Chapter 48

Chapter

Forty-Eight

Fiona

I braced my hands in front of me as I walked straight into Captain Gorman. He grabbed the sides of my arms to steady both of us, chuckling low as he did.

“I was looking for you,” I blurted before I could think how that might sound.

His eyes crinkled as he smiled. “You were?”

Devon wasn’t even close to a silver fox, but I did like the smile lines he’d acquired. I had to admit that he was a good-looking guy, which was probably why I’d ended up in his bed in the first place. Not that any of that was relevant now.

“I thought we should talk.” I slipped from his grasp and headed down the corridor. “But not in the hall. ”

He took long steps to catch up to me. “We can go to my quarters, if you prefer a truly private conversation.”

I couldn’t tell him that my friend had overheard him in his quarters last night, so they weren’t as private as he thought. Especially if the door wasn’t closed. Even so, I wasn’t going to compromise myself by going to his room.

I shook my head. “How about the staff dining room? Have you eaten?”

He frowned. “I’m not hungry, and we shouldn’t talk in public.”

I stopped and spun to face him. “Why not?”

He swept his gaze around the deserted corridor. “There are things I need to tell you. Things that only you can know.”

Well, that was sinister. I eyed him with a healthy dose of suspicion. I wouldn’t put it past any guy to make up some dramatic reason as a pretext to get me alone. But I wasn’t na?ve. I was an Assassin. And I was very uninterested in being tricked.

“Are you telling me that you have some sort of classified intel that is for my ears only?” I folded my arms over my chest. “Are you serious?”

His expression was solemn, and for a moment, I wondered if he was telling the truth. But it made no sense. I wasn’t an intelligence officer. I hadn’t been sent to the Academy as a spy. I was an instructor of Strategy at the Drexian Academy, which meant that I technically worked for them now. Why would Earth Planetary Defense have intel for me alone? We were allied with the Drexians. If there was something crucial to know, the Admiral should be the one told, not me .

“You have to trust me, Fiona.”

But I didn’t trust him. I barely knew him. Sure, we’d been colleagues at my last base, but I hadn’t been there very long. It wasn’t like we had years of friendship I could draw on to know he was being truthful. I’d known too many male officers who were either more concerned with their career advancement than the truth, or more interested in getting in my pants.

It was true that Devon had already gotten in my pants, but I could not be sure that he wasn’t still nursing a bruised ego from my leaving. A man with a fragile ego was a dangerous thing.

“Okay, Devon. Tell me one thing. Why were you sent here?”

He jerked back slightly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, evaluating programs isn’t what you do. This is a little below your pay grade, if we’re being honest. Why did they send you?”

He cleared his throat, and for a moment, I thought he might confess. But he squared his shoulders and met my gaze. “I was pulled into the program because I’ve been working with the Drexians who were sent to Earth as part of the exchange. It made sense for me to come here and see if the programs have parity.”

“You didn’t request the assignment?”

He expelled an impatient breath. “Are you suggesting I chased you here?”

That was not an answer, but I already knew the answer.

I changed my tactics and relaxed my stance. “Devon, you know I always liked you as a colleague. We got along great at the base, but what happened between us was a one-time thing. It was fun, but it was never going to be something bigger.”

He stepped closer to me. “It could be. We never got the chance to find out.”

Even though we were in a public corridor, his closeness unnerved me. “Because I left to come here, which is where I work and live now. Unless you’ve come to tell me that you’re transferring here to teach….” I hesitated. “You aren’t, are you?”

Davon wrinkled his nose. “No. I don’t know how you stand it here. It’s so dark and cold and it feels like being in an old castle that’s about to collapse.”

“You get used to all of that, and I promise you it won’t collapse. This school has been standing for millennia.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard all about the glorious legacy of the Drexian Academy and how it was built from stone forged from a faraway mountain, although why you would want everything to be black stone is beyond me.”

I cocked my head at him. “Do you have something against the Drexians?”

His eyes flashed malice. “Do I have a problem with the aliens who think that just because they’re bigger and stronger and have more advanced tech that they can take our women in secret for decades?”

Whoa. I’d had no idea Devon had an issue with Drexians and their tribute bride program. He wouldn’t be the first. There were plenty of people who’d been outraged when we discovered what the Drexians had been doing for years. Even more infuriating for some was that it had been authorized by our governments .

“The Academy doesn’t have anything to do with the tribute brides,” I told him in my calmest voice. “Everyone here wanted to come, and we can all leave at any point. Some of the cadets returned to Earth after the year ended.”

“You didn’t,” he spit out. “You stayed. Is it because you’re fucking one of them?”

I reared back. “What the hell? No, I’m not fucking one of them, but even if I was, it wouldn’t be any of your grekking business.”

He clenched his teeth and a muscle ticked in the side of his jaw. “You even sound like them now.”

“I don’t know why you’re so angry right now, but this isn’t the Devon I know. This isn’t you, and I’m not going to talk to you when you’re like this.” I turned from him and started to walk briskly down the corridor. Before I could turn the corner, a hand snatched my arm and spun me back around.

“You can’t leave.” Devon looked manic, as he held my arm in a vise-like grip. “I told you I need to talk to you.”

I tried to shake off his hand. “Let go. You’re hurting me.”

He squeezed tighter and pain shot up my arm. “Not until you listen to me.”

Before I could throw a kick, a blur of motion came from around the corner, a massive fist punched through the air, and Devon was knocked onto his ass. I stumbled back and hit something huge and rock-hard, peering up and over my shoulder to see Commander Vyk glowering at the man on the floor.

It took me a moment to realize that he’d knocked him out, and another second to mutter about men being ridiculous, before I stomped away. I needed to be away from all guys, and I needed a drink.