Water Dragon's Fighter: Dragon Elementals, #1

By Amelia Parker

Rio

When I lost my parents seven years ago, I wasn't the brother my siblings needed me to be. I let the darkness I've battled my entire life envelope me. It took over everything. Eventually I became a dragon shifter I couldn't recognize.

Until she washed up in my cave.

Shifters always long for their mates and I was no different. Yet when my darkness seemingly won, I believed it wasn't meant to happen for me. Only for my siblings.

Then she opened her eyes.

My mate.

 

Adeera

I wasn't supposed to be there. I didn't want to be there. But sometimes fate has a way of sending you where you're meant to go.

After a storm derails a horrendous reality survivor show I was coerced into doing, I come face to face with things I never even knew existed outside fairy tales.

Then I can't leave.

I spend time with these siblings.

And I discover what love and family is for the first time in my life.

But can I have it too?

 

As Rio and Adeera begin to explore their relationship between shifter and human, enemies from the past threaten everything they've established. How can everyone stay safe? Can promises made long ago be kept? Will terror and uncertainty keep Rio and Adeera from the one thing they've both always wanted?

 

This paranormal, shifter romance is a full-length novel with a semi- HEA. The core couple will find their HEA/HFN, but the deeper threat continues throughout the series. Therefore, not all questions will be answered at the end of this book.

 

*Author's note: This book deals with depression and could be triggering to some.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amelia Parker
• Release date: May 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223608509

Amelia Parker

Amelia Parker lives in the suburbs of Georgia with her ever patient family and fur baby. She loves reading, baking, and drinking wine. Lots and lots of wine. When not writing or letting her imagination run wild, she’s fantasizing about her next romance. Or tacos. Probably tacos.

Book preview

Chapter One

Rio Dragòn

A heart-stopping gasp violently jolts me awake, causing me to smack my head in the process. I should really get that low hanging ceiling fan fixed. Or just raise it. Probably just need to get rid of it and put a light there. I don’t really need a fan in my cave.

A yawn escapes as I climb to my feet. That damn dream is still haunting me. Seven years and I still can’t shake seeing my parents die. And the weirdest part is, I wasn’t actually there. I never witnessed their deaths. I just know what happened.

Mom and Dad were only supposed to talk to these people. They just wanted them to stop kidnapping shifters. But these people didn’t want to listen. They just wanted to get rid of my parents. So, they stabbed Mom and Dad with the only thing that can kill a dragon: a dagger made from an Ichneumon’s fangs and claws.

Every time I close my eyes, I can see it all unfolding. Can see the blade and blood. Hear my parents’ screams and last breaths.

Hence the nightmares.

Which doesn’t help a natural insomniac.

Sleep has always eluded me. I’ve always struggled with it. But it’s only gotten worse in the last several years. Add that to my inability to help my siblings, and sleep is almost nonexistent for me anymore.

Stepping out of my cave, I let the sound of the river flowing into my cavern quiet the noise in my head. In the distance I can hear the waves of the ocean hitting the beach. I let the sound of water calm me. Water seems to be the only thing that keeps the darkness from seeping in these days. As it should since I’m a water dragon.

I wade into the river and follow it into my cave. Ducking under the surface, I shift into my shimmery, light blue dragon. We glide through the water, letting the current take us around the cavern. I turn my attention back to the river and swim against its current toward the ocean.

I can feel the change in water pressure as I pass the house I grew up in. I can feel the tug of the river splitting off to go further into the island, up into the mountains. I feel fish swim past me. The rocks and sand against my tail as it trails the bottom of the river slightly.

Eventually I feel the water temperature change and I know I have reached the ocean. A few more strokes out into the great expanse before I surface. My tail works the water beneath us, keeping us afloat. And I take the time to look out upon the island I’ve called home all 30 years of my life.

Sitting on the banks of the split river, on the branch that flows to the left side of my cave and continues to flow through the island, I see the two-story house my parents painstakingly built. Farther to the left on the beach, I can see my sister Brisa’s huts. Well, they’re more like little homes that she connected together and made to look like ragged huts. Hey, it works for her air dragon.

Past the beach, at the base of the mountains that encompass the entire middle of the island, I can see the forest my sister Calida lives in. She has a home built in a hill which backs into the base of the mountain. What can I say? The fire dragon loves the warm, dry environment.

My eyes track up the hidden pathway disguised on the mountain to where I know my brother Adan’s cave is. His home is built into the middle of the mountain and jets off into tunnels and giant openings. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it took him years to build. I only know better because I helped him build it. I mean, as much as he would let me help him. Adan’s autism makes it hard for him to let others help him with a project that was his idea.

It’s too early for any of my siblings to be up yet, but I find a little peace knowing that they’re there. Which then sends me on a rollercoaster of a guilt trip.

I’m the oldest of the four of us by about two minutes, and it’s my job to protect my siblings and to find us all mates. And I am greatly failing at both. Sort of.

I’ve been able to keep us safe from the people who killed our parents, but the search for mates? That has epically blown up in my face. We’re all 30 and none of us have mates. As the last of our shifter species, that’s extremely unfortunate. Yeah, we’re 30 and technically have time, but it’s just us. We know it’s just us in the world. We’re the last dragon shifters out there. The continuation of our species rests on our shoulders. We need mates. Like, yesterday. I just haven’t been able to find them.

