Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 138: Chapter 138

Samuel’s POV

Samuel Clarke drove up to a private lounge and headed inside.

Mercer was waiting at a table in the back. The second he saw Samuel, he got to his feet. “How did it go?” There was a flicker of hope in his voice, small but obvious.

“I passed your proposal on to Dominic Voss. He didn’t turn it down, but he didn’t promise anything either.” Samuel sat across from him, calm and measured. “Dominic doesn’t invest in maybes. He invests in things he knows will pay off.”

The light in Mercer’s eyes dimmed almost right away. He gave a slow nod, like he’d expected this but still hated hearing it. “I get it. Stonewall Pack is hanging by a thread right now. Most people wouldn’t touch a pack in this kind of mess. But I believe in this project. If the money comes through, it can work.”

Samuel let out a quiet breath. “I believe you too. I’m just not the one writing the check. But if you’re willing, I can point you toward another angle.”

Mercer frowned. “What angle?”

“You have a cousin named Aliya Mercer, right?”

“Yeah. How do you know about her?”

Samuel adjusted his glasses, expression steady. “When you came to us for funding, we ran a background check. Standard procedure. A few years back, Aliya and Dominic’s partner, Lena Foster, went to the same university. If you can get Aliya to reach out to Lena, that connection might be enough to crack a door open.”

He could see the hesitation all over Mercer’s face, plain as day.

So Samuel stopped dancing around it. “Let me be blunt. Stonewall Pack is on the edge. You’ve already tried every normal route. This is unusual, sure, and yeah, it could blow up in your face. But it might also be your last shot. So what, you want to just give up here?”

“Aliya’s been living in another territory for years. We barely talk anymore. Asking her for help...” Mercer clenched his jaw, struggling with it for a second before finally nodding. “You’re right. I’ll contact her.”

“Good.” Samuel smiled a little. “One more thing. Once you reach Aliya, have her contact me first. I’ll tell her how to approach Lena. This conversation could go smoothly... or it could go completely sideways.”

Mercer blinked, then nodded again, more firmly this time. “Thank you, Alpha Samuel. Without you, I’d be stuck.”

Samuel tilted his head, his smile still in place. Behind the lenses of his glasses, his mind was already moving three steps ahead, cold and precise. “Happy to help.”

Lena’s POV

Lena hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she was just too exhausted. By the time she opened her eyes again, the whole room was dark.

She got dressed and walked into the office. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city was glowing, layers of light spilling across the glass and into the room, brushing over every piece of furniture in a soft electric haze.

The view pulled her in hard.

She stepped closer to the window and stood there quietly, looking out as the whole district stretched below her feet, bright and alive, like the night itself was breathing.

Then she heard footsteps behind her.

Before she could turn around, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist. His scent slid into her lungs, warm and familiar, and her body relaxed before she even thought about it. She leaned back into his chest on pure instinct.

“Does it still hurt?” His chin rested on the top of her head, rubbing lightly against her hair as he spoke in a low voice.

I bit my lip. "Can we not talk about this?"

"The afterglow matters."

That completely shut me up.

He stared at the lights below. I felt the slight shift of his body, and then he leaned in, caught both my hands, and laid them flat against the glass.

I was pressed by the window, looking straight down at the city. The height alone made my head spin.

"I’ve got an idea." His fingers slid between mine, lacing tightly, pinning my palms to the cold glass. His chest pressed flush against my back.

I was still catching up. "What idea?"

"The view right now is pretty insane, isn’t it?"

"Yeah."

"So why don’t we enjoy the scenery while we..."

My brain connected the dots in a split second.

I whipped around. The city lights reflected in his eyes, and in them, my shock was crystal clear.

"Absolutely not!" I cut him off on the spot.

If Dominic Voss seriously thought I’d let him pin me against a glass wall on the fortieth floor, then yeah, he was completely out of his mind.

He studied my face. "You sure?"

"I’m sure." I’d rather jump than agree to that.

"Alright." He didn’t push it.

I let out a long breath. Just picturing it had my heart pounding like crazy. He was insane. Completely, totally insane.

"I’m leaving." I didn’t want to spend one more minute alone with him in this office. This place was basically a hazard zone.

I’d never really noticed this side of him before. This was the real Dominic Voss, with that calm, controlled, disciplined mask stripped clean away.

He knew she was about to bolt. He let go of her hand. "Fine."

She shot him a fierce glare and headed straight for the elevator.

Just as the doors were about to slide shut, his hand jammed through the gap. "Do you remember what you did the first time we met?"

She didn’t even need to think. Of course she remembered.

"Back then, I was a total stranger, and you still threw yourself at me without a second thought. I remember thinking you were fearless." His gaze dropped to her flushed pink ears. "So where did that version of you go?"

