Forsaken (The Found Book 2) (6 page)

“I can always hear you Annie, you’re always with me.”

“I need to tell you things.”

“I’ve tried to stay away. I know these dreams are just a crutch. But tonight might be the last time I will ever have a chance to see you. You came to me because you knew, didn’t you. Or in reality this is my way of offering myself consolation. God, what a sad bastard I am.”

“I’m real Seth, this is real. You’re dream walking. Grandmother calls this spirit walking.” Now Seth could see her sitting on pastel yellow sheets, in a soft white fuzzy robe, her hair softly spilling around her shoulders.

“I’m meditating, and I’m about to make love to my dream Annie, because this will probably be my last chance.” Just like that, he was on the bed beside her, his hands pushing the fuzzy robe off her shoulders.

“We need to talk.”

“After. We can talk afterwards.” She opened her mouth to say something, like she often did in real life. He knew what to do. He pressed his lips against hers, and started the wooing process, and after just a moment, his Annie caught fire. She flowered open, and he stroked inside, reveling in the sweet taste of his woman. It had been too long. Her arms were stuck in her robe unable to lift up, but she could and did clasp his waist. Her nails dug into him and she shuddered, sliding her lips against his. Her heat and softness were more potent than the bourbon he had consumed earlier.

“Seth, I need to…”

“I know what you need.” He always knew what Annie needed, and she had always known what he had needed. Why had he ever agreed to go on this last assignment? He planned to ask for a desk job, and ask her to marry him. Then his bosses begged him to do this one last undercover job, and he agreed and his entire life had been shot to hell. Now all he had were these dreams.

She pulled away.

“They’re more than dreams.”

“You’re right, they’re everything.” He worked his way down her neck, pushing the robe down further until he got to the dark rose of her nipples. God he could suck on them forever. He looked again, and saw they seemed darker, richer, more enticing. He plucked at one, while he took the other in his mouth. Annie cried out her pleasure. He drew harder, and pinched tighter wanting more of the sweet sounds.

“I can’t take anymore, I need you inside me.” He loved the way her legs scissored against his trying to part even though he had her trapped. Grinning against her rounded flesh, he parted her robe. She lay bare to him, and he sucked in his breath at the beautiful bounty.

He was naked. He liked his dreams. “Why weren’t you naked? You’re always naked.”

“Wanted to talk. But, please don’t make me wait, please let’s make love now.” He smoothed his hand down to the apex of her thighs and slipped his fingers through the moist petals of her flesh. Bringing them to his lips, he licked the translucent honey, the taste of her bursting on his tongue. He needed more.

He moved downwards.

“No Seth, no torture, I need us joined. I need us to love one another.”

“This is me loving you,” he admonished. Then his tongue lapped at her folds, his fingers buried deep inside, starting the rhythm he knew would drive her wild. The welcome and warmth of knowing and loving the same woman was a gift beyond compare. Finding and caressing her just so, hearing her sighs of pleasure, ramping her up even higher, and then bringing her down. God, she tasted so good, syrup and spice and Annie. Circling her clit and biting ever so gently, all in a long cherished symphony, he felt his eyes glisten at the ultimate gift of this dream.

“Not a dream,” she panted. “I’m here with you. I love you so much Seth, you’re my everything.” She shuddered with her release, and he surged into her body, so he could feel the heated pulse of her pussy.

He broke out in a sweat, steeling every nerve to stop himself from coming in those first rapturous seconds. God she felt wonderful. Nothing on Earth felt better than being connected to his Annie. He waited until she calmed, but even as her shudders subsided, she still gloved him perfectly. Finally she opened her green eyes, and he could see into her soul.

“Not a dream. Are you hearing me? Not a dream.” She cupped his cheek and brought her wet thumb back to her mouth and sucked it. Then she pushed up with her hips and he was lost. Like silk sliding against his cock, such a loving and carnal invitation. Every time she tilted her hips upwards, he pressed deep and they moaned in concert, riding ever higher until together they reached the stars.

