Tempest woke in a strange bed.

Even more strange than the bed that she’d grown accustomed to in the large room Dron had given to her. She woke nearly swaddled in blankets and limbs.

Limbs?

Her eyes flashed open and she looked around. There wasn’t much she could make out in the darkness but there was no mistaking the heavy breathing that was next to her ear. As slowly as she could she turned her head to see a semi relaxed Dron. He was sleeping deeply, but there were still worry lines marring his gorgeous face.

Tempest tried to stay still, tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep but her body refused. It might have had something to do with the fact that it felt like she was burning up. Thankfully not the intense skin peeling itchiness that she felt before falling asleep. Just warm.

Slowly, she tried to maneuver so she could get out from under Dron’s grasped. Within seconds she realized that it wasn’t going to happen.

Dron’s eyes popped open and he focused on her face. For the briefest of seconds he smiled as he looked down at her, and then the panic set in.

"My temptation. Are you okay. Tell me. What’s wrong? What do you need? Should I start the life nectar bath again. I knew I should’ve taken you to the medical center. I’m sorry. Gerax said that you would be okay. We can go now—"

Tempest raised a hand and placed it over his mouth to get him to stop talking.

"Dron, I’m fine. Just a little warm. Everything is okay now."

He sighed through her hands and she felt his body relax.

He pulled her hand away from his mouth and placed a very innocent kiss to her palm before he moved back a little. Not much but just enough to give her some space.

She felt like she was getting whiplash from the highs and lows in the man’s emotional output.

"What happened. The last thing I remember was I was going outside to play in the rain and then I was being drowned."

Dron looked away sheepishly; it was an expression that didn’t really fit his powerful personality.

"I’m sorry. It was the only way I could make sure that the life nectar got into your body. I didn’t mean to hurt you."

"I’m know Dron. If there’s anything I know it’s that you’re not trying to hurt me. But why did that need to happen in the first place?"

Dron sighed and leaned up on his elbow, "Unfortunately it seems as if you might be allergic to our planets rain."

"What? I’m allergic to rain? Of course, that makes all the sense in the world." Tempest through her arm over her eyes and sunk further into the bed.

Dron lifted her arm off her face, "Tempest, I didn’t know. I swear if I’d had known that you even could have a reaction like that I would have never allowed you to go out there."

Tempest sighed and gently caressed his face.

Rynax was wrong. He had to be.

"You don’t have to keep apologizing. I know. I’ve never had an allergic reaction to anything before or I would have been more suspicious as well."

They sat there for a few minutes just looking at eachother. The tension rose and Tempest could feel the sexual energy begin to crackle and sizzle in the room.

"I should go and check the perimmeter, make sure—" Dron started and made as if he was about to get out of the bed.

The last thing that Tempest wanted was for him to leave. She truly enjoyed waking up in his arms. The night before sucked but this morning was all that she could ask for and then some.

"Do you really have to leave?" Tempest questioned.

Dron’s face fell. "No, I just thought you’d want to be on your own now that we are sure that your health is optimal. Besides it’s not typical for a man to share a bed with their wife."

Tempest startled at that, "What? Are you serious? That’s wild. Cuddling is a large part of being in a relationship, at least where I’m from."

"Cuddling. You mean holding eachother?"

"Yes, just laying in the bed or on the couch holding each other. It promotes closeness. I think we could do with a little closeness, especially after all that happened yesterday."

"Yes, I agree. Okay. Let’s cuddle." Dron nodded while he got himself more comfortable in the bed.

Tempest smirked and turned into his arms. There was no reason for her to get so happy about just having his arms around her but the minute she felt him hold her, it was like she was the safest that she’d ever been.

Once again, Tempest has the sinking thought that she’s being played, and it’s not by Dron.

"Can we talk?" Tempest questions not wanting to let go of Dron but angles her head so that she can look up into his face.

"Of course." Dron focused on her.

If Tempest wanted to be sure that what she learned from Rynax was incorrect than she had to know for sure what motivated Dron.

She had to get to the bottom of this.

"Dron what does it mean to you to have a mate?"

Dron’s brows furrowed for a minute before he started to talk. "It means that I’m blessed."

"Yeah, I know that part. Everything is a blessing to your people, and I respect that, but I mean to you personally."

"It means that I’m good enough. That I’m worthy. It means that I’m not a complete worthless member of society."

"And who would be able to cause you to go against that? Would you put what you have now at risk?"

"No. Never."

There was no way for Tempest to know if he was telling the truth. But her intuition said that he was. There were too many people in their relationship right now. Too many people whispering in their ears.

"What about you?" Dron asked, and Tempest was caught off guard by the question.

"You mean what does having a mate mean to me?" Tempest clarified the question.

"Yes."

"It was all I hoped for back on earth. To have one person that I could call my own. Someone that I could build a life with. Obviously, it’s different here. Especially with it being a short-term thing. But I know what it means to have a mate for me. It means survival. It means the opportunity to maybe have a second chance at life on my planet. It means I have someone I can trust."

"You can trust me, you know that, right?" Dron questioned.

"You can trust me as well. I hope I’ve proven that to you already." Tempest replied. They both stared at each other for another few seconds. It was clear that both of them was holding something back.

"Let’s make a new rule." Tempest quickly sat up in bed. "Anything that we discuss in this room will never be repeated elsewhere."

"Sounds like a good plan.’ Dron sat up as well. The both of them were in the bed sitting cross-legged like a bunch of school girls.

"You want to go first?" Tempest asked, "Maybe tell me what was going on with your boss in the other shop?"

Dron’s face dropped a bit. She could tell right away that he didn’t want to spill the beans, but she didn’t know if it was because he thought he was going to get in trouble.

"Dron, I promise you they won’t even be able to torture this information out of me."

He growled as if the mention of someone hurting Tempest was more than enough to anger him.

"No one is going to touch you." Dron barked.

"I’m glad to hear you say that. Rynax seemed to have other opinions on the matter."

Dron’s eyes flashed.

"What! How dare he!"

"Not that you would intentionally let someone harm me, Dron, more that you won’t be able to stop it. Apparently, if I were to be able to get pregnant with a child, it would be the answer to a lot of prayers."

"You’ve already made it clear to me that you didn’t want to have any children. I’ve accepted that already. There’s no reason to talk about it."

"There is. Rynax. Believes that I’m not going to have a choice. That once I go into heat, there is going to be a slew of alphas who are going to force me to mate with them whether I want to or not."

Dron’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he started to talk again. "Never. There’s no alpha on this planet who would force themself on you."

"They would if they thought it was the only way to prove to the higher ups that the lower class had a chance to survive. They think the royals are going to eradicate them, and if I have a child, it would prove that they could survive."

"I was told that you weren’t here simply to survive but to take over. Mark Chief told me, You know all about the settlement."

Tempest was completely confused. "What settlement?"

"The human settlement in the forbidden lands."

What the hell?

All at once. Tempest went from confused to disbelief, and then her emotions settled on rage.

Pure, unbridled rage.