Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 23: Chapter 23

It was Ethan. I caught the way Dominic’s face instantly darkened, like someone had flipped a switch. But Ethan was my friend. I eased myself out of Dominic’s arms.

"Lena." His voice through the receiver was fuzzy, thick with congestion and rough around the edges. I could hear that hollow hospital echo behind him. "It’s me... Ethan. Sorry for calling so late."

I paused for a few seconds. "You’re sick?"

"Flu. Kicked off some bronchitis. Nothing major," he said quickly, then stifled two tight coughs. "Can you... come see me?"

My first instinct was to say no. But then I remembered—back when I worked with the Silvercrest Pack, he really had helped me out more than once. Even stepped in for me when I first arrived. His feelings had always made things awkward, sure, but the things he did for me weren’t fake.

"What’s the room number?" I asked at last.

Dominic sat on the bed, staring at me with that unreadable look. Guilt crawled up my spine, but I still forced the words out. "It’s Ethan. He’s sick. His family’s not here, and... as a friend, I think I should check on him."

Dominic didn’t respond. He just lay back down immediately.

I gritted my teeth, pushed the door open, and stepped out.

Whatever. I still needed my job. If I couldn’t give Dominic a child, then work was all I had left to stand on.

The hospital corridor at one in the morning felt endless, the overhead lights buzzing in that dull, tired way that made the silence feel even heavier. I found the VIP floor he mentioned and pushed open the room.

Ethan was half-sitting on the bed, color drained from his face. His pale blond hair, usually perfectly styled, was damp with sweat and sticking messily to his forehead. As soon as he saw me, his gray-blue eyes lit up, and he tried to sit straighter.

"Lena... you actually came." His voice was even raspier than on the phone, and he immediately turned away to cough into his shoulder.

I stopped near the door, not moving closer. "You look worse than you sounded."

"It just looks dramatic." He tried to smile, though his eyes stayed locked on me with that stubborn intensity. His congested voice made it obvious this wasn’t just a mild cold, and he probably had a fever too. "You being here... makes me feel better."

I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I asked calmly, "What did you want to talk about, Ethan?"

He took a deep breath, as if trying to gather strength. His expression sharpened with a kind of desperate sincerity. "Lena... I know you have a mate. But I looked into him. You two—your bond feels like a deal, doesn’t it?"

His words sped up, fueled by feverish urgency, a little frantic. "Leave him, Lena. Give me a chance. You deserve more than being trapped in some cold agreement."

I waited quietly until he finished, then finally answered. "Ethan, thank you for caring. But I won’t betray my mate. I’m not accepting your feelings."

The light in his eyes dimmed so fast it almost hurt to watch—disappointment, confusion, all mixing together. "But..."

"I came tonight," I cut in gently but firmly, "because back when I needed help, you stepped in as a colleague. I appreciate that. And that’s all." I looked him straight in the eyes, clear and unmistakable. "I’ve never liked you that way. Not before. Not now."

"Rest. Get well soon." I gave him a small nod, not checking his reaction, and pulled the door open to leave.

On the way back from the hospital, the cold felt like it was drilling straight into my bones. I paid the driver and slipped into the estate’s main house, deliberately slowing my steps. I took off my shoes and carried them in my hand, my bare feet touching the icy marble floor as I crept toward the spiral staircase like some wannabe burglar.

I eased the master bedroom door open, slipped inside, and shut it behind me, leaning against the cool wood as I finally let out a long breath. The room was swallowed in darkness, only a sliver of moonlight cutting through the gap in the curtains.

Just when my nerves had barely started to unwind—

Click.

The crisp snap of the switch sounded behind me. The crystal chandelier burst into blinding light, shredding the darkness and leaving me completely exposed.

Every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze. My limbs locked up, stiff as stone. Panic rushed me all at once, that same sinking feeling you get when you break into someone’s house and the owner walks in on you. I wanted to bolt, but my feet felt superglued to the floor.

