The blaring horn sounded, breaking the relative silence and sent birds darting out of the trees. Lisia jumped. The loud noise startled her and made her ears ache but she leapt forward and ran toward the obstacles that filled the clearing in the lush forest. Even after hearing it when the first man ran, the jarring sound surprised her. She didn’t know how the other Aridi stood it over and over again.

She wasn’t exactly dressed for the complicated course, but when she’d decided to wear the bright blue shirt and silky dark gray pants, she’d envisioned something a little simpler. This definitely wasn’t simple and she had a feeling that more was going on than some power game. That didn’t concern her though and she pushed back the curiosity. She wasn’t going to be here long enough to need to know about the politics and manipulations that went on behind the scenes.

She had to get those damned green and yellow flags and complete the obstacle course under the time limit to fulfill her part of the deal with Lieutenant Commander Carson. She sprinted forward grabbing the first flag as she leapt over the low, dark brown brick wall.

It shouldn’t be that hard, the course was enough like the ones at home that she’d spotted all of the flags. Even the flags that had been half hidden by the bushes. That had been her second clue that something was strange on Enoch. The man in charge was doing everything he could to make sure the time wasn’t broken. His methods bordered on outright cheating. Nothing had been said about concealed markers.

She pushed the flag into the elastic band at her waist even as she headed for the second. Rolling into the short tunnel covered by a mound of dirt, she grabbed it and focused on the next barrier, the wall. She felt a tug at her right leg and heard a small rip. She kept going and tried not to think about the fact that she was probably ruining one of her favorite pair of pants.

She climbed the man-made rock wall plucking the flag off as she flipped over it. The fast pace, exertion and challenge set her pulse racing. She enjoyed the thrill and the challenge. It was something she hadn’t experienced in a while and it was better than the fear and worry she’d felt over the past few weeks.

The fourth flag hung amid the leaves of a squat thorny bush, but she grabbed it ignoring the scratches on her palm. Annoyance rose, but she focused on getting to the next flag. She snatched the fifth from the top of a pole and plucked the sixth flag as it fluttered in the gentle wind midway up a slope.

She dragged in a gasping breath and knew that it had been too long since she’d run freely. A simple course like this shouldn’t make her breathe hard. She reached the top of the incline and jumped down from the edge to the base of the wall bracing the slope. She found the flag in the water-filled rut behind it. Slogging out of the brown liquid, she noticed the mud on her black knee boots and pants. If she didn’t need the Lieutenant Commander’s help, she’d make him pay to replace them.

With a not so silent curse, she ran for the eighth and ninth flag, both on opposite ends of a climbing net. She bypassed the simple rope swing to grab the tenth flag off of the corner of the platform. Jumping down, she landed lightly and grabbed the eleventh before leaping the final short wall.

Satisfaction coursed through her as she saw the brown-haired man’s dropped jaw. The Aridi man had showed he was a fool from the first. He was one of the few shifters who considered humans weak. She hadn’t met many Aridi who felt that way. It gave her a thrill to surprise him. He clearly hadn’t expected anyone to finish in time.

It wasn’t her fault he didn’t know she was also an Aridi. She hadn’t done anything to hide it. The open space and the fact that she was with a group of humans would go a long way to masking her scent, but now that she’d worked up a sweat, her scent would be stronger. There were ways she could hide her smell, but she hadn’t done it. Basically because she didn’t expect to be here that long. She wanted to get her job done and go.

She knew he’d probably put those in the bushes and on the back of that wall just so no one would complete it. If she hadn’t expected trickery, she might not have taken the time to spot them all first. At her first sight of the man claiming to be in command, she’d known there was something wrong.

The brown-haired man running this show didn’t have the muscles or scars that a Shi’an, a clan leader usually had. He definitely didn’t have the attitude, the carriage of a man accustomed to holding and using power. He was just too damned perfect looking to have fought in more than a handful of fights. It was obvious he wasn’t the leader he was pretending to be. That and his obvious disdain for the UDA soldiers were enough to warn her. According to Lieutenant Commander Carson, they’d asked for UDA, the Universal Defense Alliance, help. A man like him wouldn’t ask for help from someone he considered beneath him.

That wasn’t the only thing that had raised her suspicions, but it had been enough to make her very wary. The men who’d met them at the shuttle had been much too young, too inexperienced for the guards of a colony out on the edge of known space. She’d never heard of a group of Aridi out this far.

She pulled all eleven flags out of the elastic belt at her waist and let them flutter into the palm of a young guard standing to her left. Smirking, she waited for the man running this test to find his tongue. She smoothed her hands down her sleeveless blue shirt, brushing at a bit of dirt on it as she waited. The shirt at least looked salvageable, but the pants were probably ruined.

“It seems you beat the time and managed to find the flags. Was the course challenging for you?” The man’s lips compressed into a thin line and he glared at her, his body half turned away from her as if he really didn’t want to look at her.

She held the growing laughter inside when she wanted to let it flow. His fast clipped words told her even before she caught his scent that he was furious. He wanted to force them to leave but was held by his word.

“No, the course was a little easy. I didn’t expect it to be that simple. Are you the Shi’an of this group?” She cocked a hand on her hip and smiled. She knew that it would irritate him. His irritation was probably the only satisfaction she’d get out of this little jaunt other than a trip home.

