Time to Heal: A Kindred Tales Novel: Brides of the Kindred Read online

  Time to Heal

  A Kindred tales novel

  Evangeline Anderson

  .

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Evangeline Anderson

  Brides of the Kindred

  Copyright © 2019 by Evangeline Anderson

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com or Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  *Cover content is for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted on the cover is a model*

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  *Author's Notes:

  1. Though Time to Heal can be read as a stand alone novel, you will probably enjoy it more if you read its predecessor, Trapped in Time first.

  2. Though I have tried to handle it delicately, readers should know that my heroine, Emmeline, is the victim of sexual assault. If you have also been a victim, please read with care. I hope, as I always do when I write this kind of book, to provide a narrative which will bring hope and healing to the reader, not a re-occurrence of trauma.

  3. After her assault, Emmeline chooses to keep her baby despite the fact that he is the product of a rape. This is not any kind of political commentary--it is simply the heroine my muse supplied when I was writing this book. Though I myself have very strong political views, I try to keep them out of my books.

  Hugs and Happy Reading to you all,

  Evangeline

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  Brides of the Kindred series (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Claimed (Also available in Audio)

  Hunted (Also available in Audio)

  Sought (Also Available in Audio)

  Found (Also Available in Audio )

  Revealed (Also Available in Audio)

  Pursued (Also Available in Audio)

  Exiled (Also Available in Audio)

  Shadowed (Also Available in Audio)

  Chained (Also Available in Audio)

  Divided (Also Available in Audio)

  Devoured (Also Available in Audio)

  Enhanced (Also Available in Audio)

  Cursed (Also Available in Audio)

  Enslaved (Coming soon to Audio)

  Targeted

  Forgotten

  Switched

  Uncharted

  Unbound

  Surrendered

  Vanished

  Imprisoned

  Twisted

  Deceived

  Kindred Tales series (side stories in the Brides of the Kindred which are outside the main story arc. These can be read as STAND ALONE novels.)

  Mastering the Mistress (Also available in Audio)

  Bonding with the Beast (Also available in Audio)

  Seeing with the Heart (Also available in Audio)

  Freeing the Prisoner (Also available in Audio)

  Healing the Broken (a Kindred Christmas novel) (Also available in Audio)

  Taming the Giant (Also available in Audio)

  Bridging the Distance (Also available in Audio)

  Loving a Stranger (Also available in Audio)

  Finding the Jewel (Also available in Audio)

  Bonded by Accident (Coming soon to Audio)

  Releasing the Dragon

  Sharing a Mate

  Instructing the Novice

  Awakened by the Giant

  Hitting the Target

  Handling the Hybrid

  Trapped in Time

  Time to Heal

  Born to Darkness series (Paranormal/Action-Adventure/Romance)

  Crimson Debt (Also available in Audio)

  Scarlet Heat (Also available in Audio)

  Ruby Shadows (Also available in Audio)

  Cardinal Sins (Coming Soon)

  Dessert (short novella following Scarlet Heat) (Also in Audio)

  Alien Mate Index series (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Abducted (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Protected (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Descended (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Severed (Also available in Print and Audio )

  The Cougarville Series

  (Paranormal/Action-Adventure/Romance/)

  (Older woman/Younger Man)

  Buck Naked (Also available in Audio)

  Cougar Bait (Also available in Audio)

  Stone Cold Fox (Also available in Audio)

  Big Bad Wolf (coming soon)

  The Institute series (Daddy-Dom/Age Play Romance)

  The Institute: Daddy Issues(Also available in Audio)

  The Institute: Mishka's Spanking

  The CyBRG Files with Mina Carter

  (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Unit 77: Broken

  Unit 78: Bred

  The Swann Sisters Chronicles

  (Contemporary Fairy/Funny/ Fantasy/Romance)

  Wishful Thinking (Also available in Audio)

  Be Careful What You Wish For (Also available in Audio)

