Page 43 of Coerced

Then a massive Hellhound lashed out with one huge paw and caught Jax’s shoulder, and I watched in horror as the beast pulled him down.

“Jax!” I screamed as the hound tore into him.

Oh no, oh no! I jinxed us!

Then Kerry was there, his dagger now a katana that he whirled quick as lightning. In one smooth move, he took the head of the creature and was scanning the area before his blade finished its downward stroke.

“Gigi! Get him outta here!” he barked. “Everyone, back to camp! I got this! Go, go, go!”

Gigi blinked into the fray, grabbed Jax, and disappeared with him. John grabbed Tara and they were gone, too. Clem took a second to glance around, then rushed up the slope toward me.

I didn’t want to leave Kerry all alone, but I had to trust he knew what he was doing.

“Don’t you dare die, Kerry Harker!” I yelled.

Clem crested the ravine and grabbed my arm.

“Come on, girl! My knees aren’t what they used to be!”

Wheezing like a steam train, he dragged me along with him.

#

I didn’t know where to start to help Jax. There was just so much damage that I froze in shock for several seconds.

Thank you, God, that he’s unconscious.

“Gemma?” Gigi’s voice was thick with tears, but quiet and steady. “You can fix him, right?”

I swallowed hard against the bile as I pushed his intestines back inside his stomach.

“Sure.”

Power flowed from my core and shimmers of gold coated Jax’s bloody body, pooling in the worst of the wounds. The rent in his neck. The long tears in his abdomen. The thick gouge in his upper thigh.

As the bleeding slowed to a trickle, I felt light-headed and knew I was close to my limit, but I couldn’t give up. This wasJax.

“Gemma, stop.” Gigi’s voice was raw. “Don’t drain yourself. We may need you later.”

Shoulders drooping, I heaved a sigh and sank back on my heels.

Clem came over and plunked a massive toolbox next to me. He opened it to reveal it had been converted to an oversized first-aid kit. After rooting around in it for a few seconds, he handed me a white tube.

“Here, seal him up with this.”

I frowned. What he held out looked something like a marker with a dispensing button.

“It’s skin glue,” he explained. “Hellhounds and Hellcats are like snakes. They have venom in their fangs. We can stand a bite or three, but more than that is too much and prevents wounds from healing. The best you can do for now is glue the skin closed until we find a better solution.”

With Gigi watching my every move, I applied the glue, which reminded me of the instant adhesives I used for crafts. Tara helped me clamp the skin together until the glue started to stick, then I laid gauze pads over them. Clem pulled a roll of purple medical wrap from the toolbox and we wound it tightly around Jax’s torso and thigh. I wrapped his neck a little looser, just taut enough to hold the gauze in place.

I didn’t know what else to do, so Gigi ’ported them both to his tent and zipped it closed behind her.

Using some snow to clean my hands, I looked around at the others, but was so tired I could barely think beyond one thing.

“I’m worried about Kerry.”

“I think he had it under control.” Tara patted my shoulder.

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