Chapter Five

Gwyneth had to almost run to keep up with Kiran. He seemed fiercely determined to get to the dining room, but when they stepped into the room, she noticed it wasn’t some small little thing. The place was enormous, and she had to lean her head back to look up at the stone ceiling. She had never been inside a castle, only seen pictures. It was an incredible sight, and she could barely contain the fast beating of her heart as she took it all in.

“Come.”

Gwyneth had not noticed she had stopped by the entrance to study the enormous windows, the long table, the candles burning everywhere, or how each chair seemed to have been decorated a little with gold around the edges. But it was clear that Kiran had, as she turned to him and saw he was already standing by the head of the table, waiting for her to come closer. A little unsure, Gwyneth took a few steps closer, but Kiran waved her toward him.

“Here,” he said.

Gwyneth moved a few chairs down, but she was still keeping her distance, and it made him smile.

“Here,” he said again and pointed toward the spot right beside him. Gwyneth understood he did not wish for there to be any distance between them, but she didn’t understand why. To her, they were strangers, close to maybe being enemies, depending on whether he believed her story or not. Should he not be more cautious around her?

Gwyneth stepped over to him and Kiran pulled out his chair. He sat down, placing her bag beside the chair before grabbing her hips and bringing her toward him. She gasped as she ended up seated on his lap. What is going on? she thought. She didn’t believe she had felt any sort of signal that might indicate he liked her. He had even pointed out she dressed like a man and in a tone that showed her that he did not find it very pleasing to his eyes. Now he had seated her on his lap like they were lovers.

“Maybe I should sit in my own chair,” she suggested, so stunned she didn’t move.

“Why?” he asked, leaning closer to her. “I don’t mind this.”

“I do!” she exclaimed and pushed away, before pulling out a chair beside him and sitting down, seeing the small smile on his lips. “Am I not crazy in your eyes?”

“You’re interesting.”

“And you enjoy putting strange women on our lap?”

“Depends on the woman.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it does,” she retorted.

Kiran chuckled, shaking his head a bit. “You’re special,” he explained.

“Yes, I’m a woman from another world. I’m sure it makes me different. But no need to put me on your lap like we are old lovers,” she mumbled as she reached for a jug, too thirsty to care about whatever was in it, and she drank the water fast.

“We could be.”

Gwyneth began coughing, choking as she heard his suggestion, and she quickly put the cup down, turning to Kiran, who was still smiling. “No! We could not! First of all, I don’t know you, and second of all, I don’t see how you, at any point, found me attractive.”

“I think you’re very attractive,” he informed her.

“I dress like a man. You said that.”

“That can be fixed.”

“No, it can’t, because I like to dress like this.”

“All right, then dress like that. Not very queen-like, but I guess no one can tell the queen what she should wear.”

“Queen? Who is queen?” she asked.

“You’re queen. Yet not officially at the moment,” he explained.

“I’m sorry. Did I miss the coronation?”

“No, I have not planned it yet.”

Gwyneth could honestly not tell if he was joking or not, and therefore, she sat there frozen, staring at him, as she tried to decipher what he was saying. “What?” she ended up asking.

“I have not planned it yet, but it will, at some point, happen. Once, I think, we have the time and the energy to do it. At the moment, we are struggling with The Dark Wolves. There always seem to be more of them, and I do not understand where they are coming from,” he admitted.

“Kiran?”

“Yes?”

“Why am I being crowned? I’m a crazy person in everyone’s eyes here, or at least those who know my story,” she reminded him

“Yes, I am still not sure if I believe it all, but it doesn’t change the truth.”

“What truth?”

“That you are my mate.”

“Your… what now?” she inquired.

“A mate,” he replied.

“Like a life partner?”

“Yes, you could say that,” he agreed, nodding a little.

“And why am I your mate?”

“I cannot explain it. It is… a feeling.”

“And you have this feeling… with me?”

“Yes.”

Gwyneth continued to stare at Kiran like he was now the one who had told her something unbelievable.

“I can see that is a lot for you to process. If it is true that you are not from this world, you probably have no understanding of the bond, like most humans here do,” he said.

“So there are humans living here alongside werewolves?”

“Yes.”

“With no problems?”

“There have been sometimes, but mostly because one or both of them is an awful person,” he explained.

“So because they are awful, not because they’re racists?” she jested.

“What?”

“I… never mind. Go back to the mate thing. How do you know?”

