Chapter 4 #3
Of all of the places, why did it have to be Exostalon? Any other planet I could have gone on planet and just stayed by their side and everything would have been fine.
The door opened and I heard them all walk in. I stayed looking out the window, my pulse still fast and hands shaking.
“In exchange for allowing you to stay on the ship anonymously while we’re on Exostalon, you must agree to go on a single date with each of us,” Preston said.
I spun, mouth agape. “Wh-What?” Had I heard him correctly? A date?
“Do you know what a date is?” Wayne asked. His brows furrowed. “Maybe she thinks it means something sinister?”
“A date, as in spending at least four hours with one of us, doing something fun in an attempt to consider forming a relationship,” Preston explained.
They were serious. A date.
“With each of you?” I asked.
They all nodded.
“Dragonkin quartets share a mate,” Wayne explained.
I did remember reading about that. It was different reading it then them asking me to consider it with them.
“I’m not a Dragonkin, though,” I whispered. “I thought you only shared a Dragonkin.”
“No,” Preston replied simply.
“Just someone compatible,” Gage added.
A date with each of them wouldn’t be awful. In fact, I was excited just thinking about it.
“As long as I get to choose what we do on the dates,” I countered.
They all nodded immediately.
Preston walked to me and held out his hand. “Deal?”
I shook his hand and a spark of electricity ran from his hand up my arm. “Deal,” I said a bit breathy from the shock.
They all smiled wide, showing their teeth.
I really, really hoped I hadn’t just made the worst deal of my life.
“Great. Now, let’s go spar!” Gage said and clapped his hands together.
Although I knew Scout had run a schematic of the ship when we got onboard, I hadn’t really accessed it or done any exploring.
As we ascended to the upper floor using an elevator, I became incredibly curious and decided I would start exploring later that day.
The elevator doors opened to a huge room with dark grey pads on the floors, walls, and ceiling.
Why did they have pads on the ceiling? And why was the room so large? Did they shift forms and fight in here?
The pads just outside the elevators were a slightly lighter grey.
“Shoes,” Wayne said.
Everyone took their shoes off and set them on the lighter grey pads before stepping onto the dark grey pads.
“Stretches,” Preston ordered.
The four spread out and began stretching their legs and arms.
I did as well, though I found it interesting that they stretched their muscles before fighting, too.
“Stretching is important for anyone with muscles and joints,” Wayne said, noticing my stare.
“I’m surprised Dragonkin aren’t always limber with warm muscles from your higher body temperatures,” I teased.
“We are,” he replied. “We still don’t want to risk an injury when sparring.”
“Who will be first?” Preston asked.
Gage raised his hand. “Oh, me. Me.”
Preston smirked. “Fine.”
“Me,” Wayne said. “It’s been too long since I sparred against Gage.”
“Don’t break anything,” Preston said. He patted Gage on the shoulder. “Good luck.”
Gage bounced on the balls of his feet. “I’ll be fine.”
Wayne stopped beside me. “You should move back against one of the walls. Or even stand behind Zeke.”
I arched a brow. “Excuse me?”
“So, you don’t get hurt,” he added.
“I escaped you three just fine. I’ll be okay,” I replied, but still went and stood against a wall, leaning my upper back against it.
“Move a bit farther out,” Zeke ordered them as he walked to stand beside me.
“You really think they might hurt me?” I asked, tilting my head back to look up high enough to meet his eyes.
He looked down at me and nodded once. “Yes, but I will stand beside you and protect you should they lose control.”
I grumbled and folded my arms across my chest. Rude males thinking I was weak.
Wayne and Gage faced each other, hands up by their faces, and legs spread in a stance to give them stability.
“Begin,” Preston said quietly.
Wayne and Gage exploded into movement. They punched, kicked, spun, ducked, and blocked at incredible speeds. They moved around the room, pushing off the walls with their feet to give themselves extra momentum during their attacks.
Gage held his own for a bit, but Wayne landed a jab on Gage’s jaw that knocked him onto his ass.
Gage rubbed his jaw and shook his head. “Ouch.”
“You break anything?” Preston asked.
Gage stood, stumbled a step, and straightened. “Nope.”
“You’ve improved,” Wayne said with a nod.
Had I not been trying to act impassive, my jaw would have been on the floor. Calm, quiet Wayne was an insane fighter. I never would have guessed that.
“Going to head back to ensure our course is correct,” Gage said as he left.
Ah, he must be the pilot of their small crew.
“My turn,” Zeke said and pushed off the wall.
Wayne backed up so that he was on the other side of the room.
Zeke walked over, his long strides eating up the distance quickly. Once he reached Wayne, his fist flew out at his face.
Wayne dodged and punched Zeke in the stomach.
Zeke punched Wayne in the lower back.
They bounced apart and squared off.
“They’re fine,” Preston whispered to me.
“Hm?” I asked, refusing to take my eyes off of them.
Zeke kicked Wayne’s upper thigh and the smack was loud even across the gym.
Wayne darted forward and punched Zeke’s stomach again.
Zeke grabbed Wayne and tried to knock him to the ground, but Wayne spun and ran up the side of the wall.
Zeke jumped up, almost headbutting Wayne’s stomach as Wayne jumped over him. Wayne spun and pushed off of Zeke’s shoulders, jumping almost all the way up to the ceiling.
Zeke used the wall to propel himself up and slammed into Wayne as he fell back down.
That explained the pads on the ceiling.
The sounds of them hitting each other were so loud that I cringed each time.
“Breathe,” Preston whispered.
I exhaled. “I am.”
He chuckled.
Okay, I hadn’t been, but it was just because their fight was so intense.
Their fight moved all around the room and even came close to us, but Preston shoved Wayne away when he got close.
“When they spar like this, they lose track of their surroundings,” Gage explained as he came to stand on my other side. “That’s why we had to make the room so large.”
“They jumped so high that they busted through a floor,” Preston said with a chuckle.
“That’s pretty dangerous to do while on a spaceship,” I whispered, my eyes still focused on the two fighters who didn’t look like they were tiring.
“Yes, that’s why we put the pads,” Preston said.
I glanced at him with an arched brow. “How do the pads help?”
“If you hit the pads too hard, they shock you,” he answered.
Note to self: Do not get slammed against the pads.