Page 14 of Midnight Hunt (Wolves of Midnight #4)

13

VIOLET

Water pooled in my eyes.

Or maybe blood. I couldn’t tell.

I reached up to wipe it away and immediately winced as pain shot up my arm. Lowering it, I lifted my other arm and rubbed at both eyes. When my vision was clear enough to see again, I focused on the red smear across the back of my hand.

Blood, then.

Reaching higher, I touched my forehead and pulled my fingers back to find more blood. The second I saw it, panic tightened my chest.

We’d crashed.

The plane had crashed .

As everything came rushing back to me, I glanced up and found a gaping hole in the cabin ceiling. Rain was slanting in, soaking me and everything inside the dark interior. While I waited for the ringing in my ears to fade, I continued to glance around, noting that I was still buckled in my seat. Only, my seat was angled backward now, leaving me in a reclined position.

Without thinking, I fumbled to undo the buckle with my injured arm. Agony flared up the length of it once more, stealing my breath away. Changing hands, I managed to unbuckle myself and sit up to better assess the situation. The front half of the plane still looked intact, but the back half was gone.

Like gone , gone.

I glanced around the broken cabin again, and my panic increased tenfold.

Alone. I was alone .

The only thing I could hear was my frantically beating heart. No others. Not Randy’s. Not Griff’s.

Remembering how Griff had been torn from me, my heart beat even faster. I struggled to stand and immediately doubled over in pain.

Some of your organs were damaged , Sable said. Also, your arm is dislocated. You need to fix it before the bones heal wrong. Want me to take over?

I shook my head, gasping out, “I need . . . to find Griff.”

She started to protest, but I ignored her, forcing my battered body into motion. My injured arm hung uselessly at my side as I grabbed on to anything I could find and hoisted myself up the aisle. My instincts screamed at me to go the other way, to put all of my energy into finding Griff, but I had to check on our pilot first.

“Randy,” I wheezed.

No response.

With only a few yards to go, I gritted my teeth and pulled my body the rest of the way up. When the cockpit door wouldn’t budge, I used my good shoulder to force it open, barely managing to swallow a pained cry as the move jarred my injuries.

Squeezing past the busted door, I immediately spotted the pilot still in his seat. He was blankly staring up at the ceiling—with a shard of glass from the shattered windshield protruding from his left eye.

Bile rose up my throat. I turned and retched into a corner, then paused to stare at the dark blood I’d just vomited.

You need to stop moving and let your body heal, Vi , Sable spoke again, her worry clear.

I stubbornly shook my head again and stumbled from the cockpit. There was nothing I could do for Randy, but . . .

“I need . . .” I started, only to double over and cough up more blood. Switching to mindspeak, I finished, to find Griff .

And I need to find Whiskey, but you’re in no condition to —

She stopped as I lost my footing and practically slid down the slippery aisle. When I tumbled out of the plane and hit the ground, I couldn’t suppress a cry of pain this time.

See? You’re not as tough as you think you are, young lady. Take a second to —

She growled her annoyance as I continued to ignore her and lumbered to my feet once more. Pausing only a brief moment to scan my surroundings, I took off at an awkward gait. The trees and rain were thick, making it hard to get anywhere fast, but the desperation clawing at my chest drove me onward.

I needed to find Griff. I needed to find Griff.

Nothing else mattered right now.

The front half of the jet had plowed through the thick forest before crashing against the base of Mount Marcy. The back half, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

“Griff!” I called out as loudly as I could, and my body rewarded me by succumbing to another coughing fit.

Pausing only a second to spit out more blood, I kept going, frantically searching for any sign of him. I didn’t know how much time passed, but I kept going and going, pushing my body to its breaking point.

Finally, it gave out on me.

As I crashed to the hard-packed earth, I cried out in despair. The wail rose into the night, transforming into a mournful howl.

Exhausted, I lowered my head, moments away from bursting into tears. That’s when I heard it. Over the wind and rain, a familiar voice answered my cry.

The voice was faint. Weak. But it filled me with so much relief that adrenaline surged through me, and I was on my feet a second later.

