Marriage Contract with my Cursed Alien Mate

Chapter 199: Chapter 199

Dron didn’t even have a chance to explain to Tempest what was happening.

The panic in Gerax’s voice pulled at the alpha in him.

Dron wanted to stay in the dreamworld with Tempest but if something were happening in the reality that he had to deal with then he would just have to pull himself out of the dream.

He opened his eyes slowly. Forcing himself out of the dreamworld abruptly was harder than he thought it would be. It felt as if he wree trying to pull himself out of a medically induced coma. Everything seemed to wave and ripple in his vision.

The heat was unbearable.

Had they really slept so long that it was already morning?

He didn’t think so many hours had past.

Dron blinked a few times once again, trying to clear his eyes.

"Dron!" Gerax voice bellowed again and Dron felt his body jerk up and down. He looked forward and focused on the door. Gerax was trying to break the door down but the bed was broken and wedged up against the wood.

The banging was Gerax trying to get in the house.

Heat licked at his skin and his back. Tempest whimpered underneath him.

The sound zipped Dron back to reality. His eyes cleared and instant panic overtook him.

The heat wasn’t the sun.

The small house they were in was on fire.

"Tempest!" Dron shouted down into her face but she didn’t budge. She was still locked in the dream world.

Dron quickly looked around and realized that the entire house was nearly engulfed in flames. There was also screaming and shouting going on outside. They were under attack.

"Dron!" Gerax screamed again.

"I’m here. I’m coming. " Dron instantly replied.

"You have to hurry. The house is buckling. It’s going to fall!" Gerax yelled back.

Dron tried to lift himself up off the floor but he realized that he was still attached.

His knot was still nestled deep inside Tempest.

"No! No, no!" He couldn’t move.

He reached down and tried to pull but everytime he did, Tempest whimpered a little more strongly. He was hurting her.

If he tried to pull out now, there was a chance that he could do some real damage to her.

Still, fire could do worse damage.

Dron had to figure out a way to get out of there without detaching from her.

There was no other choice.

Dron slid one arm beneath Tempest’s back and the other beneath her, carefully lifting her from the floor while keeping their bodies as close together as possible. Even unconscious she reacted to the movement, a soft sound escaping her as her face pressed against his shoulder.

"I know, my temptation. I know."

Smoke was beginning to fill the small house. Dron could barely see the door anymore, and somewhere above him something cracked loudly enough to make every instinct in his body scream.

He didn’t have time to be careful.

He had to be careful.

The two needs battled inside him as Dron managed to stand. He wrapped Tempest’s legs securely around his waist and held her tightly against his chest. Her arms hung limply at first, her head resting against his shoulder as he adjusted his hold. He hated how vulnerable she looked. Hated that she still hadn’t awakened. Whatever had pulled them into the dream had held onto her more strongly than it had him.

"Dron!"

"I’m coming!"

A section of the ceiling collapsed.

Dron turned his back to it immediately.

Burning wood struck his shoulder and shattered against him. Pain exploded across his skin, but Dron barely registered it. Tempest was protected between his body and the wall. That was all that mattered.

The door wasn’t an option.

The bed they had shoved against it had partially collapsed, and flames had already consumed one side of the room. Gerax was still pounding from the other side, but Dron could hear more shouting now. Screaming. Weapons.

Something was happening outside.

Something much larger than the fire.

Dron looked toward the nearest wall.

Thin wood.

Old construction.

He tightened one arm around Tempest.

"Hold on to me."

She couldn’t hear him.

It didn’t matter.

Dron lowered his head and charged.

His shoulder crashed into the wall.

Pain tore through him, but the wood splintered.

He hit it again.

The second impact broke through enough that Dron could see darkness outside.

"Move!" he shouted.

He didn’t know if anyone was there, but a second later Gerax appeared through the smoke.

"Dron!"

"Back!"

Gerax stumbled away.

Dron drove himself through what remained of the wall.

Wood ripped across his back. Something sharp sliced his thigh. Flames licked over his shoulder, and Tempest whimpered against him.

Then they were outside.

Dron stumbled several steps before catching his balance.

Cooler air hit his skin.

He sucked it into his lungs.

For one heartbeat, relief overwhelmed him.

They were out.

Tempest was alive.

Then Dron looked up.

His relief died.

The settlement was at war.

"Moon Goddess, no!"

People were everywhere.

Humans ran between buildings carrying weapons Dron didn’t recognize. Flames climbed from several structures, turning the night sky orange. There were screams coming from every direction, mixed with the unmistakable sounds of fighting.

Dron’s first thought was his alphas.

They had done this.

The fear, the tension, the primal state they had been fighting since arriving had finally overwhelmed someone. One alpha had attacked, another responded, and the entire settlement had fallen into chaos.

Rage tore through him.

He had trusted them.

Dron turned, searching for the nearest alpha.

What he saw stopped him cold.

One of his soldiers was on the ground.

An unfamiliar male stood over him with a blade.

The soldier rolled before the weapon could come down, kicked the male’s legs out from beneath him and lunged forward.

Dron stared.

That wasn’t one of his men.

Another figure ran through the smoke.

Then another.

Different clothing.

Different weapons.

Different markings.

They weren’t his.

"Dron!"

Gerax grabbed his shoulder.

