Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 164: Chapter 164

Lena’s POV

Dominic hadn’t dealt with pack business for a full week.

He still took calls and handled whatever absolutely had to be handled, sure, but outside of that? He was glued to me. If I was on the couch, he was on the couch. If I was in the kitchen, he’d be leaning against the counter, just watching me like I was the only thing in the room worth seeing. If I went to bed, he’d be up there within minutes.

By the time I saw Anna again, seven days had gone by.

"I’ve been saying this forever," Anna said, stirring her coffee and pointing her spoon at me. "If you’d been born into one of those old, powerful packs, you’d be the kind of Luna that had the whole pack on lock."

I took a sip of coffee. "Why is this somehow my fault? He’s the one with zero self-control."

"Desire is basically our most primal instinct. Unless there’s a really good reason to fight it, why would anyone bother?" She lifted a brow. "You’ve got a flawless Alpha in your bed, and he’d rather skip work than be away from you. That’s not a problem. That’s a win."

"Exactly. So how is any of this on me?"

Anna had nothing to say to that.

We kept chatting for a while, until she set her cup down and looked straight at me.

"So, are you and Dominic planning to do an official mating ceremony?"

I blinked. "What?"

"Oh, don’t give me that look. You two are already crazy close." Anna waved a hand like this was obvious. "A real ceremony. In front of the pack. And he still hasn’t marked you." Her gaze dropped to my bare neck. "Have you two even talked about it?"

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my thumb over the ring on my finger. "No."

"Why not?"

"A ceremony can’t fix a bad relationship. And not having one doesn’t ruin a good one."

Anna just stared at me. "Lena, every she-wolf dreams about that moment. Standing in front of the pack with your mate. It’s tradition. It matters. You seriously don’t want that?"

I had thought about it. I wasn’t going to lie and act like I hadn’t. But the want was faint, more like an echo than something pulling at me hard.

Maybe I was past the point of caring that much. Or maybe the timing still just wasn’t right.

"Someday," I said.

Anna pressed her lips together. "You two are obviously crazy about each other, and you’re still hesitating. No wonder people keep saying mating is complicated."

Lena shot her a look. "Most people are actually happy with their mates. Don’t project your stuff onto everyone else."

Anna tilted her head. "Oh yeah? Then tell me which couple around me actually makes it look easy." She gave a tiny shrug. "Until I see proof, I’m sticking to my plan. Make money, build my career, keep my expectations low."

Lena laughed. Anna wasn’t wrong. Not totally right either, but definitely not wrong.

If a relationship couldn’t give a she-wolf something better than what she already had on her own, then honestly, she was better off without it.

"Speaking of mates," Anna said, lowering her voice as she leaned closer, "Daniel texted me a few days ago and asked which part of the territory I’d want to live in long-term."

Lena remembered Daniel saying he wanted to build something real with Anna. For months, he’d kept it low-key, taking things step by step, steady and patient. And now, finally, he’d made a move.

"The fact that you’re asking me means you already know what he meant." Lena lifted a brow. "So what do you think he was saying?"

Anna’s cheeks turned pink, and she looked away. "He wants us to find a place together. Like... an actual home."

"And what did you say to him?"

"I told him I didn’t know."

Lena stared at her with a completely blank expression.

Anna shifted awkwardly in her seat. "What was I supposed to say? What if I read it wrong?"

"Then act like you didn’t overthink it. Just answer the question exactly as he asked it. Tell him which part of the territory you want to live in. That’s it. Super simple."

Anna scratched at her chin. "Honestly, I kind of want to just ask him if he’s serious."

Lena laughed. Yeah, that was actually not a bad idea.

Dominic’s POV

When Dominic stepped out of the office, he found Daniel still sitting behind his desk. He knocked on the open door and walked in. "Your mate’s at home waiting for you. Why are you still here?"

"I’m leaving now." Daniel shut his laptop and got to his feet.

The two of them headed downstairs together in the elevator.

"Getting used to the whole mate life?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Anna’s a good girl. Don’t screw that up."

"I won’t."

Daniel had always talked like that—short, clean, no wasted words. I was used to it by now.

Lena had brought it up with me last week. If nothing urgent was going on, I shouldn’t keep sending Daniel around to do errands. He should go home. Someone was waiting for him there now.

I didn’t argue.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into the hotel parking lot.

The lobby was dead quiet. I took the elevator to the floor she’d texted me, found the room, and rang the bell.

No answer.

I called her. "Open the door."

"That’s it? Go back down to the lobby. I ordered takeout. Go grab it for me."

"Have them bring it up."

"Nope. You have to go get it yourself." She wasn’t budging.

I dropped my hand from the door and turned toward the elevator. "What’s this about?"

"You’ll find out in a sec." She was definitely up to something.