“Griff!” I shouted for the umpteenth time, and this time, he answered back.

I started to run, cradling my dislocated arm against my stomach so it wouldn’t flop around. I probably looked like a zombie on crack, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting to Griff.

“Griff!” I shouted again, following the sound of his voice every time he answered.

Half a mile later, my night vision spotted something bright up ahead. A patch of blond spiky hair. Griff’s hair.

A sob tore from my raw throat, and I scrambled forward as fast as I could to reach him. He was lying beside the opposite bank of a stream, and I quickly splashed across. Still crying, I staggered up the bank and promptly threw myself beside him.

“I was so worried,” I got out between sobs, trying to hug him. When my dislocated arm wouldn’t let me, I sobbed harder. “I thought . . . I thought . . . I thought you were dead .”

He allowed me to cry for a moment, then reached up to feather a hand over my injured arm. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s . . . It’s dislocated. I’ll recover.”

It was then that I finally noticed how still he was. Glancing down, I immediately saw the tree sticking out of his chest.

“Oh, my God, Griff!” I wailed, reaching for it, only to quickly yank my hand away.

It was more of a stump, actually, with jagged ends that had impaled him all the way through. The tree’s roots were still in the ground, and the trunk was thick enough that I couldn’t wrap both hands all the way around it.

Seeing it protruding from his body filled me with fresh panic, and I started to hyperventilate.

“Guess I got a splinter on the way down,” he weakly said between my gasping breaths.

“This isn’t the time for jokes , Griffin!” I cried, barely able to see his face through the rain and my tears. His complexion was too pale, his pupils too large, and his breaths were way too shallow.

I forced myself to stop crying, to stop breathing so I could listen to his heart.

Too slow, just as I feared.

“It punctured my heart a little but not much,” he lightly said despite the excruciating pain he must be in. “I could try shifting.”

“No!” I yelled at the same time Sable did. “The tree could tear into your heart more if you do that.”

“But—”

“ No , Griff. I won’t lose you to a tree . Just give me a second to think.”

Rocking back on my heels, I forced my gaze to the tree sticking out of his chest again. Nausea roiled in my gut, but I somehow managed not to throw up. “Okay,” I said, inhaling a shuddering breath. “Okay, I can figure this out. M-maybe I can perform a sleeping spell. I’m a little rusty, but—”

“I want to stay awake for this,” he firmly said.

“Okay, fine. Maybe I can—”

“You have to pull me off of it, Vi.”

I stared at him like he’d gone insane. Then violently shook my head. “I can’t do that.”

“It’s the only way.”

“I can’t, Griff. I can’t . What if I damage your heart even more, and—” A whimper left me before I could contain it.

“Remember when I was ten and fell into that old well on Mr. Scavinski’s property?” he asked. “Kol and Jag were too far away, but you heard my cries for help. I couldn’t climb out, so you threw a rope down and pulled me out all by yourself.”

I nodded, sniffling. “You were so embarrassed. You told me not to tell Kolton and Jagger about it. I never did.”

“Because you’re dependable and strong. I need help again, Vi. I need you . I know you can do this.”

I shook my head again, feeling anything but strong. “Reid broke up with me,” I blurted, suddenly needing him to know just how incapable I really was. “Randy’s dead. Dead . And you . . . You’re hurt. Like really hurt. This is all my fault. I keep screwing up and hurting the people I care about, and I can’t . . . I can’t hurt you even more. I can’t do it, Griffin. I’m so sorry.”

I started crying again. Sobbing. Sounding more and more hysterical by the second.

Pain contorted Griff’s face as he watched me fall apart. Lifting a hand, he whispered, “Come here.”

I immediately curled forward, allowing him to slide his hand behind my neck and guide my head down to his. My wet hair fell against his cheeks like a dark curtain as he pressed our foreheads together and said, “I’m fine. I’m right here. I know you’re afraid, but I won’t leave you.”

“Y-you don’t . . . You don’t know that,” I cried, punctuating the words with a hiccup.

