucking office. Now!”
As soon as I slammed my office door closed, I allowed my beast to take form. My nails lengthened into claws, and my teeth grew into canines that could kill her in a moment.
“What did you do to Yeosin?” I growled.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
My hand snapped around the front of her throat, and I pinned her against the wall, her feet dangling off the ground.
“I’m not going to play fucking games with you, pup. You were in my home last night, and Yeosin has burns all over her.”
After blowing her bangs up with a pffttt, she growled back. “Your home? That penthouse isn’t your home. It has never been your home. Your home—our home—is the woods, is the packhouse. I’m sick of living in the city.”
“You think I want this?!” I snarled. “Over eighty percent of our pack is dead because we lived in those woods. Over ninety-five percent of our warriors are gone. We are rebuilding with the woman who lives in that penthouse—with my mate.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them, and while I was sure that the Goddess had removed my abilities to have a fated mate, my beast had recognized Yeosin as his twice verbally in the past twenty-four hours.
And honestly, I had known that it was always true. I had been drawn to her from the moment that I laid my gaze on her, but I had kept my distance for as long as I could, as long as my beast would let me.
Because nothing good could come out of being close to her. Not with the Dragon Clan.
“I should be your mate!” Ella exclaimed.
As soon as the words left her lips, I threw her to the other side of the room. Her body slammed into the bookcase, making the books on the second shelf from the top tumble out and land on the ground beside her.
“So you burn her?” I stalked toward her. “Who gave you the ability?! Are you working with the clan who killed your mate and your child?!” My gaze clouded with red, and I picked her up by her hair. “Are you working with the Dragon Clan?”
“No, no!” she exclaimed, eyes wide in fear. “I promise, I’m not!”
“Then why the fuck is Yeosin’s body covered in burns?!”
For the first time, something idiotic didn’t come out of this bitch’s mouth. “I don’t know. Molly called me over to heal her. She was asleep … and the burns began forming on her body before I even had a chance to touch her.”
“Liar,” I growled.
“I’m not lying,” she cried, grasping at her hair. “Please, let me down.”
After blowing a breath out of my nose, I tossed her down and walked back to my desk to calm the fuck down so none of the humans here would walk in and see my beast overtaking my body with his.
With one hand grasping her head, Ella crawled to my desk and pulled herself up onto a chair, a small whimper escaping her mouth. “I promise I’m not lying to you. I didn’t touch her. But I hadn’t come over to heal her. I had come over to see how it’d feel to be her.” Her voice suddenly dropped. “I miss my mate, and I thought … since you couldn’t have one …”
“I would never and will never mate with you,” I snarled. “Get it out of your head.”
Tears filled her eyes. “But I’m strong.”
“You’re strong, so you should be fighting the war that’s coming. Not bearing my pups.”
Not only that, but I don’t like her. Neither does my beast.
Her expression changed from sadness to pride and then to surprise. “The war that’s coming? Does that mean that you really are partnering with the Colossals? Brent told me this morning about your meeting with them.”
“Yes.” I flared my nostrils and looked away. “But I need more information about Yeosin’s burns. When—how did they start? She was sleeping? You didn’t see anyone else leaving the penthouse before you arrived, did you? No Dragon Clan member?”
Yeosin had said that she had a nightmare …
I cursed at myself because I had stupidly brushed it off like it was nothing, basically told her to get over it. If the burns had really formed while she was asleep …
