Forged in Ash (3 page)

Every muscle in Cosky’s body tightened.

The last thing he needed was Kait underfoot. He’d barely weaned himself from those damn dreams as it was.

Hunger stirred at the memory of ghostly fingers skating up and down his spine, and a waterfall of golden hair caressing his sweaty skin.

Shit, this was exactly why Aiden wasn’t going to move in with them. The last thing he needed was a constant fucking reminder of Kait.

“Who’s Kait?” his mom asked in a slow, thoughtful voice.

The interested sidelong glance she sent him had Cosky swearing beneath his breath. Mom had been getting increasingly vocal about “
her grandchildren
” since Zane had met Beth. Since he was her only
child there was little doubt where the nonexistent rug rats were supposed to spring from.

“Aiden’s angel of a sister,” Rawls said. “The prettiest girl you’ve ever seen and a mean cook to boot.”

“Really?” his mom said. “Cosky’s never mentioned her.”

Great. She sounded suspicious now.

“Because she’s nobody,” Cosky snapped.

Which was the truth. He’d spent the past five years making sure she remained nobody to him.

No way in hell was he abandoning that strategy now. Even if it meant cutting Aiden off.

August

By the time Cosky pulled out of the clinic’s parking lot and merged into San Diego’s traffic, numbness buffered the shock. Still—the orthopedic surgeon’s words echoed through his head.

“The good news is the plate and screws are in good position, and the tibial fragments remained aligned. But the translucency and widening lines between the bone grafts indicate non-healing.”

The knifing pain that pierced his knee as he shifted his foot from gas pedal to brake, while merging his truck onto the San Diego freeway, reinforced the surgeon’s diagnosis.

The leg had been giving him hell since he’d weaned himself from the pain meds, but he’d shrugged the pain off, blaming it on the aggressive physical therapy regime. The surgeon had made it clear from day one that the percentages were against him. It would take a hell of a lot of luck and hard work to rejoin SEAL Team 7.

He wasn’t afraid of hard work, or the pain that came with it. Plus, it had seemed like luck was on his side. The reconstructive surgery had gone well, the leg had been weight bearing at three months—exactly as the doctor expected. Everything had been on course…or so he’d thought.

Until today.

Cosky swore as the car in front of him suddenly stopped, and he wrenched his foot from gas to brake. Agony ripped through his knee. Slowly, the pain settled into a deep, throbbing ache.

He’d suspected the knifing pains weren’t normal when he’d casually mentioned them at his checkup, and the doc had sent him down for X-rays.

“…without additional surgery and bone grafting, the plate will eventually break…”

The shocked numbness had given way to simmering frustration by the time he reached his condo’s parking lot. The emotion was heightened by the low-slung Mustang parked in what had been Zane’s space before he’d moved out.

Cosky parked beside the vintage Mustang without feeling even a hint of his normal envy. He’d tried like hell to keep Aiden out of the condo, but when his vehement stonewalling started to raise questions, he’d backed down. He didn’t need Zane and Rawls—and sure as hell not Aiden—realizing exactly why he was so reluctant to bunk with the man.

He’d never live it down.

He eyed the cherry-red sports car morosely as he shoved open his door. Just because Aiden had arrived didn’t mean he’d brought Kait. From the boxes and garbage bags towering in the passenger and backseats, there wasn’t room for anyone else. He did a quick recon of the parking lot and relaxed when he recognized all the cars.

As he eased out of his truck, he tried to convince himself that it didn’t matter if she did show up. It had been years…his reaction wouldn’t be as overpowering. He was a different man. She was a different woman. The sparks might not even be there.

Yeah, like hell.

If the attraction wasn’t still simmering, he wouldn’t have thrown up every objection he could think of when Rawls suggested Aiden as Zane’s replacement.

He’d just locked his truck, when the front door to the condo opened and Aiden jogged down the steps.

“Hey,” Cosky said, nodding at the half wave his new roommate shot him.

