Page 7 of Starting Over (D.O.A. DRAGO #1)

Wyatt watched the cabin while Ryan did a perimeter sweep and the others slept at their makeshift campsite.

It hadn’t taken them long to find Rain once they’d hit Harricana Road, and Asod had taken to his dragon form and flown over the forest area.

He’d quickly found Jude’s vehicle and they had made their way to the opposite side of the river in order to continue watching, knowing that soon enough Danny would be showing up, because if they could find Rain, Danny most assuredly would as well.

Wyatt figured Rain must not have known a lot about Danny since he stayed in the area.

River had discovered that along this body of water, about ten houses down, Danny had family that used to live right there. Granted, they’d sold it not too long ago, but if Danny had family here once, that meant he had friends as well… friends that might still be in contact with Danny.

Granted Rain never was seen outside the cabin, not even when Jude would go shopping, but somehow Wyatt knew Jude wasn’t leaving Rain alone, which meant he was going with Jude, but in shifted form.

Damn, he must be a small as fuck shifter, because neither his team mates nor himself had ever seen Rain leaving the cabin.

“What the fuck are you?” Wyatt whispered to himself.

Wyatt’s dragon came on high alert which had Wyatt giving the cabin a closer look, and was surprised to see Rain sneaking out of the cabin and quietly making his way to the river and begin walking.

“Where the fuck are you going?” Wyatt murmured softly, before following the young shifter.

This was not good. Was Rain leaving the safety of the cabin walls? Why? Did Jude kick him out?

From what he and his team had learned about Jude, it wasn’t likely, but then why was River rushing as if he was trying to get away without alerting his new friend and savior?

Wyatt rushed to catch up with Rain, making sure to make little to no sound.

Rain slipped and slid to the side, splashing in the water, scaring the shit out of both Wyatt and his dragon.

“Has he lost his fucking mind? Where the hell is he going?” Wyatt muttered to himself.

Wyatt was shocked when Rain looked across the river, and damn it, Wyatt knew what the man was going to try. It was stupid. Yes, people swam here, but never this time of year when the water temperature was so damn low. “Don’t fucking do it, Rain.”

However, Rain wasn’t hearing him and started to make his way further into the river, trying to cross the damn thing on foot.

“You fool, there’s a drop damn it! You’re going to fucking drown,” Wyatt hissed, and just as those words left his mouth, Rain went under. “Fuck!”

Rain popped back to the surface flailing his arms, and Wyatt immediately realized the idiot didn’t know how to swim.

Without even thinking about it, Wyatt shifted and flew as fast as he could, and just before making it to the guy, Rain went under the surface once more.

His dragon wasn’t going to be deterred. He had a mission to complete, and that mission was to save Rain. He would not fail.

Wyatt’s dragon was about to dive down when Rain popped back to the surface. Changing direction, his dragon used his talons and scooped Rain out of the water and lifted to the sky.

“Holy shit!” Rain screamed.

Wyatt ignored the screaming man. Right now, he and his dragon were pissed that Rain would risk his life for any reason.

He’d been in a safe location that was warm, dry, had food and even someone else to help if problems arose, and yet, he’d snuck away like a thief in the night. What the actual fuck?

It didn’t matter if he had a good reason or not, it was irresponsible as well as stupid, and Rain would be lucky if Wyatt didn’t shift and put the shit over his knee and spank the shit out of him… and not in the sexy way.

“Rain! Rain! What the hell? Where are you?” Jude shouted, as if he was scared to death something had happened, and he’d been whisked away… well, he had, but not in the way Jude thought.

Rain continued his futile struggles but there was no way Wyatt was letting him go. First of all, they were at least twenty feet in the air, and a fall like that would kill him, even if he did hit the water. Second, he wasn’t in a safe location to let him down just yet.

Rain’s continuous screams had Jude looking up, shouting, “Rain! What the fuck? Put him down! I swear by all that’s holy in this world if you don’t put him down, I will have my maharishi hunt you down and fry your ass! Put him down!”

