To Walk Alone

- fate -

Her screams nearly broke him.

The pain she endured for those brief moments cut him deeply as if a knife were stabbing him repeatedly. He knew he wasn't the only one in the clearing to be affected by the sound of her terrified howls. He didn't understand at first, and it took him – and the others – a few short moments to realize what in the world was happening seconds after she fell sideways. Johnny hadn't even broken the skin on her scruff when he'd grabbed her only a moment ago, so why was she screaming?

His limbs practically froze upon the sight of the bear trap biting down on her. Traps like that were meant to not only maim but kill. Within seconds he shifted faster than he ever had in his life, and so did the others. Their intent had been to capture and question her, then decide what would be done with her. They never meant to catch her like this.

His stomach clenched and bile rose in the back of his throat. He darted forward with Korbin, Johnny, and Lucas to subdue her. Despite the injury, she still put up a hell of a good fight, and when Johnny's hand got too close to her snapping jaws, she snared him momentarily with her teeth and he shot backward with a growl, clutching his injured hand to his chest.

Damn, she's a fighter!

He held her head steady until her thrashing finally ended; his heart racing with panic in his chest while the others attempted to pry the metal jaws out of her flesh. Johnny's wound was minimal compared to the one she just endured. Her blood stained the five sets of hands that worked frantically to get the sharp toothed metal trap to open up enough so they could pull her to safety.

Her neck wasn't broken, thank goddess, and neither was her spine because she'd kicked with her back legs until the very moment her eyes shut and she passed out; whether it was because of pain, or fear, or a combination of both, he didn't know. Only when she'd grown unresponsive did he remove his hands from their firm grip on her.

"Is she still alive?" someone behind him asked, but he only growled furiously in reply.

"Who the fuck puts out bear traps this time of year?" growled Korbin. He was crouched beside Johnny in the dirt, their hands working together in an attempt to pry the trap open. Lucas sat next to Jake, ready to help roll her out of the way before the claws could chomp down on her again.

Once they pried the bars open enough to pull her out, they drew her away as carefully and quickly as possible so that her flesh wouldn't tear any more than it already had. The trap snapped shut again, barely missing Korbin's fingers in the process.  Korbin tossed the closed trap behind him, and it hit the trunk of the tree with a metallic ring. Blood pooled from the dozen plus holes in her body, but they had absolutely nothing to stop the bleeding with. Every single one of them shifted on the fly, shredding their clothes in the process before chasing after her.

Each hole was inches deep, and they had no idea where to start. Her mangled shoulder caused her front leg to bend at an unnatural angle that only made his stomach roll even more. Blood mingled in with her black coat, making it almost impossible to decipher exactly where it was coming from.

"Check out her paw," Johnny said as his bloodied fingers trailed down her obviously broken leg to the bracelet just barely visible beneath her dark fur.

"More vervain no doubt," said Korbin as he applied pressure to her side. He let go a few curse words while his fingers were quickly coated in blood.

Along with Jake's hands, they attempted to stop the bleeding of the more major wounds, but blood still seeped through their fingers from the ones they couldn't cover.

With a quick yank, the bracelet was torn from her leg and chucked a few feet away. It was a bad mistake. The smell that drifted to them paralyzed Jake's senses and his body seized up with a sharp intake of breath, as if he'd been hit by a truck going mach ten.