13. Kaida

Staring into the cell where Blaze was thrown made Kaida’s heart clench. A growl rose in her throat at the idea of him inside a cage, but her men convinced her that it was the best thing for them to do after the dimension infected him. They could see it inside their bonds as she did, but this was an extra precaution. They would not allow Blaze to have another opportunity to hurt her.

Blaze was in the corner, curled into a ball like his dragon was before they brought him here. The guys kept him calm the whole way here by having him ride on Beckett’s back. Kaida could sit behind him and wrap her arms around his waist. Her touch seemed to be the only thing that kept him from losing it again. Once he was in the cage, he turned around and tried to lunge at Enzo. Blaze would have gotten him to the ground if it weren’t for Enzo’s agility. Instead, Enzo used Blaze’s momentum and got him to the floor. Beckett put a ring of ice around Blaze’s wrists and pushed him into the cage. Blaze crawled into the corner when the door closed and didn’t move.

"I know we can’t see the dimension inside the bonds, but I swear it still has its dark claws in Blaze," Enzo growled as he stood outside the door.

Blaze cackled. "Oh, you think so?"

"I think you need to fight this, Blaze. Do you remember that we are brothers?" Beckett pleaded.

Blaze glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "I know you chose that bitch over me. Or am I remembering that correctly?"

Enzo snarled. "Watch what you say about our mate."

Blaze’s smirk grew. "Why should I? You aren’t going to harm me. I mean too much to those three for you to be able to do that. The jury is still out on the girl. Maybe she already feels something for me. The feeling isn’t mutual, but she can’t seem to take a hint."

Kaida returned his smirk. "That’s why your dragon relaxed at my touch. Because I feel something for you, but it isn’t returned. Right."

"You can believe what you want. My dragon only did that out of pity. I think you forgot that I have fought that forsaken bond since I felt the first twinge. It has only weakened me. I don’t know why you three believe it makes you stronger."

Arlo stepped forward but did his best not to touch the cage. Kaida noticed his hands went toward it initially, but he pulled them away. "I think you are the one that has this twisted, my friend. She is the reason why we are stronger. You’d see it, too, if you looked at the bonds. We can see your flame there. It’s smaller, but there."

"Only because my dragon wishes for it to be there. I do not share that sentiment."

Esen shook his head. "Why? The Great Dragon has given you this amazing opportunity, and you choose to fight it."

Blaze was on his feet, even though Kaida never saw him move. "I did not ask for a mate! I don’t want one! I never did, and the Great Dragon decided to override my wishes."

"I am the other half of your soul, and you think our lord has forsaken you for finding someone perfectly suited for you?" Kaida’s voice remained soft throughout her small speech. She hoped Blaze could feel how hurt it hurt even to have to say these things to him.

"You are not perfectly suited for me," Blaze spat. "You are the one weakness I can’t seem to shake!"

Kaida growled and stepped closer to the cage, "You are the weak one for not accepting the bond. The only people who choose to say no are those who cannot withstand having to care for another. That makes you less compatible with power if you ask me."

Blaze snarled and was against the cage before she could blink. "I have power without you. Why must I gain more with you when I can do that alone."

Kaida laughed at him. "That’s what you seem to think. A bond with me is more powerful than you could ever imagine. Think of how much you would have if it were just you and me. A mating bond between pairs makes anyone stronger. Add to the fact that I have four others tied to me, and you’d have access to their power, too? You’d be unstoppable. Instead, you mock us as we gain the power you wish you could have."

Blaze swiped at her between the bars, and Beckett used his magic to throw ice at Blaze just in time to falter his attack. The icy wind blew him back as he snarled. Kaida could see that some of the ice went into his eyes as he wiped it away.

"You will regret that!"

Blaze let loose his fire from his bonds, but it only struck the bars. Beckett stepped before Kaida to keep the heat from reaching her, but she pushed him aside.

"What the hell happened to you that you think a mate bond makes you weaker? That is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard!"

There was no answer. Blaze just ran into the bars with brute strength. More than she even thought he had at that moment after having the dimension inside him. She remembered feeling weak after the dimension left her body. Blaze looked as if the dimension only increased his strength and energy.

So, does it affect people differently? That is not good.

No. I wonder what the effects are from one person to the next.

I wish I knew this before I told the girls. They will have one hell of a time when they return to their kingdoms.

"I do not have to explain anything to you!" Blaze yelled through his teeth. "You are beneath me."

Kaida rolled her eyes at him, "I could have been beneath you. I would have been able to work that stick out of your ass, too, if you would have given me a chance."

"Ah, and the slut thinks sex is the way to my heart."

Enzo strikes Blaze with a lightning bolt when Blaze says the last word. Blaze dropped to his knees and screamed in agony as the energy worked its way through his body.

"Do not say that kind of thing about our mate," the men said in unison.

Hearing them talk about her like that sent a chill down Kaida’s spine. The fierceness in their need to protect her was something she could get used to.

After the attack’s effects went through Blaze, he began to cackle again. Kaida fought the growl rising in her throat. She didn’t want him to know that he was getting her.

