Page 18 of Forbidden Desires

Zylar frightened his mate. He could feel her emotions, another sign that they were true mates. He could feel the fear of hercousins that flooded her with the certainty that death was a heartbeat away. Fear wound through every thought, even memories of her childhood. It was insidious and the Tan-ge responsible for it wanted to make sure she never lived to expose his identity.

He held out a hand to soften the request.

Amelia took his hand, not sure what was going to happen next, but putting herself in his care made her feel good. He led her through a door to a room that reminded her of an office. Maybe this was where he worked when he was in his cabin. That made sense. He was a healer and would need a place to work when he reviewed cases.

“What are we going to do?” Her heart was beating erratically at the thought that he wanted her to call her cousins. He wouldn’t do that to her, right?

“Amelia, the thought that your cousins want you dead is winding through most of your thoughts. Even happy times from your childhood.” That was impossible.

She thought about the time her mom took her out for ice cream. It was a special memory, one of her favorites. Her dad was at work, and her mother had the day off and was cleaning the house. Amelia could remember sitting still and wishing her mom was cuddling her close. Then her mother threw down the rag she was holding in a dramatic moment reminiscent of the best TV shows and said, “Let’s escape together. You and me.” They giggled as they ran outside to the car and her mother drove off, telling Amelia how she’d rather spend time with her than clean a house.

The fear was here in one of her special memories, slowly polluting her mind with how her cousins hated her and wanted her dead. She cried, not able to help herself. Zylar swept her up into his arms and sat in the chair facing his desk.

She sobbed, wetting his shirt before hiccupping a time or two. “What’s happening to me? If he hadn’t alerted her to being compromised, she would never have realized it before it was too late. Now she could see the grimy black trail inside her mind attached to her memories. It was worse than she thought. That black trail seemed to stretch outward as if it was attached to more than memories.

“You met a Tan-ge somewhere along the way and it was much stronger than you.”

“What did you call it? An it?” Was it because he didn’t know if they were male or female?

“They killed every female on my planet. Only a veritable monster who didn’t understand how important and beautiful females were would kill them in wholesale destruction. If you’re that cold, then you’re not a male or female, you’re only an it.”

She nodded, agreeing with him. She wiped her tears on his shirt and looked up to find a frown on his face. He looked so put out that she laughed.

“Why are we in here?”

“It’s time to face your cousins. There can be no redemption without sincere apologies. Then yes, I’ll take you to bed and show you how a goddess should be appreciated, and it’s not by trying to rip her mind apart.”

How was she supposed to respond to anything or anyone after hearing that? She wiped her mouth discreetly to make sure she wasn’t drooling. A sexy fun time with a purple monster was all that was on her mind. It took several minutes before she was able to wrest her mind away from her erotic thoughts.

“Are you sure this is necessary and why is this happening to me?” Had he told her and the information disappeared into the battlefield of her mind?

“Amelia, you’re an empath.” Right, she remembered him saying that. “You met a Tan-ge with impressive mind control orthe shields to your mind were weak, maybe non-existent. Either way, he worked his way into your mind and started planting seeds that would keep you isolated and kill you as time went on.”

As strange and unnatural as that sounded, she nodded, knowing he wasn’t lying. It made more sense than her suddenly wanting to kill herself. That wasn’t how she rolled.

“I need to talk to my cousins.”

“You do.”

“Will that take away this feeling of dread every time I think about them or any of my memories?”.

“No, but it will loosen the hold these thoughts have on you. I started the process last night.”

“By spanking me?” She asked it as a question, but she already knew the answer. The spanking felt like punishment, not the erotic spanking she knew he was promising her. This spanking made her feel better afterward as if a weight she couldn’t see lifted from her shoulders. He’d somehow loosened what the Tan-ge did to her.

“Let’s do this.” She could scream, cry, or rage at the world that she didn’t deserve this, but that wouldn’t help or solve what was happening inside of her. Facing her cousins felt like a death sentence. Despite her actions over the last several weeks, she wasn’t one to run away from her problems.

“Let’s do this.” Zylar turned her to face the screen he’d used to contact her cousins, calling SaKura first.

“Cousin,” SaKura greeted Zylar. Amelia felt the happiness in her maybe mate. She amazed herself when she realized she could feel his emotions like they were hers.

“My cousin and soon-to-be king.” Zylar greeted him.

“Is there someone you want to introduce to me?”

Since she was sitting on Zylar’s lap, Amelia felt like she didn’t need an introduction, but she was trying to play nice.

“You know Amelia, Jenna’s cousin.” Ha, Zylar didn’t think she needed an introduction either. “What you don’t know for sure is that she’s my mate. Please meet the healer’s mate and empath, Amelia.”

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