Jury Read Free

about to go for a run. Care to join me?”
    She sealed her plan and put it on her back. “Sure. Let’s go.”
    He led her out to the track, and they started running. His suit was the same midnight blue as the rest of him, so it was like running next to a perpetual shadow.
    “What did the fight master say?” Ajaru jogged easily at her side.
    “He said yes. I will get access to lists of appropriate females the moment you win your next fight. I am suggesting to you that it be by quite a point spread. Are you understanding me?”
    He nodded, and he began to sprint past her on the track, doing three laps to her one. By the time she was done three laps, she was ready to get some water.
    Other fighters were beginning their workouts, and she moved past them to get to the cooler. She got a bottle and settled against the wall with Ajaru in her field of vision.
    Her view was soon blocked as a gathering of legs occurring in front of her. She got back to her feet and looked up at the fighters. “You are blocking the view of my fighter.”
    Bex felt a hand caressing her shoulder. Another grabbed at her hip.
    Bex sprayed water into the eyes of one of her admirers, and she kicked out at the knee of the one who was interested in her hip. The man with his hand on her shoulder was not prepared for her to bring her elbow into his midsection.
    A swift hand upward broke the nose of another one.
    It was an endless round of spin, kick, twist and punch. The men grunted and a larger crowd gathered. Suddenly, her attackers were pulled back to fly through the air, one by one.
    She panted and faced Ajaru. “I think that went well. Now, you need to get to the weights.”
    “Come with me.” He lifted her in his arms and carried her through the now-silent crowd.
    She shivered and waited with crossed arms for him to put her down. He seated her in one of the small conversation areas set aside for trainers and fighters.
    “What happened?”
    “I was drinking a bottle of water and some of the men decided that I was worth watching. When they decided I was worth touching, I had to register my disagreement.”
    “That you did. If they were normal males, you would have discouraged them rather handily. As it was, the more you fought, the more they wanted you to submit.”
    She grimaced and ran her hands over her hair. “I know. It was both pack hunter and riot behaviour. They could block my scent but not my appearance. Apparently, the blue is supposed to make me look ill.”
    “This isn’t your normal colour?”
    Bex shook her head. “Nope. I am normally a pinky-white with yellow hair. The blue blocks my scent ducts so that the scent-sensitive males don’t notice me. With the sight-sensitive ones, I was using the wrong body language.”
    “You are making yourself responsible for the attack?”
    She rubbed the back of her neck. “No. I am not. But I do understand cause and effect.”
    “Shall we continue the workout?”
    “Yup, and then, I will administer a rub down and you can entertain yourself in any way you choose.”
    He smiled. “Good. Now, we have done endurance, how about strength?”
    “Fair enough. It was on my checklist for today anyway.”
    They got up and he settled into one of the presses, working on the machine with good will and determination.
    The other fighters gave them a wide berth for the rest of the morning. They might be staring at her, but with Ajaru with her, no one was going to start something.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Sitting in a sauna with a bunch of alien males was something to cross off her bucket list. She wasn’t going to put it on there; she was just going to cross it off.
    To say that the scent of over-testosteroned males was thick was to put it mildly. Bex was relieved when Ajaru was done with his soak in the steam and musk, and they left the sauna.
    Bex blinked and swayed a little when they came out of the heat.
    Ajaru patted her shoulder. “You did well, Bex. Few trainers can sit there with the fighters