Mated For Life

CHAPTER ONE Morgan Grey's POV

"Mayday, mayday! Engines down! Emergency landing required! I repeat mayday! Hello?! Mayday! Going down!" I shouted into my radio com as I wrestled the throttle for some form of control. The drift of cruel snow and forceful winds did not help either. I tried in vain to steady the small plane as I prepared for an emergency landing just like I had been trained. I guided the small white plane into the wind, trying to slow it down somewhat. I had given up trying to reach someone at the station. If no one had answered my distress call by now then no one would.

The plane slowed down just enough for me to guide it to a clearing between the large oak trees. The sharp white of the landscape hurt my eyes. But I ignored it like it was just another detail in a training mission. I smiled in a small victory as I gained control over the plane and brought it into land. It was short-lived as the forecasted storm hit the side of the plane, causing it to tilt towards the unforgiving line of thick oak trees. I had no time to try and avoid them so I braced for impact. I hit the trees nose first, the jolting impact throwing me into darkness.

It was the pain.... the excruciating pain in my leg and side that pulled me out of my dreams of planes crashing and gale force winds strong enough to overturn cars and cows. But it was the piercing coldness pressing into me that made me realize that it was not a dream. I blinked away the blurriness that fogged up my vision and took in my surroundings. The windshield had completely shattered, with shards of glass glittering the co-pilot's chair, floor, and my lap. The left-wing must have ripped off in the crash because there was a huge gash in its place, allowing the penetrating cold into the plane.

The inside was a wreck, supplies, and parts thrown everywhere. I do not think the fuel tank got damaged so that's a plus I reassured myself. I tried to get up but the pain in my leg and side stopped me. I looked down at my leg, groaning in frustration when I saw a jagged piece of metal sticking out of it. It seemed that it was lodged into the seat underneath me, pinning me to the chair.

I put my hands on the seat next to my leg and pushed up. I screamed at the unbearable pain sliding down my leg and stopped the second I started. My heart was beating so fast that that was all I could hear. I took deep breaths and tried to calm my heart rate so that I could think clearly. I shook away the fogginess the pain had created and braced myself to try again. I send a silent prayer up to Artemis and I gritted my teeth and prepared for the agonizing pain that I knew was about to come.

I felt my body go rigid, every muscle in my body tensing, as I pushed up once more, this time shoving past mind-numbing pain. I felt every inch of the jagged steel slide through my leg, the sucking sound caused by the tight muscle and free-flowing blood made me feel sick as it rang through the cabin. I ignored it and continued until my leg was completely free of the rod.

I threw my body into the co-pilot's chair and drew in deep breaths, waiting for the pain to ebb away slightly. It blanked out the pain in my side. I looked around the cabin spotting a scarf on the floor which I grabbed and wrapped tightly around the bleeding wound, tying it tightly above it in the hopes that it would slow down the blood that was staining a deep red path down my leg.

As I calmed down I realized for the first time that I was shaking and wondered if it was the rapid blood loss or the fact that all I was wearing was a thin long sleeve shirt and ripped jeans. I pulled up the bottom of my shirt, shivering as the freezing air met my exposed skin as I revealed the reason why my side hurt so much. I winced at the sight of already darkening bruises. I knew from experience that something was broken. I touched my side lightly, flinching at the pain as I pressed deeper into my side, feeling my ribs. I counted three broken ribs and at least two fractured. I pulled down my shirt, colder than I should be, and took slow breaths to control my body's response to the pain.