27. Kadia

Another few days passed, and Kaida spent it inside the house. Her dragon stirred inside her, yearning to be free to roam the island again. As much as it pained Kaida not to do what her dragon wanted, she was terrified of what would happen if she let her loose.

There was no telling how much control she had, and that was something that sat in her mind all day and night. Whenever she thought she could shift into her dragon form and help the island, she was reminded of how naive she still ws regarding her control. The images of the Ember dragon lying underneath her, unable to fight back, as her dragon built up an energy blast that could have killed them, plagued her thoughts. For the first time in her life, Kaida saw how dragons were the monsters of the realm.

Especially when you have zero control of your dragon.

Beckett did his best to boost her mood any time he was home. Kaida tried to put on a brave and happy face, but Beckett could see right through her. Their bond gave him every insight into how she felt, so there was no hiding it from him.

Arlo and Esen tried to lift her spirits by using their magic to do cutesy things, but it did nothing for her other than wanting her bonds with them to open more. The issue was that she was not feeling open toward them, so the bond remained there...but it was not gaining strength.

Blaze was home more now than he had been since she moved in. Kaida hid herself in her room when he was home, so she did not have to deal with him. Some days, it worked. Others, not so much. It was difficult to avoid him when her stomach growled fiercely, and she had to make her way into the kitchen to silence it. Somehow, he was always there when she needed to be.

And I swear he is doing this shit on purpose.

After the fourth day of solitude, Kaida felt stir-crazy. She missed her friends and was tired of her own pity party getting the best of her. When she awoke that day, she thought of her parents. They both would be so disappointed in her for sitting around sulking instead of pulling up her big girl panties and figuring out how to fix the issue at hand. The last thing she wanted was for them to be able to score a chance to visit her from the king and queen and find her sulking about her problems.

Beckett always did his best not to wake her when he left for patrols, or he would start breakfast on his off days. For once, she rolled out of bed shortly after he closed their bedroom door. Once she was dressed in a cute purple sundress and black boots, Kaida made her way down to the kitchen to help out. Her smile grew to her ears for the first time in days when she found Beckett, Arlo, and Esen inside the kitchen together.

"Hello, boys," she called out to them in a sing-song voice.

Beckett was at the stove, frying some eggs and bacon, giving her a smile as he turned to greet her. Arlo was stuffing the toaster, pulling out a deliciously browned piece of bread before putting another slice in and turning toward her. Esen was pouring glasses of juice and looked slightly terrified as her words caught him off guard, and he almost spilled some onto the counter. He gave her a smile and a finger wave before returning to pouring.

"Hey, Kaida. How are you feeling today?" Esen asked her before handing her a glass of Concord grape juice.

Kaida took a sip of the sweet but tart juice and allowed it to breathe life into her. Kaida loved this juice more than the others. The tartness was her favorite thing about it. She didn’t remember telling any of them that this was her favorite, so she was happy to see that they liked it, too.

"I’m better than I was. I’m glad you three are here. There is something I want to talk to you about." Her mouth ran dry as her heart raced. Something about telling them how much she was struggling made her want to curl into a ball again. This was admitting that she was weak, but if she didn’t gain control over her dragon, she would be a danger to everyone on the island. In Dragon Laws, that meant they would need to kill her to protect everyone else, but they were her mates and could never harm her.

This means that would be left to Blaze...or worse...The King.

Esen pulled out her chair for her and refilled her glass after she chugged the contents. Having the sweet and tart grape juice take over her taste buds instead of the bitterness of bile wanting to climb up her throat made Kaida relax just a tad. Arlo put a plate of a few pieces of toast with a small amount of butter on them as Beckett slid a plate of eggs and bacon over her way. Kaida’s stomach growled, and she wasted no time feeding it before it grew louder than it already was. The saltiness of the bacon hit her tongue first, making it salivate more as she filled her mouth with some egg. Beckett knew how to salt and pepper an egg so perfectly that she danced in her seat. The three guys laughed as they ate their own breakfast, waiting for her to talk to them about what was on her mind.

"I know control comes with time, but I don’t think I have much time left. I could have killed that Ember dragon the other day. That scares the shit out of me. We need to do something, anything, to get my control where it needs to be. I don’t want to be the danger on this island. I want to be like you—someone that people look up to and want to confide in. I can’t have people afraid of me. It’s killing me that people are afraid of me!"

Tears welled in her eyes, and her throat went dry again. Kaida took a deep breath before she continued, hoping that her voice wouldn’t shake as she told them how she felt.

"The girls were trying to help me by having some training sessions, and it felt like it was helping. I had control the other day until that dragon charged at us. I shifted, but right after that, the dragon had control. I don’t know what would have happened if you guys weren’t there. That scares me. I don’t want to live in fear of my dragon hurting someone. That is no way to live, period. If anyone from the mainland finds out that I don’t have control, they will certainly come here to end me before I end someone else."

