Page 10 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Pilot
Not like this, I thought as consciousness began to slip away, my vision tunneling to a pinpoint of light.Not when they’re counting on me.I need to get them out.I need to save them.
But the darkness wouldn’t be denied.It swept over me in a relentless wave, my last coherent thought not for myself, but for my crew and my passenger.I failed them.
Then nothing but the void, as cold and unforgiving as the wilderness that had claimed us.
Chapter 4
TANNER
Consciousness returned with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.My first gasping breath filled my lungs with the toxic cocktail of fuel and blood, metallic and sweet, mixing with the burning chemical stench that singed my nostrils.The world hung upside down, suspended by the seatbelt cutting into my hips.Blood rushed to my head, pounding against my temples with each heartbeat.
Something warm trickled down my forehead, across my brow.I reached up, fingers coming away sticky and crimson.
That’s when my wolf woke up.
The beast inside me surged to life with a ferocity that stole what little breath I had left.It clawed at my human form, desperate to break free, to find her.To protect her.My inner animal recognized something about Felicity that my rational mind couldn’t or wouldn’t acknowledge.The intensity of it shocked me.In all my years of controlling my dual nature, I’d never felt my wolf react this strongly to another person.The possessiveness shocked me.It was primal and absolute.My muscles tensed with the need to shift, bones aching as they fought to rearrange themselves.I gritted my teeth against the transformation.Not here.Not now.But the wolf wouldn’t be silenced.Its instincts screamed one clear message.Mine.Mine to protect.Mine to save.
“Foster!”I called out, my voice a ragged whisper in the deathly quiet cabin.No response.
I fumbled with my seatbelt, fingers thick and uncooperative against the metal clasp.When it finally released, I wasn’t prepared.My body crashed against the inverted ceiling with bone-jarring force.My shoulder took the brunt of the impact.Pain shot down my arm like lightning.
“Fuck,” I hissed, rolling onto my hands and knees.The plane groaned around me, metal shifting and contracting in the cold.Wind howled through countless breaches in the fuselage, bringing snow and ice with it.The temperature was dropping rapidly.
I crawled forward through the twisted wreckage toward the cockpit, pushing aside debris that blocked my path.“Felicity!Bryce!Can you hear me?”
The only answer was the creaking of the damaged aircraft and the mournful wail of the wind.My wolf senses stretched outward, searching for signs of life.Two heartbeats, one strong, one fading fast.
I reached the co-pilot first.
The sight punched the air from my lungs.A jagged shard of metal, likely torn from the fuselage during impact, had speared through Bryce’s chest.His young face was slack, eyes wide and staring at nothing.Blood had pooled and frozen on his flight uniform, creating a macabre blossom pattern across his chest.
With trembling fingers, I pressed against his neck, searching for a pulse I already knew wasn’t there.No breathing sounds reached my enhanced hearing.No heartbeat.Nothing.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, gently closing his eyes with my fingertips.My wolf whined softly inside me, acknowledging the passing of a life.
The scent of Felicity’s blood hit me like a physical punch.My wolf surged forward again, nearly breaking my control.I squeezed through the mangled doorway into the cockpit, heart hammering against my ribs.
She hung limply in her harness, head slumped forward.Blood matted her honey-blonde hair, trickling down behind her ear and along her slender neck.The sight of it made my wolf howl with rage.
A low growl vibrated in my chest, completely involuntary and purely animal.I was desperate to verify she was alive, to lick her wounds, to carry her to safety.I’d felt protective urges before, but nothing this consuming and this desperate.My hands shook not from fear but from restraining the shift that threatened to overtake me.I needed my human form now, my human mind, but the beast was dangerously close to the surface.
I pressed my fingers to her throat, relief washing over me when I felt the steady, if slightly weak, rhythm beneath her skin.
The smell of fuel grew stronger, more insistent.My heightened senses tracked the source to a rapidly expanding pool beneath the wreckage.The rate at which it was spreading told me everything I needed to know.We had minutes, not hours, before the whole thing went up in flames.
“Foster,” I called, carefully unbuckling her harness while supporting her weight.She was lighter than expected, fragile in my arms despite the strength I’d witnessed her display at the controls.“Felicity, wake up.We need to move.”
Her eyelids fluttered, then opened slowly.Those remarkable green eyes were clouded with confusion.She stared through me rather than at me as if she couldn’t focus.
“Wha…where…” she mumbled, words slurring together.“Are we…landing soon?”
“Felicity, listen to me,” I said firmly, keeping my voice even despite the urgency screaming through every nerve.“We crashed.Bryce didn’t make it.The plane’s leaking fuel.We need to get out now.Can you tell me where the emergency supplies are kept?”
Her eyes drifted closed, then snapped open with renewed clarity.Her pilot’s training kicked in despite the concussion fog.“Behind…cockpit.Galley storage.Top cabinet.”
“Stay with me,” I ordered, propping her against what remained of her seat before scrambling toward the storage area.
The compartment door had been torn half off its hinges.I yanked it open, grabbing everything potentially useful.A thick wool emergency blanket and a first aid kit stood out.Wedged at the back, there was a bright orange survival pack.I snatched it without checking its contents.No time.
