Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

Esen

It was mesmerizing to Esen watching Kaida fight only two days after their last session. Before they flew down to the island, Blaze stated that there was no way in hell that the dragonless girl would survive another round. Esen wasn’t sure why it seemed to be a goal for Blaze to make this girl give up hope on unlocking her dragon. It sparked a fire that Esen hadn’t seen in his friend in a long time. The more he tried to dissect why, the more confused Esen became, so he stopped trying to figure it out.

But watching Kaida standing on the other side of them, closing her eyes, and allowing her dragon to take over was like nothing he’d ever seen before. Instinctually, the dragon broke through the walls that contained her and let loose the most powerful magic Esen had ever witnessed. When the stream of magic blew past them, the heat coming off it felt hotter than Blaze going nuclear. Then the magic forming a force field on top of that? Esen had no idea what dragon Kaida possessed, but he couldn’t wait to actually see it.

Esen thought creating a vortex with his control over air would be interesting to watch Kaida fight. When Blaze added his own magic, Esen had to fight his own magic to keep in control of it. Blaze’s fire caused the vortex to grow in power to where neither of them had any control. Luckily, Beckett came in and doused it all from above. When Beckett dashed across the sand to Kaida, Esen took a step to check on her. Blaze held out his arm to make him stop in his tracks. Esen growled at him, but Blaze kept his arm still. That’s when the wall of ice formed around where Beckett and Kaida were, and Esen knew his magic wouldn’t be able to tear it down.

“Well, that wasn’t at all what we were expecting,” Arlo deadpanned.

“No shit. I thought for sure we were going to put her on the fucking edge again. Anyone feel the power rolling off her before the fight?” Blaze looked at both of them as he waited for their reply.

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it was the same girl. I wonder if the last time caused her dragon to break down a wall or two.”

Esen nodded at Arlo’s statement as he agreed Kaida was like a whole new person today. The four girls she hung out with weren’t his favorite people to be around, but they must have added to the new sense of confidence that Kaida exhibited. She spent two days with them, somehow healed entirely, and even had her dragon’s magic to use. All four of them annoyed him, the Lycan especially with her mouth, but they certainly knew what they were doing to spark fierceness inside of Kaida.

“The last session was to make her fall in line and understand that we are the shit around here. If she is able to nearly thwart us with a single blast from her magic, no one is going to want us on the damn throne. Have you two been paying attention to our careful planning, or did you have your head buried in the sand,” Blaze said as he pointed at Arlo, “and your head in the clouds,” Blaze pointed at Esen.

Arlo shook his head, “I think you are worried about someone so minuscule that it’s driving you crazy, Blaze. Kaida is Beckett’s mate. If anything, they are going to cheer us on because she will be one of us.”

“No, dumbass. They are going to want her on the throne. Not us. We can’t build a damn army to rally behind us if they want her to sit on the throne!”

“The army would rally behind her because she can put an end to the Storm Dragon reign.”

Esen stared down Blaze as he spoke. His dragon practically roared to the surface to add power behind his words. It was honestly on Esen’s last nerve at how Blaze talked about Kaida, and now his dragon agreed.

At first, Esen joined the others in thinking that Kaida was the enemy since she was from Dragaal. Most of the people who stepped onto their territory from there always thought they were better than everyone here because they were Storm Dragons. The four of them had only met a few of the people since no dragon would want to reject their mate when they found it. It was something to treasure, and a dragon had a nasty habit of being a bit overprotective of the things they treasure.

However, Kaida wasn’t like that at all.  If anything, the rejection broke her entitlement, if any was there, before she got here. Something told Esen that Kaida wasn’t that kind of person regardless of her upbringing. Kaida may have had everything handed to her as she grew up, but that did not create the idea that she was warranted anything her heart desired. Even her dragon, which most feel warranted to immediately come into their dragon, was not something she seemed to think she should have automatically. Beckett mentioned to them that the thoughts Kaida had were more of how to be worthy for her dragon to emerge instead of “my dragon should be here by now.”

Fire flared inside of Blaze’s eyes after Esen’s comment. Esen continued to stare at his friend, not wavering for a second.

“Now you are defending her, too?”

“Just drop it. We made a deal with her. We unlock her dragon; she helps us get the throne. Seeing as her magic has unlocked, I am going to assume we don’t have much longer to wait. We are on the right track. So just shut up, and be glad that we made some progress.”

Blaze growled fiercely as he stepped toward Esen, clenching his fist as he did. Beckett’s voice caught their attention and crushed the tension that built up between them.

“I think we can call it a day, don’t you think?”

“You good, Kaida?” Esen asked her.

A flash of confusion played across her face at first, but then the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “Yeah, I’m good.”

The soft smile at first made his heart thump inside of his chest, but hearing her sweet voice answer his question made it beat a little harder. Beckett put his arm around her and tucked her closer to his chest. His dragon inside of him rumbled, not liking how close Beckett was able to be next to her without him.

Esen felt a light pull toward Kaida the moment he saw her on that beach. Her black and purple hair, her amber-colored eyes glistening in the moonlight, and the soft curves that her clothing gently hugged made his dragon wake up and want to claim her right then and there. The only thing that stopped him was knowing she was from Dragaal. That there was a chance that her lavish lifestyle would make her think she was better than him. Everything he ever knew about Dragaalians told him they were not worth his time or energy to get to know. The few that came through here were examples enough to know that.

“I’m taking her home. We will have another session tomorrow. If we unlock her magic, then we are on the right track.”

Esen nodded in agreement but wasn’t sure what to say. He watched Kaida look up at Beckett, and he felt a jab of pain in his chest at the sight of it. He would give anything for Kaida to look like that at him.

She won’t if you keep letting Beckett have all the time with her.

She is his mate. Kind of expected for them to spend a lot of time together.

She is ours, too. If we don’t fight for her, Beckett will be the only one who claims her.

I don’t think she likes us very much.

His dragon didn’t say another word. Instead, he snarled and curled into a ball while blowing smoke out of his nose before shutting down their link.

Esen knew the dragon was right. Kaida was their mate, too. He needed to start fighting for her, but he had no idea how. He was used to the females around here falling at his feet if he talked to them. Kaida hadn’t done that once… and he liked that about her.

Beckett’s wings popped out from his back and immediately took flight. Esen watched them glide across the sky toward Kaida’s home. The pull inside of his chest returned, tugging him to go after her. Esen wondered if Kaida would spend time with him if he asked her. To go on a date with him, like she did with Beckett.

But what if she only sees me as the asshole who added to the attack that almost killed her?

That was the question Esen wished he didn’t ask himself. The idea of Kaida hating him brought a sense of dread that he did not need right now.

Why was I such an asshole? Why did I add to the attack? I could have just done what Beckett did and not gone as hard on her. I could have just tried to get to know her like Beckett did.

Esen stared in the direction where Beckett had disappeared with his mate wrapped around his shoulder. I need to make this right. I need to convince my mate that I am not the asshole she thinks I am. I just don’t have a clue about where to start.