  Compendiums and Box Sets

  Brides of the Kindred Volume One

  Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Two

  Contains Revealed, Pursued, and Exiled

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Three

  Contains Shadowed, Chained, and Divided

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Four

  Contains Devoured, Enhanced, and Cursed

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Five

  Contains Enslaved, Targeted, and Forgotten

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Six

  Contains Switched, Uncharted, and Unbound

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Seven

  Contains Surrendered, Vanished, and Imprisoned

  Kindred Tales Volume One

  Contains Mastering the Mistress, Bonding with the Beast, Seeing with the Heart

  Kindred Tales Volume Two

  Contains Freeing the Prisoner, Healing the Broken, Taming the Giant

  Kindred Tales Volume Three

  Contains Bridging the Distance, Loving a Stranger, Finding the Jewel

  Kindred Tales Volume Four

  Contains Bonded by Accident, Releasing the Dragon, and Sharing a Mate

  Alien Mate Index Volume One

  Contains Abducted, Protected, Descended, and Severed

  Born to Darkness Box Set

  Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows

  *One Hot Halloween

  Contains Red and the Wolf, Gypsy Moon, and Taming the Beast

  *Have Yourself a Sexy Little Christmas

  Contains Kidnapped for Christmas, Cougar Christmas, and Seasons's Spankings

  *Bound and Determined

  Contains The Punishment of Nicolett and His Ward

  Stand Alone Novels

  (Sci-fi OR Paranormal Action-Adventure/Romance)

  Purity (Now available in Audio)

  Stress Relief

  The Last Man on Earth

  Anyone U Want

  Shadow Dreams

  Hunger Moon Rising

  Cougar Christmas

  Planet X (Also available in Audio)

  Deal with the Devil (Also available i
n Audio)

  The Sacrifice (Also available in Audio)

  Blood Kiss

  Take Two

  The Pleasure Palace

  The Last Man on Earth

  Blind Date with a Vampire

  Eyes Like a Wolf (Foster Brother romance)

  *Defiled

  *Ceremony of Three

  *Str8te Boys (M/M romance)

  * Forever Broken (M/M romance)

  * Red and the Wolf

  *Gypsy Moon

  *The Last Bite (M/M romance)

  *The Assignment (M/M romance)

  *Sex with Strangers

  *A Spanking for Valentine

  * denotes books that are only available at Evangeline's Aliens and Alphas Bookstore

  Naughty Tales (Short Reads to get you Hot and Bothered)

  *Sin Eater

  Confessions of a Lingerie Model

  When Mr. Black Comes Home

  Speeding Ticket

  *Putting on a Show

  YA Novels

  The Academy(Now available in Audio)

  Click HERE to join my audiobook newsletter.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek at Pairing With the Protector, the next Kindred Tales novel.

  Give a Hot Kindred Warrior to a Friend!

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  “So how’s it going? See anything interesting lately?”

  Caroline Vii looked up from her work, startled by the voice in her ear. It was Sophie, one of her new friends aboard the Kindred Mother Ship. The other girl gave her an apologetic smile.

  “Oh sorry—didn’t mean to startle you. I was just curious about what other universes you’d been watching lately.”

  It might have seemed a strange question to anyone else, but Caroline was a scientist who had pioneered the study of the other layers of reality in what was known as the Multiverse. The idea that there might be more than one universe—that there might, in fact, be hundreds or thousands or even millions of universes and realities layered on top of each other like the rings of an onion—had long been bandied around the scientific community.

  But only Caroline had found a way to actually observe them.

  Using a machine she had invented called PORTAL—short for Positronic Orbital Rotating Time/Space Allocating Locator—Caroline was actually able to peel back the layers of reality and observe other universes. Some people were also able to travel between them, using the window that PORTAL created. Caroline had found that out the hard way, when she was sucked into another universe and forced to live the life of her own double in what was essentially Victorian England.

  That had been a wild adventure and Caroline had barely escaped with her life several times over. She’d been drugged, shot at, attacked, and made to wear hoop-skirts and a corset laced so tightly she could barely breathe. But since she had also gotten her mate and husband, Richard, out of the deal, she considered the whole thing a success—not that she ever wanted to repeat it.

  Now there was a clearly marked black line on the floor of her lab, exactly three feet from the large brass frame of PORTAL’s window generation unit. This was considered the minimum safe distance and whenever a different universe was showing in the large, rectangular frame, Caroline made certain that she and anyone else who came into her lab observed it carefully from behind the safety line.

  She didn’t want anyone else getting sucked into another world and forced to live the life of their Multiverse doppelganger as she had. It was too damn dangerous and crazy, trying to pass yourself off as a whole other person who might look exactly like you, but had a completely different personality and life. Having lived through that herself, Caroline wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Nor did she want to drag anyone from another universe through the PORTAL’s window into her own world…well, with one exception.

  She wished desperately that she could bring Richard’s cousin, Emmeline, through. In fact, that was who she was watching in PORTAL’s window right now.

  “Not really seeing anything new at the moment,” she told Sophie. “Mostly I’ve just been trying to keep an eye on Emmeline—though I don’t know what we could do if I saw something bad happening. Richard can’t go back to his old universe and I don’t think I can either.”

