Chapter Twenty-Four

Kiran hurried down the long dungeon hallway. Guards had informed him that Gwyneth had brought a woman back to the castle and taken her directly to the dungeon. He hoped the woman Gwyneth had captured could provide them with some answers.

But he was surprised when he got down there to see his mate hammering her fist into the woman’s face over and over, causing her to bleed heavily while remaining tied to a wooden chair.

“Where are they?” she shouted into the woman’s face, who responded by spitting out some blood and then smiling provocatively at Gwyneth.

“Shouldn’t you ask when?” she teased.

“Oh, to hell with you!”

“Gwyn!”

Gwyneth was about to hit the woman again when Kiran stepped in and grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Getting answers. Answers we’ve both wanted for a long time now.”

“By torturing the woman?” Kiran questioned.

“It’s not like I’ve waterboarded her. I’m just making sure she knows I can make it hurt if she doesn’t cooperate.”

“And is she?” he inquired.

“What?”

“Cooperating?”

“Slowly.”

“No, you’re letting her drag you into her dark world. Don’t let her do that.”

“Oh, how noble of you, Your Highness,” the woman taunted.

Kiran took a step forward and bent down slightly. The woman, who had been acting confident moments ago, suddenly appeared much less self-assured in his presence.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“I think you know.”

“I know you don’t belong to this world. Neither does my mate.”

“Your… mate?” The woman turned to Gwyneth, who glared at her. “Oh, this is rich. You’re with a werewolf?”

This obviously provoked his mate, and she moved forward again, but Kiran got in her way, placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking his head to signal her not to let it get to her. “Don’t,” he ordered.

“They are the reason you’ve had so many problems!” Gwyneth exclaimed.

“Oh, so you’re doing this for him?” the woman asked.

“I want answers!” Gwyneth growled.

“What kind?”

Gwyneth fell silent, and the woman smiled knowingly.

“You want to go home?” she taunted. Gwyneth remained silent, which only seemed to amuse the woman further. “Afraid you can’t?”

“You’re here,” Gwyneth replied defensively.

“Yes, but can we go back, is what you want to know, am I correct? You’re not happy here, yet he seems very taken by you.”

The woman looked between them, clearly enjoying the tense atmosphere.

“Is it possible?” Gwyneth asked, instead of responding to the woman’s taunts.

“What?”

“To go back.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Gwyneth moved forward again, but Kiran held her back, pushing her a few steps away. “Stop!”

“I’m trying to fix things!”

“No, you’re letting her get to you, and she knows it. Now stop.”

Gwyneth glared at Kiran but ultimately listened to him and remained in her spot, crossing her arms defiantly. Kiran shook his head and turned his attention back to the woman, ready to conduct his own interrogation.

“What have you done to my people?” he demanded.

“What do you mean?” she asked with false innocence.

“You know what I mean. My people have gone wild, and I was informed you held the answers as to why. So tell me!”

“Maybe you were always beasts,” she retorted.

“No, give me an answer. Why?”

“Who says it was us?”

“Stop with the games. I know it was. It has to be, so don’t act ignorant,” Kiran growled, feeling his wolf instincts surging. He knew his eyes were glowing now, but the woman met his gaze without flinching.

“Tell me!” he thundered.

“You are beasts, Your Highness. That is what you are. We just made you see that.”

“You’re wrong. What did you do?”

“We made your true nature surface.”

“I will unleash my mate on you again if I have to. Do you want her to rearrange your face?” Kiran threatened, and the woman glanced at Gwyneth. “Or maybe I should have a go at you?” he added.

The woman turned her attention back to the king, her bravado waning.

“Are you from the same time as her?” Kiran inquired.

“Yes.”

“Who are you?” Kiran demanded once more.

“Who do you think?” the woman retorted cryptically.

“Answer me! Who are you?” he growled, extending his hand in front of the woman and allowing his nails to transform into claw-like shapes.

“As I said, you’re beasts,” she responded, seemingly unphased.

“Do you really want to know what these feels like in your skin?” Kiran threatened, glancing at his claws and seeing the woman do the same. Finally, he saw a hint of a break in her, as their eyes met again.

