Page 13 of Volik

I lift a hand in apology. “Pardon.”

She drops her hands, but her shoulders do not relax. “Um, can I… help you?”

I have seen this woman around. Recognize the perfume that permeates the room. But whatever was affecting me this morning is no longer present.

I will not find my answers here.

“No.” I shake my head. “I just…”

I just what?

Just lost my gods damn mind.

Just wanted to see if I could open the door to sniff your office.

Having no clue what to say for myself, I extend my arm, intending to just close the door and go.

But the door is too far open for me to reach the handle from where I am standing in the hall.

The top of my head is just below the height of the seven-foot door frame, but with my four-inch-tall horns, I have to duck in order to reach through the doorway.

Which I do.

But I do not step into the room, I just stretch my arm out. But the door is flush against the wall and the handle is still awkwardly out of reach.

I lean forward farther, extend my arm more, and hope the absurdity of my position is causing enough of a spectacle that the woman will not notice my still half-hard cock pressing against the front of my pants.

I stop.

Just… stop.

My feet are still planted in the hall, my body is practically bent in half, and I am done with the insanity that has clearly taken over my mind.

Making sure not to catch my horns on the doorframe, I stand upright in the hall.

I try not to use my gravito in front of humans. It’s why I always jump to the edge of town and not straight onto campus.

But now—right now—I need to extricate myself from this situation.

Nodding at the woman, like this interaction has been totally normal, I turn my wrist, and the door swings shut.

Chapter 6

Nix

The metallic scrape is quiet as I slide the security chain into place on my door.

It’s pretty pointless. If someone wanted to break in, I doubt a tiny chain would stop them. But it still makes me feel better to use it.

Door fully locked, I brace my hand on the wall and pry my boots off. Then I pull the shoulder strap of my bag up over my head as I cross the few steps into the living room and drop onto the couch.

Ten seconds later, I stand back up.

I put my hands on my hips.

Drop them to my sides.

Cross my arms over my chest.