Once he was done, he lay there, panting. "Follow my trail back. Ed's caught in a trap. It's bad," Allan gasped out.
Adrenaline surged through Doc, and he rushed to the door.
"Stay here," he ordered the exhausted werewolf.
"I am coming. I will slow you down, but you may need me," Nikolai insisted.
He nodded, and they ran out of the cabin and into the night. Using his nose, he followed Allan's trail, fighting against panic and forcing himself to keep to a pace Nikolai could match. The fear in the werewolf's scent made tracking him easier than normal. Especially since the wolf's scent covered Doc's land.
Nikolai managed to keep up reasonably well, and they both nearly skidded to a stop when they saw Ed.
The light blond werewolf had his front leg caught in what had to be a bear trap. Ed was lucky the thing hadn't taken his front leg clean off. He growled at the two men, lips pulled back to reveal long teeth.
Doc took a step forward, seeing red, but Nikolai put his hand on his chest to stop him, ignoring his angry snarl. "Look at his eyes."
Normally, Ed's eyes in wolf form were the same as his human eyes, sky blue. Now they looked like actual wolf eyes, dark brown.
"What did they do?" There was no question in his mind that the Andersons were behind this.
"Somehow, they blocked his humanity. He may be aware, but only the wolf has control. An injured werewolf could hurt you. I need to restrain him first."
"Go ahead."
Nikolai held his hands out, and blue motes filled the night, sinking into the ground. After a moment, vines twined out of the ground, growing quickly and encircling the wolf.
Ed fought, snarling and biting at them, but one wrapped up around his muzzle, and the vines trapped him to the ground.
The wolf glared at Nikolai, but couldn't move.
Doc stepped up to the trap and studied it. He knew how to open them, but Nikolai stopped him before he could try.
"Doc, there is a spell that steals humanity on this trap. Imagine what would happen if it stole yours."
He paled and stepped back.
"They are trying to hurt you, and they know what they're up against. They aren't aware you have a trained mage. Let me handle it for now."
"Thank you."
"Of course, now move."
Ed growled when Nikolai knelt near the trap. The Russian mage ignored the werewolf and held his hands over the trap. Blue motes sank into the spelled metal, and Nikolai muttered angrily in Russian.
After a short time, the trap snapped open and then disintegrated. Then Nikolai turned his attention to Ed.
"This is bad," he admitted.
"How bad?"
"It is a good thing both of us are here, or you would lose him, either to infection, or to the wild. Let him have some of your blood. It will stabilize his leg. It will be easier to combat the other spell if he is no longer in extreme pain."
He called his fangs back and, after removing his bracelet, sank his teeth into his wrist. He let the blood drip into Ed's muzzle. The vines loosened enough so that the wolf could lick the blood and swallow.
"That is probably enough," Nikolai said.
He nodded and licked the excess blood off of his wrist, which also helped to seal the wound, though it was closing quickly enough on its own. He put his bracelet back on and knelt next to Ed and Nikolai.
The mage muttered to himself for nearly half an hour, pouring magic into Ed. At some point, the wolf lost consciousness. "This is a nasty spell. It has the touch of demon magic to it, which is why it's so difficult to combat."
"Ash."
"Unless they have another pet demon."
"We're trying to prevent that."
"I know. There, it is gone. He will recover. He just needs to rest. Can you carry him back?" Nikolai banished the vines holding the wolf down.
"Yes."
"Good. I will check for other traps and meet you back at the cabin." Nikolai stood, though he leaned against a tree for a few moments before he was able to stand on his own. "This altitude…"
"Be careful, Nikolai."
"Yes, of course. Watch your step on the way back. This is still your land?" He gestured to the ground where they stood.
"Yes, it is."
"Hopefully, they would not set such traps on public land, but it is hard to say what they are capable of."
"Yeah," Doc replied. He knelt and gathered the light blond wolf into his arms, trying not to hurt him any further. Nikolai had done a decent job with the wound. The wolves healed nearly as quickly as Doc did, but something like this would take a while.
He walked carefully, all senses alert, as he carried Ed back to the cabin. Allan was curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and looking both terrified and miserable, when Doc made it back to the cabin.
"Is he going to be okay?" Allan cried, his voice catching.
"Yes. Nikolai was able to reverse all of the spells, and we healed him enough to stabilize his wound."
"Those bastards," Allan growled.
"They're going to be sorry," he ground out.
"Damn straight they are." He followed Doc back to the bedroom and crawled into the bed next to where he laid Ed.
"I'm going to clean this wound. We'll clean it again and really bandage it when he shifts back," he said. "Get some rest, Allan. You look like hell."
"Feel like it. You're sure he's going to be okay?"
"There is a spell for that." Doc imitated Nikolai's accent, and Allan sort of laughed.
"Good. Hopefully there is also a spell for kicking the Andersons' asses."
"Yes, there is a spell for that, too," Nikolai said as he came into the room. "Many spells. I am battle mage. I believe I mentioned that. When we finally meet in combat, they will not know what hit them."
Chapter 12
Sofia
"What happened to your neck?!"
