Chapter 67

Chapter

Sixty-Seven

Vyk

I shifted from one foot to the other, as I stood behind the admiral’s desk and stared at the holographic star chart hovering in the air as it transmitted real-time data. Two Taori flanked me, and Tivek stood beside Zoran.

“We will soon know if the ruse is working,” one of the Taori warriors said, his tail snapping back and forth behind us.

The planet, the school, and all the ships had gone silent until we were certain the swarm had passed. It was too dangerous to risk being detected, so all communications had been halted. My stomach twisted as I thought about all the Drexians on my home world counting on us to protect them. I knew that every Drexian would fight to the death to defend the planet, but if the ruse did not work, the swarm would be merciless .

I desperately wanted to leave the office and find Fiona. She had taken it upon herself to coordinate the plan that involved Irons and now Taori, but she had not returned since she had left my office much earlier. I knew from the Taori that she was in the School of Engineering, but that was the last I had heard. We only knew what information was able to be detected by sensors, which meant I had not heard from Fiona since she’d run off to find some Irons.

If I was not the academy’s head of security, I would have been tempted to march into the Irons domain and retrieve her. But that sounded much too needy and completely unlike the stern, rigidly disciplined Drexian that everyone believed me to be, that I believed myself to be.

I scowled as I kept my gaze locked on the holographic dot that represented Drex, and smaller ones that stood in for each of the fighters patrolling the planet. If I was not the unyielding Inferno Force Commander who brooked no dissent and certainly did not miss the presence of a female—a human female—then who was I?

Was it possible for a seasoned warrior to change? Could a Drexian who had spent most of his life convincing himself that he needed nothing but honor and battle and duty soften? I had already confessed my true emotions to Fiona, but that was not the same as allowing every Drexian in the academy to know that we were together, especially when the cadets returned.

Would having a human mate undermine my authority? Would I be seen as weak because I cared for a female—a human female?

Then I expelled an angry huff of breath. I was just as dangerous and powerful as I had always been, maybe even more so because I had someone to protect that I would gladly kill for. Not to mention that Fiona was no less of a fierce warrior herself, and being with me had not changed her willfulness one bit. I choked back a dark laugh. It might have made her more stubborn and challenging, if that was possible.

“Commander?”

I jerked my attention to the admiral, and then realized that everyone was staring at me.

“You were making sounds,” the Taori nearest me explained, one of his dark brows lifted in unmasked curiosity.

Admiral Zoran’s head was angled, and I could have sworn that he was fighting the urge to laugh.

“Apologies, Admiral. I was thinking about…an Inferno Force battle.”

“A funny one?”

I suppressed a groan. Had I been laughing? Before I could come up with a reasonable explanation for laughing as we awaited a possible swarm invasion, a cluster of blinking red dots appeared on the star chart.

“The swarm,” one of the Taori said, venom practically oozing from the words.

The other Taori flinched. “It does not feel right to observe them. We should attack.”

I banished all thoughts of anything but the swarm from my mind. “I understand your frustration, but protecting Drex and the Academy are more important than striking a blow against the Sythian swarm. ”

The Taori grunted, but they moved restlessly as we watched the flurry of red dots. The blue dots indicating our fighter jets and the Taori ships assembled in a defensive formation but did not approach the swarm, and I held my breath to see if Fiona’s plan would work.

Minutes seemed to drag by as no one spoke, no one breathed, no one moved. Then as quickly as the swarm had appeared, they shifted course and moved away.

Admiral Zoran leaned forward and braced his hands on his desk. “The threat has passed.”

“For now,” one of the Taori said under his breath.

When the swarm vanished from the star chart, the Taori turned to Zoran. “We should return to our hunt. It is still our mission to destroy the swarm.”

Zoran thumped a fist across his chest in salute to the two aliens. “I am grateful that you suspended your hunt to save our planet and academy.”

“Your holographic technology continues to impress us,” one of the Taori said. “Would you consider allowing one of our science officers to stay behind and learn more about it?”

Zoran tipped his head in a sharp nod. “It is the least we can do.”

The Taori strode to the door, but they had to jump back as Fiona rushed inside and almost ran straight into them. She skidded to a stop and danced around them before making a beeline for me. When she reached me, she stopped and hesitated, forcing herself to look at the admiral and Tivek. “We did it. The plan to hide the planet using holo-technology worked. ”

I should have let the admiral respond, but I couldn’t. I was too relieved to see Fiona and too grateful that she would be safe from a swarm attack. I closed the distance between us in two long strides, curling an arm around her back and pulling her flush to me.

Fiona looked up at me, her lips parting in surprise before I captured them in a hard kiss. When I pulled away, I spun us both around to face the admiral and his adjunct. “I have decided to take this woman as my mate.”

Fiona swung her head to me. “ You’ve decided? Don’t I get a say in this?”

I held her gaze with mine. “You do not want to be my mate?”

“I didn’t say that,” she sputtered, “but you can’t just announce it like that without asking me first.”

“Then I am asking,” I husked, jerking her even closer and lifting her slightly off the ground.

Fiona rolled her eyes. “Yes, but only because someone really needs to teach you how to handle women.”

“You do not like the way I handle you? Then why do you moan—?”

“Aaagh,” Fiona let out a strangled sound as she put her hands on both sides of my face and pulled my face to hers. “You’d better shut up and kiss me before I have another urge to kill you.”

I forgot all about the admiral and his adjunct, as I followed Fiona’s suggestion and kissed her until she no longer wanted to kill me.