Chapter 95

Ardal

My body convulses with pain. I let out a howl and Jack rushes towards me, his gray fur bristling with panic before he quickly shifts into his human self.

In the blink of an eye, I'm violently torn from my wolf form and sent crashing back into my human body. I scream as the pain intensifies, thrusting me into a nightmare.

"Ardal," he cries, worry etched on his face.

I yank my leg up towards me, pressing my knee to my chest, breathless and wordless, hardly able to think. There's a small steel trap clamped around my leg and ankle. It's even tighter around me in my human form, digging into my flesh, pulsating with a pressure that sends pain through every nerve ending in my body.

The sight is sickening and shocking. I'm visibly mangled and bleeding. I gasp for breath and can't speak while tears are streaming down my face.

"It's okay," Jack soothes, but his trembling lips betray his own fear. "I'll release it."

He tugs at the trap with all his might, but it won't budge. Panic rises within me as I cry harder.

"Take deep breaths," he coaches me, attempting to calm me down. "Try laying your leg back down."

I groan in response as he pulls it out from under me, every movement sending waves of excruciating pain through my body.

"Just stay still," he urges before stepping carefully onto the ends of the trap with his feet.

As the front of it creaks open, I try to tug my leg free, but it's wedged too tightly into the edges of the trap, made worse by my swelling. The metal ends are snapped around me like a wide, heavy cuff with a death grip on my flesh - crushing bone and cutting off circulation like a snake wrapping around its prey. The silver shines in the dim light, searing my skin.

"You're going to have to shift back," Jack says with an urgency in his voice.

"I can't," I say, barely choking out the words.

Jack gets a strange look on his face. He looks down at the trap and then at his own fingers where they had grasped its edges.

"This is real silver!" he exclaims, the color draining from his face.

The horror of it hits me like a tidal wave.

"What - what's going to happen," I stammer frantically.

"I can't keep holding this trap open with my feet and pull your leg out, too," he says desperately. "Let me think!"

He crouches down, gripping the edges of the metal in his hands and exhales sharply when he finds he can keep it open with just the strength of his hands, rather than needing his full body weight.

"See if you can pry your leg out," he says, holding it open. Sweat is beading on his brow. "Use your body as a lever to gain more force."

"What," I shriek. "I can't do physics right now, Jack!"

His chest rises as he inhales. "Look, I'll keep holding it. Do whatever you can to get it out. Maybe - maybe, move slowly, to keep your leg from swelling more."

I'm shaking my head. It's an impossible task and we're only losing time. "This is useless," I sob. "It's not meant for a human leg. It's not coming off."

He looks at me, agonized. I can see his mind racing for solutions. "If only we had a saw," he says. "Pure silver is extremely soft - we could cut right through it."

"I don't have that lying around," I snap, gritting my teeth. "Don't you have any magic or runes?”

"I'm not very good at magic," he says shakily. "I -" His brow knits in concentration. "I've got an idea or two," he says, gulping. "But I can't do anything if my hands aren't free. Can you hold this?"

Whimpering, I reach down and to keep the jaws of the trap clamped open. My whole body is shaking and sweating as I try to keep the teeth of it from tearing back into my ankle and leg.

"That won't do," he says, taking it from me. "I'm just going to have to rely on -" He grips the edges and begins to push, his face straining in effort. "Raw - power!" His entire face turns beet red as he pushes even harder at the sides of the trap.

We hear a loud clicking sound as the springs lock into place.

"Ha!" He yells in victory, removing his hands from the contraption. "Be careful," he pants, "but I think it's going to stay in place."

I shut my eyes. "God, I hope," I groan.

I feel Jack's trembling fingers at my ankle. "You ready," he asks, apprehension in his voice.

"Can't hurt anymore than - "

The burning jolts through me. Already in pain, the feeling of a white-hot flame nearly doubles me over. I shut my eyes, biting back a scream of agony.

"Cen," he says. There's a cautious note of hope in his voice. "To help with inflammation - and I hope to God with your circulation," he adds in hushed worry.

I open my eyes, breathless. The mark he gave me looks like the mathematical sign for "less than."