“Stay Seth, this is not a dream, stay with me, you have to stay with me this time.” Annie chanted the words over and over. Her fingers scratching lightly over his back, her body pulsing around him as he slowly calmed. He stared into her eyes, watching her lips move and started to drift, and her eyes glittered, her voice turned sharp, her nails dug deep.

“Listen to me!” Seth shook his head, coming out of his daze.

“Oh thank God, you’re staying. You have to listen to me sweetheart. I’m safe. But the team knows you need help, and they’re there to help you. Brice is
found
like you.”

“What do you mean, you’re safe? Safe from what? Who is we?”

“Nell, you’re grandmother and me.”

“Who’s Nell?”

“Our daughter. We’re all safe. Seth, I know you’re dream walking and you’re going to leave at any moment. You have to listen to me. Brice, Nate and Sierra are at your hotel.”

“Our daughter? We have a daughter?” He saw his answer in the deep forest green of her eyes, the melting color of compassion and love, everything went green, the whole world.

He blinked and saw the black of the night sky, the shimmer of the moon on the water. The moon was much higher in the sky. Dream Walking or Spirit Walking, he remembered his Grandmother Shilah talking about such things when he lived in New Mexico. He had researched it when he was in high school and even in college. He believed most things in the People’s tradition were based on fact. His personal experience with his own gifts told him there was more to the world than taught in textbooks as
fact.

If he had been dream walking since he had started this assignment it meant what Annie told him was true. He had a daughter named Nell. Despite the warm tropical air, Seth began to shiver, and tremble. How was it possible for him to have a daughter and not to have known, not have felt her presence?

He closed his eyes, centered himself within his body, and then started the slow process of reaching ever outward further, and further. He thought he heard something, was that Nell reaching out? He concentrated as he continued to reach out. It was a consistent noise, and seemed to get louder the more he reached out.

“Open the Goddamn door.” The pounding started again. Seth looked through the peephole and saw the three people from the bar. The one pounding on the door was the redhead who spoke with a Scots accent. Once again Seth felt a strong pull to him. Fucking A, he was
found
. That’s what was going on. This was the team Annie told him about. He opened the door.

The Scotsman opened his mouth, starting to say something when the woman elbowed him out of the way. She put her finger to her mouth indicating silence to both Seth and the other two men, and stepped into Seth’s room while motioning for everyone to move in and shut the door. Everyone understood the room could be bugged.

She mouthed to Seth to get dressed, and he put on his shirt and his shoes, then he followed them all out the door. They went to the elevator.

“What is…?”

The woman shook her head, indicating the need for silence. They went up two floors and into a different room.

“So, which do you preferred to be called these days, Seth Natani, or Carson Runyon?” She asked with a great deal of venom. For someone who Annie said was supposed to be on his side, she sure sounded like she hated him.

“Dammit Sierra, cut the man some slack,” the giant said. Seth looked up and up at the man who towered over him. He had to be six foot six, if not six foot seven.

“How in the hell are you sent into the field for undercover work, you will never blend in.”

“Nice to meet you too, Seth. Since I’m here to help you, you’d think you wouldn’t be such an asshole. My name is Nate Goodman by the way.” He held out his hand and Seth shook it.

“I’m sorry, it’s been a long couple of days, and you guys took me by surprise.”

“I take it Annie finally convinced you the so-called dreams of yours are actually real?” the Scotsman asked. Seth felt a flush creeping up his face, and he wasn’t happy about it. It meant Annie must have told people he had been visiting her in her dreams. Had she told them what had been happening in those dreams? Then he remembered, it was Annie, she wouldn’t have done that. He looked at the three people facing him. The men had bland expressions on their faces. Too fucking bland. They fucking knew. Meanwhile the woman just looked furious. What in the hell was going on with her?

“So Annie convinced you, and you know why we’re here?” the Scotsman prompted.

“Yeah.” Seth shook his head to clear it. “Yeah, and please call me Seth, it’s good to be called by my real name for a change. What are yours?”