"Woah, woah, woah. What are you talking about, Kaida? I think you are getting ahead of yourself," Beckett said as he walked over from the other side of the table and wrapped her up in a hug. His scent of ocean encased her like his arms, bringing her anxiety levels down a notch.

"What do you mean what I am talking about? You know what happened the other day. I could have killed that Ember dragon if Arlo, Esen, and Azulia didn’t get my attention. That is something to be concerned about."

Arlo made a face before setting his fork down. "Kaida, I don’t think we told you. I know we mentioned that people were losing control of themselves because of the Dark Dimension. That was a given since we all know it hit the island hard. However, did we mention that we could find some remnants of it after we did a sweep?"

Kaida felt her face grow hot. "What? What do you mean? I breathed in more of the Dark Dimension or something?"

Beckett tightened his grasp on her, "I think just being in the presence of another who the Dark Dimension is influencing brings it out since you took so much of it in the first time you came into contact with it."

Kaida pushed him away and growled. "No one thought to tell me this?"

"I think we only found out about it ourselves last night. Adrien cooked up a spell that works like a detector for us. We asked her to set off the spell in that area, and it set off all sorts of whistles. It was definitely there the other day, but only where the Ember dragon stood. It was like it held the dimension inside of it, and where it was, the dimension could influence."

Arlo’s explanation did nothing to calm Kaida. This could mean that any time she was even in the presence of someone who had encountered the dark dimension, it could set her off.

"What does that mean for my control? I need to get control of my dragon, or situations like the other day will go much worse than they did."

All three of them shrugged their shoulders. None of them had the answer. Kaida slouched in her chair and put her head on the counter. The coldness from the marbled stone felt incredible as her head began to pound. There had to be answers somewhere about this. They just needed to find them.

Kaida could feel the fiery presence that followed Blaze wherever he went before she heard him. The groan that escaped her lips could have been from the news the boys told her. However, they would know that wasn’t the case if they paid attention enough.

"Oh look, it’s the problem child of the island. Tell me, Cupcake, have you tried killing anyone else today? Or am I early?"

Kaida moved so fast that it impressed even her. She was on her feet and crossed the kitchen to punch Blaze in the face before anyone even blinked. Pain exploded in her hand as she connected with bone, but that did not beat the look on Blaze’s face after he processed what had happened. The sickening crunch of his nose breaking under her fist on the second punch gave Kaida the moment of satisfaction she needed. Blaze pushed her back before covering his nose. The room filled with the scent of blood and fury, Blaze using every curse word in the book as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"What the fuck?! You bitch! Why would you do that?!"

Beckett pulled her back and put his arm around her shoulders to keep her in place. He sent a wave of calm through their bond to keep Kaida from lunging at Blaze again. After a few seconds of feeling his presence, Kaida relaxed into his side.

"Maybe she got tired of you constantly trying to provoke her into feeling like she’s less than she is," Beckett snapped as he pulled her tighter against him.

"Because she doesn’t fucking deserve to have the three best guys I know pining after her! I don’t understand. Is her pussy that damn good for you three to be all on her all the fucking time?"

Beckett cocked his head as the other two growled. "The only one who even touches her all the time is me. I am the only one she is even bonded to, you dumbass."

"But those two are constantly up her fucking ass, too!"

"Because they are my mates, you dickhead! They are always around me because that is what a mate bond does! You would know that if you got your head out of your ass and remembered anything you’d been taught!"

Kaida was overhearing his voice. She needed to be as far away from him as she possibly could because, the longer she was around him, the hotter her skin grew being in his presence, and it wasn’t the kind of hot and bothered she wanted to be. On the contrary, she wanted to do more than just break his nose, but Kaida did not have to tolerate him.

And I am not going to right now. I don’t need this shit.

Kaida pushed Blaze aside and marched out the door. She felt Blaze’s presence follow her, and she turned just in time to avoid a blast of his magic heading straight toward her.

"What the fuck, Blaze? Will you stop being a dick for ten seconds?"

Blaze continued to throw his magic at her, fiery streams of magic that she had to jump out of the way to avoid so she wouldn’t catch fire. Kaida managed to put a shield up just in time to block as Blaze pulled his hands together to increase the intensity of his magic. The thick stream of fire blew all around the shield, and Kaida felt her knees buckling as she pushed her energy into keeping the shield up.

A roar from above broke the fight up, and a rush of power knocked both of them off their feet.

Only Kaida’s balance was thrown off because she knew that roar. She’d heard that roar before. As her heart raced, she knew his presence on this island meant one thing, and one thing only; Kaida slowly looked up into the sky to confirm what she felt in her soul.

Enzo had returned for her.