A whirlwind.

It was the only way Tempest could explain what happened after she confirmed her choice of husband.

Gerax ushered her into yet another cold metal room and sat her down.

Mexyn was brought back in. Tempest was happy to see the woman. She’d only been on this planet for a short amount of time, but in that time, Mexyn was the closest she had come to making a friend. The alien woman probably didn’t know it, but her patience and niceness were precisely what Tempest needed to feel more at ease.

They’d explain to her what was to happen during the marriage period. They told Tempest how the Alpha should behave while in her presence. What was illegal and what customs they followed.

Tempest pretended like she was absorbing all the information when in reality most of it was going over her head. She was only focused on the fact that the man legally wasn’t allowed to force her to do anything.

"So I can just stay in a room by myself for the duration of my marriage then?" Tempest asked, cutting Mexyn off as she continued on a long monologue on her people’s culture.

"Yes, if that is your choice, though I’m not sure why you would want to do that. It can be very isolating. But if that is what you want to do, you’d be allowed to unless your well-being were to be compromised."

Tempest narrowed her eyes at that; she didn’t want to get any part of this wrong. "What do you mean by that?"

"Meaning, if the Alpha notices that you are fading or are in pain, he is allowed to intervene based on your best interests."

"So he can force me to do something against my will."

"Yes, but only because preserving omegas is paramount. You may not be a good fit for him, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be a good fit for someone else." Mexyn gave her that tight smile.

Tempest scoffed at the notion that she would ever choose to do this again. Not on their lives. In fact, she was hopeful in the six months that she was going to be forced to be here that she would find someone who was willing to take her back to earth.

She’d already made all different kinds of promises to God. She swore that she’d learned her lesson and that she wasn’t really trying to kill herself. She promised that if she ever saw home again, she would be grateful for every second that she was alive. She promised that she would really start to live again.

So far all of her prayers had gone unanswered, but she was still holding out hope.

"Fine. I understand." Tempest squirmed in her seat. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to find a bed and take a long nap.

"You’re really going through with this?" Gerax asked from the side where he’d been standing, adding bits and pieces to the information that Mexyn had been giving Tempest.

"I thought I had to go through with this?" Tempest tilted her head to the side, bewildered that the man was still asking if this was her final choice.

"You do have to go through with this, but not with Dron. Surely you must understand the weight of your actions."

"No, I don’t understand the weight of my actions, Gerax. I have been ripped from my home planet. Forced into a marriage circle and told if I want to survive, I have to pick a husband. I want to survive, so I’ve chosen a husband. That is about as far as my comprehension of the situation goes." Tempest felt her temper start to flare.

"But Dron? It’s just...wrong." Gerax was just as exasperated as Tempest.

Tempest leaned forward, making sure to keep her gaze locked on the stiff man. "Tell me something, does he shoot missiles out of his hands? Have breath so bad that it’ll peel my skin off? Ooze pus or shit out of his pores?"

Both Gerax and Mexyn gasped at her, "No. Of course not." Mexyn answered quickly.

"Then I’m not seeing the basis for this so-called curse. It seems to me that you all are just prejudiced against someone who looks different than you. If there’s nothing wrong with the man, I don’t understand why all of you are so evil toward him..."

Gerax cut her off before she could finish her outrage. "The people closest to him die. It’s why he’s alone now. They’re all dead because of him."

Tempest’s mouth slammed shut. That was new information. She didn’t know how to process it. Were they being truthful? Did it mean that if she married Dron, she would die too? Honestly, that little disclaimer should have been told to her before she’d made her choice.

"He kills people?" Tempest questioned, looking between both Mexyn and Gerax.

Neither of them answered. Gerax grumbled something under his breath that Tempest didn’t understand before he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Tempest alone with Mexyn.

Tempest ran a hand through her hair, her nerves ticking up another notch. "I really need an answer to that question." She stared at Mexyn. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The woman sighed and moved to a chair next to Tempest, still making sure that she didn’t touch the woman.

"No, he doesn’t kill people outside active combat. I’m told he is very formidable when it comes to war." Mexyn nodded.

Tempest wasn’t a pacifist; she understood that there were times when bad things had to take place to keep the peace. She only hoped those mannerisms stayed on the battlefield.

"Then if he doesn’t kill civilians, I’m not sure what Gerax was talking about."

"It’s a very long story." Mexyn huffed.

"I’m not in a rush to go anywhere." Tempest shrugged.

"You must be careful with that habit." She gestured at Tempest’s shoulders.

It was a clear misdirection, but Tempest needed to know what the problem was with her moving her shoulders.

"You mean shrugging?"

Mexyn tilted her head to the side, waiting for the translation. "Yes, the earth custom of shrugging is different here. It’s comparable to your nodding yes and no to us. We, Thraqen, use our shoulders to confirm or deny an order. To direct. To show fear or acceptance. Shoulders moving up and down signify yes to us. I’d hate for you to be misunderstood by your new husband."

Tempest shivered at the thought. From what she had seen of the man, Dron was an impressive specimen. Just the simple touch of her hand against his chest was enough to prove that to her. She knew there would be no way to fight him off. Mexyn was right, Tempest would have to do all she could to make sure that she wasn’t misunderstood.

