Chapter 22

Twenty-Two

Blaze

Blaze couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of Kaida losing consciousness from their training. It was hilarious to him that she couldn’t handle their magic even at low-level attacks. He wondered if she would be able to survive this training at all.

Pathetic excuse of a dragon. She should be able to handle so much more.

It didn’t matter to him that he could feel her power rolling off her. Right now, she was powerless, and he could do what he wanted with her. She wasn’t going to be someone to mess with when her dragon finally emerged; just like him and his brothers. When that happened, Blaze wasn’t sure who would hold the most power. For all he knew, it could be her, but until then, he was happy to do what damage he could.

His chuckles echoed as Arlo and Esen joined in. Blaze shook his head before expanding his wings and taking flight. There was no reason for him to stick around. If anything, the girl would need to heal for a few days before she could do another training session. Without a dragon’s healing capability, it could take up to a week with the injuries she endured.

And she didn’t even get the worst of what we can do.

Arlo and Esen joined him in flight. All three of them headed toward their house to kick back and relax for the rest of the day. There were no pertinent duties they needed to worry about, and it was a good thing to recharge after any usage of magic.

Once their home was in view, Blaze tucked in his wings and coasted down to the ground. Esen made sure to slow them all down with his magic before they hit land. When they walked into the house, they walked to their hangout room and plopped into their normal chairs before they started talking.

“I didn’t expect her to last five seconds. Surprised as hell that she lasted five minutes,” Esen began the conversation.

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe she stood up after Beckett nearly drowned her,” Arlo added.

Blaze scoffed, “I’m surprised he even joined in on the fun with the way he’s been pining after her.”

“Can’t expect him to ignore the call of a mate. Beck is the first one to get a mate in a long time,” Arlo pointed out.

“So? Why the hell should that matter? She is a damn Stormy. There is no way in hell that the prince won’t come back to claim her. We need to unlock her damn dragon before he comes to his senses.”

Blaze noticed that Arlo’s brow was cocked at him before he said his piece. “Like that would stop Beck from claiming her. Wouldn’t be the first time someone had multiple mates.”

“Like the prissy prince would allow for his mate to be shared. That whole kingdom is too damn traditional. They wouldn’t allow Kaida to be claimed by multiple. If Beckett claimed her before the prince did, she wouldn’t be allowed back in Dragaal.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Esen asked.

“What do you mean?”

Esen shook his head, “If she wouldn’t be allowed back and fully rejected by her mate, then that would mean she would stay here. That would only fuel her rage and need for revenge.”

Blaze smiled at him, “Now that is a way to be thinking! Beck claims her, and we have our little mole to get into Dragaal. Win-win situation.”

“Hell yeah!” Arlo and Esen said together.

Blaze pulled out his billiards stick, and Arlo grabbed his. They engaged in some small talk and even discussed some highlights from their session with Kaida. It was good to see that at least Arlo and Esen were in sync with him. Blaze felt annoyed that Beckett was willing to turn away from their friendship for a girl. Mate or not, their friendship was too damn close to a brotherhood to turn away so easily. His blood boiled knowing that he stayed behind to take care of the princess.

She’s a fucking dragon. She should be stronger than this. It’s pitiful how fucking weak she is.

“So… you think this plan is going to actually work, B?” Esen asked him.

Blaze scoffed, “Probably not. If today is any kind of testament to what she is, she isn’t going to be much fucking help. Hell, she might die if she doesn’t get any better.”

“Her dragon hasn’t emerged, remember? Kind of hard to fight magic without any magic or your dragon’s strength to combat it,” Arlo interjected.

“Doesn’t fucking matter. How many of the females around here have been able to keep up with us before their dragons emerged?”

“I thought our job was to help unlock her dragon, so she could help us get into Dragaal? How is nearly killing her going to solve that?” Arlo’s voice raised a bit.

Blaze was taken aback at Arlo getting even slightly angry at him. The guy was always level-headed and rarely got upset at anything. Blaze narrowed his eyes at him for effect. He didn’t care why he was raising his voice. No one talked to him like that.

“Who the fuck do you think you are talking to? Late bloomers tend to get their dragon to emerge when they are in distress. Every dragon is fiercely protective. They’ll do anything to keep us alive. Dormant or not, her dragon will want to bite our heads off if we push her far enough.”

“You better hope your tactics work. If we kill her, we don’t even have a bartering chip with the damn prince if things go wrong.”

Arlo was half right. The three of them planned to use Kaida as a way to ensure Enzo would hand over the throne in exchange for his mate. Arlo raised the point of her being rejected by him, but he hadn’t reached out to them about if she had grown since coming here. What a lot of people didn’t know was when being dropped off here, the mate is supposed to work on the things that got them rejected. Every mate usually sent a message to them to give to a mentor for their mate to make progress. Enzo never sent anything.

