Page 2 of Samuel (Sky Stead #4)

CHAPTER TWO

SAMUEL

The night sky over the Gray Arrow Forest stretched endlessly above me, dark and starless, the perfect camouflage for my dragon form.

My black scales blended seamlessly into the night, rendering me nearly invisible as I soared through the sky.

I didn’t have to worry about being spotted.

No shifter group laid claim to this land, and no humans were reckless enough to venture this deep into the woods after dark.

It was the ideal place for a rogue dragon to make its nest—a predator’s paradise.

I scanned the landscape below me, searching for any trace of the bronze-scaled beast I had been tracking for days.

Rogue shifters were dangerous enough, but a rogue dragon?

That was a whole new level of chaos. A monster like this could lay waste to entire towns if it ever left the forest.

The pack had been clear about the risk of exposure.

Our kind was already hidden from most of the paranormal world, only trusting a select few allies.

A rogue dragon wreaking havoc wasn’t just a threat to human lives—it was a threat to our entire existence.

I made a slow, wide circle over the forest, wings beating steadily. Still nothing.

No movement, no glint of bronze scales through the trees.

I growled low in frustration, debating whether to call it a night and return to the cabin where I was temporarily holed up.

The rogue had been clever, slipping away every time I got close. But I was nothing if not persistent.

Just as I was about to turn back, I felt it—a ripple of movement beneath me.

A faint disturbance in the air, subtle but unmistakable. My instincts sharpened instantly.

There.

I veered hard to the left as something massive shot up from the canopy of trees below, a blur of bronze streaking through the air.

My wings caught the sudden shift, and I angled my body sharply to dodge the attack.

My prey had finally revealed itself, but it was still unclear who was the hunter and who was the hunted.

The rogue dragon came into view, larger than I’d expected, its enormous body half again as big as mine.

Its scales were smeared with dried blood, the stench of rotting meat thick in the air around it.

I could taste the decay on the wind, a putrid reminder of the hikers and campers it had gorged itself on.

According to Zane, our lead alpha, the rogue had been feasting on wildlife, but it had escalated.

Human blood had now tainted its soul. This needed to end—soon.

I roared, my voice reverberating through the sky as I closed the distance between us.

The rogue dragon responded in kind, its roar more guttural, almost feral, as it met me head-on.

There was no strategy in its attack, just raw, unrestrained aggression.

I dodged its first swipe, narrowly avoiding its talons as they slashed through the air.

But I wasn’t fast enough to avoid the tail that swung around and caught me hard in the side.

The impact sent me spiraling, pain exploding in my ribs.

I fought to regain control, my wings beating frantically as I righted myself mid-air.

The rogue circled around, its massive jaws snapping as it prepared for another attack.

I inhaled deeply, feeling the familiar burn in my throat before I exhaled a jet of fire.

The flames engulfed the rogue’s wings, causing it to scream in fury, but it wasn’t enough to stop it.

It dove at me again, this time with a speed that caught me off guard.

Its claws tore into my back, and I felt the sting of blood running down my scales.

I roared again, twisting sharply to throw it off, but the bastard clung on, refusing to let go.

My wings faltered, and for a moment, I thought I was going to crash into the trees below.

With a final, desperate burst of strength, I managed to dislodge the rogue, sending it tumbling through the air.

I was breathing hard, pain coursing through every part of me, but I wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot.

I dove after the rogue, my talons extended, ready to tear into it—when it suddenly shifted course, veering away from me and disappearing back into the thick forest below.

I hovered in mid-air, blood dripping from my wounds as I watched the rogue vanish.

It had retreated for now, but it wasn’t over. Not yet.

The battle had ended in a stalemate, but I knew it would return to finish the job.

My body ached as I flew back to the cabin, the small structure nestled deep in the woods where I’d been staying for the past few weeks.

By the time I landed in the clearing outside, my strength was nearly gone.

Shifting back into human form was an excruciating process, the wounds from the battle making every movement a fresh wave of agony.

Once inside, I headed straight for the shower, the hot water stinging as it washed the blood and dirt from my skin.

I winced as I scrubbed my wounds, each movement reminding me just how close I’d come to losing tonight.

But I’d survived. For now.

After bandaging myself up, I pulled on a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt, too exhausted to care about anything else.

I was just about to collapse on the couch when a sound outside caught my attention.

Growls. Snarls. A commotion in the woods behind the cabin.

My dragon stirred inside me, alert, agitated. More enemies? I couldn’t shift, not now. Not after my recent and disastrous fight.

But something else caught my attention—a scent. Not the foul, rotting stench of the rogue dragon, but something else.

Something… different. I stiffened, the scent stirring something primal in me.

I stepped outside, my feet moving without thought as I followed the strange but intoxicating scent.

It was faint, carried on the wind, but the more I breathed it in, the more it gripped me, awakening a possessive hunger deep inside.

What the hell was that?

I moved through the trees, careful to keep my injured side from brushing against any branches.

The scent was getting stronger, pulling me forward like an invisible thread.

My dragon’s instincts were roaring in my head, clawing at me to move faster, to find the source.

When I finally broke through the trees and into a small clearing, I froze.

There, lying on the ground, was a man in his early twenties. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, blood soaking his torn clothes.

His dark hair was matted with dirt and sweat, and his body was riddled with fresh wounds.

