28. Kadia

The bellowing roar triggered Blaze to shift into his dragon form. Kaida tried to gain their attention by throwing a blast of her magic, but Blaze ignored her and leaped into the air. Enzo’s brilliant blue and gold dragon towered over Blaze’s dragon from the looks of it. That did not bode well for Blaze if Enzo found him to be a threat.

Arlo, Esen, and Beckett were at her side when Blaze was as high in the air as Enzo. Kaida felt the shift in the air of Enzo gathering his magic and calling upon the storms in the clouds. The sky quickly grew gray, and the winds picked up speed. The moisture in the air brought a welcoming scent, but the storm did not fool Kaida. It was not Enzo’s scent that she had once been in love with. It was him gathering all the power he could muster to strike Blaze out of the sky.

No... I can’t let that happen.

Kaida called on her dragon and shifted into her form in the blink of an eye. She heard the three men try to keep her on the ground, but she ignored their pleas. With a few flaps, she was just underneath the two of them, but she was already too late. Blaze was spewing flames as hot as the sun. The tips of the flames were white with red and orange following, causing the dragons to be shrouded in steam from the moisture of the storm. Kaida let out a roar, but her presence still went unnoticed between the two dominant males.

This was Blaze’s territory, along with the three other princes. If anything, Blaze was unhappy that Enzo came to his territory uninvited and uninformed that he planned to come here. Kaida remembered that there was a process that the Rejecters had to go through before coming to the island to reclaim their mate. If Enzo didn’t follow the protocol and just showed up, it would trigger Blaze’s need to defend the island from an intruder. Did it matter that Enzo was the Prince of Dragaal? Not in the least. Not to a dominant male like Blaze.

Kaida watched as Enzo called the storm down from the skies with a song with his roar. Lightning webbed across the clouds before a few arcs rained down toward Blaze. Kaida pushed energy into her wings and flew past the two dragons, producing a shield to block the arcs from hitting Blaze. As the arcs of lightning cracked against her shield, Kaida cried out as the power radiated into her body and left behind a scorching pain. Her wings faltered, and she lost altitude before recovering from the strike.

But her efforts still went unnoticed.

Blaze and Enzo were shooting beams of their magic at one another as they circled each other in the sky. They charged at each other a few times to knock into their bodies and knock the other off their flight pattern. She tried to throw her own magic between them to stop the attacks, but it was useless. They wanted this battle between them to result in the other backing down. Both of them were dominant and stubborn enough not to allow the other to win.

Only one thing I can do.

Kaida allowed for the shift to take over once again, purposely leaving her wings out so she could remain airborne. Once she was human, Kaida dropped in altitude to put herself between the two dragons. As she did, Kaida realized that this was one of the dumbest things she could have done, as both of the dragons could not care that she did this and attacked anyway. Her human form was not equipped to survive that kind of attack. However, if both of the bonds that she knew she had with the two of them registered in their dragons, she would be safe. The dragons would never harm their mate. The downside was the bond with Blaze was still closed, and it could be easily ignored. That was how the two of them could still fight with their fists and magic against each other.

But the dragon is harder to convince. They are more inclined to listen than the man.

Sure enough, Kaida managed to fly between them during one of the moments they tried to charge at each other. Both dragons recognized Kaida and halted in their tracks. They both flapped their wings to keep them in the air, but both of their eyes were on her.

"Both of you need to knock your shit off! The last thing you need is to attack the damn Prince of Dragaal, Blaze. The entire Dragaal army would come here to put you in your place." Kaida looked over at Enzo. "And you! What the fuck are you even doing here?"

Enzo’s body shimmered, and his dragon form faded away. Seeing his brown hair fall in front of his storm-gray eyes pulled on the broken bond between them. Kaida yearned to fly closer to him...to feel his arms around her once again. His being right in front of her had Kaida fighting her instincts to the extreme.

Go to him. Mark him. Make him ours before he changes his mind again. Her dragon panted and paced inside her mind.

No. He left us, remember?

And now he is back.

"Kaida? That purple dragon was you?" Kaida nodded, and Enzo took a moment to process that information. "And what do you mean why am I here? I came here for you, but when I found you, you were in a screaming match with that asshole over there," Enzo said, pointing at Blaze, who had also changed back to human form, "and I thought he was attacking you."

