Chapter 58: A Blank Favor

Damian’s jaw clenched, an unsettled edge flickering behind his cold facade. "It’s annoying, but..." His eyes slowly drifted down, locking onto my swollen, bruised lips—a dead giveaway of the frantic, breathless kissing I had just endured in the shed. His chest heaved slightly. "Brianna Wells... I will go along with it for now."

"No!" I pressed, leaning my body into his even further, my hands clutching his uniform jacket. "You have to give me your word! My friend doesn’t want to be found out, and I don’t want him to die either. Please..."

I didn’t know if I had imagined it in the heat of the moment, but I saw his throat bob violently as he swallowed hard. He reached up with one long finger and subtly tilted his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, desperately trying to regain his shattered composure.

"Fine," Damian said, his voice unusually strained. "I give you my word. But... I will take something from you in return."

A sudden, sharp chill ran down my spine.

I was going this hard not just because I wanted to keep Zero from dying, but because I knew with absolute certainty that Damian would never let me out of his sight unless I gave him a completely satisfactory explanation. But now... it felt like I had bargained away something far more dangerous. I had officially signed a contract with the devil.

"What do you want?" I asked, bracing myself and praying against the absolute worst.

Damian didn’t answer right away. He slid his gloved hand down my spine until it rested firmly against the curve of my waist, pulling me so close that my chest brushed his. Leaning down until his lips were hovering millimeters from the shell of my ear, he whispered in a low, gravelly tone that sent shivers straight to my toes:

"I will let you know when it is time."

My eyes widened in pure horror.

A blank favor.

No... that was the absolute worst kind of debt to owe a man like Damian Raven.

"Damian..." I began, my voice trembling, but before I could finish the sentence, a sharp, familiar voice rang out across the stone pillars.

"Brianna!"

I flinched, my head snapping around to see Benjamin striding toward us. Damian instantly released his grip on my waist, casually raising a single finger to adjust his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"I’ll take care of it," Damian said, his voice dropping into a low, businesslike tone that Benjamin couldn’t overhear from that distance. "Just tell me the direction."

My heart was hammering against my ribs so hard it felt painful, and I bit down on my lip until I tasted rust. There was no turning back now.

"The auditorium..." I whispered hurriedly. "The old equipment shed behind it. Please... hurry, and... go alone."

"Worry not. I will keep my word," Damian murmured. He rested his palm on my shoulder for a fraction of a second as he stepped past me. "Just be sure to keep your side of the bargain when the time comes."

With that chilling promise left hanging in the air, Damian strode off toward the auditorium grounds.

Benjamin finally reached the spot where I stood, his rapid footsteps slowing down the moment he saw me trembling. My mind wasn’t scared—I was an assassin, for heaven’s sake—so why was this pathetic body reacting like a terrified rabbit?

"Brianna?" Benjamin called out softly.

He froze mid-step as the thick, overwhelming stench of an Alpha’s feverish rut hit his sharp senses, immediately followed by the sight of my involuntary shaking. His purple eyes turned instantly dark, swirling with a violent, dangerous storm.

"Brianna..." he growled, the floorboards beneath his boots vibrating with suppression. "Who was it?"

I looked up at him through heavy eyelids. He looked genuinely furious, as if ready to tear the school apart brick by brick, but I simply didn’t have the energy for a confrontation.

"Benjamin..." I called out, my voice coming out embarrassingly small and raspy.

Without a second thought, Benjamin ripped off his coat and wrapped it snugly around my shivering shoulders, drowning out the lingering pine-and-ozone scent with his own familiar, grounding aroma.

"Don’t worry, Brianna," he muttered through grit teeth, his jaw clenched so hard a vein throbbed on his temple. "I’ll find the bastard who did this to you, and I’ll—"

"Don’t, Benjamin," I whispered, shaking my head numbly as I pulled his oversized coat tight around my chest. "I’m just... tired. I should probably take the rest of the day off."

He was still seething with unbridled rage, his wolf practically clawing to get out, but seeing my exhaustion forced him to hold back. Before I could process what he was doing, he leaned down and effortlessly scooped me up into his arms, bridal style, pulling me flush against his chest.

I didn’t even have the strength to fight him off. I hadn’t realized just how physically draining it was for a wolfless body to endure a direct wave of rutting Alpha pheromones, let alone turning right around to play a high-stakes psychological game with a devil like Damian Raven.

Today was even worse than yesterday. At least yesterday brought rewards and credits... Today, I was just suffering for no reason at all.

Benjamin carried me out to where the black sedan was parked and the driver stepped out quickly to hold the rear door open.

Instead of setting me down, Benjamin slid into the spacious backseat with me still cradled in his arms, pulling me directly onto his lap as the driver quietly shut the door and took the wheel.

"I’m taking you back to the casino. Uncle has a suite there," he said, his voice low and tight as he adjusted his hold on me. "You can’t go home looking like this."

Is he actually worrying about me?

I rested my head against his shoulder, a faint, amused hum vibrating in my throat. Cute.

My skin felt uncomfortably hot, but it wasn’t just from the coat wrapped around my shoulders. A strange, simmering heat was spreading through my chest, making my pulse flutter erratically. As the car smoothly pulled away, a sharp, distinct aroma cut through the air—the heavy, lingering scent of rich tobacco.

"Did you smoke before coming to find me?" I asked, turning my head slightly against his chest.

Benjamin stared straight ahead, his jaw tight as his arms tightened around my waist. "Yes," he grunted softly. "You were out of my sight for too long."

I stared up at his sharp profile. Ah... so my absence actually made him suffer.

My mind, ever the opportunist, clicked into gear. If he was already this destabilized and fixated on me, wasn’t this the perfect window to tie him even tighter around my finger and test if his tobacco was actually the catalyst?

"Benjamin..." I whispered.

I reached my hand up, resting my fingers lightly against his cheek. The movement pulled the oversized sleeve back, exposing my pale arm. Benjamin’s eyes flicked down—and instantly froze on my skin.

A dark, purplish bruise was already blooming around my wrist. Not even when he had pinned me in the vault had he squeezed hard enough to leave a mark like that. Whoever had grabbed me in his absence had left an undeniable signature of brute force.

Benjamin’s breath hitched. Before I could pull back, he caught my hand, bringing my bruised wrist straight to his mouth. He leaned down and gently swept his warm tongue across the darkened skin, his purple eyes swirling with a dangerous, dark storm as he licked around the mark.