Tempest made a mental note to keep her shoulders stiff as she talked. Within a second she could already feel the tension in her neck. It was unnatural to her.

"Don’t change the subject. Tell me what you mean about Dron killing the people closest to him. It doesn’t make sense."

Mexyn sighed, obviously not wanting to talk about the situation. But there was no way that Tempest was going to let something like that go.

"It’s really not my business to tell, but I can give you the main details. It all started with his mother. His mother left her fated mate. It’s unheard of to do so. The rejected bond caused his mother to go crazy, and in turn she was shunned from the community. I don’t know why she did it. The pain must have been unbearable, but she lived through the end of her life in misery just so she could be with the Alpha she loved." Mexyn started.

"That doesn’t sound like something that would cause a curse, in fact, it sounds rather romantic. She chose true love over, what did you call it, fated mates." Tempest piped in.

Mexyn narrowed her eyes at Tempest. "Romantic? There was nothing romantic about that. Fated mates are sacred, a mate chosen by the moon gods themselves. It’s the best anyone can hope or pray for. To reject a mate is like spitting on the gods themselves."

Suddenly Tempest understood why people thought Dron’s mother would be cursed.

Mexyn continued with the story, her face taking on a more serious expression than usual, "Turns out she was already pregnant with her fated mate’s child, Dron. The pregnancy was long and hard, and when he was born, he was defective."

"You mean his skin? The dark-colored markings?"

"Yes, all newborns on Thraqe, despite race, are born with either iridescent markings or no markings at all. To be born with grey markings ...it was unheard of and to this day no one else ever has been."

Tempest thought on that for a moment. She thought it absolutely ridiculous that Dron was being shunned simply because he looked different. He was just unique, not evil. At least she hoped he wasn’t evil.

"So what are you saying? Everyone whose parents make a decision you don’t agree with is cursed? That’s ridiculous." Tempest scoffed.

"Please, let me finish before you judge. Our culture is different from yours. It’s how we are raised."

Tempest had a slight twinge of guilt in her gut, but not for very long. Just because someone was taught something as a child doesn’t mean that it was right.

"Go on." Tempest waved her hand for Mexyn to continue.

"Like I said, his marking made him different. But then a week after he was born, his mother came down with a mysterious illness. An illness that robbed her of her beauty. By the moon gods, the woman was a stunning omega." Mexyn shook her head wistfully. "Her skin aged far faster than should’ve been possible. It was almost as if the nectar was no longer working on her. Within two months of giving birth to Dron, she died, leaving the small babe with her husband. A man who only had experience on the battlefield. He wasn’t wealthy nor was anyone in his family, but he was valuable on the war field."

Tempest didn’t want to interrupt Mexyn again. Instead she waited again with bated breath.

"That was until he became the sole provider for Dron. From the moment the child was born every mission his father went on turned into a disaster. A caretaker was chosen to watch over the child while his father was away, but she was killed by a Focax, it just strode into town and ripped her from the back of the property. Dron played with a toy right next to the bloodied body as if nothing had happened."

Tempest gasped. That was horrible.

"One by one, anyone who was close to the young child found themselves on the wrong end of the moon god’s blessings." Mexyn finally looked back up to Tempest.

"What about his father? Where is he?"

"Last anyone heard, he perished in a small battle encampment on one of the uncivilized lands."

Tempest could feel the burn behind her eyelids. She didn’t want to disparage the culture that she was stuck in, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for Dron. He’d done nothing to be marked as cursed. It seems all he’d done is exist. It wasn’t his fault that the people around him had bad luck. She could just imagine what kind of low self-confidence he must have after all these years of people telling him that he was the cause of the people he cared for being harmed.

"So you see, just the fact that you have chosen to spend any significant time with him will mark you as cursed as well. The society may not want to engage with you." That didn’t bother Tempest very much; she didn’t care about the people here. They stole her from her world. Why would she care about how they view her.

"Is that all?" Tempest asked raising her eyes in indignation.

Mexyn sighed, it was clear to both of them the cautionary tale hadn’t gone over the way it was supposed to.

"Yes, that is all. Do you have any other questions?" Mexyn asked as she got up from the seat and stood in front of Tempest.

"No, let’s get this over with." Tempest stood herself. She was ready to go meet her husband. There was no use prolonging the inevitable.

"As you wish." Mexyn nodded once and gave her the tight smile that Tempest had already gotten used to.

Tempest turned away from Mexyn and walked to the door. She looked over her shoulder one quick time to see Mexyn worrying her bottom lip. She looked absolutely petrified.

From what she’d told Tempest about this so called curse, Tempest still didn’t quite understand why everyone tried to steer her away from the man. She was anxious to get the next part underway, but after looking at how worried Mexyn truly seemed to be Tempest didn’t know if she was being too hasty or not.

It’ll be fine. Tempest was sure of it.

She’d spend the time married to Dron in a room. Six months on her own might be exactly what she needed to come up with a plan in order to get back home.

That was the goal. She would do whatever she needed to do in order to get home. Even if that meant spending a few months with an alien no one seemed to like.