Kaida narrowed her eyes at him. "I can handle myself, thanks. But that doesn’t explain why you are here. Why did you come back?"

"To knock you out and drag you back to Dragaal. Why else?" Blaze retorted.

Kaida’s head snapped in his direction and growled. "You shut it. You’re lucky I didn’t just let Enzo blast you out of existence."

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Like he could do that."

"I would have if she hadn’t stepped in the way. Why did you do that, anyway?"

If it weren’t for her enhanced hearing being a shifter, Kaida wouldn’t be able to make out what they were saying in the air. Kaida looked down and noticed the others were still on the ground. She knew it would be better for everyone to hear this conversation instead of just the three of them. Kaida was unsure if that was a good idea, but it was what needed to happen.

It would be four against one of the boys who decided they didn’t want to hear what he said.

I’d risk it.

There wasn’t much of a reason to tell Enzo and Blaze what she was doing. She knew they would follow if she just flew down to the ground. Sure enough, that’s exactly what they did as soon as she swooped down and began her descent. She felt their energy right on her heels and gave herself a mental pat on her back for being right.

Once on the ground, Beckett walked over to her and gave her a look over to search for any marks. Kaida waved him off and told him that she was fine. Beckett used that as an invitation to pull her into a hug. Enzo’s growl had Kaida pulling herself out of the hug and pointing at him to shut him up.

"Enough. You lost the privilege to be pissed when anyone touched me the moment you rejected me."

Enzo’s pouty lips formed into a tight line, and he sighed heavily. His gray eyes darkened as he stared at Beckett’s arms still around her as Kaida leaned back into his chest. She didn’t care that this bothered Enzo. However, she wanted to slap her heart into feeling the same way her mind did. Seeing Enzo made her heart ache for him, but Kaida wanted that feeling to banish itself to the depths of her soul and lock it in a cage.

"You didn’t answer my question," Enzo stated, his voice sounding deep and dangerous as he fought his dragon.

Beckett pulled her tighter against him. Kaida’s chest rumbled at the gesture, and Enzo’s eyes were purely his dragons as he let out a territorial growl. Kaida growled back and threw a wave of magic at him. Enzo stumbled on his feet, then looked at her in shock.

"Don’t do that shit again. Understood?"

Kaida could see it. Enzo’s eyes were flickering between his and his dragon’s. She could see him fighting off his dragon to do whatever it took to have Kaida acting the same way to Enzo right now as she was to Beckett. Kaida smirked at seeing him struggling so hard.

Serves you right.

"Because you were attacking him for no damn reason. I don’t belong to you, Enzo. Not anymore. Blaze saw someone he didn’t know on his territory. It’s his job to defend it. So, you’re the stupid one in this situation."

"You dove in front of a powerful blast of magic that could have killed you to save him! Why the hell would you do that?"

Kaida struggled with either telling him the truth or wanting just to piss him off. She didn’t know how Enzo would take to find out she was a Plasma Dragon and could have multiple mates. Would he leave after finding that out? Or would he pursue the bond that was still between them?

Does he even know I am a Plasma? Yeah, he saw I was a purple dragon, but did he know what that meant? Was that something the boys had to report to the mainland? Why did I not ask these questions before?

Tell him. Show him what a prize we are and how he was stupid for letting us go.

Kaida agreed with her dragon. That seemed like great revenge. It would show him that he made a mistake when rejecting her, but she wasn’t sure if that would do anything other than make him want to claim her once again because he would profit from her being a Plasma. He would be mated with a powerful dragon. He was a prince and soon-to-be king. That would boost his ranking and secure his spot on the throne. That’s why his parents didn’t want them together in the first place. Her being dragonless would have brought him down.

"Because he is one of my mates, Enzo. All four of them are my mates. And I will do anything to protect them, regardless of whether or not they want me to."

Enzo’s face fell, and his shoulders sagged. His mouth was agape, and his eyes were wide. Kaida smirked at him, being speechless with the news. Kaida could feel a sliver of regret and guilt from her rejected mate through their broken bond.

"I’m also a Plasma Dragon, the last of my kind."

"I know," Enzo whispered. "That’s why I came back."

What?