Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Lena’s POV

"What?" Lena had no clue what Dominic was even talking about.

"All that flirting. All that chasing around. You done playing yet?" He took a step toward her, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Feelings that shallow don’t last, right?"

Every time he moved forward, she stepped back. The way he sounded... like some dumped boyfriend calling her out for betraying what they had.

"Think whatever you want. I’m going to sleep." She turned, dropped onto the bed, and yanked the blanket over her head.

He stayed there for a long while before finally walking out. He didn’t even shut the door. Lena waited until she heard his footsteps fade, then slowly poked her head out.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

She got up, shut the bedroom door properly, then climbed back into bed.

She scrolled through Instagram. Jace had posted a sunset photo, no caption, just vibes. She tapped like.

Eliza’s account had been weirdly quiet lately. No new posts.

She switched over to videos and mindlessly kept scrolling. Just as she was about to put her phone down, the bedroom door opened. Dominic walked in wearing pajamas and casually shut the door behind him.

Lena shot upright so fast she nearly flung her phone across the room. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping." He went to the other side of the bed, pulled back the blanket, and slid in like this was the most normal thing in the world.

She turned to face him. "You have your own room. Why are you in mine?"

"What do you think?" His eyes were dark and unreadable, the question hanging there with no clear answer.

If this had been a month ago, she would’ve jumped him without a second thought. She would’ve teased him, shoved at him, wrapped herself around him, and dared him to try resisting.

Now he was the one climbing into her bed uninvited, and she felt... nothing.

Or at least, that was what she kept forcing herself to believe.

"We should sleep separately." Her tone was flat.

"You weren’t like this before."

"People change."

Something flickered in his eyes, quick and strange. "Why?"

Lena searched her brain and came up with the most half-hearted comparison possible. "If you keep standing in line for some dish, and every single time it’s sold out, sooner or later you just stop wanting it."

He clearly didn’t like that. "Because you found something else on the menu?"

She looked straight at him, genuinely caught off guard. She hadn’t expected that question.

His eyes narrowed. "Did you?"

"Can you not do this? If you want to sleep here, then sleep here. I don’t care." She gave up fighting it.

He wasn’t going to make a move. She knew him too well. If she didn’t do anything first, he could stay still like a statue all night.

She turned away from him, shut her eyes, and faced the wall.

Dominic lay down. The light went out. She could feel him turn his head toward her. Then she heard him let out a slow breath.

Her whole body tightened, bracing for something.

But nothing happened.

She wasn’t disappointed, not really, because this was exactly what she’d expected.

Then he moved.

His arm slid across the mattress and wrapped around her waist. His chest pressed to her back, warmth seeping through the thin layer of fabric, his heartbeat falling into rhythm with hers.

She froze. His breath brushed her ear, each exhale landing at her neck, the heat slowly spreading over her shoulder.

Two bodies crowded onto one bed, swallowed by the dark. She couldn’t sleep at all. The man behind her, though, breathed slow and even, like he was already halfway asleep.

How was he sleeping like a baby?

Her whole body tingled. Every nerve was on high alert, tracking the weight of his arm, the rise and fall of his chest, the heat coming off him.

Her stomach twisted, and she knew exactly what that meant.

I swallowed hard and shifted, trying to put even a little space between my back and his chest.

The arm around my waist tightened right away, locking me in. My eyes flew open. He wasn’t asleep.

"Don’t move."

His voice brushed against my ear, low and rough.

I grabbed his hand and tried to pry it off me. "It’s too hot."

His eyes stayed closed. "Mind over matter."

She seriously wanted to scream. She was done. Absolutely done.

There was only so much self-control Lena had. Lying in his arms, in the dark, with his lips only inches from her neck? That was way past her limit. Not even close.

She tore herself free, got out of bed, and switched on the light.

He looked at her. "Where are you going?"

"The guest room." She didn’t look back. She slammed the door so hard the pictures on the wall shook with it.

