Page 4 of Forbidden

“Round up the warriors for transport. Give medical assistance to the humans,” Kahn said to his second, Kiril.

“Commander,” came Kiril’s low, rumbling voice. “Shall I have the ship prepare for your woman?”

As always, Kiril knew where Kahn’s primary focus was. “Yes. I will take her aboard before the effects of thetol’sunwear off. She needs to adjust to her new life as quickly as possible.”

“And if there is too much damage to be undone?”

Kahn thought a moment before he spoke. What he was about to tell Kiril would shake the foundation of the Gothe’maran. “I don’t think that will be a problem, my friend.” He looked Kiril in the eyes. “She can hear my thoughts when my emotions are high, as I can hear hers. Not to mention our mutual need of each other. It is almost unbearable for both of us.”

Kiril’s normally impassive features registered surprise for an instant before he snorted. “Unlikely, Commander. Telepathic abilities exist only in true mates and then only after they have been bound for many years. You jest with me.”

Kahn’s gaze didn’t waver. “I never jest, Kiril. This you know.”

Kiril’s face paled. “Great Mother,” he whispered. “You have been mates in past lives, then. Many lives if you connected with her so fast. And with someone not of our race? It is forbidden.”

“Not of our race? I wonder.” The implications hung heavily. Gothe’maran warriors may have slaughtered tens of thousands of their own people.

“You suspect these people of Earth are related to us?”

Kahn sighed. “Preliminary testing from scans and the microscopic tissue sample of the baby suggest the humans may be more closely related than previously thought. We will know more when we have her permission to take a blood sample.”

Kiril grunted. “Is the child still in stasis?”

“Yes. His injuries were fully healed, but Medical Command thought it wisest to have his mother near when they brought him out of stasis.”

“Another difficulty in getting your woman to adjust. She will not be pleased her son was not returned to her.”

“She doesn’t know he’s still alive.”

Kiril actually laughed -- something Kahn had never seen. He hadn’t even known Kiril was capable of laughter. “Good luck, my friend. If she is a Gothe’maran by nature, her anger at being kept from her child will be unparalleled. I’m glad I’m not the one to have to tell her.”

Kahn shared his second’s amusement. He was actually more fearful that, once she became comfortable with their mind sharing, she would manage to glean the information directly from his brain than he was of telling her himself. He would have to keep her occupied with other things until he could broach the subject. Kahn smiled a bit before sobering. “There is much still to be done here, Kiril. Many warriors are still killing, and it’s up to us to stop them.”

“What would you have me do, General?”

“No mercy, Kiril. No mercy.”

“As you command.”

?* * *

Anna awoke still a bit lightheaded. She also found she was quite comfortable for the first time in several months and did not want to spoil the pleasant feeling by opening her eyes and finding it all a dream. She lay there, dozing, not caring what had happened, not wanting to think beyond the wonderful feeling of a soft bed beneath her and warm covers over her.

“Are you aware you snore when you sleep,tarae?”

Anna jackknifed to a sitting position, the covers falling to her waist. Kahn the Merciless sat beside the huge bed…smiling. In her search for this man, she had seen hundreds of photographs of him, and none of them could have prepared her for the devastation of his smile. All those angles, all the fierceness in his eyes, simply melted away. Even the scar seemed to diminish. He looked at her with a gentleness, a tenderness that took her breath away. She was speechless.

He was dressed in dark gray. His leather-like pants hugged muscular thighs and his shirt and vest were open, revealing a tanned expanse of very powerfully built torso. His hair hung in waves to his shoulders, giving him a wild look that sent a liquid gush of heat through her body. She was drawn to this man. Everything in her screamed for him.

“What? Nothing to say? From the woman who would give herself willingly to a people she knows to be deadly simply to find me? I expected a tirade of some sort at the very least.”

Teasing. He wasteasingher! When the chuckle emerged from deep within his chest it was all she could take. Her hand shot out, grabbed the nearest pillow and hurled it at him. It hit him square in the face.

She gasped. Had she really just hit Kahn the Merciless in the face with a pillow? Of all the hare-brained, idiotic things to do! She flung herself across the expanse of the bed and made a mad dash for the door, only to be snagged in mid flight by a steely arm around her middle. The laughter at her ear was the last thing she expected.

“You’re probably the only person on several worlds who would dare throw anything at me,tarae. You should know you have nothing to fear from me. Can you not feel it?”

The only things she felt were his breath feathering her cheek and the clenching in her belly. She almost melted on the spot. But she realized shecouldsense what he felt. His amusement -- and his lust for her.

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