Blaze looked at Enzo. "You allow her to weaken you. Some prince you are."

Enzo snarled. "I am not the weak one for allowing my mate to make me stronger. You are the weak one for denying it."

Blaze chortled. "I beg to differ. I took all of you on and lived to tell the tale."

"You are only alive because of the mate bond. We cannot kill you because of it. So, you may want to thank the great dragon for giving you a mate, and that mate is Kaida. Otherwise, you would be dead right now," Beckett reasoned with Blaze.

Blaze chuckled, clearly loving the argument they were all in. "The reason I am alive is because you are too weak to kill me, allowing that mate bond to dictate if you can kill me or not."

He has us there.

Enzo stopped arguing and stepped away. The guys gathered in a circle and pulled Kaida into it.

"It looks to me like there is no talking to him. The dimension has taken him," Enzo snapped.

"We cannot just give up on him. That is the point we were trying to make. We are all made; we need him," Kaida said through her teeth, showing her anger at their dismissal of Blaze.

"You are forgetting, Kaida. He does not want you as a mate. He is going to continue to deny this until it kills him," Enzo told her.

She could feel the venom in his words through the bond. He didn’t want Blaze to be considered her mate with how he fought it. Kaida chose to ignore him.

"All the more reason we cannot give up on him. The dark dimension is not allowed to have him. He is mine, and I will fight for him, even if you have given up on him," Kaida said as she opened and closed her fists.

This conversation made her heart race as the anger built inside her. It didn’t matter to her that Blaze was fighting the bond. It was established inside of her soul. Until he rejected it, she was going to fight for him.

"We are not saying that we have given up on him. We are saying that we cannot help him right now. We need to find the Dark Dimensions portal. There must be a new one, which is how it got to him," Enzo thought out loud.

"We have checked where the last portal was, and there wasn’t a new one open there," Beckett answered.

"Then we must scour the island to find one. There must be one if it has affected him like this. This time, the connection must be stronger. We cannot bring him back like we have brought the others," Esen warned.

Kaida shook her head and growled. "I don’t understand how this has happened."

"Maybe it was because the barrier was broken. The magic that kept it at bay before is no longer there," Arlo suggested.

Kaida shook her head. "I don’t think that is it. It affected everybody else before the barrier came down just like it had Blaze today."

Arlo nodded. "Yes, but it had gotten to Blaze this time. It is stronger than it ever was before. I don’t know how, but it affects him more than others."

"Maybe it’s because of the connection to all of us. Without Blaze’s mate bond completed, he is more susceptible to its influence," Enzo pointed out.

Kaida thought about it momentarily, and what Enzo said felt true to her. Blaze not being connected to her like the others had affected him stronger than it did anyone else. The dark dimension seemed to affect those who weren’t mated. With Blaze fighting the bond, which involved denying a connection with four other powerful dragons, it could easily influence him. The strength the bonds would have provided him was now working against him.

Kaida glanced over at the cage, longing inside her heart. "Blaze needs to complete the mate bond with me."

Beckett looked over at Blaze and frowned. "I am not allowing you inside that cage. His fight against the bond is stronger than it ever has been. With him fighting it like this, there is no chance he would allow you to complete the bond. If anything, he would kill you the moment you step inside that cage."

"We have to try something!" Kaida whined at her mates. Her heart ached at the idea of losing Blaze when she could feel him in her soul. Even without the bond completed, she knew where he belonged. "If we don’t, he will lose himself in the dark dimension."

Beckett shrugged. "We can do nothing for him right now. As long as he fights the bond, the dark dimension will continue to hold onto him."

Kaida did not want to believe that for a moment. They needed to figure out how to help Blaze right now; she would not allow the dark dimension to take her mate away from her.

"What if we go in and scour the skyline once more? There has to be a portal here that we did not find before." Kaida knew there had to be one. She could feel that another portal had opened all the way down into her bones; they just hadn’t detected it yet.

"We can try that. But what happens if we don’t find one?" Enzo asked.

Kaida knew what Enzo was suggesting. The snarl that ripped through her throat caused him to take a step back. "I told you once and will continue to tell you until you understand. I will not give up on my mate. He is mine. We will not kill him. We are going to find a way to break this."

They all nodded at her, afraid to say anything else. Their bonds told her they did not want to upset her further.

Blaze used this opportunity to attack the bars once again. This time, Kaida could hear the metal bending to Blaze’s will. Kaida turned around just in time to see him throw himself against the bars. When he tried the third time, Kaida allowed her magic to come to her. With a blast of her magic, he could not attack the bars again, instead falling onto his ass and then his back.

Kaida smirked. "Cute. If you were actually a mate of mine with a complete bond, you would have been able to withstand that attack. Instead, you fell on your ass."

Blaze growled at her. "Unlock the bars, and I can show you what I am made of."

“If you had accepted the bond, you wouldn’t need me to unlock the bars for you. Besides, there’s no need. I would wipe the floor with you anyway.”

Beckett laughed at her remark. "You are no longer a damsel."

"Nope, not at all."