“We just know,” he replied.

“How?”

“Often a scent attracts us, or we feel deeply drawn to them, but what makes it final is our wolf stating their claim.”

“Your wolf?” she inquired.

“A second presence inside us.”

“Are you saying… another person… lives… in you?” She pointed at him.

“Yes, sort of. We are one, though.”

“And I’m the crazy one here,” she mumbled.

“And we have incredible hearing,” Kiran added.

Gwyneth gave him a small, nervous smile, now realizing he had heard her, though she had kept her voice very low. “I see…”

“So don’t think you can keep anything from me. I will know if you lie,” he warned her.

“You can hear my heartbeat?”

“I can hear it, and I can smell the changes happening inside you.”

“You smell those?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Do you heal fast as well?”

“We do.”

“No wonder the physician doesn’t clean his tools,” she mumbled.

“He does.”

“Not the way a human needs it to be clean.”

“How does a human need it? It’s not much different from how the human physicians do it here.”

“That’s because you have not come to a place where technology and knowledge have become so wide that you understand the depths of why sickness is happening. Or can wolves even get sick?”

“Not with normal human diseases. Though, if a wound is not cleaned properly, it can get infected. But the majority of infected wounds come from being hurt by other wolves or if the blade was poisoned.”

“Interesting…” she murmured.

“What is this ‘technology’ you speak of?”

“It is… It’s hard to explain. It’s the things you had in your hands. The thing that shocked your companion and my lighter.”

“Lighter?” he echoed.

“The one with the flame.”

“Oh, the transportable fire?”

“Yes, let’s call it that. Transportable fire. It doesn’t come from my hand or some energy. It is nothing but a genius invention.”

“Hmm… very interesting. You have come quite far,” he agreed.

“Yes, but it also had a price.”

“You killed your world.”

“A nice way to put it. I would say we slowly drained it. Like a leech sucking all the energy out of it.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” she pushed back.

“Why do that? Did you have a second place to go to?”

“Nope. It was sort of… the only home until the Jumper… I mean, the thing that brought me here. And not everyone could go. Only a few were sent on their way, since we did not know if it would even work.”

“How could you not know if it worked?”

“Because it only goes one way,” Gwyneth revealed, and felt a sting in her heart. “I can only go somewhere in the past… not back to the future.”

“Does that mean you’re trapped here?”

“For now, it seems that way.”

“Do you want to leave?”

“I was not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to fix my home. My world.”

“But how will you do that?”

“I… do not know. I’m not sure it is even possible.” She looked down.

“Well, in the meantime, let me show you my world,” he suggested.

“I still don’t get why.”

“I told you. You’re my mate.”

“Which doesn’t mean much to me.”

“It’s a life partner, as you say. The partner we know is our match.”

“But how can you be sure?” she asked.

“We just are,” he stated.

“It’s hard for me to accept such an answer.”

“Why?”

“Because things always have an explanation!” she exclaimed.

“Really? How are you here, then?” he challenged.

“Well… that’s… I’m not sure about the technicalities behind it, but… I mean… alternate dimensions have been widely discussed and theorized.”

“But do you have an explanation for how you’re here?”

Gwyneth thought about it, then shook her head.

“Should you not just accept that things are the way they are?” he suggested.

“But how can I? You speak about me like you want to marry me,” she retorted.

“We say ‘being bound together’ here, at least when it comes to us wolves. But yes, ‘marry’ is correct as well.”

“Is that not crazy to you?” she asked.

“Why?”

“You don’t know me!”

“I will have a lifetime to get to know you.”

“And now you speak as if I want to grow old with you.”

“Why not? Do you not like what you see, little mate?” Kiran leaned closer.

Gwyneth lost her ability to speak. He was very charming with that slightly crooked smile and the intense green eyes that seem to see right through her clothes and desire what was underneath. Kiran had this short brown hair she could almost imagine herself grasping, as he… Fuck, either it had been too long since she had been with anyone or this mate thing really was true and affected her as well.

“You do,” he answered for her.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Your hesitation gives you away, but what really makes me know that you do is the way your scent turned sweeter as you began to study me.”

“Sweeter? My scent?”

“It’s what draws me in.”

“And what do I smell like?”

“Like pine trees. Very fresh. It’s enjoyable.”

“And it draws you in?” she inquired.

“Makes my head go crazy, but you still have that Dark Wolf scent hanging around you.” He frowned a bit with seeming disgust.

