Chapter 52

Chapter

Fifty-Two

Fiona

M y legs were still shaky the next morning when I stepped from my room and glanced at the other doors on my floor. All closed.

I let out a heavy breath, relief coursing through me. Everyone was still sleeping or had already headed to the dining room. Small talk might have been beyond my capabilities after the night before.

I sighed again as I thought of last night. Hands down the best night of my life, but what the hell had possessed me? I’d spent most of the first two terms either avoiding the security chief or being livid at him. How had I ended up in bed with him?

My pulse jangled and my heart stuttered in my chest as images from the night before flashed through my head. I had always imagined that he would be dominant, but I’d never anticipated how much I would like it.

I was known as a ballbuster, a tough woman who was used to getting her way and used to being obeyed. So why did I love letting the Drexian take control? Why had I relished in submitting to him?

A shiver went through me as I remembered him pressing my wrists to the small of my back to hold me in place. I would have killed anyone else who tried that, but the not gruff commander. With him, I’d only wanted more. At least I hadn’t begged for more. I had that point of pride left. And I hadn’t screamed his name, even though he’d done his best to make me.

My door slid shut and even that soft sound echoed in the silence. Was there any way we hadn’t been heard by the other women on my floor? I had no idea how soundproof the walls in the tower were, although they were stone, so I hoped that counted for something. The thought that my colleagues and cadets might have heard my moans sent heat straight to my cheeks.

One small favor was that I wasn’t trying to leave with Vyk or attempting to sneak him out. He’d left my quarters sometime in the night after we were both spent, slipping from my bed and dressing while I’d watched him. I hadn’t protested, even though my bed felt empty without his huge body curled around mine.

I’d never particularly wanted a guy to stay the night. I was the kind of girl who liked to wake up in my own bed by myself in the morning. But I wouldn’t have minded waking up with Vyk, even if I was glad I wasn’t having to worry about being seen with him creeping from my room. I should be grateful that he’d left unseen, and no one would have to know if I didn’t tell them.

“It was a one-time thing anyway,” I whispered to myself as I smoothed my palms down the front of my pants and squared my shoulders.

It had to be a one-night deal. As hot as I found the commander, he was still an irritant who’d done nothing but offend and annoy me since I’d arrived. He was arrogant and grumpy, and he’d made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t a big fan of humans.

He seemed fine with you being a human last night, I reminded myself. In fact, he’d seemed fascinated by everything human about me.

I gave my head a firm shake. Why did Vyk have to be so confusing? Just when I was sure I understood him, he said something that made me think the complete opposite.

“It doesn’t matter. We work together. It can’t happen again.”

I had experience sleeping with a colleague, and Devon’s presence at the academy was evidence that it did not end well.

Devon.

I groaned as it hit me that I hadn’t seen the man since I’d stormed off and left him lying on the floor after Vyk had punched him. I hadn’t even bothered to ask Vyk if the man was okay. Not once during the entire time Vyk had been in my room had I thought about Devon.

I guess that told me all I needed to know about my feelings about the captain. Not that there had been any doubt. I’d never wanted anything more with him, and I owed it to him to tell him that directly—even if it meant he got upset and even if that meant that he tried to give the exchange program a bad review.

I headed for the stairs, newly determined to sort out the mess that I’d made.

“Wait up!”

I paused at the top of the stairwell and turned to see Ariana hurrying toward me. Then I remembered that I’d left her in the Stacks with the promise that I’d return. I slapped a hand to my mouth. “The Stacks. I was supposed to come back to the Stacks.”

She grinned at me. “Don’t worry. I figured that you got distracted when you went to talk to Captain Gorman.”

“Gorman?” I shook my head at her knowing smile. “It was nothing like that, I promise.”

She looked me up and down. “Fi, I’m not blind. You look like you’ve been fu—”

I held up a hand to stop her. “It wasn’t Gorman. I told you that we were a one-night stand and nothing more.”

She eyed me like she didn’t believe me. “So, you found him and told him that?”

I thought back to my conversation with Devon. I’d tried, although he’d been so full of anger and resentment toward the Drexians that he hadn’t been listening to what I’d said. He’d been insistent that I listen to him. So insistent that he’d left bruise marks on my arm from where he’d grabbed it. Bruises that had made Vyk growl when he’d seen them last night. I forced thoughts of Vyk from my mind as they stirred heat in my core.

“I tried,” I told my friend as we started walking down the spiraling stairs, “but things got a bit…complicated.”

Ariana tilted her head at me. “Complicated how?”

“Commander Vyk might have come across Devon grabbing me, and he might have knocked him out.”

Ariana’s eyes flared wide then she nodded as if everything made sense. “That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

She fluttered a hand at me. “You. The flushed cheeks. The muffled sounds I heard through your door when I came back to the tower last night. I should have known that couldn’t have been a human guy.” Without waiting for me to confirm or deny, she leaned closer to me. “So, is the silver fox as good in the sack as I’m thinking he is?”