Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 160: Chapter 160

Lena’s POV

Dominic’s brows were drawn tight. Honestly, she’d already known the answer before she even asked. The question was kind of pointless, but she still needed to hear it from his own mouth.

"I just want to know one thing. Did you disappear because of her?"

"No."

She held his gaze, searching his eyes. "Really?"

He clearly didn’t want to explain. That much was obvious. And if he shut her out now, then whatever fragile thing was still left between them would rot even faster.

"She’s been missing for years," he said evenly. "If she were still alive, we would’ve found her by now. For the first two years, we kept looking. We got a few leads, but every single one of them went nowhere."

His eyes drifted past her and landed on the wall, empty and distant. "If someone’s alive, they find a way to reach the people who matter. They leave something behind, some sign. We all accepted that she’s gone."

Lena knew talking about Gemma hurt him. But keeping it buried hurt her too. One of them was going to have to carry that pain, no matter what.

"How does someone just... vanish like that?"

She wasn’t jealous. Not really. If Gemma were still alive, Lena wouldn’t be standing here, and there would never have been any kind of arrangement between her and Dominic. She just wanted the truth.

"No one knows." His voice was low.

For a person to disappear without a trace, to stay silent for years like they’d been erased from the world... anyone who had ever known her would be stuck carrying that weight forever. Lena understood that. She really did.

"Maybe no news is good news," she said softly. "Some people go missing for ten years, twenty even, and then one day they come back."

Dominic turned and looked straight at her. "Do you want her to come back?"

Her heart dropped hard, like it had missed a step. She hadn’t seen that question coming at all.

She parted her lips, but nothing came out.

"I don’t know her," she said at last, finally finding her voice again. "So it’s not really about what I want. But nobody should just disappear off the face of the earth with no answers. Dead or alive, the people who love her deserve to know the truth. Her family deserves that too."

That was the most honest answer she had.

She didn’t know what he’d really been asking, and she wasn’t about to play guessing games.

Something in her answer seemed to reach him. The weight on his shoulders eased, and just like that, it was almost as if the whole conversation about Gemma had never happened. He straightened slightly.

"You had a nightmare?"

I nodded.

"You dreamed about me?"

I nodded again.

He studied my face like he was trying to read every little thing on it, then the corner of his mouth lifted, helpless and faint. "Even in your dreams, I still don’t get a moment of peace."

I raised a brow. "You haven’t exactly made me feel safe either."

"Then I should be the one having nightmares." His voice turned low and smooth. "I’m the one who keeps getting rejected."

There was a trace of fake grievance in his eyes, but he sold it so well it was almost convincing.

I bit my lip, trying hard not to laugh.

He glanced toward the window. A thin strip of dark light leaked through the curtains. Dawn was still hours away.

"Are you going back to sleep?"

I’d fallen asleep late, then jolted awake from a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat and feeling completely wiped. So yeah, I needed sleep.

I turned to leave, but he caught my wrist.

I looked back. "I’m going to sleep."

"Stay here." His fingers closed firmly around me, his gaze fixed on mine without blinking.

I tried to pull free. He didn’t let go.

"Can you seriously sleep next to me?"

"If you can sleep, I can sleep." He said it with a straight face.

It sounded reasonable enough. But yeah, there was definitely something else under that.

I shot him a glare. "In your dreams."

His eyes softened, carrying the faintest hint of teasing. "I’m thinking about it."

I yanked my hand away hard. He stepped in, wrapped both arms around me, and pulled me against his chest. That earlier urgency was gone. He was just holding me.

"Don’t go. I won’t do anything." He held Lena tight, his breathing rough as it brushed through her hair. "Go to sleep."

She bit the inside of her cheek. He hadn’t lied to her about Gemma. He’d told her the truth without even hesitating, and the anger she’d been bottling up for days loosened all at once. It wasn’t gone. Not really. It had just settled down a little.

Truth was, when he’d asked whether she wanted Gemma to come back, the very first answer that flashed through her mind was no.

If everyone already believed Gemma was dead, then maybe she should just stay dead forever.

The thought hit hard, ugly and sharp. Lena knew that. But deep down, she had this feeling she couldn’t shake—if Gemma were still alive, then what she had with Dominic would be gone before it even had the chance to stand. Every fragile little thing they had managed to build would get wiped out overnight, like it had never existed.

It was a terrible thing to think. She knew that too. She would never say it out loud.

Anna had been right. She couldn’t keep pretending Dominic meant nothing to her. That lie was dead already.

She lay in his arms, wide awake. His heartbeat thudded against her back, steady and warm. His arms circled her waist, his body pressed close to hers, familiar in a way that made her chest ache. Just like before. Back when things between them hadn’t been such a mess.

"Dominic?" she asked softly.

"Mm." His eyes were still closed. She could hear it in his voice.

"Why didn’t you contact me?"

The question had been stuck inside her for days, hanging there like a ghost, refusing to leave until it got an answer.

