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She ran until she felt the full-body rush of adrenaline in every cell. Once she was done with the track, she headed to the weights and quickly learned how to set them. She slid onto the bench and set to work.

“How are you lifting that?”

Derion stood just in the corner of her vision.

She grunted and kept pressing, focussing on the weight and the steady burn of her muscles.

After a few minutes, she felt pleasantly tired and set the bar back in the holders over her head. She sat up and looked around. “Is there some way to clean the machines off?”

He nodded and pointed to the sidewall where a towel dispenser and a container sat.

“Thank you.”

She sprayed the bars with the antibacterial spray and carefully wiped off all traces of her grip before she did the same on the bed of the machine.

She returned the container back to where she had picked it up and then she sprayed the cloth and rubbed the container down as well. “Where can I dispose of this towel so it won’t cause any issues?”

Derion walked over and pointed out a small chute. “It will immediately be in a cleansing solution so no worries. You are good at removing traces of yourself.”

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “It was practice. You can’t hunt if you leave your scent everywhere you go.”

“My father mentioned that you were expert at surviving. I thought he was simply trying to make an introduction by piquing my interest.”

Ianka snorted. “No. He was impressed when I explained to Apolan and Daphne how I had survived the last few years. I didn’t have a chance to tell him that I had a lot of practice. There is nothing extraordinary of the practicing of an existing skill.”

“I believe he was amazed that you had gained that skill to begin with. Even if your tracking ability is as extraordinary as he says, it has still taken willpower to hone it. That is worth admiring.”

Derion was speaking directly to her, his red-on-black gaze was looking into her eyes and the sincerity was on his blood-red features.

She blushed and rubbed the back of her sweaty neck. “Um, thank you for the observation. Can you show me back to my quarters? I think I need a shower to take care of the rest of this.”

He inclined his head and smiled. “I can and I will also send the message that the others can resume use of the facility.”

“Thank you. If the facility can be spared for about an hour per day on the ship, that would be great. I only need the track and the weights so it doesn’t take that long.”

Derion nodded. “Right. I shall pass that on to my father.”

They left the gym and Ianka was feeling much better. Her body was humming with energy and earned fatigue. She couldn’t sleep if she didn’t exercise, so she should be able to rest well that evening.

There was a tension on the way back that wasn’t out on the way there. She chuckled. “If you are this talkative now, I can only imagine how chatty you will be on the trip to find the survivors.”

To her surprise, a small smile that flitted over his lips. “I am lost in thought. I thought you were something else and I have begun to see that my supposition was mistaken.”

“Were you reading reports on my sister?”

Ianka smiled. It happened frequently on Gaia that folk had met Vida and assumed that Ianka was just as frail. It seemed that the physical strength had gone to one twin and the mental capabilities to the other. Ianka was always happier when she could act and not think.

“I may have heard rumours about her being physically frail before she arrived. You seem a little more . . . fit.”

Ianka wanted to howl with amusement. “Again. Thank you for that observation.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but a cluster of Fury members approached them and something extraordinary happened the moment one of them looked at her. Derion got bigger.

He didn’t just shift his arms and legs, he went from six and a half feet tall to nearly eight feet with a corresponding increase in width as he snarled at the men looking her over.

Two of the men responded in kind, and while she stood there, there was a clash of fists and skin in the hall as they fought. There were claws, teeth flashed and bodies thudded to the ground. Ianka stayed out of the way, smart enough to know males in rut when she saw them. The other two males of the Fury stepped back and watched from the other side of the fight.

Security rushed to the scene and waited while the men sorted themselves out. One of the officers gestured for her to ease out of the potential damage area, but she shook her head. Instinct told her that if she moved, Derion would switch his focus and that might not be a good thing.

He sent one of his opponents skidding across the floor and the other one shifted and knelt at his feet, head down. It was a very formal pose, and Derion paused, stood straight and then cuffed the other male lightly on the side of the head.

They both shrank back to normal size and Ianka blinked. Their clothing had remained intact the entire time. The tailors of the Fury knew their stuff.

Security moved in and spoke to all concerned. Ianka was surprised to be questioned.

“How long have you been in a relationship with Attack Master Derion?”

She blinked. “We are not in a relationship. We haven’t had any physical contact whatsoever. All I know is those guys started looking me over and then poof, Derion got taller.”

“Did you touch him at all?”

The officer had wings that flicked in agitation.

“No. I was warned against it. Is he in trouble?”

She looked around to find him.

Derion was calm and he was speaking quietly with another officer.

“Yes and no. He will be taken to medical and a check will be made on his blood to see if he has triggered any mating reactions. If he was just being protective of you, he will be released immediately. If there was another reason, he will be treated.”

“Okay. Good. As long as he is released before we are due to leave. I don’t want anything to interfere with launch.”

The officer’s eyes widened. “Oh, you are that Gaian.”

She could feel her forehead wrinkling. “What do you mean?”

“All of our councillors have asked for participation in the action you are heading up. There are more volunteers than spaces on the ships, though if this fight gets out, that number might double.”

She asked the officer, “Why are you all so eager to fight?”

“We come from active and aggressive races. This is the first opportunity to go into action and we are all eager for the chance.”

The officers across the hall were trying to get Derion to accompany them, but he was shaking his head.

“I was charged with watching out for her, and I will see her safely to her quarters before I go to medical.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and had an immovable stance.

The officers looked at each other but the one speaking to her raised his hand. “I will go with them and escort Master Derion to medical.”

Derion looked at him and nodded. “Acceptable, shall we go?”

Ianka nodded. “Lead on.”

The men gathered in the hall parted, and Derion and Ianka walked at a leisurely pace through the halls with the officer that had spoken to her. She could feel his gaze on them and there was approval at her back. It was nearly palpable.

At her quarters, she thanked Derion for his escort and smiled wistfully. “I guess that I will have to find somewhere else to exercise.”

He chuckled. “Why? The Fury fight often. With the gym closed, it just made it harder to find a place to let it out. If I had run into them an hour later, the result would have been the same, but it would have been in the facility.”

“Seriously? I wasn’t the cause?”

He rocked his head a little. “You were and you weren’t. Their interest was growing and you are under my charge. I had to stop two of them from escalating into interest in you and the others would be distracted.”

“It certainly was distracting.”

She grinned.

He smiled. “Good. I was worried you would be frightened.”

“Nope, just a little surprised. You have a very good tailor.”

It took him a moment before he laughed and he grinned at her. “Have a good evening, Miss Senior. Welcome to the mother ship.”

She slipped into her quarters and closed the door as the officer took Derion back down the hall. It had certainly been an interesting evening, but she needed a shower and then she needed some sleep.

The probe was on its way and it would start broadcasting as soon as it got close to the target area that Vida had found. Ianka hated waiting, but perhaps she could find someone to show her how to fly a ship. How long could that take?