But it wasn’t his injuries that held my attention. It was the scent. His scent.

Something inside me snapped into place. My dragon let out a low, possessive growl, and I knew in that moment—he was mine.

It took me a fraction of a second to realize he wasn’t alone.

Two large wolves circled the man lying on the ground, their fur and muzzles slick with blood—his blood.

Anger surged through me, a raw, unrelenting fury that I couldn’t fully explain.

There was something wild, almost feral, about these wolves, the same kind of reckless savagery I’d encountered in the rogue dragon earlier.

What was it about this area? A rogue magnet of some sort?

It was like the land itself was drawing out every unhinged, lost creature it could find.

The wolves paused their circling, their bloodshot eyes locking onto me. They seemed to assess me, their postures lowering, hackles rising.

I growled low in my throat, a warning, but I was already ready for the fight.

The first wolf pounced, launching itself toward me with deadly precision.

I couldn’t shift again tonight—my body was too worn out from the earlier battle—but I wasn’t defenseless. Far from it.

I opened my mouth and unleashed my fire. The flames exploded from my throat, scorching the air between us.

The wolf let out a pained yelp as the fire engulfed it, its body writhing in agony before collapsing to the ground.

The second wolf froze, its gaze flicking from its dying partner to me. It didn’t need much convincing.

With a quick snarl, it turned tail and bolted into the forest, vanishing into the darkness.

For a moment, I considered chasing after it—eliminating the threat completely—but something held me back.

There were more important matters. Like the tasty human lying on the ground, covered in blood, breathing shallow and uneven.

I knelt beside him, my chest tight with unease.

There was so much blood, staining his torn clothes, soaking into the ground beneath him.

I could feel my dragon stirring inside me, restless, anxious.

This human’s scent... it was intoxicating, pulling me in with an almost magnetic force.

But that wasn’t what drove me. It was the raw need to protect him, to keep him alive at all costs.

The man’s eyes fluttered open, dazed and unfocused, but when they finally settled on me, they were a shade of blue that caught me off guard—gorgeous, piercing.

He reached out, his calloused fingers brushing against my unshaven cheek.

The contact sent a jolt of electricity through me, a shock I hadn’t expected.

“You’re safe now,” I told him, my voice rough but steady.

I didn’t know why I said it.

This man was a complete stranger to me, and judging by the way he was dressed—in hunting gear—it should’ve raised alarms.

But I couldn’t bring myself to care about that right now. There was time for questions later. Right now, I just had to keep him alive.

He didn’t respond, but his eyes fluttered closed again, and his hand fell away from my face, limp and lifeless.

I wasn’t going to let him die. Not out here. Not if I had anything to say about it.

With a careful gentleness I didn’t often have to use, I scooped him up into my arms.

His body was alarmingly light, and his breathing was growing more erratic by the second.

I didn’t have much time.

My cabin wasn’t far, but even the short distance felt like an eternity as I carried him through the trees, my dragon clawing at my insides, urging me to move faster.

By the time I got him inside and onto the couch, he was unconscious, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.

I grabbed the first aid kit from under the kitchen sink and hurried back to him, my heart pounding in my chest.

As I peeled away his blood-soaked shirt, my eyes caught something on his left shoulder—a tattoo.

A dagger wrapped in thorny vines, with words etched beneath it. Latin, I realized.

That tattoo. I’d seen it before.

I filed the thought away for later. Right now, the priority was saving him.

His wounds were bad—deep gashes along his side, his leg mangled by the wolf’s claws.

I tried to clean and bandage what I could, but it was clear that it wasn’t going to be enough.

The bleeding wouldn’t stop. His breathing was growing weaker.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath.

The human was too far gone. There was no way normal first aid could save him now.

Save him. We can’t let him die. My dragon’s voice echoed in my mind, urgent and possessive.

I could feel the primal instinct rising in me, demanding action.

My gaze fell to his neck, the smooth skin just above his collarbone, unmarked but so vulnerable.

Without thinking, my fangs slid out, sharp and ready.

I cradled him gently against my chest, my fingers brushing the dark hair away from his face.

He looked so fragile like this, his skin pale and clammy, his life slipping away.

I couldn’t let him go. I wouldn’t.

“This is the only way to save you,” I whispered, my breath warm against his skin.

And then I bit down.

The taste of his blood flooded my senses, rich and intoxicating.

My dragon roared with satisfaction, surging to the surface as I sealed the bite with my mark.

His body jolted in my arms, his eyes flying open, wide and startled.

For a brief moment, those vivid blue eyes locked onto mine, full of confusion and pain, but also… trust.

When I pulled away, my lips still stained with his blood, he stared at me for a long moment.

His mouth moved, barely a whisper escaping.

“Thank you,” he murmured, before his eyes fluttered closed again.

I held my breath, listening intently. His heart, which had been so weak, now beat steadily.

His breathing was evening out, becoming stronger with every passing second.

Relief washed over me, and I sagged back onto the couch, cradling him carefully.

He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he was alive. And then it hit me. That tattoo.

The dagger wrapped in thorns. The Latin inscription. I’d seen it before. A mark used by hunters of the Guild.

A group of deadly, relentless killers tasked with hunting down shifters, vampires, and any other creature that deemed a threat to humanity.

A cold chill swept down my spine.

I’d just given my mate mark to a hunter.