Page 58 of Forbidden

And hit her head on the healing tube lid before it had fully lifted.

“Where’s Taber?” She might have been deeply asleep in healing, but his thoughts and feelings bled over into her mind. She knew everything. And they needed to talk.

“Careful, dear.” Mara punched a few buttons on the control panel next to the tube before helping Akahana to her feet. Handing her a robe, she answered, “He’ll be here soon. I sent him away a few hours ago to get some sleep. I called him as soon as I realized you were waking up. How do you feel?”

“My throat hurts.” And her voice was gravelly, but she supposed that was a very small price to pay to be alive.

“It should pass in a day or two.”

“Mara, Taber thinks he can defeat Davin by taking us into the Chamber of Souls.”

“Mikkarn and Kiril said as much.”

“You don’t understand --”

Taber hurried into the room at that moment. “Akahana! Thank God!” He swept her up in a bear hug before setting her down and holding her at arm’s length, looking her over. He gently gripped her chin and tilted her head back and from side to side, examining her neck.

“I’m fine, Taber. Really.”

“Mikkarn and Mara weren’t sure you’d ever regain consciousness.”

“Obviously, I’m more resilient than they thought. Listen to me, Taber. You can’t put yourself in the position of having Davin challenge you as my mate.”

“What? How did you know?”

“You’ve thought of nothing else. It was impossible to shut out, especially when I had no control over my own mind because of the drugs from the tube.”

Taber looked at her a moment. “Will you excuse us, Mara?”

“Sure, Taber. I’ll go analyze the last set of test results and be back in a few minutes.”

He waited until Mara left the room and the door was closed firmly behind her. “Okay. Khan has explained why I have to do this. Tell me why I shouldn’t.”

She wasted no time. Give it to him hard, with no buffer, and maybe she could convince him. “If you give himanyexcuse to be near you, he’ll kill you. No matter the cost to himself.”

“I’ve thought of that. Khan says it would go against everything your people believe.”

“It does. But Gamin and Davin and the others don’t operate like other Gothe’marans. They do what they feel is justified given the circumstances. In this case, kill the human at any cost. Believe me, if they thought they could get at Mara or Anna, they would. That isn’t feasible. Make no mistake, even if it means his own death, Davin will kill you if he gets close enough.”

“It is a valid concern, one I’ve wondered about.” He pulled her to him again, this time enfolding her in his arms and holding her to his chest. “Khan and I have discussed this many times, and I have racked my brain to come up with something different. I have to admit, I’m stumped.”

“We can’t do it, Taber. Wecan’t. I’m not really sure I want to have you as my mate, but I know without a doubt I don’t want Davin to kill you.”

“And I don’t want him to kill you either, Akahana. He almost did, you know.”

“Yes. I know. I’ve felt the feeling many times.”

Taber winced and her heart gave a painful lurch. Damn. She hadn’t meant for that to sound as harsh as it came out.

“Look, Taber. I can take care of myself. I’ll leave Earth, and Davin will never find me.”

“You don’t think so?”

Akahana could tell by the stubborn set of his mind she probably had no hope of winning this conversation, but at least she’d have her say. “No, I don’t. In fact, I’ll bet that if you don’t publicly claim me as mate, Davin will leave us both alone.”

Taber looked down at her and narrowed his eyes. “You don’t really believe that.” Then he became perfectly still.

Oh, man. She was in serious danger of him latching on to her and never letting go. Funny, the prospect wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it was going to be. And all they’d done was share a few dreams together.

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