Chapter 60: A Distraction

Benjamin’s gaze remained locked onto mine, the faint smirk on his lips slowly fading into something deeper, heavy, and completely unreadable.

His thumb smoothed over my jawline, his rough touch warm against my flushed skin.

"A hidden motive?" he repeated softly, testing the words on his tongue as if they were a strange concept. "Brianna, if I wanted something from you, I’d take it. I wouldn’t waste my time wrapping you in my coat, nursing your bruises, or driving myself insane trying to wipe another male’s stench off your skin."

He leaned closer, his forehead coming down to rest against mine once more, his hot breath fanning across my lips.

"You think this is natural for me?" Benjamin murmured, a low, self-deprecating chuckle vibrating deep in his chest. "It isn’t. Being around people makes my head feel like it’s split wide open. Their noise, their scents, their chaotic wolves... it’s unbearable. But with you?"

His hand tightened around my waist, pulling me impossibly closer until not a sliver of air remained between us.

"With you, the noise stops. When I touch you, when I kiss you, my head is quiet. You’re the only thing that doesn’t make me want to punch a hole through a wall. Literally."

I stared up into his dark purple eyes, my mind frantically trying to process his words through my rigid tactical logic. A cure? An anchor? Was I simply a biological sedative to his chaotic Alpha mind, or was there something far more dangerous coiling between us?

Before I could form another logical counter-argument, Benjamin tilted my chin up.

"So stop looking for an ulterior motive," he whispered, his lips brushing mine with every word. "Because the only motive I have right now... is making sure you don’t look at anyone else the way you look at me."

"I look at you like I want to kill you, though," I said, my voice deadpan despite the heat flushing my cheeks.

His lips curved into a lazy smirk. "Yes, let’s go with that."

"But then why would you want me to look only at you that way?" I pressed, searching his unhinged purple eyes for a sliver of sense. It honestly made no sense to me.

"Because I’m very selfish, as you know," Benjamin murmured, his thumb lightly stroking my lower lip. "Brianna, you should feel honored to have my attention."

There he goes again.

He didn’t give me room to analyze his confession any further. His mouth closed over mine once more, deeper this time, reclaiming my lips with a quiet, undeniable authority that sent another wave of dizzying heat straight to my core.

"Brianna, you’re just the distraction I need in my life," he whispered against my lips, his voice dropping into a low, quiet murmur.

Before I could process the words, the sedan slowed to a smooth halt. The quiet click of the transmission shifting into park echoed through the dark cabin.

"Young Master, we have arrived at the casino." the driver announced.

Benjamin finally broke the kiss, but he didn’t let me go. Instead, he leaned forward, burying his face directly into the crook of my neck. His hot breath fanned over my skin, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist to pin me against his chest.

I could feel the tension in his muscles, the desperate grip that silently made one thing abundantly clear: he didn’t want me to leave his grasp.

I sat frozen in his lap, letting his scent wash over me as I stared blankly at the back of the driver’s headrest.

I understood the mechanics of it well enough. As a wolfless Omega, I didn’t carry the chaotic spirit of an activated wolf always whimpering because of his excessive alpha pressure. And more than having excessive pressure, he was also hyper-sensitive.

To a hyper-sensitive Alpha whose senses were constantly battered by the world, I was a quiet room in the middle of a storm. Somewhat like a living sedative.

That part made tactical sense.

But a distraction?

A distraction from what? His duties? His pack? Or the sheer, suffocating weight of his own power?

The concept distraction in this context felt slippery, elusive to my assassin mind. Distractions in my past life were dangerous—glitches in focus that got people killed, or deliberate decoys meant to pull an enemy’s eyes away from the real target. Was I an anchor keeping his chaotic mind from snapping, or was I simply something shiny for an arrogant Alpha to fixate on until the novelty wore off?

I rested my hands lightly against his shoulders, feeling the deep, steady rhythm of his chest against mine in the quiet car, still unable to completely untangle what I truly was to him.

This new life was teaching me a lot of complicated things already, but I was having a hard time coping.

I was supposed to be preparing for the Tournament of Power, getting revenge for Brianna, and then living my life however I wanted. And yet, here I was, entangled with an Alpha, with no idea what he truly wanted—or what I was letting myself get dragged into.

He didn’t move. He just stayed there, his forehead resting heavily in the crook of my neck, his arms locked around my waist like iron bands.

I squeezed my eyes shut, letting out a faint, imperceptible sigh. I couldn’t afford to get lost in his orbit. My priority was physical recovery, rebuilding my core strength, getting Silas back, and tearing through everyone who had ever stepped on Brianna’s name. I needed power. I needed to dominate the arena.

Yet, as his grip tightened just a fraction—as if sensing my mind drifting away from him—I realized something troubling.

I didn’t push him away.

For an assassin who had never leaned into anyone her whole life, being held like this should have felt intolerable. But under the heavy, grounding weight of his chest and the warmth wrapping around me, the cold, ruthless noise in my own head was surprisingly quiet, too.