By the time she returned to their camp, dusk had fallen and she had been reduced to something of a bloody pulp.
The story, as best Derek was able to make out was that she'd been foraging when Cyrus from District Six had startled her and beaten her within an inch of her life. She'd blacked out at one point and he must have thought her dead because when she came too, he was nowhere to be seen.
With a sympathetic grimace, he fed her a handful of aspen bark to help the pain and mopped her wounds with cold water until she fell asleep. He had no choice but to forgive her for disappearing for an entire afternoon with nothing to show for it. Not that he was too inclined to hold a grudge against her anyway.
What she hadn't told him was that she'd come upon Cyrus after her afternoon with Ian – and nothing to show for her supposed scavenging – mind tangled with a confusing mess of thoughts about Ian and her mind sleepy from the after-effects of the first good meal in days.
She admittedly wasn't paying the attention she should and the situation she'd wandered into was entirely her fault. So she'd made up a less self-implicating story that wasn't entirely false, it just left out certain details. He had, in fact, beat her to the point of unconsciousness, but afterwards, Ian had swiftly sent a spear through his heart.
After that, Derek was hesitant to leave her alone for so much as a second. Which meant her attempts to meet up with Ian again were significantly thwarted when Derek would go searching for food and leave her with Matthew and Cindi.
She was left with no choice but to beg Matthew for help. She felt awful for having to burden him with it, especially knowing how he felt about her.
She knew that she shouldn't be seeing Ian behind the backs of her companions and allies, but she couldn't help it. There was something about Ian that drew her to him. And she found herself wanting him to like her, despite knowing that he was her most dangerous opponent.
If Derek knew about her secret trysts with him, he would probably see it as an act of betrayal and he would probably hate her for it. He'd probably instantly decry her as a double agent of the careers who'd only teamed up with them in order to report back about their weaknesses. While Ian had asked about Derek's strengths and weaknesses, she hadn't told him anything. For some reason, she couldn't stand the idea of Derek hating her.
Every night, she'd wake Matthew after Derek fell asleep when it was her turn to keep watch and he would cover for her so that she could meet up with Ian for a few hours. Every time, he would ask her why she was leaving and where she was going. And every time she would silently beg him not to go there because she couldn't bring herself to be honest with him. He couldn't deny her anything, though, and he eventually let her go without answering any of his questions.
Each time she would silently wonder if Ian was worth betraying her friends, but night after night, she couldn't resist seeing his face again.