Page 88 of The Breeding Cave
So, I run through the flames as my skin melts under the heat. I pump my legs faster and faster to catch up with his quickening figure. This can’t happen. I can’t let him get away from me.
When he sees me picking up speed, he extends his wings and flies into the air above me. I pick up a rock and hurl it at him.
“Get back down here and face me!” I scream. “Don’t be a fucking bastard!”
No response.
I pick up another rock, this one quite larger, and use all my strength to throw it at him. It hits him in the left wing, and he flies backward a bit.
“You’re becoming stronger and smarter, Yeosin,” he says. “Good.”
“Stop this fire!” I scream. “Stop burning me alive.”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
He floats down toward me. “If things stay the same, then your baby will die.”
Rage bubbles through my stomach, and I grit my teeth, shoving him back. “Don’t you say anything about my baby.” Adrenaline rushes through my system, and I find myself pushing again and again, one arm cradling my belly in protection. “Don’t touch my baby.”
“I would never hurt it,” he says. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“No,” I shout. “You’re lying to me. You’re hurting me!”
“I’m helping you.”
“You’re fucking psychotic!”
“Yeosin.”
“Stop this!”
“Yeosin.”
“Get away from me!”
“Yeosin!”
Shouting from above me shook me awake. Luciano gazed down at me, his hands on my shoulders and huge gashes in his bare chest. My eyes widened as his blood dripped down onto me, and I struggled to sit up.
“Luciano,” I whispered, reaching up to his wounds. “What happened to y—” Before I could finish my sentence, I noticed that my fingers were bloody, but what scared me the most was that they weren’t fingers anymore.
No, they were huge claws. Sharper than Luciano’s.
“Calm down, Yeosin,” Luciano whispered, releasing his grip on me. “It’s okay. It was just a nightmare.”
I stared in horror at his chest, tears welling in my eyes. “Did I do that?”
Luciano didn’t answer me.
“Luciano,” I whispered again, sitting up and cradling his face. “Did I do that to you?”
“It will heal,” he said. “Did you see the monster in your nightmare?”
Tears stung my eyes and ran down my cheeks. “I-I hurt you … I’m s-sorry. I didn’t?—”
“It’s okay, Yeosin. It’s okay. I’m fine.” He sat back slightly, giving me a chance to see the wounds I had caused him again. “See? They’re healing already. They’ll be healed by morning. But tell me, your nightmare?”
