Claw's Bridge(Discontinued)

66. Trap

"So you have a sister?" I asked, giving Yoongi my hoodie so he could cover up. I was wearing a shirt, so fortunately, I was not cold. I gave him my shorts, so he didn't feel cold, leaving me in my swimming trunks that I wore since my underwear was in the laundry.

"Yeah. She lives somewhere around here," he replied.

"I thought your troops had ventured every place on the planet?"

"Well, it's easy to lie when you're in charge of mapping the regions and paths that the troops must follow," he shrugged. "This place is marked as what we call the Black Zone, or the dangerous zone."

"I'm guessing you volunteered for that role," I commented.

"I had to fight Seokjin for that role. Our argument lasted three days. At that time, I didn't have the mindset of respecting him as King, it was a battle of the leaders in the palace. Both of us were at each other's throats, yet yearned for each other's care. I was too stubborn, I refused to cave in. That's how I was raised," he said. "Three days into the fight Seokjin caved in."

"Oh," I replied. "How far is it?"

"Well, she should be here," he said, looking around.

"There's not even a house here?" I pointed it out.

"She knows we're here. Now it depends on whether she's willing to help or not," he said.

"Your sister won't help you?" I asked, incredulously.

"There's a reason she ran away, Jungkook," he said, my name slipping out of his mouth.

"Nighter," I corrected. "That's some weird family dynamic."

"You want to talk about family dynamics now?" he joked. I chuckled in response. "What did you mean when you told the guard that you changed your mind when he tried to kiss you?"

I pursed my lips, knowing how mates could act up in such a situation. "Don't worry about it. We escaped, that's what counts," I brushed it off.

He hummed in response, skeptical. "Well, I don't think she wants to help. Let's go," he said. "Quickly."

I followed him wordlessly, but I abruptly stopped when I felt a click under my right foot, followed by a faint sound. It was inaudible for Yoongi's hearing, but I could hear it clear as day. "Yoongi," I called out. He turned around. "What am I standing on?"

He looked down at my foot, his eyes widening. "A small trap," he replied. "You can look down, but stand still." I looked down, glad that it wasn't something that could be set off by even the slightest movement or pressure like by moving my head to look down and adding pressure to my feet.

(It's a bear trap, but bears don't exist on Dagon or Jupiter, so I can't call it that.)

Yoongi bent down, trying to find the wheel to disable the trap. I looked around for any potential threats while he worked on the trap. I squinted my eyes, seeing a faint hint of people walking towards us.

"Yoongi, hide. There's someone coming," I said, tugging his shirt. "Go now."

"But-" he started, but I cut him off.

"Better me than you," I said. I looked in their direction to calculate how much time Yoongi had to find a hiding spot. They were only a minute away. Few more steps, and Yoongi would be visible. We were standing behind a big rock, Yoongi hidden by crouching down in front of me. "You'll make it worse by staying here. Go hide."

He reluctantly ran off, staying crouched so they couldn't see him peek out from behind the rock. I let out a shaky breath, knowing that I had to move my foot in any situation.

"Grab him," one of the Southerner guards ordered. I pursed my lips, hoping that the others stepped on the sharp teeth of the trap that was facing the sky, waiting for a victim.

"AH!" I yelled in pain as the teeth pierced through my calf when they tried to pull me away. The trap had closed on my calf, drawing blood. I bit my lip to hold back my screams. They stopped pulling me, and just watched as I tried to keep my leg straight. My free leg gave way as my brain focused on coping with the pain.

"Where's Min Yoongi?" one of the guards asked, crouching down and grabbing my jaw to make me look at him. "Where's your mate?"

"I don't know," I let out. "We part ways an hour ago."

"Lies," he growled out. "Free him. We'll take him with us. Min Yoongi will follow."

"Hate to break it to you," another voice said. I looked up at the person standing a few meters away from us. "But I'm not letting you hurt my brother's mate."