“We are the ones behind it all,” she finally admitted.

“What?” Gwyneth interjected, stepping forward.

The woman turned her attention to Gwyneth and flashed a sinister smile. “Who do you think created the thing that makes all of this possible?”

“I met the people behind the Jumper. I know who the scientists are! They are from AirTech,” Gwyneth stated emphatically.

“AirTech is full of idiots who can’t even butter their toast without help,” the woman mocked dismissively.

“Then who made the Jumper?” Gwyneth questioned.

“We were nothing more than a small group of scientists who created it. Initially, it was the size of a regular toy. But when AirTech found out about us, they hired us.”

“And then? Why aren’t you with them anymore?” Gwyneth inquired.

“Greed,” the woman answered.

“Greed?” Gwyneth echoed in disbelief.

“You think a group of nobody scientists would receive the recognition they deserved? Besides, someone had to test the machine.”

“They sent you through it? Without a way back?” Gwyneth pressed.

“Greed, Gwyn,” the woman replied. “Greed destroyed our world, and even when trying to save it, it still plays a role.”

“Shit…” Gwyneth muttered, placing a hand against her forehead and looking distressed.

“It’s not pretty,” the woman admitted.

“How did you end up here?” Gwyneth asked.

“Well, they tampered with the settings. They didn’t want to send us to a different time period where we might alter the course of history. They wanted us to become nothing more than particles. Or so they hoped.”

“How could they keep track of it?” Kiran asked.

“The control panel. It can’t bring you back, but when someone is able to move through time or worlds it does send back a signal, but that is all it can do.”

“And so, they made you sure the machine would work, yet they must have known you ended up in a new world,” Gwyneth pointed out.

“Most likely, but what does it matter? They believed we couldn’t return, and thereby do no harm. Just like you. I mean, what did you do to deserve the same punishment? From the brutal punch of your fist, I’m guessing, Protector?” the woman probed.

“Correct,” Gwyneth confirmed.

“Commander?”

“Not quite.”

“Leading Protector?”

“Yes.”

“And you… deserted? Knew too much?” the woman guessed.

“I was supposed to be with a group that went back to the Roman Empire and changed everything,” Gwyneth explained.

“Ah, so you were a chosen one?” the woman taunted. “And it didn’t go as planned?”

“We were sabotaged.”

“Yes, who could have done that?” the woman mused, her smile growing wider.

“No…”

“Oh, yes.”

“You?”

“Perhaps,” the woman replied with a smirk.

“You went back to our time and ruined our last hope of saving it all? And you call AirTech greedy.”

“The Jumper is ours, and we will use it for our purposes,” she declared without remorse.

“You were willing to let the world die?” Gwyneth questioned incredulously.

“We were planning to save it!” the woman insisted.

“How?” Gwyneth pressed further.

The woman turned her gaze toward Kiran, who returned the look, feeling a mix of confusion and anger. Yet when his mate spoke, he focused on her.

“This world is new…” Gwyneth began, seeming to have connected a few dots, and Kiran observed as she continued to stare at him intently, yet not with a look of desire. She studied him like a puzzle.

“It is,” the woman confirmed.

“It’s healthy. It’s good. People coexist here. They work together. They even form families across species. But if this world is so great, why would you want them all dead?”

“They are animals,” the woman stated, her voice dripping with disdain. “Why should we share this world with them when it could be ours?”

“Are you serious?” Gwyneth demanded to know. “This is all because you think they’re wrong? Like some kind of abomination?”

“They are wrong, and they cannot be trusted,” the woman asserted.

“That’s where you’re incorrect! It’s exactly that kind of mentality that destroyed our world!” Gwyneth shouted, sounding furious. “We never learned to work together. Instead, we took and took until there was nothing left!”

The woman remained silent, and it was obvious Gwyneth’s frustration had reached a boiling point. She closed the gap between them, grabbed the woman’s jacket collar, and delivered another punch to her face.

“And you think AirTech were bastards? Take a look at yourself,” Gwyneth snarled.