Page 64 of Forbidden

“Get usawayfrom the door, Taber,” she whispered. “Davin was just inside the entrance.”

“We need to get out of here.”

“Not with Davin so close.Now get us away from the door!” Even as she whispered, she sounded -- and felt -- almost frantic. A moment later, all hell broke loose.

A flash of white-hot light knocked Taber to the floor, followed by a deafening explosion. Somehow, he managed to wrap his arm around Akahana and pull her underneath him, but he knew she’d taken as much of the blast as he had. His skin burned -- was still burning -- and he crawled away from the heat source with Akahana beneath him, forcing her along with his body between her and the immediate danger.

A second explosion rocked the temple, then a third and a fourth.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Taber shouted to be heard over the roaring, the wind from the blast blistering his bare skin. Damn everyone for making both of them go in unprotected!

“We can’t.” Akahana had turned to her back and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s in the hands of our ancestors now.”

“You’vegotto be kidding.” Placing his life in the hands of fellow soldiers as he did his part in the mission was one thing -- to cower in the corner while they bailed his ass out of trouble was something else.

“There’s nothing else we can do. I don’t know how, but Davin managed to circumvent not only the security of the priesthood, but that of the souls in the Temple, as well.”

“Khan said the souls within this place feed off of sexual energy,” Taber said, “that they normally demand sexual energy from mates or take it from any life force that enters.”

“Yes. That’s correct,” Akahana confirmed.

“So why haven’t they sucked all our energy away?”

At one end of the Chamber, where smaller explosions still rocked the temple, an eerie green light started to grow and burn, and the waves of tremendous heat coming out of the light warped the wall behind it.

“Move deeper into the Chamber, Akahana!” Taber stood and dragged Akahana to her feet, running into the mist as hard as he could.

Help us!

The voices speaking as one in Taber’s head broke his concentration, and he almost tripped as he ran.

We cannot deflect the energy…

The voices faded in his mind, and the mist lessened slightly. An almost overwhelming sadness filled Taber, and he instinctively reached out mentally to Akahana. The sadness was not hers, but she felt it, as well. Absorbing the emotion rather than fighting against it, she seemed to better understand its cause.

“What is it? What do I need to do?” Taber knew Akahana had the answers, but his link to her was too new for him to pick it out of her mind. In his indecision, she became the aggressor, the leader. She pulled him deeper into the Chamber, and he followed her willingly, eagerly. He knew his life couldn’t be in any better hands.

When she stopped, she pulled him to her, pressing her body against his. A jolt of lust surged through him as his adrenaline found an outlet, but he gave it no more than a passing thought.

“We’re probably going to die, Taber.” Well, she didn’t believe in pulling any punches. “Whatever Davin used to set off those explosions was designed to produce Pedderon radiation.”

“What does that mean?”

“Simply being in possession of elements used in the production of such radiation is the only crime whichrequiresdeath.”

“Sounds extreme.”

“Because it is the only thing a living being can do to destroy a soul. That is the only purpose of Pedderon radiation.” As she explained, Akahana wrapped the fingers of one hand around Taber’s semi-erect cock and squeezed gently. “Our only hope is to feed as much energy as we can to the souls within this Chamber to sustain them until the priests outside can rid themselves of the blaze.”

Taber’s cock jumped at her attention, rapidly hardening as she stroked him with firm, aggressive touches. “Sexual energy.” His murmur was lost as he buried his face in her neck. “This is insane.”

“Open your mind, Taber.” Akahana’s mouth was millimeters from his ear, her breath warm and enticing. Shivers slid down his body from his ear straight to his dick, and it was only a matter of seconds before he had the best hard-on in the history of the world. “Our lust feeds their lust and vice versa. Let them lead us, because they know what they need to overcome such a catastrophe.”

His mind was beginning to cloud with his own lust, but he managed to process what she said. And that was hard when she took his earlobe between her lips and sucked, none too gently. He could feel what she was talking about. Not only her sexual need combined with his own, but the needs of the whole collective of souls, as well. They reached out for Akahana and him, a few of them expressing love for their mates in a void filled with endless sexual frustration.

Taber’s arms tightened around Akahana against his will. He needed to pull her lush body more firmly against his. Her hand, trapped between them, gripped his cock, and he growled his appreciation. When she stuck her tongue in his ear, he was ready for a more active participation.

With a roar, Taber pushed Akahana away from him and gripped her waist. Lifting her in the air, he dove for her pussy with his face. She must have caught the image in his mind, because she gripped his wrists and swung her legs over his shoulders. Within a couple of steps, he had her braced against the wall of the Chamber, and he went to work.

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