Page 6 of Forbidden

“My fate and that of the mate chosen for me by the Universe is no concern of yours. We will accept whatever is to come.” Kahn couldn’t believe his uncle actually thought he would escape death. True, Mikkril hadn’t been judged by the king as of yet, but there was little doubt the man was guilty of genocide and attempted slavery. Just looking at Earth was all the proof anyone needed. The only reason he was even given this much of a reprieve was because he was the king’s half brother.

“Ah, but did you know she cannot have another child?” The smirk on Mikkril’s face indicated he thought Kahn unaware of that fact. “I should think that will affect your… affection… for her. Think about what you are doing, Kahn. You cannot rise to power with a barren wife. You’d be spitting in the face of a thousand years of tradition.” Mikkril turned to the lieutenant. “Take me back to my cell. I’m finished here.”

Mikkril. Always the royal bastard. Literally. Gothe’maran society held dear the idea of family. Men and women mated for life, but their ultimate goal was to mate with the one the Universe had created for them. Their soul’s mate. Mikkril’s father had dishonored his wife by taking a mistress and fathering another child. The people had demanded he relinquish the throne. As a result, Kahn’s father had assumed the throne while still in his boyhood years. A boy leading the mighty Gothe’maran was not readily embraced. Fortunately, Kerrek had not only gained the respect and trust of his people, he had made the Gothe’maran thrive. By taking a human mate, Kahn risked having his people question him as their rightful king when the time came to take his father’s place, but he was confident that could be worked out.

But right now, none of that mattered. Mikkril had dishonored himself and his entire family. He would pay with his life at the hands of the king. The only thing that mattered to Kahn was the woman on the other side of that door who was currently coming to terms with their torrid lovemaking.

?* * *

After Kahn left, Anna lay quietly, gathering her emotions. She had never experienced anything quite like the sex they had shared. Okay, so “sex” was a fairly bland term to describe what they had done. Fuck like rabbits? Now there was a term! She was stunned by her own behavior, and by the feelings running around in her head. Unable to contain her nervous energy, she jumped up from the bed and paced restlessly.

When they’d had sex, she could feel what Kahn had felt, from the overpowering lust to how silky her skin felt to him when she’d glided over his body. But once the experience was over, she could no longer feel those emotions. It was as though he had simply turned himself off. Now, she only felt an occasional flicker of something. Annoyance, anger, pity. Then it was gone like it never happened. What the hell was happening to her?

It wasn’t long before Kahn quietly opened the door and slipped in once again. As he entered, his gaze snared hers and he began to disrobe. Anna had thought him handsome before, but now that she had time to appreciate all of him, her breath caught in her throat, her chest constricted and her body went up in flames… again.

He looked like a bronzed god. He towered over her own sturdy frame by almost a foot, and was very heavily muscled. Vein-roped arms as thick as her thighs, a chiseled torso so steely only the skin made it soft to touch and molded, thick, defined legs all bespoke the power this man wielded.

Perusing Kahn’s legs had probably been a bad idea because her gaze was inevitably drawn to the male flesh now hardening between them. If his body was a work of art, his cock was the Rembrandt. She knew he was large -- she felt the evidence in the tenderness between her own legs -- but she hadn’t realized how perfectly made his sex really was. She could distinguish each vein running the length of it, and the large, mushroom-shaped head darkened from red to a deep purple with his desire. Like everything else, his cock was in proportion with his body, which made him long and mouth-wateringly thick.

?* * *

For his part, Kahn was definitely not immune to his mate’s inspection. Just watching her lovely azure eyes run over his body got him hard. She had wrapped herself in the sheet, but he remembered her form perfectly. She was slight by the standards of his people. He was surprised he hadn’t broken her with their wild mating earlier. Slender arms and legs joined a body boasting generous breasts and hips. Her work at the Front had reshaped her body and he found this one just as appealing as the fuller version of two years earlier. The mass of flaxen curls covering her head and sex was his undoing. His people were dark, bronzed. Anna was like the precious pearls of her world -- creamy white from head to toe.

Lust surged through him, answering both her feelings and his own.

“Anna.” His voice was husky to his own ears. “I have need of you again but there are things we must discuss.” She blinked and he registered her surprise that he knew her name. “It should not surprise you. You know my name. I seem to remember you calling out to me several times a few minutes ago.” He smirked and irritation radiated from Anna.

“That’s a bit different,Kahn the Merciless,” she mocked. “Everyone on Earth knows who you are.”

There was a silence between them as Kahn tried to figure out how to tell her about her son.

The moment he let that thought slip, he knew it had been a mistake.

She froze. “What about my son?”

Kahn gave her a wry smile. “You’re becoming more comfortable with the mind merge. That’s good, but I must confess, your timing could be better.”

She cautiously stepped toward him. “What about my son,” she repeated. It was a demand, not a question.

Kahn told her without preamble, “He lives.”

His sense of Anna’s emotions went suddenly blank. In the next second, she drove the heel of her hand upwards into his chin, snapping his head back and making him stagger backwards. “Bastard!” She clawed his face, slapped him, punched him, kicked him with all her strength. “What have you done to him? If you’ve harmed him, I’ll kill you myself!” Her anguished screams tormented his heart.

Kahn let her beat on him a while before enfolding her securely in his arms. Great sobs racked her body as she cried brokenly. He knew she was not even aware that she clung to him instead of seeking his death. “Please don’t hurt my son. I’ll do anything you ask. Anything.” This last was a ragged plea. Her heart was breaking all over again and Kahn suffered with her.

“Tarae, never, never would I harm you or anyone you love. For any reason. Least of all a child.” He gently urged her to look at him, tilting her chin upwards and framing her face gently in his large, battle hardened hands. “I know you’ve believed all these years my people were bloodthirsty monsters, but we are not. When our emotions are out of control, our passions rule our minds but that is precisely why our race seeks emotional control above all else. I know you can feel it in me, when you feel my emotions pull away from you. The only thing we place above control is the protection of our family. For that, we would do whatever necessary.” Kahn gently guided her to the bed, as he straightened the sheet covering her, and they both sat down. “Even such honorable things as that can be twisted, and that is what happened with your planet.”

“Where is my son?” Her question was put to him in a whisper, her tortured eyes brimming with tears.

“You remember the day we met?” When she nodded, he continued. “My second, Kiril, scanned the dead. Just as a man’s heart can stop and his lungs quit working and there still be a chance he can be saved, so it was with your son.”

“Impossible! He was literally torn apart. I remember there being so much blood…” Her voice trailed off as she slipped backwards into the memory.

“It is very possible, Anna. On Earth a hundred years ago, a man with no heartbeat was dead. There was no bringing him back. For us, it’s not so much a matter of heart and blood activity as brain activity.”

“So? Without oxygen, the brain dies. Without blood, there is no oxygen. You get the point? Once the brain starts dying, it’s only seconds before the damage is irreversible. Alex had been dead too long.”

“For your people, yes. Not for mine.”

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