“Yes, I do. Nothing can take me away from you, including this little toothpick in my chest.”

“That’s not . . . That’s not funny.”

“It kind of is. Although, saying I got impaled by wood might be funnier.”

“Griffin Hayes,” I tried to growl, but his name came out as a pathetic whine.

“Violet Jane,” he replied, amusement in his voice despite the awful situation. “Just breathe. That’s all you have to do right now. Breathe.”

I let my eyes flutter shut, using his calming presence to soothe my panic.

As my thundering heartbeats began to slow and my breathing evened, he hummed his approval. “Good girl.”

I sank into his warmth and allowed my nose to lightly brush his. His hold on my neck suddenly tightened, drawing me even closer. As his breath fanned across my mouth, I tensed and opened my eyes. His eyes lifted as well, and the message in them was clear.

“Griff,” I started, whether to warn him or encourage him, I wasn’t sure. Before I could decide, he drew my head down even lower and feathered his lips over mine. Tiny darts of electricity danced over my sensitive skin, and I sucked in a quiet gasp.

Startled by the unexpected kiss, I held still, my eyes wide like saucers. He pulled back a little to study my expression, then firmed his grip on my neck and brought our mouths together again. Hard . This time, the kiss streaked through me like bolts of lightning.

A breathy moan escaped me, and he kissed me again, so deeply that all I could feel and taste was him. My pain and fear melted away, and I was suddenly kissing him back with a desperation that stole the air from my lungs. The moment I did, a violent tremor shook him, his fingers spasming on my neck. He groaned, the sound equal parts pleasure and pain.

I broke the kiss with a cry of dismay. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”

He peeled his eyes open to blink up at me. “Yes, but you can hurt me like that any time.”

A smile crept onto his face, and I scowled, smacking his shoulder. “Seriously, Griff?”

He grunted but waved away my worried look. “Worth it. You’re feeling better already.”

My scowl deepened. “You kissed me to make me feel better?”

“It worked, didn’t it? You’re back to your usual bossy self.”

“ Bossy? I’m not—”

When he chuckled, I rolled my eyes and changed the subject.

“Let’s get this over with before I start freaking out again.” I reached for him, only to pull back with a sharp hiss.

He immediately sobered, taking in the way I cradled my injured arm against my chest. “That needs to be popped back into place first.”

I nodded with a grimace.

Sure, listen to him , not me , Sable grumbled.

“It’s already started to heal wrong,” I told him, stiffening when he slid his hand to my injured shoulder joint.

“I’ll be quick,” he said, bringing his other hand up to brace me.

My heart started hammering in my chest again, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “Okay, just do it before I chicken out. No counting or—” Crack . “AAHH! Mother of—”

I swore colorfully as Griff jerked the bone back into place. Seconds later, though, the pain began to fade.

“Need another kiss?” Griff asked as I slowly rotated my shoulder.

“Shut up,” I muttered, even as my lips warmed at the thought of being pressed to his again. Quickly shaking off the thought, I gave him a stern look. “Okay, your turn. Sable and I will do all the work, so don’t even think about trying to be all manly and help out.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. My life is in your hands. Literally.”

I pursed my lips at his blasé attitude but didn’t comment. Calling on my wolf familiar’s aid, I waited for the partial shift in my arms and legs to finish before reaching for Griff again. When I carefully slid my furry arms beneath him, he obediently kept still.

“Put your arm around my neck,” I quietly instructed, suddenly feeling the weight of what I was about to do. If I pulled him off the tree at the wrong angle . . .

Griff wrapped his arm around me, and the close contact instantly soothed some of my panic.

“I’m gonna need a kiss after this,” he lightly said, but I didn’t miss the strain in his voice. He was starting to panic too.

Knowing there was no way to shelter him from the pain to come, I replied, “Make it through this alive, and you can have all the kisses you want.”

“Promise?”

At the change in his tone, I let my eyes meet his. The usual chocolate brown was now a bright yellow, and I swallowed hard at the sight. Firming my grip on him, I nodded.

“Cross my heart,” I promised, then gritted my teeth and pulled.