Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 170: Chapter 170

Lena’s POV

I frowned.

Daniel flicked his eyes to me through the rearview mirror. I took a slow breath, trying to keep it together.

"No." Dominic didn’t even pause. His voice was flat and firm, leaving zero room for debate.

Eliza’s eyes went red again. She bit down on her lip, both hands clenched into tight fists on her knees. Her breathing turned quick and shallow, like she was one second away from choking on it.

Dominic didn’t move an inch.

Daniel glanced at him in the mirror. "Alpha, want me to drive?"

"Drive."

The car pulled away from the curb. The second the wheels picked up speed, Eliza lunged for the door handle.

"What are you doing?" Dominic caught her wrist instantly.

Daniel reacted fast too. Before she could find the unlock button, he hit the child lock from the front panel.

Eliza shoved at Dominic and started slamming her free hand against the window. "I’m not going home! Let me out, let me out!"

She was crying, yelling, fighting hard enough to make her voice go raw.

I kept breathing slowly, but honestly, I couldn’t even put into words what I was feeling right then.

Daniel pulled over again. Driving with her like this was way too dangerous.

"Let her stay," I said.

I knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted into Dominic’s house. If we said no, she’d just keep escalating, pushing harder and harder until somebody caved.

Dominic stared at me. "You serious?"

"Look at her. What else are we supposed to do?"

I didn’t say the rest out loud. If we couldn’t just sit there and watch her spiral right in front of us, then sooner or later, we’d have to give her what she wanted.

Otherwise, she’d just push harder and force some kind of deal out of us, and in the end, Dominic would be the one paying for it.

Eliza got exactly what she wanted. What used to be two people was now three. If this hadn’t been my call, I would’ve walked right out the front door and left the house to Dominic and Eliza.

But it was my call. Mine.

So I had to live with what came after.

The second they got home, Dominic kept staring at Lena. His arms were folded tight across his chest, eyes narrowed, jaw locked so hard the tendons stood out.

"Don’t look at me like that." She turned away first. She knew she’d acted on impulse. "You can’t just ignore her, so this is where we’re at."

Dominic planted his hands on his hips and let out a long, rough sigh. "Do you even get what this means? Her. Here. In this house?"

"One more person," Lena said flatly.

He gave a short laugh, but there was nothing funny in it. "Getting her in was the easy part. Getting her out? That’s the nightmare."

Lena was irritated too, her chest tight with it. "Then what else were we supposed to do? Ignore her? Sit back and watch her pull something worse? Either way, it lands on you."

Eliza’s arrival wrecked the rhythm they’d fought so hard to build. Quiet mornings, private nights, all those small little routines that made a home feel like theirs. Gone. Just like that.

And the worst part? Dominic had to leave for work during the day, which meant Lena would be stuck alone with her.

There was no way she was leaving Eliza in the house by herself. She’d go through everything—every drawer, every room, every trace of the life Lena and Dominic had built together.

"Dominic." Eliza’s voice floated in from outside the door.

Dominic glanced at Lena. Lena stared at the door with a blank expression and tilted her head, telling him without words to open it.

He did.

Eliza stood in the hallway with her hands folded neatly in front of her, looking almost painfully careful. "What do you want for dinner? I can cook."

"You don’t need to." Dominic’s voice stayed level, calm to the point of coldness. "Daniel will bring food. Three meals a day. He’ll eat with us too."

If there had to be one extra person in the house, then Lena would rather make it two. Another person around meant fewer chances for Eliza to pull her fake little intimate-housewife act.

Eliza let the offer drop. Then she looked past Dominic, and her gaze landed on Lena, lingering there way too long.

"I’m really sorry for causing trouble," she said softly, fragile as glass. "Just pretend I’m not here."

Lena lifted her eyes to the ceiling.

Pretend she wasn’t here?

Yeah, sure. Easy to say. But somehow Eliza took up more space than anyone else in the room.

She stood in the doorway, apologizing the whole time, but she still didn’t leave.

Daniel showed up with food. The four of them sat around the dining table, and the silence was so thick it was almost awkward.

Dominic’s POV

After dinner, he and Daniel stepped out onto the balcony.

“Anything?” he asked.

Daniel shook his head. “Nothing.”

Dominic frowned hard. “Even if that building didn’t have security cameras, the roads leading to it definitely would. There has to be something. Some kind of lead.”

“That’s the weird part.” Daniel leaned against the railing, his face serious. “After the party, Eliza called a cab. The driver said he’d only gone a few blocks before Eliza told him to stop and let her out. She said she didn’t need him anymore. So he left.”

