Page 38 of Knot a Chance in Hell

My back hit the massive trunk of another tree, and the log started to compress me against it. There was no more pushing against it. It was too heavy. Pain exploded in me as my ribs cracked. I couldn’t breathe. This fucking log was going to squeeze the life out of me.

“Pull!” Silas yelled. The scraping of bark against rock assaulted my ears.

My vision blurred and darkness crept in on the edges.

Ezekiel and Silas shouted again, and most of the weight left me. I dragged in a shaky breath. Pain came along with the cool air.

They’d managed to twist the log enough so it wasn’t crushing me any longer, but my broken ribs made each breath excruciating. It would be a while before a rescue crew would be able to get here. If I had internal bleeding, I was dead already.

“Kodiak!” Silas hurried over. “I tied off the log, but we’ve got to move you in case it snaps.”

Move. Fuck, no.

“Come on, man. You’ve got this.” Silas lifted my arm and put it over his shoulder. I snarled with the pain, but I resisted the reflex to hit him. Move. We had to move.

Each step shook my broken bones like an earthquake. The world swam, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other.

I stared down at the ferns. Ferns as green as Nicolette’s beautiful eyes.

Somewhere to the right, Ezekiel was talking. Accident, Tongass, the coordinates of our worksite.

Then just behind us, something snapped, and the log crashed into the tree I’d been pinned to.

“It’s all good, man. Sit here.” Silas helped lower me down so I was sitting with my back against a stump. “Look at me, Kodiak. Focus. How hurt are you?”

“Nothing a beer or two won’t take care of,” I hissed out the words. Damn, it hurt to talk too.

“Broke ribs, right?” Silas eyed me. I nodded once. “You tasting blood?” I didn’t think so and shook my head. “Good. I know you’re a hard nut to crack, Kodiak, but fuck. That was a huge log. Hang in there. Ezekiel’s on the satellite phone calling in help. You need any water?”

Maybe. I didn’t know. The stabbing pain with each breath wasn’t helping.

Silas fetched one of the water bottles and brought it over. “I’m going to put it beside you. Let me know if you need any.” He ran his hands through his hair, pacing in front of me. “Ezekiel hurt his ankle jumping out of the tree. Probably just sprained.”

Ezekiel jumped out of the tree? That was a big no in our work. But so was not paying attention when a log was ready to come down. All of us had fallen from trees over the years, but none of us had been nearly steamrolled by a thousand pound hunk of wood. That was all on me.

I let my eyes flutter closed. A little nap….

“Don’t you fucking pass out on me.” Silas snapped his fingers in front of my face. My eyes jerked open. He dug into our trauma kit pack and took out some antibiotic wipes and bandages. “You’re scratched up. Some might be deep and there’s likely splinters. You’re going to be real pretty in hospital dressing when we bring you back to Nicolette.”

I almost laughed, but the one near chuckle hurt too much. “She’s going to kick our asses for letting this happen.”

“She has that famous redheaded temper. She’s going to tear us a new one.” Silas flashed me a tight smile as he started to clean my wounds.

And I welcomed it. I would have given anything to hear her giving us shit right now.

Ezekiel limped over with the phone in hand. His eyes were wild and his face pale. “Rescue is coming. Might take an hour or so. But Sav’s been trying to reach us. Nicolette needs us. Her heat has gotten really bad.”

Fuck. Screw my ribs. I needed to get home to my Omega right now.

I tried to stand but my body screamed in protest.

“Not you, man. You need to stay still.” Silas settled me back into place.

Nicolette. I couldn’t stand the thought of her in pain.

“I’m staying here too. There’s no way I can make it back to the boat on my own.” Ezekiel’s gaze bore into Silas’. “You’re going right now, Silas. You need to take care of Nicolette.”

What?

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