  “Poor thing!” Sophie looked at the large brass frame, which showed a gray, overcast day in the other universe. The sky was an ominous shade of purple-blue and storm clouds were massing, clearly threatening to spit more snow to match the grayish mush that lined the cobbled streets of the Victorian-looking city.

  It had been summertime when Caroline made her trip through the PORTAL but time had passed and it was winter now—a dull and dreary time in the other world. Not that it seemed to bother the girl they were watching.

  Walking along the street, her chin lifted high, was Emmeline. She was a lovely girl with long, golden-brown hair, caught up in a fashionable chignon and held in place by a jaunty little emerald green hat pinned at the crown of her head. The hat set off her large, luminous eyes and the long, bustled green gown she wore accentuated her plus-sized curves, which were apparently all the rage in her universe.

  Caroline had to admit that was one thing she had liked about the strange world called Terra, which corresponded to Earth, though it appeared to be about two hundred to three hundred years behind Earth’s timeline. Plus-sized women were considered beautiful there, though they were still forced into corsets to accentuate their curves.

  “What’s she doing? Where is she going?” Sophie asked, breaking her train of thought.

  “I don’t know,” Caroline said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say she’s on her way to Hastings Hall to try and see her baby again.”

  “Oh, how is baby Jamie?” Sophie asked with interest. She and her sister, Liv and their friend, Kat, had been following Emmeline’s life with avid interest.

  Richard’s cousin had had a tumultuous existence ever since she’d been attacked by the only son of an Earl and had refused to marry him. Richard had called the man out and shot him dead in a duel, but Emmeline was still a ruined woman, according to her world’s standards. And when it became clear the rape had left her pregnant, her own mother, Lady Agatha Hastings, had turned her out of the house.

  Emmeline had disappeared for a while and eventually surfaced in a very peculiar type of brothel—a Flagellation Bordello called “Mother Griffith’s” on Graves Street. There she had given birth to a son she had named James—Jamie for short—but after only a short time, she had been forced to give the baby up to her judgmental parents.

  Lord and Lady Hastings had agreed to raise Jamie as their ward with the understanding that Emmeline would have only infrequent contact with the child and then only under approved circumstances. But it was clear the young mother longed to see her baby, who was weak and failing to thrive in the vast, stone mansion she herself had been raised in. Caroline had watched her go there over and over to see him, only to be turned away every time, sometimes with only a glimpse of her child through the open doorway.

  “Baby Jamie isn’t doing too well,” she was forced to report to Sophie. “He seems we
aker every time Emmeline goes to see him, poor thing.” She sighed. “It breaks my heart to see her begging to hold him and being told no over and over again—although the last time she went, the old butler had mercy on her and let her cuddle him for just a minute.”

  “Did he? Oh, I wish I could have seen that!” Sophie exclaimed. “Did he finally stop crying?”

  Poor baby Jamie put up a constant, weak wailing that echoed through the grand marble archways of Hastings Hall and was never silenced—at least as far as the watching Caroline could tell.

  She nodded. “Yes—the minute they finally put him into her arms, he quieted for a little while. I swear, he knows she’s his mother and he doesn’t want anybody else. Especially that awful wet nurse they hired for him.”

  “Oh, you mean Nurse Higgins?” Sophie asked. “She has such a sour look on her face, her breast milk probably tastes like lemon juice! Poor baby—he just wants his mama.”

  “Well, maybe the butler will let her see him again this time,” Caroline said, as they watched Emmeline make her way down the street. There was a look of determination on her pretty face—a look that said she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  “I hope so,” Sophie said fervently. Though she had never met Emmeline, she and Liv and Kat all felt great sympathy for Richard’s younger cousin.

  They watched as Emmeline marched down a long, graveled driveway leading to the imposing mansion called Hastings Hall. She had grown up there and clearly she still felt at home—or at least she tried to project that image. She walked straight up the marble stairs and knocked on the great front double door which appeared to be made of mahogany.

  After a moment the door swung slowly open and Caroline felt her heart start to pound.

  “Here we go,” she said to Sophie. “If it’s the kind old butler, he might let her see baby Jamie again.”

  “Oh, I hope she gets to hold him!” Sophie clasped her hands to her chest in anticipation.

  But the person who appeared in the doorway wasn’t the kindly old butler who had probably helped to raise Emmeline. In fact, it wasn’t really a person at all. When the door swung all the way open it wasn’t the seamed and wrinkled face of Fritz that was revealed—instead, a shiny bronze face, molded in the shape of a stern and unyielding scowl—greeted Emmeline.