“Hey.” Aiden reached his Mustang and yanked open the passenger door, grabbing all four boxes on the seat. “Looks like we’re going wheels up, figured I’d move my stuff while I had the chance.”

Cosky scowled; if not for his leg and the medical leave they’d put him on, he’d be prepping for deployment too.

Well…if he hadn’t been booked on that plane to Hawaii, and hadn’t tried to save the day, and hadn’t been thoroughly fucked for his efforts.

For Christ’s sake, they’d done everything by the book, but apparently that didn’t make a Goddamn difference these days—rather than kudos, everyone had been reassigned to paper pushing pending the investigations. Once his medical leave was up, he’d be joining them, training the new plebes would have been more welcome.

“You need another pair of hands?” Cosky asked as Aiden closed the passenger door with his hip.

Aiden adjusted the load in his arms, his black hair gleaming beneath the sun. Sharp eyes raked Cosky’s frame, lingering on the right knee. But he just shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

His new roommate had disappeared inside the condo by the time Cosky reached the Mustang. After opening the driver’s door, he dragged a pair of garbage sacks out, slung them over his shoulder and started for the Condo. A half a dozen steps later, pure agony seared his knee. An icy sweat soaked the back of his T-shirt.

His leg went numb beneath him.

Which was new.

And unwelcome.

Son of a bitch.
He stumbled to a standstill and dropped the bags, then bent over, digging rigid fingers into the joint.

“You okay?” Aiden asked from somewhere above him.

Oh, hell yeah, just peachy keen.

Cosky gritted his teeth and kept massaging. “Overdid it at PT.”

“Ice will help,” Aiden said, and Cosky couldn’t tell whether he’d bought the lie or not. “You need a hand?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

Aiden grunted and shrugged, then loped over to grab the two garbage bags at Cosky’s feet. With another surge of frustration, Cosky watched him vanish into the condo.

Well, he couldn’t stand here forever. After a few seconds of kneading and praying, he straightened and took a careful step. His knee let loose with a burst of tingling, but it accepted his weight.

Slowly, babying the hell out of his leg, he hobbled up the sidewalk and took the stairs in a one-two shuffle. The numbness settled deeper, electrified by periodic bursts of tingling.

Something told him this new symptom was a bad sign.

A black cloud settled over him as he opened the freezer and grabbed two bags of peas. He smacked the plastic bags against the fridge door, before limping back to the living room. Sitting down on the couch he took off his shoes, shoved his sweats down over his
athletic shorts, and dragged them off one leg at a time. In the old days he would have kicked them off, but with the way his luck was running, the simple act of kicking would probably snap his leg off and send it flying across the room.

He’d arranged the bags of frozen peas over the compression sleeve by the time Aiden appeared.

Cosky glanced up. “You all set?”

“Yeah.”

Aiden settled into the leather recliner to the left of the couch and studied Cosky’s pea-shrouded knee. “How’s it healing?”

Cosky started to lie, but the words stuck in his throat.

“…unlikely to completely heal…additional surgery…more scarring, disability to the joint…no possibility it will withstand the rigors of your profession…”

No possibility.

Fourteen years of deployments, of dodging bullets, bombs, and flash grenades on foreign soil, only to fall in an attack on US soil, by US citizens.

Fate had a nasty sense of humor.

God only knew what Aiden saw on his face, because he frowned and leaned forward. “That bad, huh?”

Cosky’s shrug was too tight. “It’s not healing.”

“Damn.” Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose. He opened his mouth, only to close it again. Suddenly he lurched up and paced to the window.

The guy was antsy as shit. Maybe Cosky’s situation was hitting too close to home. Aiden had spent weeks in the hospital himself after they’d dragged him up to that rooftop in Baghdad and from there into the evac chopper. Nobody had expected him to walk again, let alone reclaim his seat in the Zodiac.

Aiden abruptly spun around. “You know my dad was Native American?”

