Page 12 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

I thought bear traps were only supposed to immobilize, not decimate. But looking at my leg, the trap was far deadlier than the ones I had learned of. My leg was left a horrific mess.

My pants were soaked through with dark blood. The metal teeth of the trap had sunk deep into the flesh. I was pretty sure my bone was broken. My stomach clenched at the sight. I squeezed my eyes together and forced myself to take slow, deep breaths. The last thing I needed was to throw up.

I pushed the nausea deep down and studied my leg a little closer. It was no use. I gagged and forced myself to look away. There was no way I was going to be able to get this trap off my leg, especially if I couldn’t even tolerate the sight of it.

In my long list of poor decisions, this one was the biggest. And considering the circumstances, the concept that things might get even worse was still a possibility. Starting with the fact that I couldn’t move thanks to the bear trap clamped onto my leg, and every slight movement sent agonizing, mind-numbing pain straight through me. I could bleed out… at least, I figured that would be a thing. Another possibility was the simple fact that I’m a squishy human and there were certainly creatures that lived in these woods that would consider me a tasty treat should something stumble upon me.

This whole mess was all because I couldn’t wait until the sun came up before leaving. I couldn’t wait for Jasper’s help. I also blamed Kai. He was the one that terrified me and forced me to the decision to leave. If he had a caring bone in his body, he wouldn’t have yelled at me or treated me the way he did.

“Way to go, Cassie,” I muttered to myself. “The award for the brightest crayon in the box goes to…”

I pointed at myself, demonstrating to the forest just how out of it I was. I didn’t care though. Not anymore. I was literally stuck and my outlook was not promising.

But I wouldn’t give up just yet. There had to be something that would help me take this trap off of me. Maybe it only looked horrific… of course that theory didn’t take into consideration the pain I was in, which said my injury was much worse than it looked. I delicately tried to pull away bits of fabric sticking to my leg, glued to my skin with the blood that oozed from around the teeth that were embedded into my flesh. The movement was too much, adding fire to my wounds from the dirt and debris that covered my fingers.

I laid back and let out a frustrated sigh. Of all the dumb things I have ever done in my life, this one most certainly took the cake.

If I had only been patient, I might have been at my family’s cabin instead of writhing on the ground, snared by a bear trap. If I had paid more attention to where I was going, I probably would have been in my car, warm and sleeping soundly. If I hadn’t been impulsive and decided to leave for a month, I could be at home. Safe. Warm. Dry.

My body was aching, and I needed to readjust myself. A small rock was embedded into my left butt cheek, and it was adding to the sheer rawness of my nerves. I tried to carefully resituate myself, even if only to remove the offending rock and give myself a little relief. The movement made the trap close around my leg even tighter.

I screamed again. This one was out of agony more so than frustration.

From somewhere in the distance, deep in the forest and far out of sight, something heavy pounded toward me. The sound echoed through the trees, not only filling me with terror but also making me realize I had made another mistake. I sucked in a breath as my heart started to pound with a rush of adrenaline. If I wasn’t in so much pain and suffering, I would have kicked myself for being so stupid, but I didn’t have time for that. Something was coming toward me. And my scream had sounded the dinner bell for whatever carnivores lived around here.

Well, the breakfast bell as it was. But… semantics.

“Great,” I groaned and laid back on the ground, staring up at the sky. The tiny needles and leaves danced in the gentle breeze which blew through the tops of the trees that surrounded me. The sight was beautiful. It was probably going to be one of the last things I ever saw. A pang of remorse shook me because I wasn’t going to see Chase or Jasper ever again.

Or my sister. She would never know what happened to me.

My mind raced with what would follow my death. If the men decided to look for me, I really hoped they didn’t find me half-eaten. I preferred they not find me now that it was too late. At least they wouldn’t have to be faced with the results of the last mistake I had ever made.

But if they did, that would be ghastly and worse than death. I hated the idea there would always be a chance they would find me. Probably half-eaten, long dead.

Regardless, whatever ran toward me, it sounded big. I strained to listen, to try and guess at what was coming for me, not that knowing would do me any good. But judging by the rhythm of the stomping echoing through the air, more than one creature came for me. Though I wasn’t sure exactly how many, I knew without a doubt there was more than one.

“Lovely,” I said, throwing my hands in the air and wincing through the pain the movement caused. “Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get worse.”

My situation had grown much more dire. And I only had two options. Lay here and accept the consequences of my own stupid actions or find some way to free myself and find a place to hide before the animals came to eat me. Neither of the options was pleasant and without further drawbacks or consequences, but they were the only choices I had to deal with.

Though I wasn’t sure how much farther the creatures running toward me were, I had to at least give myself a shot at survival. And with as much as it was going to hurt, I needed to try to remove this trap from my leg before I became breakfast.

I sucked in a breath and prepared myself mentally for what was to come before reaching for the trap. I slipped my hands over the jaws, placing my fingers into the spaces between the teeth, and summoned all my strength to pry the damn trap open. I felt the metal slide out of my skin, and hope flowed through me. Then my fingers slipped on the blood, causing the contraption to snap close and send another wave of agony through me.

I screamed again.

I wouldn’t be able to take much more than this. So much blood had already pooled around me. I doubted I had much left in me. My mind was starting to become fuzzy, and that meant I was seconds from passing out. Again.

To make matters worse, grunts and groans joined in with the stomping. I wondered if I had mistaken the sound for growls. Not that it mattered. Whatever it was, the noises only helped to make me feel more panicked about my impending doom. Though I supposed it could have been worse. At least I would be passed out by the time they started to eat me. I found peace in the thought. Never mind I didn’t deserve such peace with my current track record. Passing out was a mercy I would forever be grateful for.

The stomps were closer. Much, much closer. Any second now and my death dealers would be here. A single tear escaped my eyes as my vision blurred. I watched two fuzzy forms come into view. A dark rim lined my vision as the forms shifted and moved like watercolors dripping along a blank page.

I laid back on the ground. My eyes closed.

Time became subjective. I was aware of only bits and pieces of things that happened around me. Maybe it was the passing of time. Perhaps, this was the sound of death. The trap was somehow released from my leg. I wasn’t in any pain. I only had relief. The sensation rushed through my entire being. Warmth encompassed me. It was like I was wrapped in a blanket as warm as the sun

Then strange vibrations moved through me… and I realized the motions were of me being moved. I wondered if the animals decided to drag my carcass to their dens so they could take their time consuming my body.

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