The Lost Soldier

by Jen Talty

  Resting his cup on the other table, he tossed the book onto the bed and climbed on top of the sleeping bag, his weight nearly bouncing her right off.

  “Sorry.”

  “There is a lot of spring in these coils.”

  “Could be worse.”

  “Agreed,” she said, lowering the lid on the computer. “Why are we here and not wherever Scottie is?”

  Did he lie or tell her the truth?

  He fluffed the pillow behind his back, leaning against an old wooden frame. She probably could tell when he was lying, so he opted for the former. “I suspect this isn’t a sanctioned mission.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means we’re expendable.”

  “My sisters won’t take too kindly to that concept,” she muttered.

  “Neither do I.” He stretched out his legs, crossing his feet. “Find anything interesting in those files?”

  “Not really. I’ve read basic background history on the four men who were killed and the two missing men. All of them have classified folders, but I can’t seem to open them. They are encrypted.”

  “Asking for a password?”

  She nodded.

  “Try 8976432511. It’s my military ID number,” he said, rolling up his sleeve, showing her the tattoo on his arm. “In case you forget.”

  “You told me that was a drunk dare and that you normally told people it was your mother’s phone number.”

  “You see the irony there since I never had a mother.”

  “You have one, you just don’t know who she is, nor would you let me try to find her.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I might have changed my mind about that.”

  She jerked her hand, spilling thick tar that didn’t even resemble coffee.

  He reached over, dabbing up the liquid that trickled down her chest into the soft crevice of her breasts.

  “Really? That’s how you’re going to cop a feel?”

  “It worked the first time we met.”

  Chapter 5

  A FLUTTER OF EXCITEMENT blanketed Savanah’s skin. Her body flushed with desire only Chad could give. They had an instant spark that had started with spilled coffee when she’d been walking and texting and ended up smacking right into him and his extra-large, extra-hot, extra-black coffee, which landed on her white shirt more than on him.

  “You knew I was going to walk into you that day, didn’t you?”

  “I saw you coming.”

  “In a vision, I bet.”

  “No. I saw you. The vision was of the coffee all down your shirt and my hands on your body.” His finger danced over the top swell of her breast, dipping into her cleavage. He’d been a walking contradiction ever since she’d met him, and she’d seen all sides from the kind, sweet man she fell in love with, to the cruel, heartless person she tossed a candle at.

  He sunk his thumb into her flesh, popping it under her bra.

  She should bat his hand away.

  But she couldn’t.

  Or wouldn’t.

  Didn’t matter. If she believed in the Collective Order, then he was her soulmate. Together, their gifts could be used for so much good in this world. They could bring a greater understanding of what it means to have these abilities and help stop those who abused them.

  But he could hurt me again.

  He stopped caressing her and tilted his head. “I will try my best not to.”

  “Now you owe me two. Don’t go inside my head again.”

  “I didn’t mean to. I was just wondering what you were thinking because you were biting down on your lower lip and whenever you do that, it means you’re contemplating something.”

  Every mean-spirited thing he’d said the day she’d walked out of his house came back, muddling the swirl of passion building in her heart. “You need to learn to control the mind reading thing. I have no idea how to help you with that, and neither do any of my sisters.”

  “How is it that we can talk to each other in our minds, but you can’t read mine, and I don’t think I can read others?”

  “I really don’t know. It’s only been recently since I’ve had that ability, and it was only using someone else as a channel, like Brett. But with you…” I just think it to you, and you can hear me.

  You told me to stay out of your head.

  This isn’t mind reading. This is talking.

  He scratched the back of his head. “I need permission to read your mind.”

  “Thanks for asking this time, but why?”

  “So I can feel the subtle difference between the two.”

  “Go ahead.” She closed her eyes.

  Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.

  Now get the fuck out. She concentrated on his energy, keeping her mind as blank as possible.

  He laughed. That’s just fucked up.

  “I know,” she said.

  “Huh?” He glared. “You know what.”

  “That’s this is fucked up.”

  “I didn’t say that to you, I thought it.”

  She frowned. “Now you’re just being a dick.”

  He shook his head. “No. When I hear you talking to me inside my head, there is no background noise. Just you. But when I read your thoughts, it’s like I’m in a wind tunnel, and it’s all muffled. Try to read my mind now.”

  If anyone had told her a year ago she’d be having this conversation with Chad, she would have laughed hysterically.

  I really, really, really, still like her. Oh, God. No. Don’t think that. Fuck. Hopefully this will take her a while.

  “Nope. I did that pretty quickly.”

  “What did you hear exactly?”

  “You started with the word, fuck,” she said, lying, hoping he couldn’t tell.

  And do you hear the difference? he asked her in his mind. She nodded, the word ‘really’ still tumbling around inside her mind, stirring up so many mixed emotions she thought she might spontaneously combust. “I have to say I don’t like how easily we can do that. It means we can’t have a private thought. Ever.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I bet we can somehow block each other, but for now we have to trust the other won’t go there.”

  She reached out, palming his cheek. “Why did you purposely hurt me that day?”