So I went. Downstairs, the delivery guy still hadn’t arrived. While I was waiting, Daniel’s car rolled into the parking lot. I didn’t ask what he was doing there. If something was going on between him and Anna, Anna would tell Lena, and Lena would tell me. I didn’t need to dig. The delivery showed up. I took the bag and headed back upstairs without waiting for Daniel.

I rang the bell again. This time, she opened the door.

The room was pitch-black. Before I could even ask why the lights were off, a hand grabbed my collar and yanked me inside.

The door shut behind me, and the light from the hallway disappeared too.

Everything went black.

I had no clue what she was up to, but I went along with it anyway. My voice came out softer than I expected. "So this is your little game?"

She took the bag from my hand, set it aside, then grabbed my collar and tugged me toward the bed. After that, she caught my wrist and pressed my palm flat against her waist.

My fingers closed on instinct.

Bare skin. Warm, silky, and nothing underneath. Not even a scrap of fabric. My hand slid a little lower, just enough to make sure.

She wasn’t wearing anything.

"You’ve got nothing on?"

She didn’t answer. Her fingers found the buttons on my shirt and started undoing them one by one, slow on purpose, her knuckles brushing lightly across my chest.

I caught her wrist. "Talk to me."

Silence. But she leaned in, her bare chest pressing against mine through the opening in my shirt. The softness of her skin against my stomach made every muscle in my abdomen lock up tight.

I swallowed hard, my grip on her wrist tightening. "Lena, say something."

"What are you scared of?"

Her voice. The second I heard it, it was like something snapped loose along the tension running down my spine, and I let out a long breath as I released her hand.

"What are you trying to pull?" I knew what she wanted, yeah, but I had no idea what had gotten into her tonight.

"You."

"What?"

"I said, I’m playing with you."

Her hand slid down between my legs, and my mind just blanked. A rough sound escaped my throat before I could stop it.

She curled her fingers around me through the fabric and gave a light squeeze, totally aware of what she was doing.

I clenched my jaw and let her have her way.

She undid my belt and dragged down the zipper. Her hand slipped inside, and the direct contact made my hips jerk forward hard. I bit down on the inside of my cheek.

Her hand moved over him nice and slow, her thumb brushing over the tip, spreading the slick wetness there like she had all the time in the world. Dominic had to brace one hand against the headboard behind her just to keep himself upright. Another second and he was seriously going to fold.

His eyes adjusted to the dark little by little. A thin blade of light slipped through the gap in the curtains, just enough to sketch her out in front of him—the narrow curve of her waist, the full swell of her breasts, and her slightly parted lips, focused like she was completely locked in on him.

"What’s in the bag?" he asked, his voice rough and wrecked, barely making it out. He remembered her telling him to go downstairs and get it. He’d honestly thought it was going to be something that made this even worse for him.

"Birth control."

His whole body went tight. "I’ll use protection."

"And if you forget?" Her free hand drifted across his chest, nails dragging lightly and leaving a hot trail in their wake. The other never stopped moving. "Better safe than sorry."

He was just about to argue when she climbed onto his lap and lowered herself down slowly, pressing in close, skin against skin, that damp heat sliding against his cock.

Everything he was about to say cut off on the spot. His hands moved on their own, gripping her ass hard, fingers sinking into soft flesh. She rolled her hips forward, and his vision instantly started going fuzzy.

"When you grabbed my wrist just now," she whispered against his chin, her hot breath spilling over his throat, "you were checking that it was me, right? Making sure nobody else had climbed into this bed?"

His throat worked uselessly. Sweat gathered at his forehead. No one in his life had ever taken him apart this slowly, piece by piece, and Lena was enjoying every second of it.

"Yeah."

She gave a quiet laugh against his skin. "Smart. But if it had been someone else, by the time you spoke up, it would’ve already been too late."

Every muscle in his body was on the verge of snapping. Her hips kept moving, slow and deliberate, dragging along him like she was trying to break his last thread of restraint on purpose.

He had no idea where she’d learned this move, but it was driving him absolutely insane, and she knew it. She could feel exactly what she was doing to him, and yeah—she was loving it.

"If it were anyone else, you would’ve already set a trap," he said, catching her wrist because his body was done taking this torture. "Enough."

He flipped her over and pinned her beneath him. His shirt hung open, his pants shoved down to his hips, sweat running from his neck and pooling at the hollow of his throat.

Breathing felt hard. He could feel the veins in his neck standing out, his pulse hammering through every inch of his body.

"You started this."

The weak light from outside washed over both of them. This close, he could see the beads of sweat glinting along her collarbone, the rise and fall of her chest, the flush spreading from her throat down between her breasts. Her satisfied gaze stayed fixed on him, not even a little sorry.

"Yeah," she said. "I did." Beneath him, she spread her legs, her thighs closing against his hips. "Your turn now, Dominic."

The last scrap of control he had left shattered. He pinned both her hands above her head, lined himself up, and drove into her in one hard, deep thrust.

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