Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 156: Chapter 156

Lena’s POV

She took a slow breath. "Yeah."

Seeing someone again wasn’t always some happy, movie-style moment. She wasn’t giving Dominic the cold shoulder to get back at him. She was just tired—flat-out tired—of pretending any of this still mattered.

"Why won’t you let him explain?" Anna asked from the other end of the call.

Lena stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her own reflection. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face.

"Do you really think what he did can be explained?" she said quietly. "If I actually mattered to him, he wouldn’t have disappeared without a word. And he sure as hell wouldn’t have gone ten days without texting me once." She wiped the fog from the mirror with her palm. "Whatever he says now won’t change anything."

Anna got it.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don’t know." No matter what she wanted, Dominic would never agree to it. She had zero leverage here.

"Don’t spiral. You’ve never been the kind of person who lets feelings chain you down."

Her jaw tightened in the mirror. "Right. I’m not. If he won’t end the agreement, then fine. He won’t. It doesn’t really change anything for me."

"Honestly, it could be worse. He obviously wants to keep this thing between you going. That counts for something. At least he’s not out there messing around with other women."

"True." She let out a dry little laugh and changed the subject. "Where are you and Daniel?"

"We stopped around eight and got a hotel for the night. The drive was brutal."

"Smart move."

She ended the call, then stayed in the bathroom longer than usual, as if dragging it out could delay everything waiting outside. When she finally stepped out, Dominic was standing by the window. His back was straight, his outline sharp against the glass. Even from behind, he looked distant. Cold, almost.

She didn’t say a word to him. She climbed into bed and lay down.

He went into the bathroom. About half an hour later, she heard the door open, then his footsteps crossing the room before stopping beside the bed. The blanket shifted. A trace of cool air slipped in, and then his weight settled behind her.

Her eyes stayed open in the dark. She knew he wouldn’t do anything tonight.

What she’d said before had worked.

At least tonight, nothing would happen.

My phone screen lit up.

It was Jace.

["Day off tomorrow. A few of us are doing a twenty-mile hike. You in?"]

Jace and Lena didn’t text much. The last time they’d messaged was when she’d gone to the Velvet Lounge to find him.

["Can’t tomorrow."]

["No worries. Next time."]

["Okay."]

Simple. Clean. Zero pressure. That was exactly why Lena liked being friends with Jace. He asked, took her answer like a normal person, and moved on with his life.

She set the phone down and closed her eyes.

The room was quiet, almost too quiet. Dominic’s breathing drifted from behind her, and the longer she lay there, the louder it seemed to get, like it was filling every corner of the room.

Then the light went out.

Darkness dropped over everything. A strip of streetlight slipped through the edge of the curtain. Her eyes slowly adjusted, and the room came back in pieces: the desk, the chair, the frame of the window.

He moved.

A warm chest pressed against her back. His arm slid around her waist. His breath brushed the top of her head.

Lena frowned and reached down, trying to pull his hand away. But his fingers closed around hers, firm and stubborn.

"Dominic."

"Don’t move. I’m not going to do anything."

His voice was low and rough, like he was barely holding himself together, like one more push and he’d crack.

She nudged him with her shoulder. "I can’t sleep with you this close."

He loosened his hold and gave her maybe an inch of space.

Not what she meant. Not even close.

"Can you let go of me and just sleep?"

"I miss you."

My whole body went stiff.

Three words. That was all it took. They punched straight through every wall she’d spent all day building, slipped past the arguments, the cold looks, the rejection, and landed in the one place she’d never managed to guard.

He buried his face in her hair and pulled her back against his chest, holding her even tighter this time. The need in him was so intense, so completely out in the open, that the word “want” stopped feeling vague. It turned into something real, something she could actually feel pressing against her spine.

She didn’t move. His heartbeat hammered hard against her back, and his warmth seeped through her clothes into her skin, loosening the tension she’d carried like armor all day.

He just held her. Didn’t try anything else. Lena lay there with her eyes open, staring into the dark. Yeah, sleep was definitely not happening tonight.

When she woke in the morning, she was facing him. His arm was tucked beneath her head, one hand resting over her shoulder. His eyes were shut, his breathing slow and deep.

She tilted her head up and studied the line of his jaw, sharp and clean, his lips set in that familiar hard line. Even asleep, Dominic looked distant.

“I missed you.”

He’d said it last night. And Dominic Voss was not the kind of man who threw out fake feelings just to smooth things over.

If she stopped picking everything apart, maybe they could still keep this thing going. Maybe.

She still couldn’t sort out what she felt for him. Was it the bond between them? Duty? Habit? And somewhere under all that, was there love too, buried so deep she couldn’t reach it?

She honestly didn’t know what loving someone was supposed to feel like. She’d dated before, sure, but none of those relationships had ever made it click.

Dominic probably knew. Between Gemma and Eliza, he had to have loved at least one of them. Maybe both.

She’d never imagined she would be someone’s only one. She just hadn’t expected it to feel this hollow.

He wanted her. That much was obvious. Whether he wanted her body or her company, though, she had no clue.

Last night, he’d wanted her badly. If she hadn’t turned him down, there was no way he would’ve been satisfied with just holding her all night.

She felt him shift beside her. Before he could open his eyes, she pushed herself up and sat on the edge of the bed.

She looked down at him. “What?”

“Did you sleep okay?”

“More or less.”

He let his arm fall away. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She was halfway through brushing her teeth when he suddenly appeared behind her.

He was shirtless, only in a pair of shorts, arms wrapped around Lena’s waist from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder. He watched her through the mirror.

She frowned, toothbrush still in her mouth, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He had already caught the impatience in her eyes. His thumb pressed lightly against her hipbone. "You’ve lost weight."

She ignored him and kept brushing.

She rinsed her mouth and washed her face, but Dominic still didn’t let go. "Are we going back?"

"No." She hadn’t planned on staying here either. She just didn’t want to do what he wanted. "If you want to go back, go by yourself."

"I came here for you. If you stay, I stay."

She reached down and grabbed his hand. "Let go."

"Still mad?"

That was so him. Wake up the next morning, act like everything had reset. Sleep a few hours, then toss out a casual "Still mad?" like one night was enough to patch over ten days of silence and all the mess he’d left behind.

"No." She pulled herself out of his hold. "Let go."

He turned her around to face him, his eyes locked on hers. "When we get back, take me to see your mother."

She sucked in a sharp breath.

"We’ve been bonded for over a year. I should’ve gone a long time ago." His voice was low, heavy with guilt. "I didn’t understand before. Now I do. I have to go."

The wall inside her loosened, just a little. She lifted her head and looked at him. "We’ll talk about it later."

"No." He cut off her attempt to stall. "First thing after we get back, take me."

She said nothing.

"I’m your mate. Paying respect to your mother is the bare minimum I should do. I should’ve done it from the start." His gaze didn’t waver. "I’m going."

A sharp ache twisted through her chest. She lowered her head. "Fine. I’ll take you."

"I promise."

"I said I’ll take you."

He studied her face, making sure she meant it. Only then did he let her go.

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