  He sucked in a sharp breath, coiling his fingers around her wrist, tugging gently. “You know I was adopted by a single man who died when I was in college.”

  “I remember you telling me, yes.” She shifted on the bed, tucking her feet up under her butt, leaning sideways on the pillows.

  “I had a premonition of my father’s car accident about two hours before he crashed, but I was unable to get a hold of him. What good is this gift when I can’t save the one man who saved my life?”

  “Oh God, Chad. I’m so sorry, but you’re not the only one who couldn’t save someone they loved. Hazel had a premonition about our parents’ death. Willow heard their cries for help. I used remote viewing to find them, but it was too late. Alexis couldn’t heal them. Four sisters with different gifts, and our parents still died.” She swallowed the lump in her throat.

  “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “You never told me.”

  “I thought if I told you, it would prove in your mind what a crock of shit you thought all this was.”

  “Do you know why I pushed you away?” he asked.

  “Fear of your gifts.”

  He shook his head. “Fear I’d see you die in a vision, then have to relive it because I couldn’t save you.” He tipped her chin with his thumb and forefinger.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as if this were the first time they shared an intimate moment.

  “The first ten years of my life had been one foster home after another. I remember when people would come look at babies and ogle over them, wanting them, wondering why no one wanted me when I was a baby.”

  “Oh, Chad,” she whispered.

  He hushed her by pl
acing his finger over her plump, moist lips. “Sometimes, late at night, I’d have these visions. I kind of thought I was always dreaming and maybe I was, but I’d see you. Me. A house. Other people but didn’t always see their faces. I saw a life and then one day, out of nowhere, there you were, standing at the street corner, phone in your hand, texting away, occasionally glancing up. I thought I’d been hit by a bus and had died or something. I stood there, watching you walk across the street. People rushed by me as I was heading in the opposite direction. Just before you hit me, I saw the coffee go everywhere, and you looked up at me, and I couldn’t breathe. Next thing I know, I’ve got my hands on your boobs.”

  “You had to ruin a romantic moment by saying boobs.” She rolled, straddling him, resting her arms on his thick shoulders.

  His finger digging into her hips.

  “I’ve always liked your boobs,” he whispered. “Really, really, really…” His sweet lips brushed whimsically across her cheek. “I really, really, really still like everything about you. Not a day has gone by where I haven’t thought about you.”

  His tongue lingered over her lips, gently opening her mouth. His hands glided across her back, lifting her shirt. Pulling away, he tugged the fabric over her head, tossing it on the floor. His thick hands cupped her breasts, thumbs toying with the lace just above her tight, throbbing nipples.

  She cupped his face, ramming her tongue inside his mouth, needing to taste and touch every part of his thick, hard body. An urgency that had built up over the last year took over like an addiction that controlled her every movement.

  Groping and clawing, she tried to rip off his shirt. She could have sworn he laughed against her mouth right before he flipped her onto her back, the bed squeaking and bouncing like two crazed animals were attacking one another. He yanked her pants down to her ankles in one hard tug.

  With the same zeal, he removed all of his clothing, chucking it to the side so hard against the wall, it pushed back the door.

  She gasped, staring at his thick, muscled abs as she fumbled with her panties and bra. Her skin ignited with a fiery burst that she knew could only be quenched by Chad.

  His eyes widened with lust as he ran his hands up her inner thighs. His hot breath feeding her desire with tiny pleasurable samples of what was to come.

  Digging her heels into the mattress, she lifted her hips, and his soft tongue glided across her like warm bath bubbles beading over her skin, tingling her pores. He teased her, gently kissing her hard nub, fingers barely touching. No matter how much she grinded, he kept his touch feather light.

  Her moans filled the room as her fingers clenched his scalp, encouraging him to go from teasing to demanding her body to respond with a quivering storm of desire. She tossed her head side to side, jerking her hips, begging him to take her without pretense. Foreplay was unnecessary in this dance to devour each other. Her hunger for him would never be completely fulfilled. She needed him like the stars and the moon needed the sky. Even when the clouds covered the perfect combination, they would always be there, dancing in the background, just like her love would always be with Chad.

  There would never be anyone else but him. He filled her world like hot fudge melting ice cream, creating a warm puddle of chocolate heaven that tickled your taste buds. Life without Chad was like a world without sunshine.

  She clamped her knees against his head, arching her back as her orgasm ripped through her body. Her muscles quaking in the wake of pure delight.

  “Please,” she begged, tugging at his arms, pulling his taut body on top of hers. “I need you now.”

  He wasted no time entering her in one long stroke, pushing her body back against the bed as the length of him completely buried inside her. He made love to her with tender passion and the fierceness of a wild animal. His lips bruised hers as he grunted into her mouth. His body shuddered; his orgasm spilling out into her, filling her with a combination of love, passion, and oneness.

  Wrapping her legs around his waist, she held him tight, their desperate movements slowed to a tender rocking. He nestled his face in her neck, kissing her skin, nibbling on her earlobe.

