Page 95 of The Breeding Cave
Luciano looked back at me, half angry, half confused. “You know him?”
“Yes, he was one of my regulars at Pink Ivory. How do you know him?”
“He’s my fucking brother who I thought was dead.”
“What do you mean, your brother?” I asked, jaw slackening.
Gideon and Luciano are related? No, there isn’t any way. Luciano is a beast, and Gideon is a … a dragon, right? How are they related when they are two separate types of beasts living in the woods?
“What are you doing? Where did you go?” Luciano turned back to Gideon and shook his head, as if he still couldn’t believe it. Maybe this was a trick by the monster with wings or the Colossals. They could control someone’s mind, right? “And what the fuck are you?”
Gideon exhaled harshly through his nose. “I can’t explain. It’s too hard. It will take too much time. But I need the orb in your pocket. It’ll be easier to explain that way. We can talk on our way back to the?—”
“No,” Luciano growled, tensing. “Absolutely fucking not. Answer my questions first.”
Gideon looked toward the street. “We’re not safe here. Follow me.”
“Fuck no,” Luciano said, grabbing my hand and pulling me back toward the road. Buses flew by, on their way to pick up passengers during rush hour. “We’re not going anywhere with you. You’re a dead man, talking to me.”
“I’m not dead. I never died. You have to let me explain.”
Luciano took another step toward the street, into the light. “Explain then. Here. Now.”
After he turned toward me, Gideon’s features softened. “Come on, Yeosin. You can trust me. I protected you from Alvin at the café a few weeks back. Don’t you remember?” He reached out his hand, and I noticed that it was covered in burns. “Please.”
I stared down at it for a few moments, my heart pounding so loudly that I could hear it in my ears. Something inside me tugged me to him, and I didn’t know why. But I couldn’t trust it. No, I trusted Luciano.
Didn’t I?
“We’re going,” Luciano growled, yanking me toward him. “Now.”
Deciding that he was right, that I couldn’t trust Gideon, no matter how nice he was to me … I grimaced in his direction and followed Luciano out onto the sidewalk. My mind raced with thoughts, with … memories almost.
Memories with Gideon before Pink Ivory. Memories of that scarred hand. Memories of …
Something else …
“Is Gideon a dragon?” I whispered to Luciano, glancing over my shoulder at Gideon, who hadn’t moved from the alleyway, yet his gaze was on me the entire time as we departed. “He has wings and can manipulate fire.”
“I don’t know what the fuck he is,” Luciano said. “That’s not the brother that I knew.”
“Why does he want the orb in your pocket? What does it do?”
Luciano tensed. “I don’t know what it does. My mother never told me. She only told him.”
“Then maybe we should hear him out,” I suggested.
Before I could get another word out of my mouth, Luciano twirled around to face me. His canines lengthened past his teeth, and his eyes were darker than I had ever seen them. “Do you have feelings for him?”
“What?” I asked, eyes wide. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have feelings for him? Do you like him? Have you ever liked him?”
“No, of course not.”
A low growl left Luciano’s mouth. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.”
