Page 28 of The Breeding Cave
I shoved him off me. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Touch me and pretend like everything is okay.”
My body reacted way too much for that. He couldn’t use his touch to comfort me. I had a couple of bones to pick with him, including him showing up at my workplace, not giving me aftercare or giving me that money in cash.
“Are you angry with me?” he asked.
“It’s not like you care,” I growled through my teeth.
Really, I wasn’t angry with him. I was angry with myself for feeling this way about him, for allowing my body to react all gooey to him, for not putting my foot down to demand the money in cash like I’d thought I would receive it.
“Yeosin.”
“Don’t call me that!” I exclaimed. “My name is Alana.”
No, it wasn’t.
We both knew that.
I hated when people called me Alana, but when he said my real name, it did something bad to me. All my thoughts seemed to disappear into thin air because I was desperate for someone to respect and love me.
“You’d prefer I call you Alana?”
Just the sound of that nickname coming out of his mouth made me shudder in disgust. I furrowed my brows harder and pressed my lips together because I actually would hate it if he called me that.
“We need to talk,” I said.
I had been thinking and overthinking everything since the Dragon Clan had followed me earlier and since I had seen Alvin in the city.
“You’d prefer I call you Alana?” he repeated.
“Why are you being a dick?”
“I’m not being a dick. I’m asking you a question because I know you hate that name.”
“I put up with a grump at my job,” I said. “I don’t need it from you either.”
While it wasn’t completely a lie, it definitely was my excuse to get out of answering his question. I wanted him to call me Yeosin, but I didn’t want to admit to it. Admitting to it would mean that I would hear it every day for as long as this went on.
“You can’t show up at my workplace,” I said. “I could’ve gotten fired on my first day.”
He placed his hands on my upper arms and slowly drew them down. “I needed you.”
“It couldn’t wait? At least until I was out of the building?”
“No,” he murmured deep into my ear.
I shivered underneath his touch and wished that I weren’t in this situation with the Dragon Clan. My entire life would be so much easier. I would’ve never come to this cave, never felt these … things for this beast who wouldn’t tell me anything.
Suddenly, a branch snapped just outside of the cave, and the beast pulled away from me. He sniffed the air, but didn’t move toward the entrance of the cave or relax behind me. “Who was in that car earlier?”
“What car?”
“You walked out of your building with your boss and stared at an SUV with the license plate of JWGSH89 this afternoon. Who were they?” His claws began extending against my skin. “An ex?”
“No!” I exclaimed. “They were nobody.”
