Page 17 of Dragon Untamed

"Thank you, Kaida, for giving me a chance to fix things."

"You're welcome."

Kaida’s voice came off confused, but Esen ignored it. He turned around and started walking back toward the house. She watched him get smaller and smaller as he ascended up the hill, and the further he got from her, the more Kaida felt a tightening in her chest. She had thoughts of running off after him. Various scenarios of her asking what he meant by this conversation, and even a moment of him showing her exactly what he wanted that he didn't want to say, had Kaida rubbing her legs together from the tingling that started.

I already have a mate. I can barely handle the fact I have him in my life. Let's not add to that and overload my brain.

I wouldn't say it would be overloading your brain...

What?

Well... I'd say it would be overloading another area. Probably wouldn't be that bad, actually.

The dragon had a point. Images of Beckett and Esen pleasuring her at the same time flooded her thoughts. Beckett would use his water magic to cool his lips as he devours her, and Esen could use his air magic to suspend her in the air to give Beckett better access. That was the first one that came to mind. The tingle turned to throbbing as the thought continued with both of them kissing and touching her at the same time. Kaida fanned herself down and leaned onto a tree.

"What has you all hot and bothered?"

Beckett's voice had Kaida's eyes bugging out of her skull. She gulped at his sly smile that told her he could smell her arousal. Her cheeks flushed as she tried to cover her face with her hair.

"Nothing. Just thinking about us from the other night."

She could hear the chuckle inside of his chest as his form was suddenly in front of her. Kaida looked up to find Beckett grinning down at her with his arms cornering her against the tree. The throbbing returned, and Kaida bit her lip. Beckett's chest rumbled with a growl as his eyes found her lips. She couldfeel his own arousal through their bond for her, making Kaida smile.

Feels nice to feel wanted again.

Kaida studied Beckett's face and realized a few thin lines across his face seemed to be healing. Kaida gasped and straightened herself to get a closer look at it. Beckett stood straighter and shot her a questioning look. A lightbulb seemed to go off, and he sighed.

"It's nothing. Blaze lost a bit of his control is all. Everything is fine."

Kaida frowned, "All because of me. Again."

"I wouldn't say ‘again’. He didn't attack us the last time he lost his cool."

"Was that to make me feel better? If so, that didn't work at all."

Beckett chuckled. "I guess that is a bit of a crummy way to make you feel better. Let me say it this way, then. I think he is losing his cool because he thinks he is going to lose me now that I’ve found my mate. We had a buddy growing up who found his mate the day his dragon emerged. That guy is now happily mated and has a couple of kids already. I think he was even invited back to Dragaal due to his welding skills with his magic. Blaze hasn't really recovered from that. They were both Ember dragons and were almost closer than the four of us because they were of the same kind. Left a scar, I guess." Beckett paused for a moment and looked off in the distance. "I think he just needs time to adjust. This all happened fast. He waits for me to walk away but doesn't realize he is pushing me. He also doesn’t realize that I am not budging."

Kaida thought about Beckett's story for a moment. It was nice to hear that Blaze was an ass because of heartache and not because that was who he was as a person. On the other hand, it was still annoying that he seemed to use that as an excuse for his obnoxious behavior.

"Okay. I can understand him being afraid of losing another friend. However, I want to know this. Did he try to get to know that mate? Or was he so jealous that his friend found a mate that he pushed that friend away, too?"

It was Beckett's turn to frown. Kaida knew she had him there. That frown said it all. Blaze didn't try then and lost his friend. Instead of changing his behavior, he repeated it.

"I know what you are thinking. You're wrong. He did try. She didn't. She hated Blaze. As I am sure you can see, it is hard not to want to be around your mate or be on their side. So, our friend chose his mate."

"I get it. He lost a friend. But he hated me before we got together. For a stupid reason, too. It's all because I was born in Dragaal. I don't even know how that is a reason to hate someone! Clearly, the kingdom doesn't care about me since they allow people to drop off their unwanted mates here, even if that unwanted mate was considered royalty. It was going to be something I was going to change when I ascended to the throne."

Beckett grinned at her. "You were actually going to change laws like that?"

"Yes. It was something that crossed my mind when I was thinking about what kind of Queen I wanted to be."

Beckett leaned in again. "What kind of queen did you settle on?"

Kaida looked away for a moment, smiling as Beckett pushed his new arousal through their bond. It was silly to be giddy about Beckett finding her talking about being queen sexy.

"I just wanted to be one that made a difference. It sounded like something we needed in the kingdom–to break the wheel of following tradition and begin a new generation of accepting people. It isn't amazing over there. If you weren't from one of the powerful families, you would be looked at like scum. I watched the other daughters from those families treat a woman who soldchocolate like absolute shit because they were better than her. Meanwhile, they were the best chocolates I’d ever had."

"Sounds like the Great Dragon really does know what they are doing. They wanted to give you the chance to be on the throne so you could make a difference. Too bad your dumbass mate thought the Great Dragon was wrong."

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