Maybe she already knows it is because of her dragon… and that is why she agreed to this. I don’t buy it for a second that she wants revenge. Who the hell passes up the chance to be queen?

Blaze ignored Arlo and leaned down to take his next shot. It was perfectly aligned for him to sink his last ball before the 8. Just as he pushed the stick forward, the front door crashed open, nearly rocking the whole damn house. Blaze straightened himself and turned around just in time for a fist to connect with his jaw. He heard the crack of his bone fracturing but suppressed his groan. He threw his own haymaker as fast as he could toward his target. Blaze didn’t even need to look to know who it was that threw the punch.

Beckett was home and was pissed about how things ended with Kaida on the beach.

His brother swerved out of the way of Blaze’s punch and threw another one of his own to his ribs. When Beckett’s fist connected, Blaze felt the stinging of cold from the ice that formed around his hand. This move was sometimes deadly when Beckett used it due to the ice adding more weight to the throw, so this was a harder punch than average. Blaze was lucky that it only cracked a rib. Blaze answered that move with his own hand turning to lava as it connected to Beckett’s chest. The immediate scent of singed flesh filled his nostrils as Beckett flew back and struck the wall.

It didn’t slow Beckett down a damn bit. He jumped to his feet and started to charge at Blaze again. Blaze noticed that Beck’s skin was already healed over, his dragon pissed off and making sure he was in battle shape every step of the way.

Now that is how a dragon fights.

Blaze took a step toward Beckett to engage in the fight again, only he felt something wrap around his chest and root him into place so he couldn’t. Beckett slammed into an invisible wall at the same time, making their fight come to an end. Blaze should have known that Esen and Arlo would break this up before it got too good. They always did it growing up, too, because Beckett and him always got into arguments and fights as they struggled to be the Alpha of the group. Being influenced by Ember and Tidal elements, they were bound to not get along at times. Fire and Water never mixed, just created steam that eventually dissipated.

Beckett pointed his finger at Blaze, his face pure red with anger, “You nearly killed her, dickhead! What the hell is the matter with you!? I know it was you who told those two not to let up after she left.”

“How else do you think her dragon will emerge? Prayers to the Great Dragon? The only shot we have is to make her dragon want to fight for her, and the only way to do that is to put her into a high-stakes fight.”

“The fuck it is, you deranged lizard! Completing the damn bond is another way.”

Blaze made a face at him, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ve been looking into it. If I complete my bond with her, it may cause her dragon to emerge. The Witch and Faerie looked into it, too. Adrien especially would know about it because Witches study more than just their magic. And thank the Great Dragon she knows how to heal people who are on the brink of death! Otherwise, I would have come in here to put you six feet under.”

“You’re the one who almost drowned her,” Blaze said with a smirk.

“That was not me. I got her under the water. She hit a riptide. Thankfully I recognized it was happening and got her out of there.”

Blaze rolled his eyes, picked up his stick, and finished his move in the game. He was already done with this conversation. Kaida was not the only option to getting into the kingdom. All of their magic and dragons were strong enough to take on the army alone anyway. He was just biding his time. After he sunk the ball, Beckett added his final words.

“Don’t try that shit again. It’s one thing to put her in a stressful fight to make her dragon emerge. It’s a whole other game if you are trying to kill her. I’m sure you will want the other Tidal’s fighting for you when you storm that damn castle.”

“Is that a threat?” Blaze asked coolly.

“No. It’s a damn promise. Put her in that position again, and I will make sure the Tidal’s stay here instead of fighting alongside you to claim the throne.”

On that note, Beckett turned on his heel and walked out of the house again. Blaze assumed it was to return to Kaida. He looked over at the other two, and they shrugged at him.

There wasn’t a chance in hell they would win unless they had all the Elemental Dragons fighting together. Beckett knew it, and that was why his threat would work. Blaze drew in a deep breath and let it out quickly. He knew when his game was at a stalemate. Without Beckett, they wouldn’t win the battle.

“I hate when that asshole is right. Next time we attempt this, don’t try to kill her.”

“You think he is going to seal the bond?” Esen questioned.

“Unfortunately, yeah. Otherwise, he would have stayed here and wouldn’t have tried breaking my jaw and ribs.”

“You know what that means, right?” Arlo queried.

“What?”

“She is going to be around a lot more. I wouldn’t put it past him to not let her out of his sight right now.”

Blaze rolled his eyes again and sunk the 8 ball. Fucking great. That’s the last thing I need.