Page 39 of Dragon Rejected

“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.

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