Trapped in Time Read online

  Trapped in Time

  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 Note:

  Sometimes readers like to know who or what my inspiration was for a particular book. In this case, I have to say my hero was inspired by the character John Thornton, as portrayed by Richard Armitage in the BBC period drama, North and South, based on the book by Elizabeth Gaskell.

  I adore this drama and have probably watched it more than a dozen times (when I was supposed to be writing) and every time I watched it, I wished I could write a historical novel myself. But since I am known for my sci-fi series, I didn't see how I could do it. Then, the last time I watched it, the muse whispered in my ear that I could absolutely write a historical romance because anything under the sun can be Sci-fied if you try hard enough! The idea for Trapped in Time was born and I got to work.

  One of the most amusing and interesting aspects of writing this book was the research that went into it. Because my new world wasn't actually *the* Victorian era, just an alien approximation of it, I felt free to throw in all the craziest aspects of that particular time period I could find. One book that helped my immeasurably was Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill. I cannot recommend this book highly enough--it's hilarious as well as informative and it's even better in the audiobook format--the narrator really does the snarky tone of the book justice. Go get it and be prepared to laugh and gasp and pee yourself a little--it's that funny!

  So now you know how Trapped in Time, which is different from my usual straight sci-fi, came about. I hope you enjoy it and if you haven't watched North and South, go turn on Netflix, get a big bowl of popcorn, and be prepared to fall in love with Mr. Thornton! Oh, but first read Trapped in Time. First things first, right? ; )

  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 (coming soon)

  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, Sca
rlet 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 in 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

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek at Time to Heal, the new Kindred Tales Novel coming soon!

  Give a Hot Kindred Warrior to a Friend!

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  “So you’ve really found a way to open a door into other worlds—other universes?”

  Dr. Caroline Lambert, Ph.D smiled—it was a question she got a lot.

  “Not really a door,” she said to the wide-eyed Sophie, who was Commander Sylvan’s wife. Since the big Blood Kindred was the head of the High Council and had authorized her research here aboard the Kindred Mother Ship, she was more than willing to talk about it to him and his wife and her friends, who were also touring her new lab facilities.

  “It’s more like a window, if I understand your research correctly,” Sylvan said, raising his eyebrows at her for confirmation.

  “Exactly.” Caroline nodded, her red-gold curls bobbing with the gesture. She usually wore her long, naturally curly hair pulled back into a tight bun but she had actually tried to dress up a little today, hoping to make a good first impression.

  Unfortunately, her hair wasn’t cooperating and had started to frizz but luckily Commander Sylvan and his wife and sister-in-law, a doctor who had introduced herself as Liv, as well as their friend Kat, all seemed nice. They were also very enthusiastic about her research too, unlike some of her colleagues back home on Earth, who had scoffed at the very idea of opening a window onto the Multiverse.

  “So you can only look at the other worlds—not touch them?” Liv asked, looking disappointed.

  “That’s what all my research has led me to believe,” Caroline said firmly. “I have no reason to doubt it so far. But then, this will be the first time I’m able to test the equipment I invented. It has to be outside the Earth’s magnetic field to operate correctly which is why I’m so grateful the Mother Ship has agreed to host me.”

  “What do you expect to see?” Kat asked curiously. She was plus-sized, like Caroline herself, and had explained that she was married to Twin Kindred, who liked that kind of woman. Caroline couldn’t imagine finding even one man to hook her life to—let alone two—but it was nice to know the Kindred didn’t exhibit size-prejudice when it came to choosing their mates.

  “Well, if my theory is correct, there are multiple universes layered one on top of each other—like the thin layers of an onion,” Caroline explained. “I don’t want to go into the math, because it’s pretty involved, but what I’m trying to do is just peel back one layer and look into the universe next to ours.”

  “Yes, but what do you think you might see in that universe?” Sophie asked. “Sylvan says that it might be an exact mirror image of our own.”

  “It might,” Caroline said carefully. “That’s a distinct possibility.” She nodded at the shiny brass frame of her Positronic Orbital Rotating Time/Space Allocating Locator—PORTAL for short. “I might generate the window and see a world that looks exactly like Earth, with only a few minor inconsistencies to our own world.”

  “So if there are millions of universes that are almost exact copies of each other, would it be possible to look through the portal and see you from another world walking around?” Liv asked. “Could you watch your twin from the other universe and see what she was doing?”

  “Well, it’s possible I suppose,” Caroline said doubtfully. “But the odds against it are astronomical—like a trillion to one. It would be like flipping on the television and just happening to land on a channel that was playing a satellite picture of your very own house.”

  “Oh, too bad.” Kat sounded disappointed. “I kind of wanted to spy on my Multiverse-double and see what she was up to.”

  “What if you looked and saw that in that particular universe you had never met Deep and Lock?” Liv objected. “Maybe in some of those other universes you went on to become a lawyer and never married or had kids.”

  “What if in some of the other universes the Kindred never came to Earth?” Sophie speculated. “What if we were taken over by the Scourge and the AllFather killed and enslaved us all?”

  “Ugh!” Kat made a face. “What an awful thought, doll! Don’t even say it!”

  “It’s awful but any and all of those scenarios are possibilities,” Caroline said thoughtfully. “I might peel back the first layer and see an Earth decimated by nuclear war, then peel back the second and see another Earth flourishing because the people in that universe decided to ban all nuclear weapons and implemented strict carbon regulations to control climate change.”

  “The possibilities are endless—and fascinating,” Sylvan said. “But would you ladies excuse me for a few minutes? I just got a think-me call which seems important.”

  “Of course honey—go on.” Sophie patted her husband’s arm. “We’ll keep Dr. Lambert busy answering our questions while you’re gone.”

  “Oh please—cal
l me Caroline,” Caroline said, blushing a little as Sylvan left her new lab, all filled with the shiny brass frame of the PORTAL and the computers that ran it. She had worked hard for her Ph.D but she didn’t like to hold it over people’s heads and insist that they acknowledge her status. She was much too shy and retiring to do that.

  “But you worked hard for your title!” Sophie exclaimed. “And we really respect that.”

  “Thanks, but you all seem so nice. We don’t have to be completely formal,” Caroline protested.

  “Well, I don’t make people call me ‘Doctor Olivia’ either,” Liv said, smiling. “Even though I’m pretty proud that I passed all my medical exams to move on from nursing. So I’ll call you Caroline as long as you’ll just call me Liv.”

  “It’s a deal.” Caroline smiled at her. She’d been afraid that moving up to the Mother Ship would be lonely—though that wouldn’t be that much different from her life on Earth had been.

  Her parents were both dead and she had no brothers or sisters to miss her. She would miss her best friend Audrey, but she had recently gotten married and was expecting her first baby so they didn’t have much “girl time” together anymore. That had been one of the reasons she’d decided to make the move, even though she had resigned herself to being alone. Now it seemed like making friends in her new home was a distinct possibility—Caroline hoped, anyway.

  “So who else might you see in the Multiverse?” Kat asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Maybe your soul mate from another world?”

  “Well even if she did, she could only look at him, Kat-woman,” Liv reminded her. “It’s looking only—no touching, remember?”

  “I’m not interested in finding or meeting a man anyway,” Caroline said quickly. She was hoping to cut off the inevitable match-making that always followed when new friends found out she was single. Somehow they always seemed to have just the “perfect” guy for her and he always turned out to be a deadbeat or a jerk. Or he might be a perfectly nice guy but Caroline would feel no connection to him at all, which almost always led to hard feelings all around.