Tempest

9 : Choices Made

Tempest knew she could not run from him forever. She knew she had to make a decision. She stopped when she was a couple of blocks away and turned back. Just then her phone pinged, indicating that a message had come in. Dean.

I have a lead. Meet me tonight.

That one message screwed with her mind in all sorts of ways.

Her were wanted to go back to her mate. She did too. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Life seemed to slow down as she considered her options. She had been waiting for decades to find her family. Years of searching and chasing down dead ends and false leads had finally resulted in something tangible. She couldn't afford to lose this thread now.

There was the issue of her mate, however. She couldn't keep him hanging on. She had done so now for more years than she cared to count. She had thought of him a lot, wondered about the kind of man he would be. She had woken up often, alone, and daydreamed about him, thought about their future together and the children they would have. They would have no future, however, unless she finished what she had started.

Making a quick decision she spoke into the air.

"Mate, I know you can hear me. There is a park ten kilometers outside of the city, along the A1. Meet me there at sunset. You and I need to ... talk."

She didn't wait for his response. She knew that he had heard her. Heading back to her apartment she started packing up. It was time to move again. She had been here for a year and had found a job to help pay the bills. She had graduated from University in 2000 and had found odd jobs here and there when she needed something to kill the monotony. She didn't really need to work because Papa Sam and Aida provided her with whatever she needed. Being a being with magical powers had its perks. The mountain of gold and diamonds she and Sam had accumulated when they were younger also helped a lot. They had opened an account for her, and with the help of a Supernatural Lawyer, they had sorted her out.

When she was done packing she finally took a deep breath and sat down. She felt drained and her were was quiet within her. She barely felt her and she understood why she was silent. She was royally pissed and needed to get over it. She had withdrawn to the darkest corner of her mind and lay there, unresponsive to her. She shrugged it off. She would emerge when she was ready.

She rubbed her thumb over the tattoo of a coin that she had on the inside of her left wrist. It was a replica of the heads side of the coin Aida had used to test her for magic, only smaller. Because Papa Sam and Aida were not weres, they could not communicate with her though a natural link so Aida had created one. Initially, Tempest had used the coin as a conduit and held it in her hands when she needed to talk to them. Over the years she had progressed to not needing the coin when they were not that far from each other. However, since she had needed to travel all over the world on her quest, it had proven to be difficult to contact them at times. Aida had proposed the tattoo to focus her and also to strengthen their link. Kinda like changing from 2G to 4G.

Now, she opened up the channel and called to Aida. Aida responded immediately.

"Dean found something," she said after they exchanged greetings. "I am meeting with him later to hear what it is."

"That's great news," Aida said.

"Hmmm," was Tempest's response and Aida picked up that something else had happened.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aida asked softly.

"I met him today," Tempest mumbled and the "Oh" that escaped Aida meant she knew exactly who she was referring to.

"He's a Lycan. He's strong," she told Aida.

"Maybe he can help you find them," Aida suggested. "Instead of doing this alone maybe he can --"

"No," Tempest stopped her. "This is not his battle to fight. Besides, I'm not alone. I have Dean and the boys now."

"Tempest, he's your mate. There is nothing he would not do for you."

"That's why I worry, Aida. He may be a strong Lycan but what chance would he have against whatever took my family? Aside from Papa Sam, my father was the strongest being I have ever come across and they took them like they were children in a playground. I can't-- I can't let the same thing happen to him."

Aida sighed. As much as she hated that Tempest was denying herself the chance of love, she understood what she was trying to do. She had tried to tell her that she and her mate would be stronger together but Tempest refused to listen. Their girl was as stubborn as they came.

"I told him I wanted to see him though, to talk," Tempest told Aida.

Aida was silent for a while, thinking about what Tempest had said. She knew her daughter was up to something and it would probably not end well. After a while, she spoke.

"Whatever it is you plan to do, be kind to him, Tempest."

Now, Tempest stood waiting for him in the clearing she had proposed that they meet in. She was wearing the body suit that Aida had cast for her. When she was wearing it she could transform into her were and when she transformed back, she would not be naked. It had served her well in the past and she loved it. She normally wore it under her clothes, especially when she knew there was a possibility of transforming.

She would be meeting Dean after this and they would continue their quest. She could not stop now. She would not stop now. She felt like she was so close to finding them. It was the only thing she had dreamt of over the last sixty odd years.

Okay, maybe not the only thing. She had also thought about meeting her mate. When she saw him at the coffee shop, her heart had skipped a beat before it started racing. He had been everything she had wanted him to be and she sighed thinking about what she had to do. What she needed to do. She had no choice. Her happiness was not important at this point. She did not want to think about how she was denying him his happiness as well.

She thought about his personality. Was he gentle and caring? Was he stubborn and conceited? Did he show his love openly or hide it the way most Lycans were taught? Would he lay down his life for her the way she had seen some of her pack do for their mates? Would she do the same for him?

She might never know and the thought tore through her heart. She felt her were whimper in her mind and she blocked her off. She was not going to be happy with what she was about to do.

When he and his men came into the clearing, she sensed him immediately. Her were raised her head and then put it back down. She wanted no part of what she was going to do. She clenched her hands at her sides and took a deep breath.

It was time.

____________________

28 September 2020

....................................