Page 8 of Kidnapped Plus-Size Mate

Kairo mutters something unintelligible under her breath, prompting me to frown as I lift my head again.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing,” she relents, a smile instead growing on her face. “How did you know?”

I sigh heavily before going on to explain that the Cube of Knowledge needed to be transported from Aurora Island to the Blaze Legion clan after their leader died on Aurora Island. The dragon clan needed to consult the Cube before inaugurating their new Alpha.

My friend Landon and I were tasked with the Cube’s transportation. Curiosity got the best of me, and I tapped into the advanced powers of the Cube. That’s when my mate was revealed to me, long before I was meant to know who she was.

“Is that it?” Kairo asks nonchalantly.

“No…” I admit, tentatively. “I’ve been visiting the mortal world ever since, just to see her.”

“And…?”

“She’s… Different,” I lament. “But I think it’s turned into an obsession.”

Kairo glances over her shoulder and hums. “They’ve all been through that phase,” she says, gesturing to our brothers on the dancefloor with their mates.

“Yeah,” I relent. “The only problem is that I’ve been away for three months.”

“Hm…” she hums, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Sounds like you’re going through withdrawals…”

“Kai!” I grouch, but my sister pushes the glass of whiskey away and grabs my arm. “What you need is a distraction,” she muses as she pulls me off the barstool.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re gonna do something to distract you,” she says as she pulls me toward the dancefloor. As if on cue, the music changes to something more upbeat. She turns to me with a grin that reaches her ears. “We’re gonna dance the jitters away!”

“No, Kai,” I refuse with a firm nod of my head. In hindsight, my sister is right. I’m suffering the withdrawals of not being near the human who’s been ordained to me by the gods themselves. The Cube has never been wrong—we’ve seen it play out four times in our family already.

That’s all this is—it’s a pathetic case of withdrawals that will soon be put to rest the second I can step foot in the mortal world again.

In that museum in Fresno, to be exact.

“Why not?” she asks with a fleeting frown.

A shiver passes through my spine, and I shrug. “Everyone’s dancing with their mates…” I sulk.

My sister slaps my arm before grabbing my hand and flinging it onto her shoulder as she takes the position to dance. “We’re both here alone, remember?” she grins.

The reminder strums a chord in my heart, tugging on my empathy. I’d been so busy wallowing in the symptoms of my withdrawals, that I’d even forgotten that Kairo hasn’t been offered a turn in the new mating process adopted by the Dragon Council.

The human mating process has been reserved only for the males in the dragon clans. It’s our seed that needs to be planted for dragonspirit to be born.

Kairo doesn’t need a human for that.

But what she does need is companionship. I’ve only recently experienced the sorrows of loneliness ever since Stryder gravitated toward his duties as a family man. But Kairo has always been a lone she-dragon.

Pulling myself together, I pick up her hand and nod gently with a smile. “Fine. Let’s dance, Sister.”

Kairo curtly bows before we take a turn around the dancefloor.

A few rounds later are enough to get my mind off Camilla long enough to enjoy myself. Kairo is a good sport, and the genuine smile on her face tugs my heartstrings with all the right beats.

She’s always been the resident therapist and mediator to make things right and lift her brothers’ spirits. She’s so much like Mother, even if she despises being told that.

“What about you, Kai?” I ask as the song changes to something slower, and she rests her hand on my shoulder.

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