Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 159: Chapter 159

Lena’s POV

Samuel and Anna were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Lena sat between them on the couch, her stomach still aching from that ridiculous “performer in the box” stunt from earlier.

Then the door suddenly opened.

Dominic walked in.

The laughter died on the spot. Anna popped a grape into her mouth, leaned back, and stared at Dominic like she was ready to throw hands.

Dominic didn’t say a word. He crossed to the other side of the room, dropped into the chair opposite them, and fixed his eyes on Lena.

The second he showed up, the easy vibe between Lena and Anna was basically gone. A moment ago they’d been chatting nonstop, the kind of shameless, dirty girl talk that would’ve made Samuel choke if he’d heard all of it. Now? Dead. Totally over.

“So where is the actual food?” Anna looked toward the door. “Samuel, did you even order dinner? Are we seriously supposed to survive on fruit platters and pastries? It’s already this late. If I eat one more tiny cake, I swear I’m gaining ten pounds by morning.”

Dominic glanced toward the doorway too, looking just as confused as the rest of them.

“I’ll go check,” he said, getting to his feet.

But before he could reach the door, it opened again. The servers came in carrying dishes, with Samuel right behind them.

And behind Samuel was Eliza.

The second Anna saw her, her expression went cold.

“Sorry for showing up uninvited.” Eliza looked straight at Lena. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

Lena gave her a fake smile. “Not at all.”

Eliza walked right up to her, acting weirdly familiar, like she had some kind of right to stand that close. “I heard Dominic upset you.”

Lena shot Dominic a look.

He got the message instantly. His jaw tightened, and his eyes shifted to Samuel.

“I ran into her outside,” Samuel said quickly, pushing up his glasses. “I told her you came here to make things right with your mate.”

“Lena, Dominic can be pretty hot-tempered sometimes,” Eliza said in the tone of someone speaking for family, smoothing things over like she belonged there, stepping into a role literally no one had asked her to play. “Whatever he did, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. You should forgive him.”

Dominic’s face darkened at once. He spoke before Lena could even answer.

“What happens between me and my mate is none of your business. Don’t play mediator.”

Eliza’s smile vanished.

Silence dropped over the room.

Anna lifted a brow and tugged lightly at Lena’s sleeve.

She kept her voice gentle. "Don’t worry about us, Eliza. You’ve been through this too, so you know how things get between partners. People fight. That’s normal. I’m just upset with him right now. I’m not going to stay mad forever."

The second her failed last relationship got brought up, the last trace of warmth on her face vanished on the spot.

"Come on, let’s eat before everything gets cold," Samuel said quickly, jumping in before the silence swallowed the whole table.

"You guys go ahead." Eliza straightened her back, chin lifting a little. "I should get going."

Samuel didn’t ask her to stay. Actually, no one did.

With Samuel and Anna still at the table, the atmosphere barely avoided freezing solid. Lena didn’t speak to Dominic, and he just ate in silence, head lowered, like he had nothing to say.

After dinner, the four of them headed outside.

Behind them, Samuel leaned closer to Dominic and muttered something under his breath. Whatever it was, Dominic shot him a vicious glare, the kind that looked sharp enough to peel skin.

"Make him suffer a little tonight." Anna hooked her arm through Lena’s and leaned in, whispering by her ear. "He wants to make up? Fine. Let him earn it. Whatever you ask him to do right now, he’s got zero room to say no. Don’t forgive him too fast. Men seriously never learn unless it hurts."

Lena let out a small scoff. She got into the car and spent the whole ride staring out the window, not saying a single word.

The elevator in the apartment building was dead quiet. Dominic held onto the handle of the suitcase, eyes fixed on the changing floor numbers. Lena kept her gaze on her phone, thumbs moving.

When the elevator doors slid open, she was still typing out a reply.

Dominic’s arm wrapped around her waist.

She looked up. "Watch where you’re going," he said. "You’re going to trip."

