Marriage Contract with my Cursed Alien Mate

Chapter 124: Chapter 124

"I can’t believe you got me to do this." Tempest whispered as she rushed to keep up with Rynax.

He turned and narrowed his eyes on her.

I didn’t get you to do anything. You are your own person, Tempest. You made a decision. You have to own that."

It sounded ominous but also, for some reason, really good. She was her own person. She shouldn’t have to wait for permission from anyone to do what she wanted to do. If she wanted to go off on a reckless adventure with a man wearing more gold and jewels than a Zales storefront, that was her problem.

"You’re right. So where are we going"

"Have you ever seen the sundrizen?"

"The what?" Tempest questioned as she swiped at a low-hanging branch.

"You’ll see if you’re lucky. They don’t always show up when I want them to, but every once in a while I get lucky enough to see one."

"Is it an animal?" Tempest questioned, and suddenly she was a little more afraid than she had been a few moments before.

She looked down at her wrist device, the one that still had the small icon on it that looked eerily similar to a pause icon. Rynax had entered a code that made it so Tempest wouldn’t be located by anyone else on the outside trying to ping her. That means neither Gerax, Maznik, nor Mexyn would be able to find her until she hit the button that released her location. She only hoped that when she did release her location, it wasn’t because she was being hunted by some large alien animal set on devouring her.

"It is an animal, but one of the most majestic animals you’ll ever see."

Tempest’s feet stumbled for a second, and she came to a stop. "I don’t think I want to go see any animals. I don’t have very good experience when it comes to the animals on this planet."

Rynax scoffed and reached back for her hand to hurry her along. "You worry too much. Just come on."

Tempest groaned, but she didn’t turn away; she simply followed behind him.

"You know I’m surprised. I’d have expected you to demand to be carried the bulk of the way." Rynax said over his shoulder as he continued to walk ahead of her.

"Carried? Why the heck would I do that?"

"Because you’re an omega. They have certain expectations. One of those is not wanting to trudge through a muddy, sandy backwoods and go on an adventure."

Well, it shows how much you know. I don’t need to be carried anywhere unless I’m hurt. And I don’t plan on being hurt any time soon."

"That’s good to know; now if we could just get you to speed up." Rynax murmured.

"Speed up? I’m only going this speed so you don’t exert yourself."

"Exert myself?" Rynax quickly spun around to face Tempest. A slight smirk on his smug face. "You don’t honestly think you could be faster than me, do you?"

"I think most alphas assume they are so much better than the women on this planet simply because they’ve never had to go up against one. We, ladies, are much more formidable than you give us credit for."

"Yeah, care to put that theory to the test?"

This wasn’t what Tempest wanted. She didn’t truly think she was stronger or faster than Rynax; she’d seen alphas in action, but something about allowing Rynax to think that she was just a helpless woman really rubbed her the wrong way.

"What did you have in mind?" Tempest heard herself saying, but she couldn’t stop herself.

"How about a little race? First one up to the ledge." Rynax pointed to a small landing about 500 feet in front of them.

Tempest examined the area. It was slightly uphill; there were a few rocks and boulders that she could see might get in her way, but for the most part it was a straight shot. It was just close enough that if she sprinted straight out, there was a chance that she wouldn’t be completely upstaged. That’s all she really wanted to do. Just not make it completely easy for him.

"Sure, let’s do it."

Rynax hooted once. It was a strange sound, but she’d heard it before.

"Is that the Thraqen sound for excitement?"

Rynax tilted his head and did the sound again.

"Yeah, that." Tempest nodded her head.

"I guess you could say it was our sound of agreement. Agreement and excitement. So are we getting on with this or what?"

"Why the rush? Are you nervous?" Tempest teased him. All that got in return was a smirk for the large alpha.

"How should we start?" Rynax questioned.

"Usually someone counts to three, and we all take off in a foot race."

"As you wish." Rynax gestured with his hand that Tempest should go ahead and get herself ready. She was already ready. Now what she was doing was trying to figure out a way to get one up on Rynax. She didn’t want to make this easy for him at all.

"One..." Tempest looked around again, trying to find the easiest way for her to get up.

Two..." She then went about finding the most she could do to make it hard for Rynax.

"Three..." She took off, but in the process, she kicked a few rocks in Rynax’s direction, and it had the exact effect she hoped for. He took one step and stumbled, falling to his knee.

Tempest ran as fast as she possibly could, jumping over rocks and scaling small cliffs, trying to make it to the ledge. Every once in a while she’d toss things back, trying to make Rynax’s way more difficult. She huffed and pulled herself up. The ledge was little more than thirty feet in front of her, and she would be there before she had the chance to...

