Page 15 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

I nodded. “I agree that he should have reacted a whole shade better than he did but blaming him for this isn’t going to help Cassie either.”

“You were blaming him just as much as I was not even five minutes ago. You started it!” Jasper’s voice started to raise.

I nodded again. “I’m not denying that. We should cut him a break and really place blame on the fact that hunters are trying to kill bears, Jasper. Possibly us specifically. I mean, I don’t think any of us know much about Kai and his past. There’s no telling who is out there placing traps and to what end.”

“Speculating on that will have to wait until later,” Jasper said, voice strained. “Marcus. Now.”

“Right.” I dialed the number and waited for him to pick it up. When the line was answered, I said, “We have a problem.”

I explained everything as quickly as I could. Marcus listened intently and when I was finished, he promised to come this way as soon as he was able to.

“Please hurry,” I said. “She’s lost a lot of blood and Jasper can’t get the bleeding to stop.”

The call was disconnected. I stared at Jasper as he worked hopelessly on saving Cassie.

“Anything I can do?” I asked.

“Find some bandages, more thread, and probably some towels to help. I might need a belt to form a tourniquet. Maybe that would help keep her from losing any more blood.”

I nodded and went straight to work, rushing to gather all the supplies, hoping against all hope that we could at least make her stable until Marcus arrived.

7

CASSIE

Warmth bled through my body. I sighed and soaked it in. The sensation reminded me of lying in the summer sun. I was at peace, without a worry or care in the world. I had no idea how long I had been here, but I didn’t care either. I could stay in this place forever.

Then flashes of what happened in the woods rushed through my mind. The images reminded me I wasn’t supposed to be warm and comfortable. I wasn’t supposed to be at peace. Unless such things were what death was like. My understanding of death, from my experience, was that it was intensely cold, dark, and depressing. Not only for the person who died but for the people left behind too.

I know half of that to be true. My parents were killed in an accident almost ten years ago. The world was never the same for me. But I had to be strong for my sister. She relied on me.

Now, it seemed, I would have to wait to see if the first half was true. Because the longer I lay with my eyes closed, the more of the world that surrounded me came to life. Birds chirped from somewhere outside. A faint smell of food lingered in the air. My mouth watered.

I sucked in a deep breath and peeled my eyes open. After several seconds, the ceiling of a cabin came into focus. I stared at the ceiling trying to figure out what the hell happened. I didn’t have to guess where the ceiling I was staring at was. I was back at Jasper’s cabin.

My nightmare from the other night came to the forefront of my mind. My head felt too heavy to move, so I searched the part of the room my eyes could reach. Kai wasn’t within my vision. At the very least, he wasn’t staring down at me, or seconds from literally ripping my head off. I wasn’t paranoid he was hiding within the shadowed corners of the room. But my body had yet to catch up to everything.

Still, being back in the cabin was wrong. I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was supposed to be home by now… Or dead.

I carefully sat up and looked around, trying to figure out how I got back here. Instantly, my leg throbbed in agony which was a not-so-nice reminder of my most recent mistake. I hissed and realized I was going to have to take things easy. At least for a little while. A couple of days probably.

My leg was caught in a bear trap while I was trying to find my way back to my car. Just before falling unconscious, I recalled something massive and heavy rushing toward me. I thought I was going to be breakfast. It was a mercy I passed out before whatever was coming for me started feasting.

But considering I wasn’t dead. At least, not yet. That meant someone got to me before the animals could. Someone who lived in this Cabin. Jasper, probably. He made the most sense.

I took in the bed, recognizing it as Jaspers. I snorted. Good thing because I hated to see what Kai would have done if I had ended up in his bed again.

I wondered what time it was. There wasn’t a clock in the room, and the only window was covered with a large, dark blanket which let in enough light to let me know at least a few hours had passed. How much time though, I had no clue. There was no telling. It could have been days.

One thing was for certain… I wasn’t going to find any answers laying on the bed.

I threw the blanket off me, exposing my leg. I gawked at it, taking in the way it looked. My pants were ruined, cut just beneath my knee, and frayed on the ends. But below that, where the trap was previously lodged into my skin and bone, was a thick white bandage. A bit of blood stained the cloth in spots. Mostly likely where the puncture marks were.

Relief flooded through my nerves as I relaxed a little. Not only was I back at the cabin, but I was alive, and I had undergone some sort of medical care. The question was whether or not my leg could hold any weight so I could leave the room and get answers. There was only one way to find out and that idea made my anxieties spike a little. But I couldn’t stay in bed forever.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. The motion hurt, but nowhere near as much as it did when the trap was still stuck in my leg. Slowly, I let my feet rest on the floor, and I put the slightest bit of pressure on them. Stabbing pain rocketed through my leg and I hissed. If I had managed to bite through the pain enough to stand fully, I would’ve fallen over.

“You shouldn’t bear weight on your leg again for a couple of weeks,” Jasper said from somewhere behind me. “At least until after the doctor gets here.”

---