Once inside, she cranked the AC down as low as it would go. Cold air rushed through the room. She sat on the edge of the bed, both hands pressed to her thighs, forcing herself to breathe until her heartbeat finally slowed.

Then she locked the door. If he tried to come in after her, she was going to lose it.

She couldn’t sleep, so she called Anna. Anna picked up almost immediately.

"You’re still awake?"

"Dominic’s here." Her voice came out tight and rushed, like she was reporting a break-in instead of talking about her partner.

Anna didn’t sound worried at all. "Did he come to make up with you?"

"When I got home, he was asleep on my couch. He made dinner for me. Then he got into bed and held me from behind. His arm was around my waist, his chest was against my back, and he was breathing on my neck!"

"Honestly? That sounds kind of amazing." Anna laughed softly. "Doesn’t it? Isn’t that exactly what you used to want?"

Lena rolled her eyes. "A month ago, sure. Not now. Don’t you think this is weird? When I wanted him, he acted like I didn’t exist. Now that I’m pulling away, he shows up with food and climbs into my bed."

"That’s not weird. That’s a man realizing what he’s about to lose."

"You’re not getting it." Lena took a deep breath. "There’s something else I didn’t tell you. Celeste invited me to dinner at her estate. Just the two of us. No Dominic."

Anna went quiet.

"She wants puppies."

"Oh."

"She told me to quit my job and move into the estate so she could ‘help me get my health in order.’" Lena stared at the ceiling, her voice flattening out. "And right after she said all that, Dominic started acting like this with me."

Anna was silent for a few seconds. Then she said, "Yeah. Okay. That would absolutely kill the mood."

"Dominic and I aren’t going to last." Lena said it bluntly, with no cushion around the words. "I’ve known that for a while. But the whole puppies thing made it impossible to keep pretending otherwise. I can’t bring a child into something this unstable."

"No one knows what’s going to last and what’s going to fall apart," Anna said softly. "Did you ever think you’d still be with him now? A year ago, you would’ve said no. No question."

She wasn’t wrong.

"Don’t spiral. If you’re worried about puppies, there’s birth control. And getting pregnant isn’t as easy as you’re making it out to be. My coworker and her partner have been trying for three years, and still nothing."

"Just stay in the moment. You’re the one who always says that. So why are you running now?"

Anna’s words loosened something tight in Lena’s chest. Not all the way, but enough to let her breathe.

"I’m seriously a mess," she muttered, letting herself fall back onto the mattress.

"You’re overthinking everything. This is literally what most women dream about. Your mate shows up, makes you dinner, and pulls you into bed. Your problem is basically that life is being too nice to you."

Lena gave a weak little laugh. "I’m scared of where this is going."

Anna snorted lightly. "What, you think if you leave, he’s just going to chase after you forever? That man?"

The question made Lena stop cold.

Anna was right. Dominic was an Alpha with too much pride for that. If she walked away, he would let her go. He wouldn’t cling. He wouldn’t beg.

"Right," Lena said quietly.

"Exactly. So stop wasting time." Anna yawned. "Go back."

"You’re still working?"

"Yep. My life is tragic. You’re over there having a crisis about whether to sleep with your hot mate, and I’m here suffering over a spreadsheet."

She didn’t try to stop Anna, and the call ended just like that.

Lena sat there, eyes fixed on the bedroom door across the room. She never went back in.

She stayed on the couch for hours, stiff and quiet, until sometime after two in the morning, when exhaustion finally dragged her down and she lay back, shut her eyes, and let the darkness take over.

When she woke up the next morning, she blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling for a second, completely out of it. Then it hit her—she was in the guest room.

She reached for her phone and saw a message from Dominic Voss.

"I made you breakfast. I left."

She read it once. Then again.

A dull ache spread through her chest, slow and heavy. She knew he was trying. Trying for them. Trying to hold together something that had already started slipping through both their hands.

After getting herself together, Lena headed for the kitchen. The breakfast on the table was still warm, as if the heat had been waiting for her.

She stood there for a moment, phone in hand, then typed out a reply to Dominic.

"Thank you."

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