“No,” Cosky said.

What did Aiden’s ethnicity have to do with anything? Beyond looks of course, since Aiden did look like his dad. Commander Winchester had had the same broad shoulders and long, lean frame. They’d shared the same high cheekbones, black hair, and dark eyes too.

Kait on the other hand…His mind flashed to a long, thick golden braid. She took after their mother. You’d never know Aiden and Kait were siblings, not by their coloring anyway.

A whisper of ancient cravings brushed his mind…sleek, cool skin sliding against his naked, sweaty body. Alarmed, he buried the image. Those damn dreams had haunted him for years, the last thing he needed was resurgences of those sweaty, sleepless nights.

“Dad was full Arapaho. He disowned it, but it was still in him. He had certain…” Aidan paused to swipe a hand over his head. “Hell, I rarely mention this. Most people…” He trailed off and shook his head. “But you and Zane are close. You accept his…gifts…”

What the hell?

Cosky leaned against the sofa’s armrest. “What are you talking about?”

“The flashes, the ones Zane has. You trust them.”

With an impatient shake of his head, Cosky rescued a sliding bag of peas and rearranged the bundle across his knee. “What the hell do they have to do with anything?”

“Remember when you pulled me out of Baghdad?”

Cosky tensed. He’d thought they were past all those damn thank-yous.

Aiden gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Relax; I’m not going to
smother you with my gratitude. That mortar shell blew a chunk off my spine. Docs said I would never walk again. Sure as hell never run.”

Cosky’s face tightened. “I’m aware they aren’t always right.”

He glared down at the bags covering his knee. Of course he knew the docs weren’t always right…but, the knifing pains, the numbness, the tingling. Yeah, his instincts whispered they were right this time.

The bone wasn’t healing. He could sense it. Hell, he could feel it.

“Yeah, that’s the thing though…” Aiden walked over and stood in front of the couch, staring down into Cosky’s face. “They were right.”

Cosky frowned. “Come again?”

“The docs were right. I saw the X-rays. Hell, Rawls saw the X-rays, he’ll tell you. My spine was toast. I shouldn’t be on my feet.”

Cosky straightened. “But you are,” he pointed out. Except…Rawls’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Cos. It ain’t natural. He was missing a chunk of his spine. Far as I know, that shit don’t grow back.”

“Rawls mentioned it,” Cosky admitted slowly. “He thought you’d been in some secret experiment.”

Aiden barked out another laugh. “No shit?” The amusement faded. “No experiment. I’m walking because of Kait. Because she has a gift—like Zane. Only Kait’s gift is in her hands. It comes from our father, passed from generation to generation. Sometimes…not always…but sometimes, she can heal. Sometimes she can do amazing things. Like regenerate a chunk of spine.” His gaze dropped to Cosky’s leg. “Or generate bone in a knee that isn’t healing.”

Chapter Two

Y
OU WHAT?
” K
AIT
Winchester froze in front of her front room’s window, pulled the phone away from her ear, and stared at it.

Maybe this was a joke. Her brother had a twisted sense of humor. He was probably pranking her. Except…he had no idea that she had feelings for the man he’d apparently volunteered her…gifts…to help. Or, at least, that she used to have feelings for the man. Strong feelings. The kind of feelings that sparked tingling in certain parts of her body

The kind of feelings she didn’t want to revisit.

A blast of static exploded through the ear set, followed by the low rumble of Aiden’s voice.

Kait leaned her head against the cool glass of the window and pressed the phone back against her ear. “Back up. You did what?”

“I told Cos you might be able to help his knee.” This time the horrifying news came through crystal clear. Her stomach tightened and started a series of agitated flips.

“Why in the world did you tell him that?” Kait asked, her fingers almost crushing the plastic casing of her cell.

“Because he’s desperate. His knee isn’t healing. He’s looking at additional surgery, disability to the joint. He won’t be able to requalify for the team.”