Wyatt lowered until Rain was less than a foot from the ground, and gently placed him on the ground, landed and shifted.

Jude was already to Rain when Wyatt got there, snapping, “What the fuck were you thinking? Who the hell crosses a river when they don’t know how to fucking swim?”

“What the hell?” Jude gasped, checking Rain over for injuries, “Why would you leave the cabin? Why the hell would you try and cross the river? Rain, what the fuck is going on?”

Rain’s teeth were chattering, not allowing him to speak. Jude stood him up, saying, “Let’s get you in the house, clean, dry and warmed up.” He then turned to Wyatt, “I’m guessing you’re one of the Thunder Bounty Hunter Plus guys?”

Wyatt gave a sharp nod, not surprised that Jude would know of them. “I am.”

“Come in, then. We need to get Rain dried and warm. There’s firewood next to the fireplace. Can you make a fire while I take care of him?” Jude asked.

“I can,” Wyatt said, following Jude and Rain to the cabin, all of them turning and looking up when they heard a loud rumble. “It’s my men.”

Three large dragons landed and shifted, Ryan calling out, “What the hell’s going on? I saw you shift and then you had Rain in the air and… oh hey,” Ryan said as he got closer, “I’m Ryan one of Wyatt’s Thunder members. This is Asod and Tandris.”

Jude started moving Rain back into the cabin, calling back, “I’m Jude, but I suspect you already know that. Everyone get inside. I don’t have neighbors here, but I also don’t want to take any chances. Rain’s screams could have alerted people to our location as it is.”

“S… S… Sorry,” Rain said, with chattering teeth.

“We’ll talk about this after we get you dried and warm. Wyatt, get the fire going. Ryan, you or one of your friends can make Rain some hot tea.”

“Damn, that man is used to giving orders,” Ryan muttered.

“And I’m even more used to them being followed,” Jude snapped back. “Come on, Rain, we need to get you out of those wet clothes and into a warm shower.”

“I… I…”

Jude pushed the bathroom door open and shoved Rain inside, “If you’re going to say anything other then yes sir, I suggest you shut up and do as I say.

We need to do what we can to keep hypothermia from setting in.

That river is cold in the summer and we’re in the fall that means those temperatures are most likely below zero.

Now get undressed and don’t worry about your bits and pieces.

If they are even visible right now, I’ve already seen my fair share of dick and balls. I’m a fucking doctor.”

Wyatt heard the water turn on and watched as Jude stepped out of the bathroom, making his way to a room across from it. When he saw Wyatt standing there, he snapped, “Is that fire started yet?”

Something in the man’s tone had Wyatt moving before he even thought about it.

“That man can’t be human. He’s fucking scaring my dragon,” Tandris muttered as he helped toss paper and small kindling into the fireplace.

Snorting, Wyatt replied, “Mine too.”

“What the fuck even happened? Ryan showed up at camp screaming that you shifted and had Rain dangling in the air? Did Danny do something? Did you see him?” Tandris asked.

Shaking his head, Wyatt explained all that had gone on. When he finished, Tandris let out a low whistle, murmuring, “That was a really stupid thing to do.”

“Tell me about it. I thought my dragon was going to lose his minds. Hell, I didn’t even have to think about it and I was shifted and in the air. Honestly, I think he would have dove face first into the water had Rain not popped back up to the surface,” Wyatt said, with a shake of his head.

“Huh, that is interesting,” Tandris said as he added wood to the top of the kindling.

“Is he your mate?” Asod asked, in the way he always did, without warning.

Wyatt turned to the man, “What?”

“You said your dragon has taken an interest in Rain since the picture alone. He shifted without you even calling on him. We were taught as children that we might not know our mate on sight, but our dragons would know, and we are to always listen to our dragons. It’s just a thought,” Asod said as he walked towards the kitchen.

Mate? There’s no way Rain could be his mate… right? He’d know… his parents said… no, Asod was right. They said that he might not know, but his dragon would. “Is Rain our mate?”

Wyatt damn near fell over when his dragon gave him a mental hum, then gave a long sigh, sounding, “Yessss.”