But where do you even look for a dragon’s mate? You only know someone is their mate when they meet for the first time, and something clicks. How do you find that when the only people on your island, within your little chain of islands, deep in the Caribbean, are you and your three siblings? Your quadruplet siblings.

It is not easy. I can tell you that much.

I’ve tried everything I can think of. Dating apps. Dating websites. Forums. Pen pals. Mail order. I’ve even tried to buy a mate, I’m that desperate.

Nothing has worked.

I have failed to keep my promise to my siblings on finding them mates. I’m a giant ass failure and I’m not good at anything. Except swimming. But that’s only because my dragon prospers in water. He loves water.

I’m not good at anything else. At being a big brother. At finding mates. At keeping threats away from my family. At my inability to keep my race alive.

I’m just one gigantic failure of a dragon.

I let out an exhausted sigh. This lack of sleep and darkness rumbling in my head are taking its toll.

With a slight shake of my head, I try to brush it all back. I dive back under water and do a quick swim around the big island we all call home. I feel temperature and pressure changes when I get near all the smaller islands located around ours until I feel the current of my river.

I try and clear my head the best I can as I swim back upriver to my home. Once I get out of the water, I know I have work to do. If I can bare to do it. Maybe I ought to just spend all day swimming. But then I won’t get anything accomplished. Ugh!

I take a big breath before I shift back to my human form underwater. Breaking the surface, I let out a gasp. My sister Calida is squatting on the side of my cavern, grinning right in my face. I didn’t even hear her. Or feel her presence.

Calida. What are you doing giving me a heart attack?! I scold her.

She stands and takes a step back, leaving me enough space to climb out of the water. My sister hands me a towel to dry off with before speaking.

I just wanted to check on you. See how the mate search is going, she answers. Her light blue, almost grey eyes, the same shade as mine and the rest of our siblings, stare up at me with hope. Hope I swear is reflected in her red tinted hair.

It’s going, I mumble, averting my eyes. I don’t want her to see the defeat in my eyes, and I sure don’t want to see the disappointment in hers.

Well, it’s OK. We knew it could take time, Calida comforts.

It’s really not, but I appreciate the sentiment.

Rio, we’ll find mates when it’s time for us to find them. Please don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ll let the darkness in again.

Too late, I comment under my breath. Thankfully, Calida doesn’t seem to hear me. I watch her walk over to the cavern opening that looks down river and out onto the horizon.

Clouds are rolling in, she remarks.

I know I’ve been letting the mate thing get to me a little, but I’m not sleeping well. More than usual. The nightmares are back, and my insomnia is acting up in full force­­–

No, I mean actual clouds are rolling in. And I knew you were taking on too much. It’s not good for you. If you only let us help­–

I step up next to her, and let her words go in one ear and out the other. I’m too focused on the clouds she saw.

Sure enough, gazing out on the horizon, dark clouds are fast approaching and moving in quickly. This doesn’t look like it’s going to be a quick nor light shower.

–I can try to fill out questionnaires and Brisa can weed through photos– Calida keeps going.

Calida, I interrupt. She stops talking and follows my stare out to the ocean.

Oh! she gasps.

It doesn’t look like this is going to be a nice storm. Lock down your house and go get Adan. I’ll prepare everything here then meet you at home.

What about Brisa?

I’m sure she already knows.

Calida nods briefly before darting out of my house. I barely register her leaving as I dart into action. I have to bring all the patio furniture in the cavern into the house. I have to lock my door that accesses the back cave that always floods with storms. The door from my house into the cavern needs to be locked. Everything needs to be shut tight and sealed properly. I cannot let any water get in the house.

This has to be the biggest pain in the ass of living in a cave system that’s attached to a river and ocean. Whenever there is a massive storm, I have to shut everything down tight. If any water gets in the house, it just takes my preferred moist environment, and turns it into a soggy mess. And no one wants that. No matter how much you love the water.

I can hear the wind pick up and start howling as I finish dragging everything in the cavern inside. Everything gets pushed into the highest areas of each room. I lock and seal the back cave door and roll up the rug in front of it. I dart to my storage room and grab a few sandbags to place at the back door.

Back at the cavern door, I toss sandbags into the cavern before I start shutting doors. The inside door gets shut and locked first and then the second outside door comes down. This two-door system has saved my house more times than I can count.

I move the sandbags in front of the door and call it. I’ve done the best I can. Hopefully no water gets in.

Carefully, I make my way out of the cavern. I need to move quickly so I can cross the river before it becomes too dangerous.

Wind howls and whips sand and leaves all over the place. Rain hasn’t started coming down yet, but I know it’s coming. Those pitch-dark clouds moving in have to dump their water eventually. And they look like they’re bringing friends from as far as my eyes can see.

The water in the section of river near my parents’ house, is moving rapidly when I reach it. It’s current has picked up ten-fold since my morning swim. Once the rain comes, this river will swell to dangerous levels with the added water. There will probably be flooding farther up the river as it winds through the mountains. But that’s a problem for later. Right now I have to figure out how to cross it.

If I can cross it.

I’m not sure I can do it safely. Then something picks me up and carries me over the river.

I look up right before my feet hit the ground and see Adan’s massive dark green dragon. He lands nearby then shifts back to his human form. My brother is twice my size with his stocky, muscular structure. It fits with his dragon form. His black curly hair is whipping all over the place as the wind continues to ramp up. How he can