Page 46 of Forbidden

Then he felt a light touch on his shoulder.

“You can stop now.” The voice was soft, feminine, and a bit muffled. “I think he’s dead.”

It was all it took to bring him back to himself. He dropped the man he’d just beaten to death in a pool of dark, congealing blood and sat back to one side of the body. He took a deep breath before looking over his shoulder. It was the woman the Gothie had been raping and beating.

Her face was swelling, and she looked worse than when he’d first seen her. Hair so fair it was almost white was caked in blood. Her eyes were so swollen, he wasn’t sure if she could still see. How she was conscious at all was a mystery.

They stared at each other for a few moments before her strength left her and she slumped to the ground. Taber lunged for her and caught her head and shoulders as she fell over. He was afraid to touch her. Afraid he’d add to her pain, but it didn’t matter. She’d finally passed out, his shirt firmly twisted in her hands.

?* * *

Akahana was wrapped in warmth. Light and warmth. She floated somewhere between life and death, both beckoning to her equally. She was about to make her choice when another presence filled her mind.

The masculine presence was filled with anger and worry. He kept returning to the scene on Earth, Gamin in his grasp. Dying. His only goal had been to kill the man torturing the woman. His woman. Something deep inside him had claimed her as his own.

At first, Akahana shrank deep within herself, refusing to go to the huge man who had been her savior. She wanted no man ever again. But his anguished thoughts were filled with nothing but how his actions would affect her. Would she recover from her injuries? Was she comfortable in the tube? Was she as aware of him as he was of her?

Would she hate him?

Every time his thoughts drifted in that direction, pain sliced through his heart, and a fresh wave of confusion swamped him. He didn’t know what was happening.

Akahana did.

This man, Taber, was her soul’s mate.

She didn’t want to think about it. But despite her mind screaming for her to run from him, her heart recognized the goodness in him and reached out. She wanted a mate -- she just wanted one who wouldn’t cause her pain.

With a tentative brush to Taber’s mind, Akahana made contact as a mate. Her mind gently probed his, hoping he would realize what she was doing. He was startled at first, confused. He didn’t know what to do. So Akahana introduced herself.

“I am Akahana Di’Var. You saved my life.”

“How can you talk to me?”

Had she been awake and in her own body, she would have sighed. “It is complicated. I only wanted you to be at peace with what you did.”

“You can forgive me for killing a man with my bare hands?”

“He would have killed me. I saw it in his mind.”

“So you can read minds, then.” It wasn’t a question.

“No. Not as you perceive it, anyway. Every Gothe’maran can touch the mind of his or her soul’s mate. It seems we have found each other against all odds.”

“You were right.” His voice sounded weary. “I guess it is complicated.”

Akahana would have laughed if she’d felt like it, but she just couldn’t summon the energy. “I’m tired.”

“Rest then. I’ll be here, watching over you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.” There was a mental caress to her cheek as he tentatively reached for the unfamiliar and touched her mind. “Rest well, Dearheart. I’ll be here when you wake.”

The light surrounding her faded, replaced by a night sky filled with a myriad of stars, but no moon. She had a few moments to appreciate the beauty of it before her mind slowly sank back into unconsciousness. Back into a healing sleep.

?* * *

Taber had never been so exhausted. His head pounded. He had been trying for hours to get back into Akahana’s mind without success. He had an almost physical need to touch her mind again, to know she was alive and well. True, he could check the readout on the healing tube, but it wasn’t the same. He could see her through the portal -- clear during the “day” cycle -- but only her outline was visible during the “night.”

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