“According to her version, she walked into an alley, and a few minutes later somebody grabbed her. Then she was thrown into a van and taken to that abandoned building.” Daniel paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “Law enforcement pulled footage from every camera within three blocks. Not one van matched what she described. Actually, there weren’t any suspicious vehicles at all.”

Dominic said nothing.

None of it lined up. Not one bit.

“Keep digging,” he said at last.

Lena’s POV

Lena sat on the couch, looking through the glass balcony door at Dominic and Daniel outside. Their shoulders were nearly touching, their heads tipped close as they talked in voices too low for her to catch.

She pulled out her phone and texted Anna.

“Was she really attacked?”

“Yes.”

“That’s awful.”

Lena lifted her eyes and glanced across the room. Eliza was sitting opposite her, staring blankly at the wall, her expression distant, almost dazed.

She really did look worn down, way more than before. Nothing like the radiant she-wolf she used to be, the one who always smiled like she knew exactly how to make people lose their minds over her.

“No matter how bad this is, you really let her move into your house and stay there with your mate?” Anna shot back without sugarcoating it. “I’m sorry, but something about this is seriously off.”

I looked down at the message. "What are you trying to say?"

"The first thing she wants after getting discharged is to move into Dominic’s house? Come on. She’s a grown woman. Even if she doesn’t have a single friend, that still doesn’t mean she gets to move into a couple’s home. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s messing with your relationship."

"Lena."

I lifted my head. Eliza was looking straight at me.

The corner of her mouth curved up into something that barely counted as a smile. "I envy you."

"For what?"

"You have Dominic." Her eyes were bright, scrubbed raw from crying so much these past few days, as if the tears had already run dry. "You have everything I ever wanted."

I gave her a polite fake smile and said nothing.

My phone buzzed in my hand. [Lena, she’s not a good person. Be careful. If she makes you feel like you can’t breathe, leave this mess to Dominic and let him deal with it himself. You don’t owe her anything. Just get out of there and give yourself some peace.]

Anna was right. Seriously, why was she even sitting here, caught in the middle of their train wreck?

Eliza had come for Dominic. That meant Dominic needed to handle her himself. Lena didn’t need to get dragged into it.

Even if Lena refused to let her stay, Eliza would find some other way in. Women like Eliza always did.

The second Lena accepted that, the tight knot of anxiety inside her loosened and disappeared.

She got to her feet, went into the bedroom, and started packing. She didn’t keep much here anyway. Everything fit into one bag.

Dominic came in, saw what she was doing, and quietly shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"Going back to my apartment."

"You’re the one who brought her in, and now you’re upset?" He frowned and snatched up her bag.

"I’m not upset." She raised both hands a little. "I swear, I just need some space. Being under the same roof as her makes my skin crawl."

Dominic studied her face carefully, like he was checking whether she meant it. When he finally believed she wasn’t lying, he let out a long sigh.

Then he arched a brow. "You’re seriously okay with leaving me alone with her?"

"Yep." Lena nodded. "I trust you."

His lips pressed into a thin line, equal parts annoyed and helpless. "You’re the one who brought her in."

"She came here for you."

Lena grabbed her bag, but Dominic snatched it right back.

In the next second, he shoved her onto the bed and pinned her there, solid and unyielding. "You really think you’re leaving? Not happening."

She smacked his shoulder. "Let me go. I’m not leaving, and you can’t force me to stay either."

His gaze sharpened in an instant. "So you’re saying I can leave right now?"

She stopped struggling, arms stretched flat against the mattress, chin tipped up as she looked at him. "Wanna bet she knocks on that door in under two minutes?"

"Daniel’s outside. She won’t."

He lowered his head and kissed her.

If she walked out tonight, it might be weeks before she saw him again. Whether he could keep her here or not, he was clearly planning to take every second he could get.

Lena let him kiss her, but her eyes stayed locked on the door. Her mind was a total mess, half drowning in him, half counting every passing second, waiting for Eliza to show up.

She was restless. Lena knew it.

A she-wolf that obsessed, that clingy, was never going to leave the man she wanted alone in a bedroom with his mate without checking in. No chance.

Dominic noticed her attention drifting and bit down lightly on her lower lip.

"Ow." She slapped his shoulder again. "That hurt."

"Then focus." He covered her eyes with his palm, forcing them shut.

She tried.

His lips traced down her jaw, her neck, then lower, pausing at the hollow of her throat. His mouth moved over her stomach, lower and lower, and still, outside, everything stayed quiet.

Maybe she was wrong.

Maybe Daniel really had kept Eliza away.

Maybe, for once, Eliza had actually backed off tonight.

Then her shirt was pulled off—

and a knock hit the door.

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