"Who are they?"

"I don’t know."

That was the problem.

Dron didn’t know them.

They weren’t from the human settlement, and they weren’t among the alphas who had followed him here.

Someone else had found them.

Someone had followed them.

The realization hit him harder than the burning wood had.

This was his fault.

He had led them here.

Dron looked across the settlement and saw an alpha he recognized shove a human woman behind him just as two attackers rushed forward. The alpha didn’t retreat. He planted his feet and took the first strike across his arm before slamming his fist into the attacker’s face.

Another human was dragging an injured alpha away from the fighting.

Everywhere Dron looked, the same thing was happening.

His people weren’t attacking the humans.

They were protecting them.

They were dying for them.

A roar tore out of Dron.

He stepped forward.

Tempest shifted against him.

Pain immediately shot through his lower body, stopping him.

He looked down.

Moon Goddess.

He had forgotten.

Not truly forgotten, but the battle had overridden everything else.

He was still physically bound to Tempest.

He couldn’t put her down.

He couldn’t fight.

Dron had been in battles where he’d fought injured. He had fought poisoned. He had fought exhausted, bleeding and barely able to stand.

This was different.

Tempest was attached to him.

One wrong movement could injure her.

Dron looked toward the fighting again.

An alpha fell.

Dron knew him.

He couldn’t remember the male’s name in that moment, but he remembered his face from the march. Remembered him standing among the others listening while Dron told them they weren’t there to give the humans another reason to fear them.

The male had listened.

He had listened, and now he was on the ground with blood pooling beneath him.

"No."

Dron moved forward again.

Gerax stepped in front of him.

"Move."

"You can’t."

"Move, Gerax."

"You cannot fight like that!"

"I can fight."

"With Tempest attached to you?"

Dron’s jaw clenched.

Another scream echoed through the settlement.

Every instinct inside him demanded that he go.

He was their leader.

They had followed him.

He had stood on that rock and called them brothers.

Now his brothers were dying while he stood naked in the middle of the settlement holding his unconscious mate.

"Dron!"

Mexyn’s voice cut through the noise.

He turned.

She was running toward him.

There was blood on her clothing, but Dron couldn’t tell if it belonged to her. Crilium was several steps behind her, fighting off someone who tried to come too close.

Mexyn reached Dron and immediately looked at Tempest.

"Is she hurt?"

"No."

"Then we need to move."

"I need to help them."

Mexyn looked down.

Her eyes widened.

"Oh."

Dron had never hated his own body more.

Not the markings.

Not the differences that had caused people to call him cursed his entire life.

Not even the parts of himself he had spent years wishing the Moon Goddess had made differently.

None of it compared to this.

He had never hated the fact that he could knot with someone as much as he did in that moment.

His body had connected him to the female he loved, something that should have felt sacred.

Instead it had turned him useless when his people needed him.

Mexyn’s expression changed immediately.

"You need to hide."

"No."

"Dron."

"I’m not hiding while they die."

"And what are you going to do?" Mexyn snapped. "Fight while carrying Tempest? Put her between you and a blade?"

Dron growled.

Mexyn didn’t flinch.

"Look at her."

He didn’t want to.

"Look at her, Dron."

He did.

Tempest was still limp against him.

His arms tightened.

"If you fight now, you risk her."

Dron closed his eyes and groaned.

"Where?"

Mexyn grabbed his arm.

"This way."

Dron let her pull him through the settlement.

It was one of the hardest things he had ever done.

Every few steps he saw someone fighting.

Someone bleeding.

Someone dying.

His alphas had formed small defensive groups around the humans. They were pushing attackers away from homes, pulling injured humans behind cover and placing themselves between the enemy and anyone who couldn’t defend themselves.

They had listened to him.

That was the worst part.

They had listened.

They were doing exactly what he had asked them to do.

Protect the humans.

Protect the weak.

Show them that alphas were more than the monsters they had been taught to fear.

Dron wanted to fight beside them.

Instead he ran away.

Mexyn led him toward the back of the settlement. Several humans were already moving in the same direction, including children and injured people who could still walk.

"There’s a cave," Mexyn shouted. "Hen showed us earlier. Emergency shelter."

Dron looked over his shoulder.

Smoke covered most of the settlement now.

He could barely see the burning hut he and Tempest had escaped.

He saw an alpha fall.

Another took his place.

Dron nearly stopped.

Mexyn shoved him.

"Keep moving!"

They reached a narrow opening hidden between two massive rock formations. Humans disappeared inside one after another.

Dron ducked into the darkness.

The cave was deeper than he expected. The passage narrowed before opening into a large chamber where dozens of humans had already gathered.

Fear filled the space.

Children cried.

Someone was praying.

Someone else was trying to stop an injured woman from bleeding.

Dron immediately became aware of his nakedness.

He shifted Tempest higher and turned her toward his chest, using his body and arms to cover as much of her as possible.

He didn’t care about himself.

Let them stare.

Tempest was the only thing that mattered.

Someone handed Mexyn a blanket.

She immediately draped it around Tempest’s back and Dron’s waist.

"Thank you."

Mexyn nodded.

Dron moved toward the far wall.

Every sound from outside made his muscles tense.

Every distant roar made him wonder which one of his men had fallen.

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