She wasn’t about to lose this round. "I thought you were a gentleman. Turns out you’re just a pervert."

He laughed. She almost never heard him laugh like that.

"Stop laughing." She reached up and covered his mouth with her hand.

He caught her hand at once and held it tight. "You’re my mate. I have the right to mess with you a little. And anyway, that wasn’t even a joke. It’s a great way to build intimacy. Good for us. Good for the relationship."

She yanked her hand back hard. She seriously did not need to hear him dressing up his shameless behavior like it made perfect sense.

The elevator was tiny, way too tiny, and there was nowhere to run. In the reflection on the metal wall, she could still see that maddening grin on his face. She pinched his palm hard in retaliation. He only tightened his grip around her hand.

"What did you come to the office for today?" he asked later in the car.

She had come for a reason. Morgan’s words had been stuck in her head all afternoon, looping over and over. She had wanted to ask him what exactly was going on between them, whether someone was linking the two of them together, someone who knew both him and Morgan.

But now, sitting here with her cheeks still hot from everything that had just happened, the question didn’t feel so urgent anymore. It didn’t even feel that important.

Whatever connection existed between him and Morgan, Eliza, or anyone else hiding in the dark, as long as they stayed hidden, she didn’t need to go digging for it.

"To make it up to you." She glanced sideways at him. "I still don’t get why you were so mad this morning."

"I wasn’t mad."

"Then why did you storm off like that?"

"Because if I stayed," he said, turning to look at her, "I would’ve forced you. I left so I wouldn’t do that."

She shut her mouth.

So she went to his office and laid everything out, no hiding, no dressing it up.

After dinner, Dominic was in one of those ridiculously good moods. Relaxed, generous, easy to talk to. He took every word Lena said without pushback, and every compliment she gave him, he tossed back twice over. This version of Dominic—after sex—was honestly his most likable. All the tension, all that hard-edged restraint, just gone. What was left was a man all charm and smooth confidence, with that faintly reckless, devil-may-care vibe that made people look twice.

He drove them downtown to a restaurant in the city center. In the car, Lena touched up her lipstick in the mirror, pressed her lips together, then followed him inside.

The second they stepped out, a red sedan pulled up beside them. The driver’s door opened, and Morgan Hale got out.

She spotted them right away. "Alpha Dominic. Lena."

Dominic recognized her immediately—the woman from last night. He gave her one look and said nothing.

Lena caught it at once. Morgan had called him Alpha Dominic, but she called her Lena. Not Luna. Not even anything polite or formal. Just her name, flat like that.

She knew exactly what they were. She knew they were mates, and she chose to act like she didn’t.

"Small world," Lena said, not making a thing out of it.

"I’m having dinner with a friend," Morgan said, totally at ease.

Lena gave a small nod. There wasn’t really anything else to say.

Morgan turned to Dominic. "Alpha Dominic, thank you for helping me last night. I’d really like to treat you to dinner sometime, just to repay the favor."

"You should be thanking my mate," Dominic said evenly. "Not me."

"My mate," he repeated, clear and deliberate, neatly filling in the blank Morgan had left there on purpose.

Morgan looked at Lena. "Of course. Then I owe you one too."

"Not tonight." Dominic took Lena’s hand. "Let’s go."

As they walked into the restaurant, Lena glanced back over her shoulder at Morgan. Morgan didn’t flinch. She met her gaze head-on, like she had nothing to hide and zero intention of backing down.

Inside, the restaurant was quiet, all low voices and soft light. They sat down. A few minutes later, Morgan came in with another she-wolf. She was tall, striking, and carried herself with the kind of confidence that pulled attention without even trying.

"Pretty she-wolves really do travel in packs," Lena said, tilting her chin toward their table. "She’s gorgeous."

Dominic followed her gaze, looked over at the other she-wolf, then turned back to Lena like it was nothing.

"I’ve seen prettier."

"Who?"

"You." He handed the menu back to the server, then looked straight at her. "You’re beautiful. You do know that, right?"

Whether he meant it completely or not, the words still hit her right in the heart. Just like that, her mood lifted.

She broke into a grin. "Guess you’ve got great taste."

"Obviously. But your taste isn’t bad either."

Everything Dominic said that night was exactly what Lena wanted to hear. Every word, every look, every casual touch landed perfectly, like he somehow knew all the right buttons to press.

Sex changed things between people. The awkward tension faded out, the warmth doubled, and suddenly everything felt easier. Lighter.

By the time they finished dinner, the night had softened around them. When they stepped out, Morgan was still sitting there. Their eyes met from across the room, and Morgan gave a small nod.

Lena smiled back, slipped her arm through Dominic’s, and walked out with him.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!