Chapter 186: Chapter 186
By the time the four of them made it to where they thought the stronghold should be, Dron’s head was spinning with pain.
No one tried to talk to him.
If there was an obstacle, they all moved as quickly as they could to get rid of it.
He was exhausted, but Dron knew he had to keep going.
"This is where the stronghold is supposed to be, but I don’t see it." Verux looked around.
Dron could feel the anger building up inside of him again. The alpha suppression tonic already starting to make its way out of his body.
"Kraznek!" Dron snarled the man’s name.
The alpha hobbled as best he could in Dron’s direction. He had started to heal but he was far away from in his tip top performance.
"Find the entrance."
"What do I look like? I can’t look through rocks. All I see is the damn mountains here." Kraznek snapped back.
Dron glared at the man. This wasn’t the time for him to test Dron’s resolve. He was barely hanging on.
"As you order." Kraznek quickly amended, he must have seen the fury starting to boil over in Dron. Honestly, Dron felt sorry for anyone who didn’t do exactly what he wanted them to do at that moment.
"You’re not going to have to look for it!" Zeqon shouted, "Looks like we’ve got a welcoming party."
Dron turned his eyes in the direction Zeqon was looking. He blinked a few times. He wasn’t sure if he were hallucinating or not.
There were several times during the last leg of his journey where Dron had started hallucinating things. He saw Tempest everywhere. At one point he even saw Squab following behind him. It was a small joy in his day only to have his heart ripped out of his chest every time he figure out that he wasn’t really seeing the truth. It was all a lie. A lit the fated mate sickness was forcing him to see. He knew that things would be bad but he didn’t think that it would be this bad. There was no way for him to admit it. Dron knew exactly what was going on. The same thing that had happened to his mother.
He was losing his mind.
When what he was seeing didn’t disappear like all the rest of his hallucinations he got into a fighting stance. It looked like the rocks were coming to life. Or rather there was life coming from the rocks.
One by one people stepped away from the cliff face and started making their way to Dron and the rest of his smaller crew. It took Dron a second to realize they weren’t beasts but just guards in very well thought out camouflage.
"Where is the entrance?" Dron spat out as soon as one of the others got close enough.
"What business do you have here?" A man spoke pulling a tan face mask away from his mouth.
"My business is inside the stronghold, now tell me how to get inside."
The air was tense. There were at least five guards that Dron could see and probably more still being camouflaged by the surrounding rocks.
The guard looked Dron up and down. His eyes settling on the markings that curled up his arm. His signature and most identifying marks.
"You’re Dron? The cursed one." The guard said almost in awe.
"He’s the Mark Chief and the leader of this mission. You will address him as such, Kraznek spoke up."
The guard huffed, "In case you haven’t realized, this is Skoq. We don’t have any mark chiefs here. We take orders from one man and one man only."
Kraznek took a step forward, but one of the other guards stepped between the two of them. "There’s no need for that, we were told to look out for you. Come, the entrance is this way."
Relief washed over Dron for just a second. At least he wouldn’t have to waste any more time convincing these people that they weren’t going to be able to keep him out of the stronghold.
The guards led Dron and his men in the direction of what looked like a solid wall, but once it was touched in a specific area, the rock slowly began to move to the side.
It was a true mechanical feat, impressive. At least it would be on any other day. Tonight, though, all Dron felt as the door slowly slid open was impatience.
Dron barely waited for the door to open all the way before he was sliding inside. Logically he knew that he should wait to make sure there were not traps or enemies on the other side, but he couldn’t do that.
Inside the stronghold was more impressive than the entance.
Dron scanned the area, there were buildings and training grounds. Blacksmiths and medics. What was more impressive than all of that was the fact that it looked as if everyone in the stronghold was ready for battle.
Ready but not moving.
"Tempest!" Dron yelled not caring who was coming up to him or who was looking at him. Tempest had been here at some point.
She could be here.
They could be hiding her.
Dron shook his head. It felt as if someone else entirely were talking in his mind.
"Dron...find me Dron."
That was Tempest’s voice. She was here.
Dron raced through the stronghold, bursting in different buildings, even breaking doors off the hinges in an effort to find her.
"Dron..." Tempest’s voice continued to speak to him, it was far away. He felt like he was hearing it on the wind. He raced in whatever direction his feet would take him.
"Tempest!" Dron screamed again.
"Dron!" A voice called out but this one wasn’t Tempest’s, and it was closer. Dron whirled to identify where the sound was coming from.
Mexyn stood behind him.
"Where is she? Where? I heard her. She’s here." Dron rushed over to Mexyn who stepped back before he could put a hand on her.
Suddenly, another alpha was behind her. He was missing an arm, Dron instantly categorized him as not being a threat.
"Dron, she’s not here. As far as we know she’s still at the human settlement."
"No! I heard her. I just heard her!" Dron shouted in Mexyn’s face. The alpha standing behind her took another step forward.
"You didn’t hear her. It’s in your mind, Dron. It’s not real."
"Don’t tell me what I heard, Mexyn. She’s telling me to find her." Dron fought against everything not to attack Mexyn. She seemed like just another obstacle he needed to go through in order to find his mate.
"I’m not telling you that you didn’t hear what you heard. I’m telling you she’s not here." Mexyn kept her head high. She wasn’t fearful though she should be.
Dron was absolutely crazed. His clothes were stretched out and ripped in places. He was dirty. Cut up. The man looked like he had just run through a war just to get here.
Dron squeezed his eyes shut. He could still hear Tempest. She wasn’t getting any closer. "If she’s still at the human settlement why hasn’t anyone gone to retrieve her. Why leave her there longer?" Dron popped his eyes open and glared at Mexyn. She wasn’t the one to answer.
The man behind her pushed Mexyn to the back. He wasn’t a threat to Dron but at least he was someone Dron could punch in the face if he so happened to give the wrong answer.
"We wanted to wait for night fall. We don’t know what kind of weapons or defenses the humans have. At one point, we didn’t think they had any. That can’t be the case now. Three alphas might have already fallen. We have to be careful."
Dron shook his head. Night. Day. Dron didn’t want to talk about tactics and suspicions.
"It’s nightfall. Let’s go."
"Wait don’t you want to prepare yourself? Weapons? Armor?" The man yelled at Dron’s back. He was already walking in the opposite direction.
"I’m prepared." Dron said it, though he knew he didn’t say it loud enough for anyone else to hear him. He was talking to himself.
Dron thought he might be prepared for what he was to see when he finally got a chance to lay his eyes on Tempest but he wasn’t sure. He’d never been through anything like this before. Never cared for anyone as much as he cared about Tempest.
Dron was focused on getting what he hoped would be the last bit of this journey to get back to Tempest behind him. The people around him watched as he moved with determination.
They parted as he got closer.
Not because they were fearful of the curse that he supposedly carried but because they must be able to see that he was an alpha on a holy mission. An alpha in the crazy throes of fated mate sickness. The moon goddess had blessed him with Tempest. A blessing that was hanging perilously in the balance.
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⏸ PAUSE■ STOP
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