Curiosity spurred the question. Well, that and a wicked desire to see him squirm. She wanted to see how he’d react to it. From the sharp glance of the young guard to her right, she already knew the answer. He definitely wasn’t the Shi’an, not even one of them if they had shared ruled here. How far would he go with his lies and half-truths?

“What do you think?” The man threw his shoulders back and puffed out his chest as he did his best to give her a quelling look.

As if he could even come close to the searing glances she’d sometimes get from her brothers.

“I think that any man who won’t openly claim his position has something to hide.” Lisia smiled, not at all intimidated by the young fool.

Color swept up the man’s cheeks. She watched as his hands tightened into fists. He was so easy to provoke and obviously not the alpha he was pretending to be. Drawing in fast deep breaths, he seemed to be trying to gather his courage.

“I am the Shi’an!” he screamed.

She felt the faint brush of his fury and then fear. She shook her head. Very stupid move. He’d just lost what little support he’d had. The men around him moved away as if he’d suddenly become diseased. His temper had probably sealed his fate as well. For all the infighting that went on within a clan at times, no one claimed the title of Shi’an without earning it.

“I didn’t think you’d be that stupid, Hern.” A deep voice rolled from the dense vegetation to the right.

Lisia turned and noticed the muscles and size of the man emerging from the leafy growth first. Now here was the kind of man she’d expected to see when she’d stepped off the shuttle. She felt the light brush of his anger as well as a small hint of amazement as the black-haired man came closer. He was dressed in dark clothing as were the other Aridi here, but his appearance highlighted the weakness and youth of those she’d first encountered. The clothing didn’t appear to be a uniform in the official sense, merely a type of clothes they all favored.

She pulled her lips into a straight line. She didn’t know why he’d suddenly decided to make an entrance, but she immediately shut her mouth. Playtime was over. She’d drawn enough attention to herself. Getting home had already been much harder than it should have been. She didn’t need to add more complications to the mix.

“I am Arik E’Trin.” He announced his eyes sweeping the group in front of him.

Keeping her ultimate goal in mind, she walked slowly back to the group of UDA. She did her best to blend in among them and be as unobtrusive as possible. The difference in her clothing from the UDA guards did make her stand out from them. Her vibrant blue shirt and loose pants definitely weren’t standard green Guard uniform. She knew she wouldn’t be successful, but hoped they’d overlook the differences in her clothing.

More large warriors emerged from the forest. They moved among the young Aridi present, questioning them. Eventually, two men escorted the pretender away from the area. The large man who was apparently in charge turned to face the group of UDA guards still waiting for some formal word of welcome. She saw the man begin to walk toward them. Marsh drew her attention away from the man.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know if we’d have ever broken that time without you. Not to mention getting past his lies. I’ll make sure you get on the next shuttle…” Marsh clasped her hands between his.

“She’s not going anywhere.” The man’s hard deep voice overrode Marsh’s promise to fulfill his side of the bargain. “She’s the one who won your right to be here. Until someone else beats the time set, she stays on the planet.”

Lisia’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t try to mask her surprise. She hadn’t expected that. None of the Aridi had talked to the soldiers since the warriors had arrived. Even with that, she’d gotten the impression that they hadn’t approved of the pretender’s actions. From the surprised looks of some of the other Aridi males, she knew they hadn’t expected that condition. Could that big warrior suspect or even worse know that she was more than she seemed? She hadn’t gotten close to him, but he could have gotten a hint of her scent depending on where he was before he’d emerged from the forest around them.

Glaring at the man, she didn’t even attempt to hide her anger or the fact that she was staring. The man hadn’t even introduced himself other than by name. She had to wonder if he even had the authority to make the condition. Probably. She didn’t know exactly what position he held, but he probably did have the clout to back the decision. His attitude screamed power, but she didn’t think he was the Shi’an. No one had addressed him by that title. They probably would have if he’d actually held it.

The delay infuriated her. She’d been barred from any way home for months by slavers. Her only hope had been Lieutenant Commander Marsh Carson. She’d known that that UDA soldier would have the resources to get her back into a safe region of space. She’d also known the help probably wouldn’t be free. He’d asked her to help him get past a test to aid some shifters in a pirate-plagued area. It hadn’t made any sense to her that they’d refuse help, but she was willing to do almost anything to get back to Deshra. Of course, she hadn’t known at the start that they were Aridi like her. When she had discovered that they were the same species, she wasn’t too worried. She should have been able to leave the planet in a relatively short amount of time.

The large shifter talked to Marsh a few more moments and left. She wasn’t sorry to see him go. Angry and a little frustrated, she drew in a deep breath. She couldn’t go home immediately, but she hoped this was only another delay. She hadn’t brought her clothes down to the planet, because she’d still have to go up to ship and change shuttles. There hadn’t been a reason to have them with her. She’d planned to leave as soon as she’d fulfilled her side of the bargain.

“I’ll need to send a message that I’ll be delayed for a short time,” she told Marsh as soon as the large warrior moved away from them. “I’ll also need my bag since I’ll be staying down here for a few days at the least.”

“We’ll get someone to finish that course as soon as possible. I’ll have your bag brought down and send an explanation of your delay to those you love.” Marsh assured her.

He left with two of the other UDA guards, escorted by three of the Aridi warriors. Lisia and the remaining Guards began walking with some of the Aridi men toward the clan holding.