“What does that smell like?”

“Rotten.”

“Oh great. I smell like rot.”

“You will get some new clothes and a bath soon. Let’s eat a little first.”

The table had already been prepared with food, and while Gwyneth was not sure what to make of what the king had told her, she was too hungry to care. There was so many delicious options in front of her—fruit, meat, bread, even dessert—and she stuffed them right in, not caring how she appeared.

“Is this all for you?” she asked.

“The others were supposed to eat here too,” he revealed.

“Where are they?”

“Giving us privacy. They understand the importance of our bond and the time you and I will need to nurture it.”

“Nurture it? Is it a baby?” she teased.

Kiran chuckled, taking a sip of wine. “I guess you can view it as such. It does need to be taken care of or it will die.”

“Die?”

“Yes, like any feelings can. If you do not take care of your partner, will they not want to walk away?”

“I guess I can understand that. It’s like all relationships. You need to put in the work or it won’t survive,” she mused.

“Exactly.”

“What happens if it dies?”

“We stop being mates.”

“Just like that?”

“It can take quite a long time before the bond is so weak it breaks.”

“Breaks?”

“Like glass. It is supposed to feel like that, anyway.”

“So, what, is this your first time finding a mate?”

“We do not go around claiming mates all the time. It happens once.”

“Then why want to break it?” she asked.

“Sometimes people can’t appreciate what they have found, or maybe they were born with a cruel nature.”

“What if they don’t like each other?” she asked.

“Only possible if they have a cruel nature. Our mates are always perfect for us, chosen for us for a reason, and unless you carry a vile quality making you unable to grow for your mate and accept what you have been given, you are destined to fall.”

“Seems kind of sad for those people who get stuck with the bad apples.” She sighed.

“It is, but a few have found others afterward. They were given a second chance.”

“By whom?”

“The Gods.”

“Oh, I see. So you believe in gods?” she questioned, very condescendingly, since she was far from a believer.

“What is wrong with that?” he asked, smiling a little.

“There are no such things as gods or a God.”

“Gods exist. Do you only believe in one?” he challenged.

“Humans have many religions. Some spoke of more gods. Some spoke of one. All of it was not provable though.”

“Maybe you just didn’t look at the right signs,” he suggested.

“Signs?”

“The signs the Gods send. After all, how can I know you are my perfect match if someone else has not made that decision for me?”

“Sounds a bit controlling to me.”

“But I get love and a partner out of it,” he reminded her. “How can you view it as something negative?”

“What if I wasn’t the perfect match? How can you know we are compatible?”

“Exactly because we were chosen. As I said, unless a bad trait in one of us prevents us from falling, it will happen.”

“No, that is not good enough.”

“How can you not have any faith?” He chuckled.

“Because science has proven over and over that faith is… It’s more like a feeling that’s nice to have, but believing in some divine being who chooses for us and judges us is simply not true.”

“How can you be sure? What happens when you die?”

“We get eaten by tiny insects and bacteria that will help decompose our bodies, so we pretty much become soil again.”

“And your body becomes one with nature, but how about your soul?”

“Oh God, I have stepped into some real medieval shit,” she groaned.

“You just mentioned this God, and yet you do not believe in him?” he inquired.

“It is just an expression. It comes from some old time where people did believe in God. I grew up hearing it, so naturally I say it, but I don’t believe in him.”

“Him. So your God is a he?”

“Not mine. I just say the words.”

“Could you not choose to say something else?” Kiran pointed out.

“I could… I mean, yeah, but it’s a habit now. I do it without thinking.”

“You could practice saying something else.”

“Okay, this was not what we were going to discuss,” Gwyneth stated, not wanting to get sucked into another topic away from what they were really talking about. “God or gods do not exist. We are here for a limited time. It’s all part of the natural process, and when we die, we die.”

“And your soul?” he challenged.

“Does not exist.”

“How can it not exist? I have chosen you. Our souls will be linked.”

“No, I was chosen for you,” she countered.

“Oh, so you do acknowledge the Gods?”

Gwyneth froze, then realized what she had said. She saw the smug smile on Kiran’s lips and groaned. She didn’t enjoy how he had played her and narrowed her eyes as she moved a little closer to him. “No. They are not real.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I just am.”

“Like I just know you’re my mate.”

Gwyneth looked at him, feeling a bit tired, but she would not discuss it anymore. Instead, she returned to her food and ended the conversation.