Chapter 62: The Second Time?

I looked Edgar in the eye.

"There is nothing to enlighten," I said, my voice cutting through the thick, metallic air like a polished blade. "I am here for a change of clothes and an hour of peace. That’s all."

Edgar took another slow, deliberate step closer, the heat radiating off his damp skin practically burning through the small gap between us. He leaned down, his golden eyes fixing on mine with an intense, possessive weight.

"You don’t smell like you’re here for just ’peace’," Edgar murmured, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous vibration. "But you’re definitely playing with fire, Brianna."

"Funny, that’s my best kind of game. Fire... dangerous, but exciting," I said.

I was just casually responding to his lines, spitting back whatever sharp retorts came to mind, but I had no real idea what my words would actually do to him. He warned me I was playing with fire, yet my assassin mind failed to register what kind of inferno I was poking at with an Alpha like him.

The air shifted instantly. The golden gleam in Edgar’s eyes darkened, turning thick and predatory.

Before I could react, he closed the remaining distance between us. He leaned his thick body down until his head was my level, and his mouth was mere millimeters from my ear.

His chest didn’t even touch mine, yet the searing heat radiating off his damp skin felt like a physical wall trapping me in place.

"Brianna," he whispered softly into the crook of my neck, his breath scorching hot against my bare skin, sending an unexpected, involuntary shiver down my spine. "This is the second time. I won’t let you off if there’s a third time."

I stood dead rigid, my brow furrowing in genuine, silent confusion.

The second time?

What were we even counting?! The suffocating kiss downstairs? The way I took his tie? Or just me stepping into his territory wrapped in his nephew’s coat? None of it made sense to me, but before I could ask him what absurd ledger he was keeping in his head, Edgar pulled back.

He took a slow step away from me, running a hand through his damp, dark hair as if casually brushing off the overwhelming tension that had just suffocated the entire room.

Just as he turned his back and began walking toward his private dressing room, the double doors of the suite clicked open behind me.

Benjamin strolled in, a freshly lit cigarette resting between his fingers with a thin trail of grey smoke curling lazily toward the ceiling. A neat, folded stack of clean, high-end clothes rested over his forearm.

He paused at the threshold, taking a slow drag from his cigarette before his dark purple eyes flicked over to his dripping, towel-clad uncle, and then settled heavily onto me.

"What’s going on, Uncle? Shouldn’t you be in your office?"

"Wow, so the kid thinks he knows my schedule by heart now, huh?" Edgar drawled without turning around, his voice dripping with smooth, dismissive arrogance as he grabbed a dry silk robe from the rack near his dressing room. "Last I checked, this entire complex still carries my name. I come and go as I please."

​Benjamin blew out a thick ring of grey smoke, his purple eyes narrowing into sleepy, dangerous slits as he tracked his uncle’s movements.

He stepped deeper into the suite, letting the doors click shut behind him. The air in the room instantly became a battleground of dense, oppressive Alpha territory—Edgar’s hot, metallic golden pressure clashing violently with the cold, suffocating storm radiating off Benjamin.

​"You’re in the way," Benjamin said flatly, ignoring his uncle’s tone entirely. He walked right past Edgar as if the towel-clad casino boss were made of glass, stopping right in front of me.

​He didn’t miss the faint flush radiating off my neck, nor did his sharp nose miss the heavy, fresh trail of Edgar’s scent lingering dangerously close to my skin. The muscle in Benjamin’s jaw flexed hard, a subtle twitch that signaled his wolf scratching at the surface.

​Without asking, Benjamin set the neat stack of clothes onto a marble side table, reached out, and pulled his coat tighter around my shoulders, intentionally swaddling me in his own scent to drown out Edgar’s lingering presence.

​"You can go change," Benjamin said softly, his thumb brushing my cheekbone with a brief, possessive touch before he turned his body to face his uncle, blocking Edgar’s view of me entirely. "The bathroom on the left is free."

​Edgar tied the sash of his silk robe casually around his low waist, leaning against the doorframe of his dressing room with his arms crossed over his bare chest. A slow smirk pulled at the corner of his lips as he watched Benjamin’s territorial display.

​"You’re being awfully protective of a girl who you cornered and assaulted down in the vault, Benjamin," Edgar reminded him, his golden eyes gleefully baiting his nephew. "Or did you forget what you did so soon?"

​Benjamin took one last, long drag of his cigarette, his expression unreadable, before dropping the butt into a crystal tray on the counter and crushing it out with a cold, deliberate hiss.

​"She’s my companion, Uncle." Benjamin replied, his purple eyes locking onto Edgar’s with a lethal, unyielding glare even though his lips were curled in what should’ve been a smile. "That means she’s mine,"

"Pft, yours?" Edgar clearly didn’t take him seriously.

"That’s right. And if you touch what’s mine again, Uncle... I think I’m going to do more than make myself at home in your sub-basement."

"Please," his lips curved and his tone came out in a villainous voice, "what’s the worst thing you could do besides snoring your loudest?"

Benjamin didn’t answer right away. Instead, he let out a low, sleepy exhale, a faint, dark glint dancing deep within his dark purple eyes.

​"Try me, Uncle," Benjamin murmured, his voice dropping into a chilling, barely-audible frequency. "Touch her again, and we’ll see if your precious casino stands long enough for you to sleep in it."

​Edgar’s smirk faltered for a fraction of a second, his golden eyes narrowing as he felt the genuine, suffocating spike of Alpha aura rolling off his nephew.

The air in the room grew instantly heavy, dense with an electric, dangerous pressure that made the crystal chandelier above us hum softly.

​I looked between the two Alphas, my brow twitching with annoyance.

​They really are insane, I thought, grabbing the neat stack of clean clothes from the marble side table. Posturing and marking territory like territorial dogs while I’m standing here completely exhausted, just trying to wash off this disgusting, lingering rut scent. Who knows what’s going on in that head of theirs?

​"Keep barking, both of you," I spat coldly, stepping past Benjamin’s broad shoulder toward the side bathroom on the left. "If you’re still beating your chests when I get out, then I’ll likely consider somewhere else more peaceful to rest in."

​I pushed through the door and slammed it shut, turning the heavy lock with a sharp CLICK that cut off the suffocating tension in the room.