Chapter 13

Thirteen

It was the most difficult thing she ever had to do, watching Enzo fly off without even a glance back at her. To feel the absence of their bond within her chest felt like her heart was hollowed out and ice was shoved in. Kaida sobbed with her knees tucked into her chest as she looked out to a vast sea. It didn’t take long for her to realize where she was while she sat on the hard sand.

He sent me to Reject Island. I am in the Outcast Lands… I guess it could be worse… he could have killed me.

That was the only positive thing she could think of as the cold air rolling off the water made her shiver. The thought of staying here until darkness claimed her flickered through her mind. She had just lost everything. Once someone was sent here, they were never allowed to go back unless their mate brought them back to their kingdom. It was like that in the other four kingdoms that made up their world, but that never happened. It was more like a loophole in case someone realized the decision they made was wrong, but no one wants to admit that kind of mistake, even if it’s discovered, so Kaida knew, even with that small glimmer of hope, she wasn’t ever going to see her parents again.

I might as well just give in to the darkness and let it claim me. I have no reason to live on. I have no mate, no future, and no one here.

The reaction Enzo had when he heard of her being dragonless made no sense. What he told her at that beach felt genuine, and it seemed to come from his soul. Enzo was someone who was accepting of others because that is how he wanted to rule the kingdom. He didn’t like how his parents did things and wanted it to change.

So why did he reject me?

Was everything he told her just a way to make her fall in love with him? Did Enzo play a role inside of who he really is so she wouldn’t reject him? How could anyone inside of the kingdom fall for that? Even her parents mentioned that they didn’t think he was as bloodthirsty as his parents, so even they were fooled by his act if that was the case.

Kaida laid back on the sand and stared up at the stars. All her life Kaida believed the Great Dragon watched over her, guided her to make the best decision she could, and would give her the perfect person to be her mate. That was what all the elders preached to her He would do, and she needed to trust what the Great Dragon had in store for her. They also told her that if there was ever a time when she lost her faith in the path that was given to her, Kaida needed to ask the Great Dragon the question that she needed the answer to the most. Kaida looked up into the night sky, noticed the star formation of The Dragon, and pondered the question she wanted answered.

Why did this happen?

The only sounds she could hear were the waves crashing against the sand and a few insects chirping. Kaida waited to hear something, anything, that would indicate the Great Dragon heard her and would answer the question. While she stared, Kaida found herself getting lost within the waves. She wasn’t sure how much time went by, but after a while, she let out an exasperated sigh before giving up.

Laughter broke her focus, and she shot up to her feet to prepare herself for the sudden company. There was no telling who she would encounter here or how powerful they would be. Without having a dragon to protect her, she could be subject to a vicious attack from a Lycan or a Vampire, spells or curses from a Witch or a Fae, or even worse… someone from the Dragon Kingdom recognizing her. She looked around for a weapon of some sort, but there was nothing that could do any kind of damage. If anything, she could use the small stick she noticed in a small patch of grass ahead of her to annoy the assailant as it snapped against their skin.

Yeah, let’s not look more like a disaster than I already do.

The laughter came again, but this time it was further down the beach. It sounded as though it came from a female since it was higher pitched and melodious. At first, Kaida felt relieved that it wasn’t a male. Then she remembered that the females of the Witches and Fae species tend to be more powerful than the males naturally. If the person that was laughing was either of them, she could be in more trouble than she originally thought.

The thoughts of going over toward whoever was laughing or running in the opposite direction went back and forth inside of her mind. Without knowing where civilization was on the island, it seemed more appropriate to go find them. Kaida looked off to her right and noticed that it was a hill. She had no idea what would be waiting for her inside of the populated area considering the people who resided there were all rejected by their mates. They could be harboring hatred and express it through aggression or even hate people so much that they just secluded themselves and didn’t help anyone.

I think I am reading too much into this…

Kaida brushed off all her second-guessing thoughts and started to make her way up the hill. It was steeper than she expected and she was struggling to climb it. The rejected bond made her weak, and she barely made it to the top. She used her hands to help her over the edge of the top and dropped to her knees when she did. The absent bond inside of her chest seared with pain as she panted on the ground. She heard herself whimper as she struggled to find the strength within herself to get back up and keep going.

“Hey, you’re new.”

Kaida nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the feminine voice. She screamed while the female laughed. A small voice inside of her head made a snide remark about how Kaida should have at least grabbed the stick so she could have hit the person with it. As she took several deep breaths to calm herself, Kaida mentally kicked herself for not doing that because she really wished she could hit this person for sneaking up on her.

“For a Dragon, that was a pitiful response. I thought you people had heightened senses like us Lycans.”

The female wore a black leather jacket, black jean shorts, and black boots. Her hair was a deep pink with some black lowlights. Her eyes were a pale blue, and her black eyeliner made them more striking. The power rolling off her told Kaida she was higher in the Lycan hierarchy and made her wonder why her mate would reject her.