"It should help," he murmurs, though it sounds more like a question than an answer.

We both look down at my ankle, expectant, but nothing is happening. I look back at him through teary eyes.

"We've got a few choices," he says. "You try to walk back with me. I need to get you out of here as fast as possible, so we can get that off of you, and cleanse your body of the silver."

I gulp, thinking of the implications of that last part.

"Or, you can wait here. I'll shift back and find Kadeem so we can carry you back to the car."

I glance around at the darkening forest. I really don't want to be left alone, but I don't know if I can walk. The choice feels overwhelming.

Suddenly, I register a subsiding of some pain. I look down at my leg. "Jack, look!"

Already, it's less inflamed. A wave of relief rushes through me. His face brightens and he meets my eyes.

I raise my eyebrow. "You said you couldn't do much more than the cow one - not that I'm complaining!"

"It's not like drawing a mark," he says with a weak laugh. "I'm magicking it into you and it takes immense effort. And at the end of the day, Ardal, I'm a doctor, not a sorcerer."

I want to believe him as he says it, but there's a suspicion rising inside of me. There are so many strange holes in his past and family history.

"We need to get out here," he says, "If you think you can walk now?"

I nod. Although the thing is still tight around me, burning against my skin like hellfire, I feel like I'm able to at least semi-function now.

Jack helps me stand, and I moan and grit my teeth in pain, sucking in my breath. He wraps his arm around my waist for support, as I start to hobble on my mutilated leg.

"Try not to think about it," he says, watching me hiss in pain while I gingerly try to force my leg into motion. "Try to focus your mind on the end - not each step."

A scoff escapes my lips. Easy for him to say.

Jack looks warily around at the darkening forest enveloping us. "If I left you here to get help, could you find your way back?"

I shake my head. "I'm sure I would get lost. There isn't much of a path."

"No," he agrees, his voice heavy with worry.

"Plus, I can't even smell it," I add bleakly, realizing for the first time just how deeply my wolf senses are suppressed.

He looks at me, wide-eyed. "You'll be alright," he says, but the expression on his face tells me a different story. He inhales sharply. "We'll just take our time, and focus on getting you back."

We trudge slowly, made worse by the downward slope of the terrain. Jack braces me, trying to steady me as we walk so I don't tumble.

Trying to escape the pain, I force my mind into thinking mode. Who would place a silver trap out into this part of the woods? My stomach does somersaults and my imagination turns wild. What if Kadeem was right to be suspicious of Jack? What if he didn't have just a stupid idea about vampires? What if he set this whole thing up?

I watch him out of the side of my eyes - looking for some signs of hidden evil. Erbao didn't like him at first - he said he didn't smell right. Is there something I've been missing that both Erbao and Kadeem picked up on? Maybe Jack bewitched me to keep me oblivious. Maybe -

I let out a gasp as my ankle twists, bathing me in agony and forcing me to stop in my tracks while the waves of pain radiate through me.

"Are you okay," he asks, brow furrowed with concern.

Fear prickles through me like electricity as I stare into Jack's handsome face.

I want to trust him, but I can't shake the dread that's clawing its way up my throat.

"No, I'm not okay," I choke out through tears. "How did this happen? What kind of a sicko would put a trap like this here?"

"A tracker," he answers softly, and it sends a chill through my veins.

Anger spills from me. "Why would there be trackers after you, Jack? Why would anyone care if you came to visit your vampire family," I spit out, sweat still pouring from my face.

"We can't get caught up in all of the details now, Ardal -"

My voice strains as I get louder. "Why are you still hiding things from me?"

He gulps, his brow furrowed in distress. I have goosebumps on my arms and every nerve ending in my body is alive with fear and suspicion. Where is Kadeem? My stomach lurches again when I think of him and the kids. What if Jack set more traps? What if they're not okay?

"Why-"

Jack clamps his hand over my mouth and terror overwhelms me. His grip tightens as he pulls me close to his chest.

Oh my god, he’s going to kill me.

The thought blazes through my mind and my stomach drops, making me feel as though I'm about to be violently ill.

I try to scream and struggle against him, biting and scratching at his skin as hard as I can, but he only grunts and hangs on tighter.