Page 50 of Dragon Untamed

Kaida woke to a flower blooming above her head. It had layered vibrant purple petals that reminded her of her dragon's scales. Its fragrance was bright but not overwhelming. She looked around to find herself in the bed alone, and no one was standing in the doorway.

Arlo is certainly showing off now that we’ve had our first date.

Two days had gone by since Arlo had taken her to the restaurant. He hadn't been home much since then due to having to scope out the island for potential leaks of the Dark Dimension. Beckett informed him of what Kaida discussed with him, and since then, all four of the princes had been ensuring that the opening had been indeed closed by her dragon. According to Beckett, there had been no more signs of the opening or the mist that spilled on the island.

That hasn't stopped the sky from slowly growing darker.

Kaida groaned as she rolled out of the bed but was careful not to move in a way that could potentially hurt the plant. While looking at the vine it grew off of, Kaida noticed it came from thedoorway. Arlo managed to get the vine from his room to venture its way down the hall and into hers. The room was mostly blue from Beckett's taste, so purple stood out against the wall. Kaida smirked as she put on a pair of pants.

I wonder how much Beckett will like purple flowers growing all over the wall.

For all she knew, Arlo cleared it with Beckett. Until she talked to him, though, she would assume that Arlo went out of his way to make her smile.

Smells of bacon and sausage filled her nose and lured her down to the kitchen. When she turned the corner, she was shocked to find the black hair on the back of Arlo's head in the kitchen. Considering that she hadn't seen him and didn't know the patrol schedule that the guys worked out, she still expected it to be Beckett in the house with her.

You know, because they can't leave me alone in the house in case the asshole from hell decided to stick around the house all day.

"Hey, Stranger," Kaida called out to Arlo.

Arlo turned around, wearing a bright smile, "Hey, sweetheart. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I cooked up both."

The smells of the bacon, sausage, maple syrup, and pancake batter had her mouth-watering. Kaida's stomach growled fiercely like it did the night of their date. Arlo chuckled and turned back toward the stove. There were mounds of food across the kitchen island and one plate that wasn't dirty. Kaida assumed that the clean plate was hers, picked it up, and began to scoop up the available food onto her plate.

"Everyone else scoping the island?"

Arlo nodded. "Even though we don't see much of the Dark Dimension, as in the black mist, we see cases of the townspeople going berserk. Thankfully, because of our patrols, we have intervened before they get too bad."

Kaida took a bit of the bacon and nearly drooled onto the table. It was perfectly crisp, the saltiness was just right, and the taste was delectable. Kaida nearly moaned at the taste but was able to contain herself. She was so immersed in the taste of the bacon that she almost missed Arlo still talking to her.

"Esen and I had to shift into our dragons and drag two people away from each other just to get to the point that it won't be tolerated."

Kaida looked up from the bacon in between her fingers and stared at Arlo's back as he was still cooking.

"Did you say that you had to pull two people apart?"

"Yeah, it's getting ridiculous out there. I don't even know what’s gotten into these people. There are no indicators that the mist touched these people. Adrien has been running some kind of spell to detect it, but it's showing up nothing. I don't get it."

Kaida took another bite of the bacon but managed to keep her focus on Arlo, "People are just at each other's throats?"

"Pretty much," Kaida saw a pancake fly into the air in front of Arlo and then back down onto the pan.

"No one has done anything more than that?"

"So far, no. Just a lot of shouting and accusations of being more trouble than they are. It's mostly stupid shit from what I can see."

Arlo turned around and put a stack of pancakes onto her plate. Kaida didn't notice that there were no more bacon pieces until he put the pancakes down on the spot where she had placed it all.

"Stupid shit?"

Arlo poured maple syrup onto her pancakes and kept his eyes on hers. His piercing blue eyes were captivating, and Kaida found it hard to look away. It wasn't until she smelled only maple syrup that she looked down and noticed that she had more than enough on her pancakes.

"I think I'm good, Arlo."

"Shit," he pulled the container of syrup back so it would stop dripping out its contents, "Sorry. I thought I said to tell me when."

"Nope. Back to the stupid shit that people are getting mad over?"

"Oh. Things like getting too close to them on the street or looking at them the wrong way. It's things that most people can let go of, yet no one seems to be able to let anything slide. I breathed in someone's direction, and they tried to take a swing at me. Luckily, I knew what was going on, and I didn't lose it on him."

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