He turned her over to face him and lowered his gaze to hers. "I thought you really didn’t care."

She bit her lip and couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

"At first, it was because Morgan brought up Gemma. Then it was because of you."

She frowned. "What does that have to do with me?"

"You don’t remember rejecting me?" He lifted her chin with his fingers, making her look at him. "Do you know what that feels like?"

"At a time like that, how were you even thinking about that—" She couldn’t finish.

He held her gaze. "You’re my mate. Why wouldn’t I?"

She had nothing to say to that.

"Don’t underestimate how rough it is for a man when his mate keeps turning him down." He pulled Lena in again, holding her even tighter. "Pack business was already a mess. Then I’d come home, see you, and get rejected all over again. If I’d called you while I was out, it would’ve been even worse. So I shut everything out. Finished the work. Got back as fast as I could. Whatever I had to say... it was better said face-to-face."

The explanation sounded kind of flimsy, honestly. But Lena wasn’t a man. She didn’t think the way he did, so in the end, she chose to believe him.

She tried to turn over, but with Dominic holding her that tightly, face-to-face like this, breathing felt hard.

"Don’t move." He kept her facing him. "Trust me, it’ll be worse if you turn your back on me."

She froze.

He wasn’t joking. Not even a little. She could feel exactly what he meant, pressed hard against her backside, intense enough to make her scalp tingle.

She jabbed one finger into his ribs. "Let go. I can’t breathe."

He loosened his arms enough for her to tilt her head back and drag in a deep breath. Then she flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

"I’m going back to my room." She pushed herself upright.

His arm shot out and hooked around her waist, dragging her right back. In one swift move, he rolled over on top of her, bracing his hands on either side of her head. His body blocked the light overhead.

Her eyes went wide. Her heartbeat slammed straight into her throat.

"I told you I wouldn’t do anything." His voice was low, steady, but his eyes were saying something completely different.

She did not buy it. Not for a second.

He caught the doubt all over her face and blew out a hard breath through his nose. "Trust me."

"Then let go of me. We’d both sleep better."

"I sleep just fine here with you." There was a teasing edge in his voice. "You don’t?"

She knew he was messing with her.

She planted both hands on his chest and shoved hard. He didn’t budge. The difference in their strength wasn’t small. It was a full-on gap, no contest.

"Don’t move." The joking left his face. He rolled off to the side, then pulled her back into the same position as before, her back pressed to his chest. "Don’t move."

She felt him tight against her again. She tried inching forward.

"Lena. I promised I wouldn’t touch you, but if you keep this up, the contract’s off."

Lena swore she wasn’t trying to mess with him on purpose. She’d only wanted a little space, just enough to actually shut her eyes and breathe.

After that warning, she didn’t dare move again. Even with the heat of him at her back, burning through the thin layer of her clothes, she stayed completely still, body locked tight, breath held like she was scared even air might set him off.

She had no idea how long she kept it up. In the end, his breathing evened out, slow and steady.

He’d fallen asleep.

Very carefully, she lifted the hand resting on her waist and slid herself forward, putting a small gap between them. Only then did she let out a long breath.

She closed her eyes. The second the tension drained out of her, exhaustion hit like a truck, and she drifted off too.

She dreamed again.

And yeah, this one made her cheeks burn.

She was sitting on his lap. Everything looked exactly like the first time they’d met, except this time Dominic didn’t push her away. And she didn’t leave either. She stayed, and they—

She knew it was a dream. She also knew she was enjoying every single second of it, and honestly, she didn’t want to wake up.

Then breathing got hard.

That was what yanked her out of the dream.

Her eyes flew open.

Dominic’s face was right there, ridiculously close, and there was a hint of a smile on his lips, the kind that made it painfully obvious he knew exactly what she’d been dreaming about.

Her whole face went hot. It felt like he’d seen every detail play out in her head, and she wanted to crawl straight under the bed and disappear.

"What are you laughing at?" She didn’t dare look him in the eye, so she struck first. "Move."

She shoved him. He tipped to the side and burst out laughing.

She bit her lip. She’d almost forgotten he’d kissed her while she was asleep.

She really couldn’t look at that face right now. She climbed out of bed and walked out of the bedroom without turning back once. Behind her, his laughter only got louder.

She thought he’d come after her, but he didn’t.

She washed up, brushed her teeth, dried her hair, got dressed, and the whole time, he gave her plenty of room.

When he came out, he was wearing a black shirt and dark trousers. Everything fit him perfectly, clean lines, sharp edges. He looked serious, awake, put together down to the last detail.

Annoyingly, he looked good in literally anything.

She hated that.

"Come on." He held out his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"To see your mother."

Lena’s heart dropped hard, like it had missed a step.

She’d forgotten. Before they came back, Dominic had told her the first thing he wanted to do was go to her mother’s grave. At the time, she’d figured he was just saying it to comfort her, something soft to keep her from falling apart.

She hadn’t expected him to actually mean it.

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