Page 87 of The Breeding Cave
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then who?” Luciano growled. “Who burned you?”
I opened and closed my mouth a handful of times, my heart racing. Should I tell Luciano about the monster? He hadn’t seemed like he would harm me, but when his gaze landed on me in the middle of the battle, my body had burst into flames. It wasn’t the Colossals.
“The monster that I saw in the forest on our way to the meeting,” I admitted. “It was him.”
“And how do you know that wasn’t one of their sick illusions?”
The Colossal who had appeared outside the cave the other night stepped forward. “I will admit that I put Brent to sleep just outside the cave so I could speak with Yeosin and warn her away. But I have not touched her in her sleep.”
“You don’t like her, so I don’t fucking believe you,” Luciano snarled. “How do you know it wasn’t them?”
I shrugged because I knew he wouldn’t believe me. “It’s just a feeling.”
“Who is the monster?” he asked.
“He’s … he has wings, and his body can erupt in flames.”
“A monster with wings who can erupt in flames?” Ruby said. “Sounds like a dragon.”
My throat dried. He did sound like a dragon, didn’t he? But he wasn’t dangerous.
At least, I didn’t think he was.
“It is obvious that the Dragon Clan doesn’t want to kill Yeosin,” another Colossal said. “If they did, they would’ve used fire to kill her back in the forest. She was out in the open, easily targetable. One of the dragons tried to snatch her away.”
“They want to torture her,” Luciano said. “They’ve burned her before.”
“Why? Why burn her, but not kill her?”
“Alvin is my ex-boyfriend, but he always seemed so uninterested in me.” I shook my head, not able to understand it myself. “I’m not sure what he wants with me, though he loves control and power over people.”
“And this other monster, this other dragon, wants to burn you alive?”
I squeezed my eyes closed, my head beginning to dully ache. “I don’t know.”
Every single day that passed, more questions popped up.
Why did Alvin want me back after breaking up with me? Who was this other dragon? What did he want with me? And why had this all suddenly started to happen after Luciano gave me a proposition?
CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX
YEOSIN
Fire burns the forest that surrounds me. Completely alone, I stand in the center of it, the flames licking every part of my body. Luciano isn’t here, nor are any of the Colossals, which means that … this is all a dream, a nightmare.
And if that monster is really causing these burns, then he has to be close.
Though my body is burning, I stay calm and scan the area.
Empty. Empty. Empty. A shadow …
My eyes widen, and I follow the shadow with my gaze as it moves around the trees it burns. Then my legs move faster than my mind can come up with a plan. All I can think about is finding that bastard and killing him so this anguish will stop.
