Free Cover of Darkness by Kaylea Cross

had a bead on them right now. They needed to slow the bleeding and find cover before they had more bullet wounds to deal with.
    "Shit. Fuckers got my femoral artery," he panted, looking down at himself. "Christ."
    Her mind raced to remember what little first aid training she had. Stop the bleeding. Elevate the limb. What could she use to tie around his leg? She didn't even have a hair elastic.
    Her jacket. Blood kept pumping out of him as she fumbled to get the sleeves tied together above the wound, twisting it as tight as she could with her slippery fingers. The warm, coppery smell of it sickened her, fed the panic welling inside.
    Suddenly, Spencer shoved her flat with one arm and reared up to fire another couple of rounds. He dropped down again with a deep growl of agony. In the fading light he looked washed out. He was losing so much blood.
    Bryn grabbed him under the armpits, determined to drag him to safety. She had to get him under cover somewhere and get that bleeding under control, and she had to do it now .
    He tried to slap her hands away. "Leave me. Run.
    I'll...be...okay."
    "Shut up," she snapped again, beyond the ability to stay calm. He probably had a good eighty pounds on her, and in 76

    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross
    her weakened state she wasn't sure if she could do it. But she was sure as hell going to try.
    Lunging to her feet she hauled him, every muscle in her body straining with the effort. He howled, body arching upward again. She fell backwards, crawled forward and grabbed him a second time. More bullets whizzed past, spraying up sand around them. Somehow, Spencer shot off more rounds and she stumbled onward, an animalistic growl of fear and fury and determination tearing from her throat.
    She shifted him a couple of feet, then a few more, picking up momentum as she worked her way to the relative safety of the boulders at the mouth of the cave. The muscles in her legs, back and shoulders screamed, but she moved him.
    As soon as they were behind the screen of rock she fell flat on her back, shaking and gasping. Spencer lay still for a moment too, their mingled shallow breaths the only sound.
    She rolled over and crawled to his side with the medical kit they'd left hidden inside the cave. He rummaged through it and grabbed the tourniquet, wrapped it around himself and she helped tighten it, both of them covered with his blood.
    His lungs were heaving now, his hands shaking like leaves in a windstorm. In the thin moonlight he was a sickening shade of gray. He was going into shock.
    She gingerly moved his leg and stuffed the first aid kit underneath his knee, blanching when he screamed. Afraid to move him again or jostle the leg in case she made the bleeding worse, she stared down at the tourniquet and pressed a wad of sterile bandages across it. Was it working?
    77

    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross
    The bleeding seemed to have lessened. Unless he'd already lost most of his blood.
    "What can I do?" she asked helplessly, stroking the blond hair away from his face. Hot tears stung her eyes. "Can I give you some pain meds?"
    "N-no," he snapped, his voice hoarse. "T-too late."
    Too late? She wanted to ask him why a little morphine would hurt, under the circumstances, but knew he must have a good reason. "Water, then?"
    "Noth-nothing—" he bit out, teeth chattering. "N-need blood."
    He did, and fast. And they were certainly not in a position to give him a transfusion out here in the middle of nowhere, even if they'd had units of blood on hand. She had to keep him calm, try to get his heart rate to slow before he bled out.
    "I know it's small comfort, but I'm here. I promise I won't leave you. Just breathe slowly."
    He made a growl of acknowledgement, lips clamped together in a mutinous effort to keep from crying out in pain.
    "My...wife," he rasped a few moments later, quaking.
    She kept firm pressure over the wound, the blood seeping through her fingers. Was she pressing hard enough? Her hands were