Page 23 of Shadow Blind

Was he hallucinating?

Aiden’s gaze slid to the batshit crazy aircraft. Hell, the mechanical bird fit right in as an insane hallucination. But it could be real too. As the commander of Shadow Mountain, a high tech, quasi-military base, Wolf had access to all kinds of nifty toys, including experimental aircraft. This weird chopper-plane hybrid could be something the Shadow Mountain aeronautical engineers had whipped up. Plus, there was the craft’s crew. Mac, Rawls, and Cosky—former SEAL teammates of his—had joined the Shadow Mountain base three years ago. It was possible the three had joined Wolf in a rescue mission.

He still hadn’t decided whether he was hallucinating when Kait flew around the corner of the mechanical bird and headed straight toward him.

“Aiden!” she dropped to her knees beside him and pressed her palms against his bloody thigh. “You’re hurt!”

She was dressed in the same tactical garb and ballistic plates as the men disgorged by the aircraft, but without the helmet. Her hair swung against her back in a long, golden braid.

“Don’t touch me!” He knocked her hands off his thigh with his bound wrists. Dream or not, damned if he was going to expose her to insanity and death.

That’s when he caught sight of her bloody fingers and palms. His chest went hollow, his muscles tight. Hell, his blood painted her hands. If he was contagious, she might be infected now, too. Although…she’d only touched him for a second. Maybe that wasn’t long enough to transfer the pathogen. Thank Christ, Kait’s gift required skin-to-skin contact. She couldn’t heal him through the layers of fabric.

Kait, being the resolute sort, refused to let that stop her. She glanced at Benny’s open med kit and grabbed the small pair of scissors in the top compartment.

When her hands closed on his bloody thigh with the scissors, he slammed his bound fists into them again, forcing them away. “Dammit, Kait, don’t touch me. There’s a good chance I’m contagious.”

“Contagious?” Cosky spun, saw Kait kneeling beside Aiden, and leaped toward them. “Goddammit, we told you to stay in the Thunderbird until we called for you.”

Cosky’s comment convinced Aiden he wasn’t dreaming. His stubborn sister never obeyed an order she didn’t agree with.

Her focus completely on Aiden’s blood-soaked upper thigh, Kait dodged Aiden’s hands and lowered the scissors until the tip pressed against the sodden fabric. “Grab his hands, Marcus. I need to get to the wound, but his pants are in the way, and he won’t let me cut them.”

Aiden didn’t care about his pants, but Kait wasn’t listening. He lifted his head and caught Cosky’s gaze.

“Get her away from me. I’m probably infected by whatever killed my team.” He tilted his chin toward the closest body, which was Squirrel.

A wave of grief hit at the sight of his best friend’s corpse, with its blood-iced face—or what had once been his face. A fist plunged into his chest and squeezed the breath from his lungs. Jesus—he struggled for air. Jerking his gaze away, he counted to ten and fought for control.

“Benioko wouldn’t have sent me if danger was present.” She braced herself when Aiden swung his fists at her hands again. “He sent me with Wolf and the others for a reason. To heal you.”

Who the hell was Benioko? One of the Kalikoia elder gods? Wolf, their Kalikoia half-brother, had exposed Kait to their father’s Native American heritage. But joining the Shadow Mountain team as one of their healers had sucked her deep into the Kalikoia culture.

“Besides,” Kait’s voice turned dry. Her hand with the scissors dodged his fists again. “It’s too late. You’ve already bled all over me.”

True, but beside the point. The more she touched him, the stronger the chance of infection. Maybe by some miracle she’d escaped contamination the first time she’d smeared his blood all over her hands.

Thank Christ Cosky had more common sense than his sister. Aiden relaxed as his brother-in-law leaned down, wrapped his arms around Kait’s waist, and lifted her completely off the ground.

Kait lost her grip on the scissors as she squirmed violently in her husband’s arms. “Dammit! Let me go! He’s bleeding.”

“He’s bled worse.” Cosky tightened his hold on her squirming body and cautiously backed up. “Let’s find out what happened and why he’s tied up before rushing in.”

“I already touched him.” She stopped struggling long enough to present her bloody hands. “If he’s infectious, it’s too late. Might as well let me heal him.”

Cosky’s jaw hardened. He angled his head toward Aiden. “What the fuck happened? Who tied you up?”

“I tied myself up to avoid attacking the exfil crew when they arrive.” He blew out a tight breath. Adopting an even monotone, he recounted what they’d found in Karaveht and what had happened to his team brothers. “Whatever infected the locals infected my crew, too. It stands to reason that I’m infected as well.”

“Sweet Jesus.”

Rawls’s tight voice caught Aiden’s attention. He glanced over in time to see Rawls straighten and back away from the closest frozen, faceless corpse.

“That’s Squirrel. I recognize the tat.”

Aiden’s chest went tight and hot. He coughed to clear the ache from his throat. “Yeah. Squirrel and Grub took out Lurch and then each other. It happened so damn fast—” His voice gave out beneath the pressure in his chest.

“I crewed with all three men,” Cosky said, his voice grim. He lowered Kait until her boots touched the snow crusted ground but didn’t let her go. “They were experienced operators, not men who break under stress.” His head turned toward Wolf. “Was this what Benioko saw in his dream?”

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