Chapter 96: The Favor You Owe

Damian didn’t release his hold on my waist right away. Instead, his long fingers tightened slightly, drawing me down just half an inch closer until the heat of his skin burned directly against mine.

At this point, it was quite the miracle that my towel stayed on.

?"You really are a dangerous variable, Brianna Wells," he murmured, his deep voice vibrating through his chest and straight into my palms.

His red eyes flicked down to my flushed lips, tracking the rapid, shallow rise and fall of my breath—particularly my pulse point. What? Did he want to try to strike my pulse point while I was distracted?

Was that what he was after? My assassin logic flared, but he did not do anything to my pulse-point. Instead, he brought his lips down and nearly brushed against that very spot the others had either bitten, sucked or grazed, before lifting his gaze to lock back onto mine.

He sniffed me.

"First, running around drenched in another wolf’s scent... now straddling me in an S-Class facility with nothing underneath." He whispered. "What are you hinting at?"

?"I told you," I whispered, my voice still slightly raspy from the kiss, "it was an accident."

?"And yet," Damian purred smoothly, his thumb tracing a slow, deliberate line along my bare thigh, "accidents have consequences under my watch."

?He shifted beneath me, his movement effortlessly fluid as he supported my back with one arm, helping us both slide up off the slick marble until I was sitting back on my heels and he was resting on one knee, his imposing frame still shadowy and tall in the steam.

My heart was still racing. What was he going to do this time? I wondered, my fingers curled into fists on my laps.

?His gaze turned cool and intensely focused as he reached out, his fingers gently sliding beneath my chin to tilt my face upward.

?"The favor you owe," Damian stated, his voice dropping into a calm, quiet tone. "I won’t be collecting it today. But when I do call on you, you will answer without hesitation. You won’t play elusive, and you won’t hide behind Benjamin."

?I narrowed my eyes slightly, looking up into his dark, red gaze. "Sir... Do you always punish offenders like this?"

?Damian looked down at me. A hollow, superficial smile touched his sharp lips—glamourous, perfectly composed, and completely unreadable.

?"Only if their first and last names are Brianna and Wells," he murmured softly.

?With that, he uncurled his long fingers from my chin, stood up with Alpha grace, and retrieved his uniform jacket off the bench, slinging it over his shoulder. He said nothing more as he tapped the wall sensor, stepping out into the misty hallway before the doors slid shut behind him.

?I sat there on the damp floor, my hand resting over my chest as my heart trembled in a strange, erratic rhythm.

Only if their first and last names are Brianna and Wells... The words echoed in my mind and my breath caught.

?Then... it seems he’s out to get only me with this strange punishment.

?I let out a slow, heavy breath, leaning my head back against the glass. It was exhausting... but for some reason, it also felt strangely relieving.

?I must be weird.

?Shaking my head to clear the dizzying haze, I wrapped the resilient towel firmly back around my chest, stood up on steady feet, and walked toward the glowing blue regeneration chamber.

I swiped Benjamin’s access card, stepped inside, and let the heavy glass cover seal shut above me.

?The moment the high-density fluid submerged my skin, a searing, electric heat surged straight into my muscle fibers.

My teeth gritted against the intense burn as Silas’s latent soul power began to fuse seamlessly with my physical frame—rebuilding, strengthening, and tempering my body for what was to come.

I endured for nearly an hour, if I calculated properly. It was not easy.

When it was done, the high-density fluid’s deep turquoise glow faded gradually to a translucent blue as the pod’s automated drain kicked in.

With a low pneumatic hiss, the heavy glass canopy slid upward, releasing a cloud of cooling, sterile mist into the vault.

I sat up, drawing a deep, shuddering breath.

The excruciating burn that had ripped through my muscle fibers for the past hour was entirely gone, replaced by a profound, thrumming vitality.

Every fiber of my physical frame felt denser, sharper, and utterly recalibrated. Integrating Silas’s soul power previously felt like forcing heavy lead into a fragile glass container; now, my body felt reinforced—like forged steel ready to channel the surge without cracking.

If I challenge Edgar again, I might win in fewer strikes. I thought, nodding to myself.

I stepped out of the pod onto the heated tile, drying off quickly before stepping out through the glass door Damian had pinned me to previously, to get my clothes.

Buttoning my coat, I checked my reflection in the dark glass panel. The flush on my skin from Damian’s hands—and his breathtakingly shameless punishment—had finally faded, leaving behind the cold, composed mask of an assassin.

I pushed open the heavy inner doors and walked down the quiet marble corridor back to the lobby.

?Benjamin was right where I had left him, slouched in the plush leather waiting chair with one leg crossed over his knee. A slow, lazy trail of smoke curled up from the cigarette pinched between his fingers, reflecting off the bright indicator lights of the hallway.

?The moment the automatic doors slid open, his purple eyes flicked up, locking onto me with a sharp, perceptive intensity that belied his relaxed posture.

?"You took your sweet time in there," Benjamin murmured, his raspy voice cutting through the quiet hum of the air filters. He blew out a thin stream of smoke, his eyes scanning me from head to toe, lingering briefly on my face. "Did you run into Damian inside?"

?My heart gave a tiny, involuntary twitch, but my expression didn’t so much as flicker. An assassin’s greatest weapon wasn’t always a blade—it was complete control over one’s own pulse and micro-expressions.

?Of course he saw him, I thought silently. Damian had to walk right past this lobby to exit.

?"No, I didn’t," I lied smoothly, my tone completely flat and bored as I pulled the black Level S card from my pocket and held it out to him. "It’s a general pod wing with different isolated compartments inside. He must’ve been in one of the other bays. But boy, I’m lucky I didn’t run into him. The last thing I needed today was the Disciplinary President breathing down my neck."

?My act was completely flawless—not a single tremor in my voice, no sudden shift in posture, not even a beat skipped in my pulse.

?Benjamin studied my face for two agonizing seconds, searching for any telltale sign.

Finding none, which I believed, he let out a quiet hum and bought it entirely, reaching out to take the access card from my fingers.

?"Lucky indeed," Benjamin muttered, sliding the card into his coat pocket. "That guy is a walking migraine. If he catches you breaking even a minor campus rule, he’ll write a report longer than your life span."