She didn’t see a single thing between the elevator and their door that she could possibly trip over, but she didn’t argue.

The second she stepped out, he let go, then reached over and unlocked the door. She went in first.

"Sleep in the guest room." The moment he set the suitcase down in the bedroom, Lena said it calmly, like she’d already decided.

He picked the suitcase back up without a word and carried it out.

"Before you left," she said, standing in the hallway and watching him, "you were sleeping in the guest room too." The next morning, you didn’t say goodbye. "You just disappeared for days."

He didn’t move at all.

I hadn’t brought it up to be cruel. It was just the truth. It had happened, plain and simple. And in a moment like this, the truth wasn’t something anyone could just cover up.

Dominic stared at Lena without saying a word. She was the one who looked away first. Then she brushed past him, went into the bedroom, grabbed a set of clean clothes, and headed straight for the bathroom.

After shutting the door, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself.

If this had been the old her, she would’ve cut him off on the spot. No hesitation. No second thoughts. She wouldn’t have even blinked.

By the time she finished showering and came out, the living room was empty.

The guest room door was open. She walked back into her bedroom and quietly shut the door behind her.

She lay down on the bed. A text from Anna popped up, asking if Dominic had tried to come in.

"No."

Anna immediately sent back an eye-roll emoji.

Lena was in the middle of typing a reply when she heard a knock at the door.

Then another one.

"I’m sleeping," she called out.

The shadow under the door stayed there for a few seconds, unmoving, then finally disappeared.

She lowered her eyes and kept texting Anna.

"How long are you planning to keep shutting him out?"

"No idea."

"If you actually want this to work, don’t push him too hard."

"I thought you’d tell me to break the agreement."

"He’s not going to let you break the agreement. So what else can you even do?"

Lena stared at the screen, fingers still.

She had no comeback for that.

A new message from Anna came in.

"Have you thought about asking what he was doing during those ten days? Maybe the she-wolf he really loves showed up. Maybe he went to find her."

My stomach clenched so hard it hurt. I kept staring at the screen.

"It’s been eight years. Do you really think he can still find her?"

"If you don’t ask, you’ll never know."

I knew that.

I set my phone on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. My heart was pounding like crazy, like I was about to do something I had no business doing. Day by day, she was sinking deeper into Dominic Voss’s arms. Lena could feel it clearly, and that was the worst part. She couldn’t even stop herself.

If this kept going, she was going to lose herself completely. And if one day whatever this was between them really fell apart, would she still be able to walk away clean?

The more you care, the easier it is to drown.

And she was already too far gone. No way out.

At some point, she fell asleep.

In the dream, she was underwater. Freezing water pressed in from every direction. She couldn’t breathe. She struggled like mad, desperate to break the surface, and then she saw Dominic standing on the shore, looking down at her.

She called his name.

She reached for him.

She begged.

He looked at her once.

Then he turned and walked away.

The water closed over her head.

Lena jolted awake, dragging in huge breaths. Her shirt was soaked through with sweat, and the room was pitch-black.

Her lungs burned. Her hands were shaking. She pushed herself upright and stayed there for a long moment, just breathing, waiting for the panic to ease off. Then she threw off the covers, got out of bed, and went straight to his door. She didn’t even knock. She shoved it open.

Dominic sat up at once.

Neither of them could really see the other’s face. The room was too dark. He reached over and switched on the lamp.

"What happened?" The second he saw her expression, he threw back the blanket and came over. His hand brushed lightly against her forehead.

She pulled away from him and took a step back.

"You vanished without a word. Days went by, and you didn’t contact me once." Her voice was steady, almost too steady, but her stomach was twisted tight. "Did you go looking for Gemma?"

His pupils tightened.

His voice dropped too, low and guarded. "How do you know about her?"

"Morgan Hale told me." Lena held his gaze without blinking, without backing down. "She’s the one buried deepest in your heart, isn’t she?"

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