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way.
    His last two apprentices had gotten into situations far beyond their training and both had ended up dead. He hadn’t wanted another trainee, but if he could do anything to keep that woman from harm’s way, he would. Whether she liked it or not.

    Chapter Five
    Aliiva took aim and blew up the targets, one after the other. She was dressed in her apprentice whites and lying on the range as she used the blaster. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see a large male silhouette blocking the light.
    “Recruit Aliiva, I am your combat instructor.”
    She returned her attention back to the range. “I have heard that one before.”
    She blasted the target into oblivion and yelped in shock as she was lifted into the air, gun and all.
    “How would you get out of this position?” His voice was deep and resonant in her ear.
    She struggled, her writhing putting his mark on almost all of her body. The gun clanged to the floor and she tried to bring her elbows back to strike him, but she was shocked when instead of two hands on her, there were four.
    “Never try to wrestle with an Oefric. We can create a form for every eventuality. Fortunately, we are also very law abiding.”
    He turned her in his arms and she stared up into his eyes. “My combat instructor?”
    “Yes. I am Baengar. I have been assigned to you as your instructor in weapons and hand-to-hand combat.”
    His eyes were the bright blue of the Caneer oceans, his jaw was wide and the twist of his lips gave him a fierce appearance. His nose was long and straight while his brows arched wing-like over his thickly lashed eyes.
    The extra set of arms that held her emerged from under the normal set on his shoulders. “How are you doing that?”
    “You have your talent, I have mine.” He grinned and it made the high cheekbones of his face less severe.
    “Um. Can you let me go now?”
    She watched as his nostrils flared and his pupils dilated.
    “Of course.”
    She shifted in his grip. His hands were on her arms and waist.
    “Will you please let me go now?”
    He smiled and released her.
    “It seems that Equilar’s etiquette has sunk in.”
    She clenched her hands, but didn’t do a reading. At this distance, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to know what he was thinking.
    She cleared her throat. “I thought I had run through all of the available combat instructors.”
    He grinned. “I returned last night. Turnari asked me immediately if I would take over your training. It seems that you are cleared for accuracy. Now, let’s see how you do with speed drills.”
    To Aliiva’s astonishment, he ignored what seemed to be flaring interest between them and got down to the business of teaching her how to fire a stunner when she had a vision-restricting blindfold on.
    He kept speaking to her while she stumbled around, her eyes widening behind the gauze covering them.
    “You need to listen for the clues that you need to aim your stunner. Walk as lightly as you can, let your senses expand around you, increase your awareness.” His words were low and did not interfere with her ability to hear the minute whirr of the target.
    She knelt and fired, shocked when an answering blast went over her head.
    “The kneeling was a good instinct. The targets are set to return fire, but are on a low stun setting, so if you get hit, don’t panic.”
    She didn’t answer him but kept her attention on the sounds around her. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness of her wrap and she was able to increase her speed through the halls.
    The burn of a strike hit her upper arm and she fired at the attack point with the stunner. Another hiss struck next to her and she fired again.
    The second strike hit her in the chest and knocked her down, the third struck her head and the fourth shot over her as she lay writhing on the ground.
    “And that concludes our exercise for today.” Baengar removed her blindfold and lifted her in his arms.
    “This was a simple exercise?” She was dizzy from the