Chapter 160
Tempest and Mexyn helped Rynax get back to the small space that they were all to share for the night.
Just as Tempest suspected, Gerax was fast asleep.
She was envious of the man’s ability to do that. To forget everything that had happened in the day and just rest.
She knew that she needed that. She needed to close her eyes. Tomorrow she’d be one more day closer to Dron.
"What happened?" Rynax asked when they finally got into the space. Mexyn quickly stepped away from Rynax. It was more that she knew he wasn’t supposed to be so close to her. She didn’t want to be close to him. Tempest could only assume she was more upset about his lying than she was trying to let on.
"What happened is you went all alpha crazed in front of the bathhouse." Tempest stood in front of Rynax with her hands pressed against her hips.
Rynax looked confused for a second before he blinked a few times. "That alpha...he was keeping me from you." Rynax stiffened and looked over his shoulder as if he were calculating the distance he would need to cross to get back to Aliq to continue.
"Rynax, I didn’t need to be saved. I was bathing. He was just making sure no one walked in on me."
Rynax’s expression softened a bit. "I didn’t know. Why wouldn’t he just say that. I tried to locate you but your wrist device was off. I couldn’t find you. It was stressful." Rynax took a step closer to Tempest.
She still wanted to keep her space. It was an intense moment, but she couldn’t forget what he’d done. And his motives behind it.
"Ry, not everything needs to be solved with battle. If you’d only asked more questions. Gotten more information, you would’ve known that everything was alright."
"Questions? When it comes to you, words will never due. I had to lay my eyes on you."
"And I would’ve been pissed. Aliq was only doing his job. You owe him an apology."
Rynax scoffed, "You’ve lost your mind. I’m not apologizing to him."
"You will apologize to him. In fact, if I have my way you’d be apologizing to everyone in this strong hold. We are guests here and you just tried to kill one of their men. What happens if they put us out or worse. The three of us would never be able to hold everyone in here back. We don’t need any more enemies."
Rynax grumbled but didn’t say anything in return.
Tempest continued, "As of right now, we are with friends. These people can be trusted. They trust Mexyn. She would never leave us in danger."
"No, I wouldn’t." Mexyn spoke up.
"If you say so." Rynax grumbled again but wasn’t looking at either of them.
"You okay?" Tempest questioned. Rynax was still bleeding from the cut on his head. It wasn’t much, but it was still visible.
Rynax raised his hand to his head, and his eyes jerked in Tempest’s direction. "You struck me?"
"I had to. You wouldn’t stop. I was trying to talk you down, but it wasn’t working. What did you want me to do, just let you kill Aliq for doing what he was meant to be doing?"
Rynax smirked at Tempest. It made her heart clench; she hated that he had that effect on her still.
"You’re one tough omega. Anyone else would have just stayed away until the two of us were finished."
"Yeah, well, I’m not built that way. I help where I can." Tempest shrugged.
"You would’ve done more? Tried to take me out?" Rynax questioned as if he couldn’t believe what she was saying.
"You were going to kill him. I couldn’t allow that to happen. Not if I had anything to say about it."
"It wouldn’ve have gotten that far." Mexyn said but Rynax completely ignored her.
"Would you have done the same to him? Would you have done the same to Dron?"
Tempest’s mouth gaped open slightly. It wasn’t a question she’d expected Rynax to ask. It made her think. Could she really try and kill Dron in order to save someone else. It felt wrong to say yes but it also felt wrong to say no. It was impossible to answer.
"I wouldn’t have to." It was the best that she could come up with.
"Why do you believe that?"
"Dron hears me. If I tell him to back off he does. We’re a team. I’m not going against him because we’re fighting together." Tempest felt good about that answer but she could see the disappointment clear on Rynax’s face.
He wanted her to say something different.
Tempest truly believed that Rynax wasn’t pining specifically for her but just for the connection. He wanted to be a team with someone. He wanted to have someone able to reach him when he was in his alpha instincts. He wanted his own fated mate.
For the umpteenth time since she’d found out what Rynax had done and why she felt the urge to comfort him. She wanted to promise him that his time would come. She knew it was cruel of her to do so. There was no garauntee that it would happen for him. She hoped it would though.
On the other side of the room, Gerax cleared his throat. He’d woken up at some point.
"Seems as if I missed somethings."
"Nothing important. Tempest nearly caused a riot. Alpha’s fighting." Mexyn said dismisively.
"Oh, so a normal day. Got it." Gerax shrugged his shoulders and Tempest through her hands up before she walked over to the bed roll that was meant to be hers.
She sat crossed legged and looked back down at her wrist device.
She had the urge to call Dron again. She wanted to tell him what had just gone down. Wanted to tell him all about what was going on with Mexyn and Crilium. She knew she couldn’t, or rather that she shouldn’t. He was busy.
He was also waiting on the location.
"Gerax, you fell asleep before you could send our location to Dron. You awake enough to do that now?" She didn’t want to seem pushy but she didn’t want to leave anything to chance. What if they had to rush out of here. If she was on the move she wanted Dron to know.
"Yes, of course." he walked over to her and fiddled with her device. A moment later there was a soft chime and he nodded his head at her.
It was done.
Tempest looked down at her device and realized that she could also see his location. It was a two way. She was happy about that because she could see just how close he was...or rather how far. Based on what she was looking at it seemed as if Dron was all the way on the other side of the island.
"How far is this? Can you convert this distance to me." Tempest looked around at the people in the room. Mexyn’s eyes were hard but she gave her tight smile. She was about to say something she thought Tempest didn’t want to hear.
"He’s at least four days away."
Four days.
Four days!
Tempest wanted to cry. That was so far. For some reason, after she’d heard Dron’s voice she got it in her mind that he was just around the corner. That she’d wake up tomorrow morning and he would be walking into the strong hold.
That wasn’t going to happen. Even if Tempest stayed put he was days away.
Plus there was no way that she could stay put. Not when she knew the human settlement was so close. Maybe they could go out tomorrow, find the settlement and make it back to the strong hold before Dron got here.
It was a plan.
It gave her a way to be productive.
"That’s only if he isn’t met with any obstacles." Rynax added.
"Obstacles? Why would he be met with obstacles?" Tempest asked.
"Have you forgotten? He’s an intruder in these lands. The same people that have been trying to get us will try to get him. He’s going to have to fight his way to you and I doubt it’s going to be as easy as him just walking through the dirt."
Tempest closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to think about everything that could go wrong.
She was hoping for the best case scenario.
"Nothing is going to keep him from you Tempest." Gerax spoke as if he were trying to calm her. "You have to know that by now."
"I know. I just don’t want him to get hurt in the process." She sighed looked down at her wrist device one final time before she closed the application and looked up at her group.
"In the mean time, I think I might have a way for us to pass the time." She smiled hoping that would put everyone else at ease.
Mexyn looked to Gerax. They weren’t buying it. Mexyn refocused on Tempest. "And what exactly did you have in mind?"
"How would you like to meet more people like me? More humans?"
Gerax groaned. Mexyn hummed in intrigue. Rynax gasped.
"The human settlement? It’s close?" He asked.
"Based on what I’ve been told, it’s just over the mountain. I think it’s time I get a good look at what my kind has been able to do here on this island."
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⏸ PAUSE■ STOP