Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 130: Chapter 130

Lena’s POV

That answer? Totally not what she expected.

She held out her hand.

"What?" he asked.

"Your phone."

Dominic handed it over without a fuss.

She unlocked it with his face, opened his contacts, found Eliza’s number, and set it to auto-reject. Then she went into his messages, pulled up the thread with Eliza, and blocked her there too.

She did every single step right in front of him, slow and clear, making sure he saw all of it. Only then did she give the phone back.

He didn’t say a word. He just slipped it into his pocket.

"Still want to watch the sunrise?" he asked.

"No." She hadn’t been in the mood since the moment they came up the mountain.

"Fine. We go home. Sleep." The way he said sleep had a very obvious edge to it. His eyes carried that same dangerous, possessive look.

She caught it and instantly looked away.

She got into the passenger seat and buckled up.

The smell in the car still felt wrong. Eliza’s scent was still there. A soft floral perfume clung to the leather seats and the headrest, the exact places where Eliza must have leaned against Dominic.

Lena rolled the window all the way down and let the night wind rush in hard, wild and cold, until that was the only thing she could smell.

The whole drive back was dead quiet. His phone never made a sound.

Neither did he.

The second they stepped through her front door, she had barely taken two steps into the dark apartment before his hand closed around her wrist and yanked.

Her back hit the wall.

His hand found hers, fingers sliding through hers before pinning both her hands above her head. She didn’t even get a chance to catch her breath before his mouth crashed down on hers.

My eyes went wide.

His were shut tight, his jaw twitching just a little as the tip of his tongue slipped past my lips. He kissed me like he was starving for it, urgent and rough, his chest pressing me so hard against the wall I couldn’t even tell what was the cold concrete and what was him anymore.

My fingers locked around his hand, and before I knew it, my eyes had fallen shut.

I stopped fighting it. His body was burning against mine, and that thin layer of fabric between us was basically useless, like it wasn’t even there.

The apartment was pitch-black, no lights on anywhere. When he finally pulled back, his breathing was uneven. He dropped his forehead to my shoulder, both my hands still pinned above my head, his body flush against mine from chest to thigh.

I was breathing hard too, my heart pounding like it was about to smash right through my ribs.

Every breath he let out brushed the hollow of my neck. My chest rose and fell with his, heat tangling between us, blood rushing wild, my pulse beating all the way down to my fingertips.

He was holding himself back.

If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have stopped.

“Wanna shower?” His lips stayed at my neck, barely skimming my skin, and that tiny touch sent a shiver racing straight down my spine.

I turned my neck away from his mouth. “You go.”

“Come with me.”

The images hit my head before I could stop them. I knew exactly what would happen if we walked in there together.

Absolutely not.

He still didn’t quit. His mouth found that spot just under my earlobe, and his low, hoarse voice vibrated right against my skin. “Together.”

My heart slammed harder. Every inch of me was reacting to him. He knew it too, and yeah, he was using every dirty trick he had.

I refused, flat-out. “No.”

“You sure?” He let go of my hand, his palm sliding down to my waist, his thumb circling my hipbone. “Together.”

My waist was one of my worst weak spots. The second he touched me there, my whole system glitched. My neck. That place behind my ear. My waist. He knew every single one of my buttons, and he went straight for them like a pro.

“I said no.” I twisted away, shoving his hand off me, then pushing at his chest.

He didn’t move an inch. He leaned his forehead against mine. “There’s no way you’re making it to the bathroom in three seconds. I’d have to carry you.”

I clenched my teeth and looked him straight in the eye. “Dominic, do you want one night, or do you want every night?”

He froze for a second.

Then he laughed.

It came out loud and open, the kind of laugh Lena had never heard from him before. Not that cold little smirk. Not one of those dismissive breaths through the nose. No—this one was real, straight from the chest.

"What are you laughing at?" she snapped, glaring at him.

"Nothing." He flashed a grin, his whole mood doing a complete one-eighty. Then he let her go and stepped back. "Every night, huh? You want it every night."

He moved past her and flicked on the light.

Warm light spilled through the apartment in an instant. She finally saw his face clearly—he was still smiling, eyes bright, almost annoyingly alive.

She seriously had no idea what was so funny about what she’d just said.

But whatever. He was in a good mood now, and more importantly, he’d let her go. He turned and headed for the bathroom. "I’m taking a shower. Alone."

Then he walked off.

Lena stayed there with her back against the wall, lips swollen, heartbeat still all over the place, trying to piece together what had just happened.

Whatever was going on in his head, one thing was clear.

She’d survived tonight.

Eliza’s POV

She called Dominic.

The call got cut off before it even started ringing.

She opened their message thread. Blocked.

Dominic would never do that.

This was Lena.

The second Lena’s name flashed through her mind, hate flared up in Eliza’s eyes like someone had poured gas on a spark.