There was a large growl, and then she felt the wind blowing past her. She looked up to see something sparkling and large soaring through the sky.

She gasped as Rynax came to land right on the ledge as if he’d just been dropped out of the heavens.

Tempest stared at him for a full second before she realized she was still pretty much dangling off the edge of the cliff.

The man didn’t even look as if he’d exerted himself.

"That’s not fair. You can’t use your superpowers."

Rynax leaned down and offered her his hand. "Says the woman who did all she could to stop me from reaching the top."

She grabbed hold of his hand and allowed him to pull her up.

Tempest looked at the connection between her and Rynax, and it dawned on her that he wasn’t hesitant about touching her like all the other alphas had been. "Aren’t you going to get in trouble for touching me?"

Rynax looked down at their hands still connected. "The only person I could get in trouble with would be your mate, and last I checked, he’s continents away."

Tempest gasped and dropped her hand from Rynax’s. So much for not thinking about it. She felt like such a jerk. She knew she wasn’t cheating or anything like that, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was betraying Dron in some way. She knew he wouldn’t approve of her running around with Rynax behind his back. In fact, he wouldn’t approve of her running off anywhere with anyone. He wouldn’t want her to be anywhere but the house where he could guarantee her safety. The problem with that was she wasn’t even safe there. Now that Dron wasn’t there to protect her, what was to stop those people who tried to hurt her before from coming back? What if there was a wild animal that made its way through the perimeter?

Tempest was sure that Mexyn and Gerax would do their best to protect her, but it paled in comparison to what Dron could do. To what Rynax could do.

Maybe that’s the real reason Dron recruited Rynax to watch over her. Because he knew that Rynax could protect her.

She only hoped that Rynax wouldn’t have to. She prayed that this adventure would be safe. She didn’t really have a good track record when it came to these things.

Tempest shook off the bad feelings she had about Dron and focused on what they were there to do. She still didn’t know what the point of going up this mountain was. "So we are here. What exactly are we doing here? I’m not seeing any grand views."

That was a lie.

Rynax had brought her up to near the peak. She could see all the way to where her home was on one side, and on the other side, she could see the majority of the military class. If she squinted her eyes, she could still see the darkened sky above the poor class where all the smoke was.

She turned away. She didn’t want to think about that either. It felt like Tempest was spending the majority of her time avoiding bad feelings. Rynax stepped beside her.

"We just have to go around this ridge. Be careful.

His voice was stern. It was the first time he’d spoken to her without a bit of smugness in his tone. He must really mean it.

Tempest nodded her head and followed behind Rynax. He kept his arm out across her waist to keep her pressed back against the face of the cliff. The ridge was very narrow, barely enough for one foot. Tempest slid slowly around the ridge until they came to a small cave like structure. It was dark inside. Tempest was hesitant when Rynax quickly dropped down inside.

"You want me to go in there?"

"Yeah, it’s not that far of a drop. "

"I can’t see anything," Tempest argued. She was starting to feel like she might have bitten off a little more than she could chew.

"I can see. You have to trust me, Tempest." Rynax spoke softly from the dark hole.

Tempest didn’t necessarily trust him, but she knew she couldn’t stay there on the ledge. She was already starting to feel some vertigo from being so far up with nothing to really hold on to. . She pulled in a deep breath and let herself fall through the hole. Rynax caught her before her feet could touch the ground.

He didn’t hold on to her, though; he simply made sure her feet were firmly on the ground before he let go. He grabbed hold of her hand and gently led her through the cave. She could feel that there was limited space, but the lack of light was making it hard for her to see just how confined she was. Tempest assumed that was for the best.

Finally in the distance, Tempest could see there was a little bit of light. She rushed toward it, finally able to let go of Rynax’s hand. They made it outside, and she realized that they were on another ledge. But this one was full of trees and shrubs.

It was beautiful, but it was nothing she hadn’t seen before. Dron had taken her to another spot like this, though much closer to the ground.

"This is what you wanted me to see?" Tempest asked, not trying to sound too disappointed.

"No...that is what I wanted you to see."

He pointed downward, and Tempest followed with her eyes. She could see three animals. They were large. They had to be since she could see them clearly from where she was far above.

She saw them...but she couldn’t process what she was seeing. It was impossible.

The animals were winged but they looked like lizards. They were all different colors. One was a dark purple while the other was red; the last was nearly white or silver; she couldn’t tell.

Tempest opened her mouth a few times to speak, but nothing came out. That is until it did.

"That’s a fucking dragon!"