A Game Most Dangerous Read Free Page B

gathered a few fish from a pond when he heard the dog. Gathering the fish together in a large leaf, he crept off into the trees and quickly climbed one. Several minutes later, the dog burst into the clearing. It sniffed around, nose to the ground, and went right up to the tree and looked up.
    Rain bared his teeth and the dog whined. "Shh, good girl," Rain replied and threw down a fish. The dog wolfed it down quickly, then cried tentatively at him. He threw down the other two fish, and the dog wolfed them down even faster than she had the first one. She panted at him, lifted up to rest her front paws against the tree briefly, then ran off across the way and vanished into the scrub, barking loudly.
    A few minutes later, Zaroff and his buddies came through, and Rain was disappointed they'd thought to put on face paint. They all had such fair skin, he'd wanted to see if any of them glowed in the dark. They muttered to each other, something about having been certain 'the game' must be this way, and gave the clearing a thorough sweep. Their eyes passed right over him, no surprise there, given their less than stellar eyesight and the fact Rain didn't need makeup to blend into the dark.
    They moved on, and after the sounds had long since faded, Rain caught some more fish and headed back to his tree to enjoy dinner.
    He woke the next morning to the sound of an entire pack of dogs and more people. Must have dragged out Ivan and the other servants to lead the dogs. Well, whatever, he'd been getting bored anyway, and the poor prisoners probably would like their freedom.
    Rain yawned and leaped neatly down from his tree, stretched languorously and then went in search of breakfast. He'd just finished eating a boring handful of berries and nuts when the dogs showed up. Rain stared hard and with panicked yips and whines, the dogs ran away.
    Poor puppies. Hopefully they'd calm down once they were well away from him. Rain shoved the last of the berries in his mouth then stripped off his swimtrunks.
    As the dumbass hunters came into the clearing, he grinned. "Hi. Game's over."
    "What—" Zaroff started, but the words died with a terrified squeak as Rain transformed.
    He roared as he settled fully into his dragon form, enjoying the way the sunlight warmed his gleaming black scales. He flicked his tongue out and tasted the air. All of the hunters and a handful of the servants had pissed themselves.
    Zaroff and the other hunters turned to run, but they toppled over themselves as Rain gave a bellowing roar much, much louder than the first one.
    After that, it was over quickly. As humans went, they weren't the worst he'd ever tasted, but then again, there was never any reason to kill and eat the humans that would taste good.
    He paused only when he came to Zaroff, pinning him to the ground, claws pricking just enough to draw thin trails of blood. Looking up, Rain jerked his head at Ivan, who stood nearby.
    Ivan came forward and rifled through Zaroff's clothes, pulled out a small black control. He signed rapidly at Zaroff for the code. Zaroff refused, and Rain made him hurt. Howling in pain, Zaroff finally gave up the code. Ivan tested it on himself, and when it worked, went off to start freeing the others while Rain finished his snack.
    Rain spat out a foot and shifted back to human. Ivan came out of the group of people who'd huddled around him. "Hiya, Brown Bear."
    Ivan bowed slightly, and his hands moved fluidly as he signed, "Thank you for the rescue, my lord."
    "Ugh, we don't go in for that old school lord stuff," Rain replied. "Please, I'm no more a lord than you are a cat. Will you and the others be all right? Can you get off the island on your own?"
    "Yes, we'll be fine," Ivan replied with a smile. "Get home to your family and friends, and thank you again."
    Rain nodded, clasped hands with Ivan briefly, then scooped up his trunks and headed off until he found a stretch of cliff. He dove into the water and transformed again, rumbling in