When the female held out her hand, Kaida hesitated to take it, “I’m Remy Howell.”

Kaida stared at Remy’s hand, contemplating if she could trust someone she had only just met after experiencing the worst pain from the rejection.

“I’m not going to wolf out and bite you,” Remy said with an eye roll.

“Sorry. It’s been… a day.”

Remy helped Kaida to her feet. She could feel her body swaying from the minimal energy she had left. The Lycan was scanning her body, and Kaida felt uneasy about it.

“I’d offer to nut punch the guy who put you here, but we all know we can’t do shit until our good-for-nothing mates come back for us.”

Kaida’s smile at the thought of Remy walking up to Enzo and punching him was smaller than she wanted it to be. She wished something like that could happen to him, but she also just wanted to be in his arms again.

“Thanks for the offer, though you’re right about not being able to do shit right now.”

“We have some food and drinks if you’d like to join us.”

“Us?”

“Yeah. A few of us rejects built a fire down that way, and we are hanging out. Being here isn’t as bad as they tell us growing up. They just made this place so our Fated assholes don’t have to see us or deal with us.”

Well, I don’t have any other plan to survive here at the moment…I guess I am trusting a stranger then.

Remy helped Kaida along the way by putting her arm around Kaida’s waist. There were a couple of times that Kaida almost dropped to the ground as her energy levels continued to deplete. It was something that was not described in enough detail when it came to a rejected bond. No one told her that, if it happened, she would barely be able to move, that it would feel like the world was caving in around her, and her soul would want to give up.

When they made it to the fire, a Faerie with blue wings and hair waved her hand and created a stump for Kaida to sit on. Her eyes were a pink hue and soft as if she pitied Kaida. The girl offered Kaida a sympathetic smile before returning to where she sat around the fire.

Another girl with silver hair was tending to the flames, and Kaida noticed a hot pink hue on her hands as she did. Kaida already knew that this one was a Witch, and it was her magic glowing that she could see. The Witch smiled at her and gave her a little head nod to acknowledge Kaida’s presence.

The last one looked like a Goddess with her long, thick, rose-gold hair that seemed to be darker at its tips. Kaida was captivated by it as it seemed like it was perfectly blowing in the wind to give her the flowy model look that girls would kill for and spent hours trying to make their hair look like that only to end up with a rats’ nest instead. Her silver eyes stared deeply into the fire like she was pondering all of her life choices and didn’t know if she should let anyone in because of her dark past.

“New girl, the Witch over there is Adrien, the chick with the wings is our personal Faerie named Azulia, and the dark, broody Vampyre over there is Sundrei,” Remy announced before she plopped down on her own stump.

All three girls looked over at Remy during their introduction and rolled their eyes at her. Kaida could already feel that the girls had spent some time together and had bonded enough to know that the Lycan had a mouth on her and said whatever she wanted but still liked her.

“This is Kaida. We finally have a Storm Being within our midst.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Kaida said to them as she gave a weak wave to them. Kaida knew there was something else she needed to say, but her mind was becoming too fuzzy to be able to form the words.

“Oh Goddess, Remy! Why didn’t you say she was recently rejected? She is barely sitting on her own!” Adrien practically growled as she ran over to Kaida.

A flash of hot pink and the smell of burnt sugar invaded Kaida’s senses. Then she heard a pop from a corked vial and a liquid being poured as her sight became blurred. Kaida felt her body swaying, and lightheadedness took over. Kaida nearly fell off her stump but felt hands holding her body up before she did.

“Drink this, Kaida. It’ll help with some of these symptoms.” Kaida could hear the words, but none of her other senses were assisting her in figuring out what was happening.

Before she knew it, Kaida tasted something bitter hit the back of her throat. She managed to swallow it before she started coughing from the taste. It felt warm as it slid down her throat, and the warmth spread throughout the rest of her body. Her senses slowly came back, and she felt two pairs of hands on her to keep her steady. When her vision cleared up, Kaida saw Adrien and Remy on either side of her.

“What did you give me?”

“A potion I whipped up after I came here. It’s an ancient recipe that my family created. It’s not a cure, per se, but it might as well be. It helps with the rejection symptoms enough so you can at least manage to get past what happened instead of letting the rejection slowly eat at your soul.”

“Well isn’t that a cheery explanation to something that could have been wrapped up to ‘it’s a potion that takes away the rejection symptoms,” Remy verbally poked at Adrien.

“I’m sorry… I was doing it again.”

“Yep, you were.”

Kaida mumbled a thank you before she was given a thick sandwich and a bottle of water. After slowly coming back from feeling like she was slipping into the darkness, Kaida ate her sandwich and watched the girls bicker while she did.

At least I was found by these girls. Otherwise… I may have let the darkness take me.