“My name is Brice McElyn, SAS.” He held out his hand, and Seth shook it. Then turned to Sierra and lifted an eyebrow. She reluctantly held out her hand to Seth.

“Sierra Mathers, Petty Officer, 1
^st
Class.”

Seth figured it was best to clear the air. “So why do you hate me, Officer?”

“Sierra will do. We’re going to be working together undercover. So why don’t I call you Carson?”

“You’re right, calling me Carson is probably for the best. Can you tell me about my daughter? About Annie? Why did she say she was safe?”

“Why do you care? Don’t you have a wife you need to focus on?” There was the venom again, and Seth finally understood. He would never be able to dig himself out of this hole with this woman so he didn’t even try.

“Can one of you just explain what Annie meant about being safe?”

“Did you read or hear about Kelly Wachowski’s kidnapping?” Nate asked.

Seth remembered all right. She was one of the five publicized
found
children from twenty-one years ago, and was kidnapped after he went undercover to work for Labado. He followed her case closely. She was rescued by a naval rescue team. He looked at Nate. “Are you Navy too?”

“Yep, Chief Petty Officer at your service,” the man smiled.

“You two were in on the rescue mission to recover Kelly?”

“Yep.” Nate answered.

“So how does that relate to Annie?”

“So far we have uncovered three different groups after the
found
. We’ve stopped two of them.”

“Why? What for?”

“One was just a hate group, a splinter group of a white supremacist group out of Idaho. They wanted all
found
dead. They’re either dead or in prison for life.” Seth closed his eyes trying to assimilate the new information. He shouldn’t have been surprised. When he opened them, he saw the compassion on the face of the big man. “Yeah, I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“Okay, that’s one group. What about the other two?”

“Then there were two brothers behind Kelly’s kidnapping. One was an evil motherfucker who wanted to dissect her so he could find out what made her different and use the knowledge to create some kind of drug. The other brother wanted to know where she came from, so he could go there. He was just batshit crazy. One’s in prison, the other is dead.”

“So it’s the third group after Annie? I don’t understand, she’s not
found
.”

“Yeah, but her daughter is half
found
, now isn’t she? And, you just left them both.” Seth felt Sierra’s words to the depths of his soul.

“Tell me about the third group.”

“It really doesn’t make sense why they are after Annie and Nell,” Brice spoke. “It’s our understanding from the one man we’ve actually managed to question, that this is a breeding program. However, according to Dave Rydell it is more. What they were doing with Mai Zhang with the brainwashing was horrific and he’s finally getting to the bottom of it.”

“A breeding program?” Seth sat on the corner of the hotel bed, and stared out the large window, noting the sky was beginning to lighten. Soon the sun would peak over the horizon. How had his life managed to change so drastically in just four hours?

Brice sat in the chair next to the window so they could look at one another. “Yeah, a breeding program. Look, we’ve been tracking this group for nine months. It’s a corporation called Rixitron. The more strings we pull, the more crap falls out. This company has offices all over the world, and its grubby little hands are into all kinds of things. We know it’s in bed with all kinds of nasty characters.” Brice rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Seth before continuing.

“Besides the breeding, we figure their pharmaceuticals arm has got to be interested in how we acquire languages. What we know for sure is they first came to New Mexico looking for you, when they couldn’t find you, they discovered you had a daughter and she became a target. Your grandmother hid both Annie and Nell.”

“How did all of you get involved?”

“The naval team following the Rixitron thug realized Annie and Nell were in danger. They did everything they could to get to them first. The leader of the team is Lieutenant Commander Noah Kukailimoku, and he’s
found
as well. He’s able to find.” Brice chuckled. “Get it. A
found
who can find things.”

“Yeah, I get it. Just get on with it,” Seth growled.

“Jesus Nate, our boy doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.”

“Cut him some slack Brice, he just discovered he had a daughter an hour ago, he has a right to want answers.” Nate turned to Seth. “Noah and Riley brought Annie, your grandmother and daughter to safety. They’ve been in a safe house in California for the past seven months. Nobody is going to get to them, I promise.”