ALARIC POV
*play it soft, barely a whisper: all that I’ve known - Tommy Lyon*
I couldn’t hear anything but her heart.
Not the helicopter blades ripping the air apart above us.
Not the pilot shouting coordinates.
Not Elias yelling into the comms with the hospital.
Just that faint, uneven beat under my palm.
Thump.
Pause.
Thump.
Too slow.
I had my hands pressed hard against her shoulder, against her side, wherever the blood was coming from the fastest. It soaked through her clothes anyway, warm and slick, sliding between my fingers no matter how much pressure I applied.
It wouldn’t stop.
I pressed harder.
Too hard.
My hands slipped for half a second, slick with blood, and I shifted my grip instinctively, trying to compensate. The pressure went higher on her shoulder than it sh
