It takes me a good hour to hide and set up the traps. Placing the last one down and setting it, I stand up to stretch my back when I hear the chink of metal. Donnie excitedly jumps around in my head. He is wondering the same thing I am. Has something fallen prey to our traps? He urges me to investigate.
I creep back toward the last one, but it is still fine. But I stop dead in my tracks when I see Jonah standing there. The trap has been set at his feet, and he is trying to pry a large stick from it. The end snaps off, and he nearly falls backward on his butt.
I suck in a deep, very fucking frustrated breath as my lips press together in a thin line. Jonah spins around and jumps when he spots me standing behind him. “Jonah, what are you doing? Why did you leave your spot at the tree?” I demand answers from the boy.
At this point, I am struggling to keep my cool. I get it, he’s a kid and all that crap on top of it, but for fuck’s sake, he seems to be adamant to go above and beyond to ruin my day. Not to mention that he ignored what Malik told him, and now, he’s clearly ignoring commands from an Alpha.
“I wanted to help, but I kept finding these traps, so I set them off,” he boasts.
“How many have you set off, Jonah?” I ask through gritted teeth.
He thinks for a second and looks at his hands to count on his little fingers. “This many,” he says as he proudly holds up both hands, and then adds another finger.
I suppress the growl that really freaking wants to escape me as I keep reminding myself that I am facing a child. Jonah is only a child. Annoying little shit, but a child that doesn’t know better. “So, eleven?” I ask him, running a hand through my hair in obvious frustration.
Jonah nods. His eyes light up like he just did me an excellent service instead of making me waste an hour of my life setting them up.
“You were told to wait by the tree.” I remind him.
The boy averts his gaze to his feet and his shoulders slump. “I just wanted to help, and then I saw the traps when I was following your scent.”
“Why would you set them off, Jonah? You don’t play with bear traps,” I lecture him. I’m not sure if I’m that annoyed anymore since I think I’m a little concerned for the boy’s well being too. Anything could have happened to him.
Fucking hell, his leg might have been caught in one of those traps and he is still too young to heal without a wolf, so the process would likely take an immense amount of time and pain. Reckless little shit.
“Because someone left them out, and I didn’t want you to step on one. I was careful, I used a stick. My dad showed me how to set them off.” Jonah explains as he holds up the stick he is clutching in his tiny hand. I can tell it has been chomped down considerably from the traps.
I rub a hand down my face, annoyed at this small creature and his troublesome ways.
“You can’t really be mad, Andrei, he thought he was helping,” Donnie prods me, and I sigh.
I give up. My wolf has a point. “Come on, it will rain soon,” I tell him.
Jonah jumps excitedly and immediately leads the way back. He runs off, which results in me jogging to keep up with him. I spot eight traps he has set off on the way back.
“Come on, Mr. Andrei,” Jonah waves as a playful giggle escapes him.
I roll my eyes and pick up my pace to catch up with him. All thanks to my goddamn luck, I step on something that is not ground.
The damn trap catches my leg, and the pain ripples across the lower part of my shin. “Mother fucking bitch ass fucker,” I swear as I drop on my ass to see my foot, caught in my own trap.
This day couldn’t get any damn better anymore. One goddamn adventure after another, all thanks to a little shit. He wants to help me? Help my ass, Jonah! I look at the trap, tightly trapping my leg and cutting into my flesh.
I punch the ground, furious at myself and the entire world. Jonah comes skipping back to me a few seconds later. He stops, freezes in his step, and stares at my leg. The boy’s face turns a little green at the sight of the blood, and I pray to the gods to save me from the risk of getting puked all over. Piss was enough from this boy.
On the bright side, as bright as it fucking gets, my leg isn’t broken. Sill, it fucking hurts like an ass fucking bitch, and right about now, I really want to strangle the life out of my little, oh so innocent helper.
“Jonah, are you sure you counted correctly? And why is this one moved?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“I found that one first, and I didn’t have a stick, so I moved it between the trees,” he murmurs as his little eyes widen in pure horror.
I push the springs down on either side of the trap, the jaws open up enough for me to get my foot out before they snap shut again. I look at my leg, fighting the urge to curse him out or whoop his bloody ass. My leg slowly starts healing and I carefully try to move it.
Everything seems fine, especially since I can still move it and there doesn’t seem to be too much damage, except for the blood loss, but then, I hear a soft thud.
My eyes snap in his direction. Jonah seems to be weak to the sight of blood. The boy has passed out on the ground, face down.
As I haul myself to my feet, I curse every living and dead creature for the luck that I have been having today. Of course, no one but me would have such damn luck – literally.
Although I think about leaving Jonah in the forest, just to teach him a lesson about what can happen to someone when they keep ignoring commands and try to escape the punishments they earn, but I can’t. Thunder rumbles across the sky, the storm is approaching us quickly, and Sage would kill me if she knew I left the little worm here.
I groan, bend down and grab him by the back of his shorts and shirt in my fist.