The air in the room thinned to nothing. I forced myself to breathe, to turn around slowly.

And of course—Dominic Voss was standing dead center in the room. He wore only dark silk sleep pants, his upper body bare, muscles sharply defined under the harsh lights. His face was a blank mask, but those gray eyes of his... they were a storm about to hit, anger rolling beneath the surface like a tidal wave.

I tugged the corners of my lips up into something that barely resembled a smile. "You... you’re still awake."

Dominic’s mouth twisted into a cold, mocking curve. "Back so soon? Looks like your ‘friend’ bounced back faster than I expected."

"Ethan really is in bad shape. I visited him, and then I came straight home." I tried to keep my tone steady, but his tone—God, that sarcasm—made irritation spike in my chest.

"Visited?" he echoed, like the word had teeth. "You ran to the hospital in the middle of the night just to ‘visit’ a guy who’s been chasing after you?"

"He’s my friend!" I snapped, louder than I meant to. "And he’s sick, with no family around. I went because it was the decent thing to do—"

"Decent?" he cut in with a laugh that could’ve frozen fire. He stepped toward me, the air seeming to shrink. "Lena, you’re the Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack. My partner. Everyone knows you belong to me. And you think it’s fine to sneak off at night to another male? You really don’t get what that looks like?"

"I still have my own life!" I backed up until my shoulders hit the door. "Yes, I’m your contract mate, but that doesn’t mean I have to cut every friend out of my life!"

"Friend?" His eyes flashed with something sharp and dangerous. "Or secret lover?"

That stung like a lash. Before I even knew what I was doing, I raised my hand to actually slap him. But he caught my wrist mid-air, his grip like steel tightening until it hurt.

"Let go of me!" I struggled against him. "You’re being impossible!"

"Impossible?" His voice dropped to this low, hellish rumble. "I’m protecting my Luna from being tainted by another male."

"Why is it that you can’t trust anyone?" I glared up at him, anger and hurt mixing into something raw. "Why do you always assume the worst about everyone’s motives?"

Dominic’s eyes went even colder, yet beneath the frost, I could sense a hidden, jagged pain.

"Because trusting someone almost destroyed me once. People change way too easily, Lena. And you—"

He let out a short, bitter laugh, as if forcing his own vulnerability back down. "You’re too restless."

"I’m restless?" I stared at him, completely stunned. "I went to check on a sick friend. That counts as being disloyal to you?"

"A real friend wouldn’t call a bonded woman in the middle of the night," Dominic snapped, letting go of my wrist and taking a few steps back.

"A real friend wouldn’t let you rush out at midnight and risk your mate misunderstanding you. He’s taking advantage of your kindness, Lena, and you refuse to see it."

I rubbed my aching wrist, the dull pain spreading across my skin and sinking straight into my chest. My eyes burned with sudden heat.

"So in your eyes, I’m just some clueless idiot? Easy for any guy to manipulate? The kind of woman who betrays her mate without even realizing it?"

"Aren’t you?" Dominic’s voice was ice, sharp enough to make my heart drop.

"You know what, Dominic?" My voice trembled uncontrollably, every word forced out like it had nowhere left to escape, "maybe you’ll never really trust anyone. Not even me. Maybe this whole bond was a mistake from the start."

The moment the words left my mouth, it was like something struck Dominic across the face. Shadows crept across his expression, and the look he gave me was so complicated I couldn’t read it at all.

Then he suddenly turned and strode toward the door.

"Remember what you just said." He stopped at the doorway, his back to me, his voice cold like sharpened metal. "You’re the one who said we should end the bond."

With that, he pushed the door open—hard—and walked out.

The room became terrifyingly empty in an instant, so quiet I could hear my own ragged breathing. My tears finally spilled over.

Outside, his heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway, growing farther and farther away, each one pressing down on my chest. Eventually they disappeared completely into the darkness.

I collapsed to the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees, feeling myself fall into a bottomless pit.

I didn’t know if there was still any way for us... to find our way back.

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