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Derion was staring and a strange tingling was moving through her body.

Suddenly, her arm around her father’s waist went limp. She looked down and there was a large smoking burn on the left side of her torso.

The guards behind her grabbed her father and hauled him into the ship while Derion carefully lifted her, sprinting into the ship and directly to medical.

Dr. Meevin cut her suit free and started working on her during takeoff. Ianka was strapped down so that she wouldn’t hit the floor.

“I am sorry you have to be awake, but we need to keep you alert to test for the progression of the nerve damage.”

Ianka gritted her teeth as the area was cleaned of scorched flesh and a numbness crept up her left arm.

She mentally kicked herself for not being a second faster with her throw. She knew what damage a Tokkel blaster could do. Numbness was the least of her worries.

Dr. Meevin worked on her for hours while others who had been injured were treated and released. Finally, she couldn’t do any more. Frustration was written on her features.

“I am sorry. I can’t seem to stop the damage. I don’t have the right treatments for a Gaian.”

With half her face paralyzed, she smiled weakly. “S’okay. You tried. I tried. Vida has my parents again. It will all be good.”

Dr. Meevin drew a privacy screen around her and said, “We will be on the mother ship in a few hours. Perhaps we can figure something out there.”

With her moving right hand, Ianka gave her a thumbs up. She had done what she set out to do.

Her cubicle was dark and quiet, but she heard someone moving. A hulking figure took a blood sample, and she heard a small hiss. She dozed, thinking that one of the medics had come in to do some checks.

The figure returned, and this time, the hypo was pressed to her wound. The hiss preceded the warm input of the injector and was withdrawn in complete silence.

Her eyes had both been taken over by the paralysis, so all she could make out was a dark figure that stroked her hair back and she could see the hand touch her cheek, even though she couldn’t feel it.

Fire burned through her limbs and she started to thrash her arms and legs. The monitors went berserk, and Dr. Meevin knocked the screen down as she came in to check on the seizure.

Ianka was still strapped to the bed but only for a moment as she was transferred to a gliding gurney and escorted out of the ship with a mask giving her an inhalation of sedative with every motion of her lungs.

Dr. Meevin began to run tests the moment that she was back in her regular facility. When the results curled upward on the monitors, she stared at them without comprehension.

The paralysis was reversing. That much Ianka could feel for herself. She could see clearly now that her eyes could focus and her face was once again under her control. “What is it, Doc?”

“Did you mate while you were lying strapped down and paralyzed?”

Dr. Meevin turned to her with raised eyebrows.

She shifted as much as she was able. “Not that I recall. I had a peculiar hallucination but there wasn’t any mating involved.”

Vida came in with their parents behind her. “Not that kind of mating, Eek. Did you swap blood with anyone?”

“Someone came in the night to take a blood sample, and an hour later, I was given a shot. Does that count?”

Meevin frowned. “It could.”

North came to Ianka’s side and carefully found her hand. “It was Derion. He asked us if we would give you up to save your life. I didn’t understand so he explained.”

Beeda came up as well, wearing a fetching gown in black and red. “Every parent with a daughter will lose her, but I would rather have you in orbit than underground, Eek.”

“So, that was it? We swap blood and I heal?”

Meevin shrugged. “Members of the Nine are not damaged the same way by the Tokkel blasts. We are merely burned, not paralyzed, and the Fury aren’t damaged at all, so he gave you his immunity.”

“What were all those guys in medical?”

“Those were cuts. Easy fixes.”

Meevin patted her knee. “I will register the mating since you two didn’t make it to the garden for the formal recording. Your blood samples are already in. He just needs to finalise it.”

Vida took her hand. “You did it, Eek. You got them home.”

Surrounded by her family, she blinked back tears.

North must have sensed her mood, because he piped in, “Ularica has an idea for an artificial sight mechanism. She is looking for volunteers, and you know how your mother and I enjoy that sort of thing, and the chemists have asked us to come in and contribute to their work. We might not be leaving for the surface right away. After all, everything we love is up here.”

Beeda came around and kissed her on the forehead, while to her surprise, S’rin squeezed her blanketed toes.

Vida smiled. “Now that you are linked to Derion, you are safe to touch.”

A deep voice spoke from the doorway. “Miss Senior, what have you done to my son?”

Dorum was standing there and scowling.

Ianka struggled to sit up and something flickered in his eyes. “What is wrong with Derion?”

“He is suffering. His body is on fire. What did you do to him?”

“He took some of my blood and then gave me his a while later. If he is having a problem, bring him into medical.”

She scowled.

Dorum tensed. “He won’t come.”

“Tell him I ordered it. He will love that.”

“He won’t listen.”

It was obvious that Dorum was worried.

“Right.”

Ianka sat up, wrapped the bed sheet around her and hopped to the floor with Vida’s help. She tucked the sheet into place and minced up to Dorum. “Take me to him.”

“You aren’t dressed.”

“My clothes are in the shuttle. Do you want to keep delaying?”

He shook his head and offered her his arm. She took it and kept hold of the sheet as they slowly walked to the pods, and from there, they were whisked to the area occupied by the Fury.

She continued to mince along in bare feet and he was radiating a protective aura. When they got to the living quarters, he brought her to the door and pounded on it. From the other side, she heard a thud. “Go away, Father.”

Ianka scowled. “Don’t talk to your father like that, Derion. Open up the damned door.”

The door opened and an astonished Derion stepped back as she shuffled in. Ianka turned and closed the door in Dorum’s face saying, “We will call you if we need you.”

“You should be in medical.”

He was sweaty and pale.

“So should you. You look worse than I do.”

She reached out and touched his forehead, surprised when he leaned into her hand.

His skin cooled the moment that she touched him. “That was easy.”

He gave her an apologetic look through his black and red eyes. “I am sorry that I did not have time to court you properly.”

She sat on his lap and looped her arms around his neck. “I am sorry that I got shot.”

She didn’t have a lot of experience with kissing, but she gave it a try. He wrapped his arms around her for a moment before pulling her tightly against him.

The sheet hit the floor at some point, but by then, it didn’t matter. She was firmly involved in getting to know her mate.

Vida disconnected her viewing when clothing began to fly. “Okay, she is definitely staying on the mother ship. He has quite the grip on her and it looks like they are going to be negotiating terms all evening.”

Beeda laughed at her daughter. “It is about time. If it has really been six years since the attacks, I am surprised that you didn’t seek out husbands before this.”

Vida explained about the limited amount of Gaian men, the evolution of talents beyond that of the Senior family, and then, she had to get into the details of what the girls had gone through after their parents had disappeared.

North and Beeda held hands while they heard the story, and tears slowly made it down their faces.

S’rin held Vida’s hand and explained the involvement of the Nine and the delight in the discovery of an evolutionary change that complimented the one their ancestors had engaged in generations earlier. The Gaians were the tenth race and they were only too happy to help them become all they could be.

“So, would you have come after me if I returned to Gaia?”

She leaned her chin on her hands and met his gaze with a smile.

He chuckled and shifted under her. “I would follow wherever you led, at a respectful distance. I have seen you in action, and a woman who can tear a door off hinges is a woman to be courted carefully.”

She stroked her fingers on his chest. “Wise. Very wise. So, what alterations can I expect as the wife of a Fury?”

He grinned. “Well, you will gain a few inches in height.”

“Yay. It was bugging me that Vida got taller.”

“Do not worry about it. The transformative power of the Fury is also within you if you tap into it. Give it a few weeks but it might emerge. We can practice.”

He ran his hands up her back and smiled.

“Practice what?”

He chuckled and rolled her under him. The rest was self-explanatory.