Page 70 of Been There Dragon That
Not just Tai.
Wrath could identify at least a half dozen individual scents.
Another scream tore through the forest. They had to get to Ryan.
Wrath and Col leapt into a run through the trees. His heart was racing. His dragon on high alert watching every movement, listening to every sound, scanning for heat signatures between the trees.
They came out into a clearing, and there they were. A big white wolf stood over a man on the ground. The same one from Leif’s security video. It was Tai. He had Ryan by his shoulder and was tearing at him.
“Wrath get to Ryan!” Col’s order rang through the forest.
At least six other wolves circled their alpha, protecting the murdering bastard. Five human men with rifles raised their weapons and fired.
Pain tore through Wrath’s shoulder.
White hot and searing.
Blood stained his shirt.
He roared and shifted with his next step.
Col shifted right next to him, the snap of his massive jaws making short work of the men with guns. As dragons, they were bullet proof against small caliber weapons.
The white wolf dropped Ryan, bloody and limp, to the ground and leapt away from Wrath’s jaws.
Wrath’s dragon roared, wanting to end the threat of the wolf and his team of thieves. The threat to his tribe. The threat to his town. The threat to his mate.
A giant brown, roaring bear ran right in front of Wrath’s snout. Owen’s bear slammed into the big white wolf, taking him to the ground.
Teeth and fangs snapped. Blood stained the ground.
Growls and snarls echoed around the small clearing. The lions were taking down the scattering wolves.
Wrath shifted back into a man and knelt at Ryan’s side. He’d seen mangled bodies before, but Ryan was in bad shape. Bile crept up Wrath’s throat.
“H-help. Me.” The man’s words were stuttered between labored breaths. “Please.”
The gashes were deep. Each beat of his heart was killing him. There was no way to stop the bleeding fast enough. They hadn’t brought any type of first aid with them.
“Hang in there, Ryan.” Wrath pressed his hands against the biggest wounds on the man. The deep ones in his neck, but the gashes on his stomach were pouring blood too. He didn’t have enough hands.
“Col!” The wounds needed to be cauterized. Fast. And he wasn’t royal, he couldn’t burn with his hands. He couldn’t save him. Only Col might be able to save him.
Col appeared at his side a moment later. “Fuck. He tore him to pieces.”
“I d-don’t w-want to d-die. P-please.” Ryan’s voice was so thin. He’d lost so much blood.
Cole grabbed a stick from the ground and put it to Ryan’s mouth. “Bite this.”
The second the man bit down, Col placed his hands over the stomach wounds. The smell of burning flesh permeated the area, bringing even more acid up into the back of Wrath’s throat.
But the screams were worse than the smell. Wrath would never forget Ryan’s screams.
Col swapped places with Wrath and cauterized the neck wounds next, stopping the flow of blood from the largest wounds. Ryan was thankfully unconscious during those burns.
The others started gathering closer, creating a circle of protection. The sounds of breaking bones and tearing flesh were still present.
“Are they all dead?” Col looked up at Aarav.
