Chapter 133
"You’ve got to be kidding me." Rynax looked between Tempest and Gerax and then to Mexyn.
"I assure you we are not. This doesn’t work if you don’t come with us. I can’t logically agree to such a mission if there isn’t at least one alpha male with us." Gerax crossed his arm over his chest.
Tempest bit the side of her lip. This wasn’t going as she hoped. Sure, it was going just how she thought it would, with Rynax telling them all how crazy they were, but she did hope that maybe he would just throw caution to the wind and say that he was on board without too much pushback.
That wasn’t happening.
"You’re right, this plan isn’t going to work without an alpha male, and there is no other alpha male who would even think about doing something like this."
Mexyn leaned forward with her own little smirk on her face. "So you are thinking about it?"
Rynax groaned and threw his hands up before turning his back on all of them.
Tempest put a hand up to stop both Gerax and Mexyn from talking. This was going to take a lighter touch.
She didn’t want Rynax to think that they were using him. They were, but she didn’t want him to feel bad about it.
"Ry, I know this is a big ask. I also know that you—"
He cut her off before she could continue. "What did you just call me?"
Tempest blinked a few times trying to see where she made the mistake.
"Oh, you mean Ry. Sorry if you don’t like it. It’s just a nickname. It felt right. I won’t call you that again if you don’t like it."
"A nickname? Who do you give nicknames to?" Rynax asked, tilting his head. He seemed incredibly perplexed.
"Oh, friends. People I’m close with." Tempest nodded her head, trying to get him to understand.
"You consider me a friend?" Rynax questioned, with a softness to his voice.
"Yes, of course I do."
"It’s been a long while since I’ve had anyone consider me a friend. I appreciate it." He smirked at her.
Tempest hoped he wasn’t taking this to mean something that it didn’t. He was a friend. Just a friend. That is all he would ever be.
"You’ve looked out for me. And you’re not as much of a jerk as I thought you were in the beginning."
Rynax scoffed before he ran his hand over his face.
"What you’re asking will go against all the rules the higher-ups have in place. People aren’t supposed to go to the forbidden lands unless they are specifically given permission. That is usually saved for the military or royalty."
"That’s not always true," Gerax inserted. "There have been scientific expeditions to the forbidden lands."
"Scientific expeditions sanctioned by the high royals." Rynax retorted.
"Ry, we all know that this isn’t going to be easy or that we might get in trouble for doing so, but if we wait for the high royals to give us permission, it’ll never happen. I have to get there. I have to get to Dron." Tempest all but pleaded.
"If Dron knows what he has waiting for him back here, I’m sure he’ll be back as soon as he can."
"I don’t know if I can wait that long. I already feel like I’m losing a part of myself. I need to get to him." Tempest admitted.
Rynax narrowed his eyes on her but didn’t ask the question.
Fortunately, Gerax was more than willing to answer without a prompt.
"They are fated mates. It’s not natural for them to have so much distance between them."
"Fated? Truly?" Rynax’s eyes widened. And he looked from Tempest to Gerax and back again. "I didn’t think that. was possible. I thought it was just something they put in schoolbooks. Do the high royals know this? Surely they wouldn’t have sent Dron away. They knew he’d been blessed like this."
"You haven’t been paying much attention if you think that’s true." Mexyn crossed her arms over her chest. "Based on everything that we’ve seen, the high royals would have moved even faster to get Dron away if they thought that a human could trigger fated mates with Thraqens."
Rynax’s eyebrows furrowed for a second as if he were in deep thought.
"Do you think a human could have more than one fated mate?" He asked Gerax.
Gerax’s mouth opened before it snapped shut, and he shrugged his shoulders twice. hard.
"Two fated mates? That is unheard of." Gerax finally answered.
"True, but finding a fated mate in a human is unheard of as well; couldn’t it be possible?"
Gerax huffed, obviously not wanting to go down this path.
"I guess anything is possible in these times, but I don’t see something like that happening."
Rynax let out a soft breath before he focused on Tempest again.
She didn’t want to think about what he was getting at. Didn’t want. to further the hypothesis, but she could tell that this was going to end badly. One way or another she was going to end up hurting a friend.
"Come." Rynax gestured for Tempest to follow him. She took a few steps away from Mexyn and Gerax. He wanted to speak with her in private.
"What is it?" Tempest questioned, hoping he wasn’t about to suggest that he was her fated mate as well. She just didn’t have those feelings for him.
She didn’t feel like her heart was about to beat out of her chest when he was near. She wasn’t naive enough to deny that she was attracted to him.
Something about the way he didn’t care about what the others thought about him or the way he carried himself thrilled Tempest. In another life, she might have even tried to go on a few dates with him. They probably would’ve all ended badly, but she could see herself entertaining the idea.
"You want me to do this?" Rynax asked, keeping her gaze.
"It would give us a much better chance." Tempest admitted.
"No, that’s not what I’m asking you. I want to know if you, personally, want me for this mission. If this will make you happy?"
The line was right there. She could feel it starting to blur.
She had to take the chance and hope that it would all turn out okay in the end.
"Yes, it would make me happy if you came with us."
Rynax smirked.
"As you wish. I will take this journey with you. I only have two requirements." Tempest hoped he would ask for money...of course that wasn’t what he had in mind.
"You will follow my orders. If I think something is too dangerous or don’t think we can make it, I don’t want any arguments."
Tempest huffed; she’d accept that for now, but she doubted that she’d forgo all arguments.
"Fine, what is the other requirement?"
"You will travel at my side at all times. In the transport, hiking, and bunking, all of your time will be spent by my side."
Tempest could see the red flags waving with the force of a category five hurricane.
How bad could it be? She would just be spending time with him. It’ll be fine.
"Fine."
Rynax smiled wide as if he’d just won a great prize. "So be it. Let’s go on a secret mission to find your fated mate."