  When their breathing returned to normal, he rolled to his side, tucking her back against his chest. He pulled the sleeping bag over their bodies. “I’ve missed you so much that I was reckless.”

  She closed her eyes. “I missed you, too,” she whispered, not wanting to deal with the fact they hadn’t used protection, and she wasn’t on the pill. She hadn’t even thought about it until he used the word reckless. Her sister, Hazel, had numerous visions of her and her sisters with babies, though Hazel could never tell who had one and when. She just would see her sisters and children.

  “I hate to sour the mood, but are you using any form of birth control?”

  She let out a long breath. “No.”

  He tightened his hold. “Nothing we can do about it now.” He kissed her cheek. “We should try to get a few hours of sleep before jumping back into my training and finding Hunter.”

  “Training?” she questioned.

  “Yeah. That’s in part why Mallard requested you to be here. To help me harness my powers.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “I heard Scottie talking to him in the chopper.”

  “I find it odd that Mallard would want me to do that, without telling me. I mean, we have been told since we got in the plane in Vermont that my role is to help find your missing men.”

  “By way of our psychic talents and since I don’t know what mine are, nor did I acknowledge them, I guess they figured this was the best way to go about it.”

  She relaxed her muscles, taking a deep breath. “I can’t help but feel like I’m being manipulated by everyone.”

  “I hope you’re not lumping me into that.”

  “No,” she whispered. “But to be totally honest, being with you again scares me.”

  “Why?”

  “You crushed me when we broke up,” she admitted. “You not only denied you cared about me, but you denied your gifts.”

  “I won’t deny them anymore, nor will I deny that I care about you. I don’t know what the future holds, and I can’t make you any promises.”

  “I know,” she whispered, her eyelids growing heavy. If the prophecy of the Collective Order were fact, then she had no reason to worry that he’d ever walk out of her life again, only she knew better, and premonitions often changed as reality and the world around her changed.

  For this moment, she had the love of her life.

  The next? Who knew.

  Chapter 6

  CAN YOU HEAR ME?

  A female voice echoed in Chad’s ears. He’d been staring at the sun trying to peek through the dirty window pane for the last twenty minutes while holding a sleeping Savanah in his arms. Her blond hair pooled over his chest. Her arms and legs tangled across his body.

  Who is this? he asked. The only person he’d ever been able to talk to through his mind had been Savanah, and this voice was deeper than hers, besides she lay blissfully snoozing next to him.

  Willow. Savanah’s sister.

  What the hell? Talk about weird. He’d met Willow a couple of times in passing when he’d spent the night at Savanah’s place when they’d been dating. Willow shared Savanah’s dark sense of humor. Willow had a weird obsession for guns.

  What the fuck are you doing inside my head?

  I’m sorry. Is this a bad time?

  Anytime is a bad time, he projected toward the voice in his head. What do you want?

  Alexis is on her way. Brett and Hazel are traveling with her.

  How is Alexis holding up? Chad compared his visions regarding Alexis and Hunter, noting a few distinct differences. If they were accurate, Alexis was experiencing something stronger and deeper than the torture Hunter experienced. Not that what Hunter endured wasn’t horrific all by itself, but Chad got the impression that her physical pain and convulsions that Chad had experienced in a premonition went beyond Hunter and his
need to be healed.

  She’s a trooper, but whoever is using her powers remotely is tapping her energy levels dry. She’s weak, barely able to get out of bed and in a lot of pain.

  I’ve had a few visions of her and Hunter, but I’m not sure he’s the only one tapping into her healing powers.

  Why do you say that? Willow asked.

  The visions don’t match up completely.

  They often don’t, Willow said. They land at two in the afternoon your time. We have them booked at the Marriot in downtown Seoul, but if you want to move them closer, that’s fine.

  Thanks, he projected back.

  You’re welcome. And Chad?

  Yeah?

  If you break my sister’s heart again, it will be a bullet heading in the direction of the crown jewels over a candle. Understood?

  He chuckled. Good bye, Willow.

  “What’s so funny?” Savanah’s lips brushed against his chest as she arched her back, her breasts molding with his muscles.

  “Willow just woke me up.”

  “Me, too,” Savanah said. “She’s talking to me now.”

  “Tell her to go away.” He kissed Savanah’s temple, wrapping his arms around her warm body. He had no intention of breaking her heart again. A rainbow of colors filled his mind. Normally he’d find the vision, doing everything he could think of to ignore the strong pull to dig deeper. He’d learned to dull the visions, so he could barely see them. Now he focused on the content forming in his mind, hoping to see more detail of whatever could happen in the future and the same time praying it wouldn’t be bad.

  Savanah running through the jungle snapped into view. He was only two paces behind, but he couldn’t tell if they were running from something, or to something. He squeezed his eyes closed trying sense what he could be feeling in the vision. He noted an elevated heart rate, but that would have been from the speed at which his feet moved. He didn’t sense fear, but he did detect an urgency to get somewhere fast.

  A building began to form a couple hundred yards away. It might have been concrete, but it was blurry and came in and out of view. A hologram type image of Willow appeared in the distance. She was waving and calling to them.