Chapter 152
"Tell me you didn’t." Tempest took a step in Rynax direction.
"Rynax!" Mexyn gasped and stared at the man that was there to keep them safe.
"Tempest you don’t understand." Rynax shook his head but he still hadn’t looked up at her.
"Tell me what I don’t understand because based on what Crilium is telling us, someone messed with our communication devices. Gerax was it you?" Tempest whipped her head in the scientist’s direction.
"No." He was clear and he was scowling at Rynax.
"Still you don’t understand." Rynax said again. The fact that he kept saying that only made Tempest more infuriated.
"God damn it! Tell me what I don’t understand. Why in the hell would you do something like this? And why would you lie about it. We’ve been going on and on about not being able to reach out. We all could’ve been killed. How long have you been messing with our devices? What else have you been doing that we don’t know about?" Tempest jammed her hands against her hips.
Rynax sighed and finally looked up at Tempest. There was remorse in his eyes but Tempest didn’t know if was sorry because of what he’d done or because he’d gotten caught. Everything in her was saying it was simply because he’d gotten caught.
"I only pushed the one update."
"Do you think that’s supposed to make it better?" Tempest seethed.
"No... I..." Rynax dragged his hand through his hair. The jewels around his neck and wrist tinkled slightly. Just the sound was enough to make Tempest even angrier.
"Don’t get quiet on me now. This entire journey you’ve had more than enough to say. Speak!" Tempest shouted at Rynax.
"I had reason for what I did. It was for the best for the group. You brought me here to keep you safe, and that is what I was doing." Now Rynax was shouting.
"How can you say something like that? I could’ve called for help the second we set foot here." Mexyn moved forward, but Crilium grabbed hold of her and pulled her back. If things got too heated, there was no question in Tempest’s mind that if Crilium had to, he’d battle Rynax to protect Mexyn.
"There should’ve been no need. Things just got out of hand. I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you." Rynax stared at Tempest.
"You wouldn’t have let anything happen to me? You mean like the fact that I nearly succumbed to heat poisoning? Or maybe falling off a cliff? Or maybe the trauma I endured having to kill someone? You mean you wouldn’t let anything like that happen to me?" Tempest narrowed her eyes on Rynax.
There was so much that had happened, things that probably didn’t need to happen. If only she were able to reach out to Dron. He would’ve come, and none of this would’ve happened.
"There was no way that any of us could have predicted that any of that would happen." Rynax shook his head.
"It still doesn’t explain why you put the block on the communicators to begin with." Crilium questioned.
"This doesn’t concern you. It doesn’t concern any of you." Rynax snarled.
This was getting them nowhere. Tempest was angry, but more than that, she was hurt.
She trusted Rynax with everything. With the mission. With her life.
"It looks like Rynax needs to have a private conversation with Tempest. Let’s go take a look around. I’m sure I’m going to have more questions for you." Gerax said.
"You’re right." Mexyn shrugged and grabbed hold of Crilium. Crilium hesitated for a second as if he were unsure if he should leave Tempest alone with Rynax.
Rynax sighed, "I’m not going to hurt her. She’s the last person in the universe I’d ever lay a hand on."
Tempest gulped. He didn’t have to lay a hand on her to hurt her. He already had by lying to her.
A few moments later, Rynax and Tempest were alone in the small hut that was meant to be the safe space for all of them to rest. In that moment, Tempest didn’t want to be anywhere near Rynax, let alone resting next to him.
They were silent for a while as if Rynax didn’t know where to start. He’d been lying to them from the very start. Tempest was worried that Rynax would reveal some deeper plan. What if he was a plant from the high royals? What if this was all some sort of ploy?
"Explain!" Tempest bit out.
Rynax grabbed a chair and pulled it to the center of the room. He sat down and looked up at Tempest. "You have to understand, I didn’t mean for any of the bad things that have occurred to happen. I thought I had a hold on it. I thought I could control everything."
"Obviously you can’t. No one can." Tempest responded.
Rynax was quiet again.
Tempest sighed. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. "Ry, why did you do this? You’re absolutely right. I don’t understand."
"I did it because I wanted you to see what life could be like a different way."
"A different way?" Tempest crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yes, you were willing to give up everything. Willing to go against the high royals. To travel to a supposedly uninhabited land. Fight savages and beasts. All for a chance to get back to Dron."
Tempest felt her stomach drop. He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying.
"If you were with me, you’d never have to do anything like that. I’d have forced the high royals to permit me to stay with you. I’d have never left you alone. I wanted you to see that Dron wasn’t the only person who was capable of caring for you. Of loving you."
"Oh, Ry...no." Tempest closed her eyes gently. She could hear the despair in the man’s voice. She didn’t know things had gotten this bad for him.
"I know you feel something for me too, Tempest. I just know it. I just needed to give you some time to realize it. I’m sure with just a little more time you’d have given up your silly attempt at trying to get back to Dron and you would see me standing right in front of you. Waiting. Always waiting for you." Rynax sighed. His explanation over.
"Rynax..." Tempest walked over to where he was and raised her hand but thought better than to touch him. Things were already complicated as it is. "It doesn’t work like that. I didn’t choose to love Dron over you. It’s not like I simply closed my eyes and pointed at my fated mate. Dron and I have a connection that I never would’ve expected. It’s not something I can just turn off and turn on with you."
Rynax leaned forward, "Have you tried? Have you tried to care for me?"
"I do care for you. Just not how I care for Dron. Even if I did give up my hope and abandon my mission to get back to Dron and we somehow got together, you’d always be just the alpha who was trying to replace my true love. We’d never be happy. We’d be faking it. I’d be faking happiness, and you’d be faking being the alpha I wanted you to be." The words were harsh, even though Tempest tried to soften them as best she could. He had to know that no matter what, there was no way that anything more than a friendship would ever become between them.
Rynax sighed and leaned forward, his head falling forward. Tempest wanted to comfort him. Wanted to make him feel better, but she knew that she couldn’t.
"You need to fix this." Tempest said softly.
"I’m not sure how I can."
"What do you mean? Did you permanently alter the wrist devices?"
He looked up, the grief still evident there, "No, I can easily switch it back. I’m talking about the trust. I don’t think Gerax nor Mexyn will ever trust me again."
Tempest smiled slightly. "You fucked up. That’s for sure. It’s going to take a lot, but if you are truly sorry, I think they will be able to forgive you at some point. Trust will need to be rebuilt."
"You know, before you, I never had to worry about any of this. I was perfectly fine on my own."
Tempest kicked a little dirt in his direction, "We both know that’s a lie. You belong with us."
"Yeah, as your protector." Rynax clenched his jaw. Tempest could see that he didn’t want to be just a protector.
"No, not just a protector, but our friend. Can you live with that? Can you live with just being a friend to me? To us?"
Rynax pushed up from where he was sitting so that he was standing in front of her. "If that’s all that I am allowed, I’ll take it. It’s better than the alternative."
"And what is that?" Tempest tilted her head.
"Not having you in my life at all."
The words broke Tempest’s heart. She truly felt bad for Rynax but not bad enough to forget what she was in the land of Skoq to do in the first place.
She was here to find Dron.
To find her fated mate.
And now that Rynax would be able to fix her communicator, she knew she was that much closer to being where she truly wanted to be.
Back in Dron’s arms.
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⏸ PAUSE■ STOP