Page 106 of The Breeding Cave
“I’ll promise to never hurt you or the dragons,” I whispered. “Please.”
“It’s too late for that,” he said. “You’re already pregnant. If you don’t, she will.”
“No, she won’t,” I tried to reason. “I won’t tell her about you.”
“It doesn’t matter if you tell her about us or not. She’ll still find out.”
I racked my brain for any memory of weakness that Alvin had shown in the years we were together, for anything that I could use against him, for anything that I could grab to get out of this situation. There had to be something.
“No, she won’t,” I repeated in an attempt to stall as I thought.
Alvin shook his head and moved closer to me. I shuffled backward and swallowed hard, hoping that he couldn’t see how terrified I was that Luciano would never be able to find me up here, that Alvin would keep me as his forever.
“You still don’t get it,” he murmured. “You’re mine. Mine. Mine.”
Mine? Why did he keep repeating that word? Why was he so focused on that? If he really cared about me like he claimed he did, then he wouldn’t have broken up with me weeks ago. Then he wouldn’t have hurt me.
Only Luciano said I was his with such possessiveness.
“I belong to Luciano,” I said, holding his harsh stare. “Luciano, not you.”
“Is that what he told you? That you were only his?”
“That’s what I know. That’s what I want.”
“I don’t care what you want, Little Mouse. It doesn’t matter what you want.”
My heart pounded so hard that I could hear it in my ears. I placed a hand on my belly bump to keep my baby safe as his words became more and more harsh, the longer he spoke. I couldn’t chance him wounding me again.
“Many prophecies and curses have come true in this world, not just the phoenix destroying the dragons.” Alvin snatched my wrist and brought me over to the scroll I had been reading before he entered the room, and then he unraveled it.
“The Triad’s Bond Curse. By the desire of the gods, let it be known that The One who dares to mate with the Bird of Fire, the Dragon, and the Beast shall be bound by this curse for all eternity,” he began. “From the claws of the Beast, may your soul be eternally restless, driven by primal urges and wild instincts. From the flames of the Bird, may your heart forever burn with an indescribable desire. From the scales of the Dragon, may he mark your flesh and bind you with him for eternity. The Triad’s Bond Curse shall neutralize any other prophecy and unify them as one species of the forest.”
My mouth dried, and I swallowed to moisten it.
“That’s not what it says,” I whispered, knowing what this meant.
Alvin held the scroll out for me. “Read it for yourself.”
I scanned down the scroll, heart pounding. No … no … no!
Gideon was right. Gideon was my mate, alongside Luciano. But not only that …
So was Alvin.
Or at least, that was what Alvin hoped was true. His ego was big enough to believe that this prophecy talked about him, not any other dragon. Even if this prophecy was true and it did include Alvin, it wasn’t about me, right? It couldn’t be about me.
No, I refused to believe it.
I refused to believe that I was a phoenix. I refused to believe that I was mated to all three of these animals. And part of me refused to believe that this wasn’t all just some sort of made-up dream to help me escape reality.
Soon, I would wake up the day before Alvin broke up with me. Soon, this would all be a distant memory, a dream that … that I … a dream that I would miss with my entire heart. A baby I would miss. A mate I would miss.
“You’re my mate, Yeosin,” Alvin murmured. “And I’m never letting you go.”
CHAPTER
SIXTY