If Lena didn’t exist, she would have gotten him back this time. She knew it. No doubt.

Luke was useless. Totally useless.

He couldn’t handle Lena, didn’t have the guts to go up against Dominic, and messed up every single thing he touched.

Dominic’s POV

I lay on the bed, waiting for Lena to finish her shower.

The phone on the nightstand started buzzing. Not mine. Hers.

The caller wasn’t saved in her contacts. I glanced toward the bathroom door.

She’d only been in there a few minutes, tops.

The phone kept ringing. I picked it up. "Who is this?"

Silence.

Whoever it was, they clearly hadn’t expected to hear my voice.

I waited. I had patience. Anyone calling this late? Yeah, not just some random friend checking in.

Then the call disconnected.

I looked at the number, copied it, and texted it to Daniel. He could get me a name within an hour.

It didn’t even take that long before Daniel sent the result back.

I read the name, and my eyes darkened.

Fifteen minutes later, Lena came out. The second she saw me stretched out on her bed, she frowned. "Your room is next door."

I lifted my left hand. The ring on my ring finger caught the light and flashed.

Her own ring finger twitched before she could stop it.

"I fell asleep." I flipped back the blanket and patted the empty spot beside me. "It’s late."

She obviously didn’t buy a word of it. Smart woman.

"You used to call me your mate all the time. Now I’m finally accepting the title, and you’re the one backing off." I held her gaze. "Come to bed, sweetheart."

I watched, right in front of me, as she froze.

Her breathing turned uneven. Her eyes went a little unfocused. She stood there in the middle of the room like her mind had just crashed, and it took her a long moment to snap back.

When she finally did, she walked to the bed, climbed in, and acted like nothing had happened.

I turned to look at her.

My gaze traced the line of her neck, the faint outline of her shoulders beneath that thin sleep shirt, the slim curve of her waist.

Every place my eyes touched lit a slow, dangerous heat inside me.

"Go to sleep." She turned over and switched off the light.

He could hear her breathing in the dark. Uneven. Fast. Her heart still hadn’t settled down.

She had already done everything the two of them could do together. And yet she still couldn’t relax enough to lie peacefully beside him.

He turned toward her, slid one arm under her neck so her head rested on it, then wrapped the other around her waist, pressing his chest against her back.

She had just showered. Her hair was still damp, and the soft scent of body wash drifted into him, warm and clean. He swallowed hard, fighting to keep himself in check. That was not easy. "Good night."

Lena’s POV

When Lena woke up, the bed was empty.

Her hand moved to the space beside her.

Cold.

Through the haze of early morning, she vaguely remembered Dominic leaning close to her ear in the dark, his low voice almost brushing her skin. "I need to head out for a bit. There’s something I have to deal with. Get some rest. If you miss me, call me."

She could almost still feel the featherlight touch of his lips on her forehead.

Leaning back against the headboard, Lena let her thoughts drift over everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

He had cooked for her.

Cleaned her apartment.

Stayed outside her door all night.

Argued hard for their promise.

Put a ring on her finger.

Called her his partner.

Held her while she slept.

He had done every single thing a man was supposed to do.

But she still didn’t feel loved.

Something about it all stayed on the surface, like it never really sank in. Thoughtful. Consistent. Technically flawless. Everything looked right, checked every box, no complaints. And still, none of it landed in her heart the way love should.

She reached for her phone.

There was an unfamiliar number in her call log.

She tapped it and lifted the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"It’s me."

The voice wasn’t unfamiliar at all. She froze for a second, then checked the number again.

"Luke?"

"Do you have time? I want to see you."

"No."

The last scrap of goodwill Lena had left for Luke Slade vanished on the spot.

She hung up before he could say another word.

Then she looked through the call history again and noticed that the same number had called last night too.

Someone had answered.

Twelve seconds.

Dominic had picked it up.

Had they talked? Twelve seconds was enough for something to happen.

A text came in.

["I need to talk to you. Come see me."]

Lena deleted it.

Then another one.

["I’m outside your building. If you don’t come down, I’ll go upstairs and wait at your door."]

She knew exactly what Luke was like. If he said he was coming up, then yeah, he was coming up.

She splashed some water on her face, changed her clothes, and went downstairs.

His car was parked by the curb outside the entrance. He was leaning against it, a cigarette pinched between his fingers.

"Five more seconds and I would’ve gone up," he said, squinting at her through the drifting smoke.

"What do you want?" Lena asked flatly, not in the mood to play along.

She had only come down because she knew him well enough. Ignoring him would only make things blow up harder.

He exhaled a stream of smoke. "What, I’m not allowed to want to see you? It’s been a while."

Lena turned to leave.

"Lena." His voice went stiff, the casual tone gone. "We were together. That meant something. Give me five minutes."

She kept walking.

He ground the cigarette out under his shoe. "Aren’t you even a little curious why Eliza ran up the mountain looking for you last night?"

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