Page 2 of Samuel
The forest was quieter now—too quiet. The rogues had gone silent, but I knew they were still there, stalking us.
Their growls were closing in, too close. I could feel their eyes on me.
The chills racing down my spine were almost unbearable, but I forced myself to keep moving, hobbled as I was.
I wasn’t ready to die.
Not like this. Not hunted down like some cornered animal in the middle of nowhere.
I still had things I wanted to do, dreams I hadn’t had the chance to live out yet.
I’d never gotten the courage to confess to Cal, a senior hunter. A small, bitter laugh escaped my throat.
What a stupid thing to think about when death was breathing down my neck.
But it hit me hard now—how much I’d wanted to feel something real, beyond the quick and dirty hookups that I engaged in for stress relief.
Romance was a distraction, they said.
An unnecessary complication for a hunter. And maybe they were right, but damn it, I wanted more.
I wanted to experience what it was like to be in a relationship, for once in my miserable 24 years.
But that wasn’t going to happen now, was it?
I reached for my weapons, feeling the empty space where my gun should’ve been. Out of silver bullets.
That had been my first mistake—listening to Gordon and wasting them early on.
The bastard had probably been conserving his own ammunition. My hand found the hilt of my last knife.
The others had been lost in the chaos of the chase, and now this one was my only defense against two rogue shifters who were probably seconds away from tearing me apart.
I limped on, every step a reminder of how little time I had left. I could almost feel their breath on the back of my neck. This was it.
I wasn’t remarkable. I wasn’t some Guild prodigy with a long list of accomplishments to my name.
No one would mourn me. Well, except maybe Finn.
Finn was different. Unlike the rest of us, he hadn’t lost himself in the brutal training.
He still smiled, still had this inexplicable light inside him, like he was too good for the darkness we’d all fallen into.
Finn was sunshine in a world of shadows, and I envied him for that.
If Finn had been with me, maybe things would’ve been different. But it was too late for that now.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I stumbled into a clearing.
The trees opened up, revealing an expanse of nothingness ahead of me. A steep drop.
I was at the edge of a cliff.
There was no way out except a small tunnel on the far side of the clearing, barely wide enough for me to crawl through. But if I got in there, I’d be trapped.
It was a dead end. This was where I’d make my stand.
The growls returned, closer now, more menacing. My hands were shaking, the knife slick in my grip.
