Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Lena’s POV

Dominic hadn’t come back since that night. The longer he stayed away, the more this heavy, sinking panic wrapped around me. Maybe tomorrow he’d just send someone to throw me out.

But before any messenger showed up, Anna appeared instead.

We sat in the same little bar we used to sneak off to, tucked in a shadowy corner. The place smelled faintly of smoke, jazz humming in the background, the warm amber lights making everything look softer than reality.

I stared at the ice swirling in my glass, quiet for so long it felt like the world had muted. I took a sip—sharp alcohol burning all the way down—and then another, and another. Like drowning the ache in my chest was some kind of competition.

"Lena, seriously, stop drinking." Anna leaned over and tried to take my glass, her brows knitting. "I talked to Daniel. If Dominic really kicks you out, we’ll bring you back to the Moonshadow Pack. My father will make sure you’re safe."

I tightened my grip around the glass and shook my head. "No. I’m not leaving."

"Why?" Her voice shot up—half panic, half frustration. "Lena, look at yourself! He’s been gone for three days. Three days. He’s clearly just... letting you suffer. Why are you still clinging to this stupid contract?"

I didn’t answer right away. I just watched the dim bar lights ripple across the surface of my drink.

"You know what, Anna?" I finally said, my voice so soft it almost blended into the music. "I actually met Dominic... a long time ago."

Anna froze, setting her own glass down, eyes locked on me.

"I was still a kid then, and my mother was... alive." The bitterness climbed up my throat, sharp and sudden. "She was in constant pain—you know how it feels when a bond shatters. One night, she ran off. And I followed her. She walked all the way to the cliffs near the Bloodmoon Pack, right into that dark pine forest."

I paused. I could almost smell that night again—the damp soil, the sharp scent of pine needles.

"She stood right at the edge, ready to let go. I was terrified. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t even scream. And then he appeared." I closed my eyes; the memory was painfully clear. "Dominic looked younger back then, but his eyes... they were already cold. He didn’t ask anything. He just walked up, grabbed my mother, and dragged her away from the cliff. Then he called a patrol team to take her home."

Anna reached out and squeezed my hand. "Lena..."

"She didn’t make it, in the end. But I never forgot that moment." I looked straight at her. "So when I found out I was being sent to the Bloodmoon Pack, I wasn’t as horrified as everyone expected. I thought... maybe I could do something for him. The way he once did something for us."

"But that’s not love, Anna." My voice steadied, sharper now. "It’s... a debt. A moral obligation. I came here to repay it. That’s all."

Anna frowned. "Then why won’t you leave? If it’s just repayment, you’ve already done enough."

I shook my head. "Because it’s not time yet. The contract is a year. And..." I hesitated. "I haven’t actually helped him at all. The curse is still there. He still trusts no one. He’s still alone."

"Lena, you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved!"

"Maybe you’re right." I gave a small, tired laugh. "But I need to finish what I promised. Not to the pack—to myself. I need to know I tried. Really tried. Only then can I walk away with a clear conscience."

I looked at Anna’s worried face and mumbled, "This isn’t love, Anna. Seriously, it’s not. I’m just...repaying a debt, that’s all."

But the second those words left my mouth, I instinctively avoided her gaze. Because even I couldn’t be entirely sure if they were true.

Dominic’s POV

Only the desk lamp was on in the study. Documents were spread across the table, and the cold white light made them look even more tedious than usual. I was buried in handling an internal dispute within the pack when I suddenly heard what sounded like an argument outside the door.

The vague voices were cut off by the guards’ low but firm tone. "...Sorry, you can’t go in. The Alpha is dealing with official matters."

I closed the file, a slight frown forming, and walked straight to the door. As I pulled open the heavy wooden door, the scene outside came into view all at once.

The guards were blocking the entrance of the tower, and across from them, a female wolf was struggling to half drag, half carry Lena. I’d looked into this female before—her name was Anna, daughter of a small pack’s Alpha, a friend of Lena’s, and also the mate of my beta, Daniel.

Anna stiffened when she saw me, apology practically pouring off her along with a touch of poorly hidden nervousness. Sweat dotted her forehead—it was obvious hauling a drunk up all those stairs wasn’t easy. "Alpha Dominic, I’m really sorry for disturbing you so late," she rushed to explain, her voice thin with exhaustion. "Lena...had a bit too much to drink. I didn’t feel safe letting her go back alone."

Her eyes darted away, unable to meet mine for more than a second. I’d gotten used to this sort of reaction. Ever since the rumors about the curse spread like a plague, nearly every female wolf looked at me the same way—fearful, wary, avoiding me like I might snap and tear them apart at any moment.

The guards immediately stepped aside. I ignored them, letting my gaze fall on Lena instead. Her light-colored top was soaked in uneven dark patches across her chest and sleeves, the spilled alcohol made even more obvious under the light.

I slipped an arm behind her back and another under her knees, lifting her from Anna with ease. The cold, damp fabric pressed against my arm, making me frown. Anna finally sighed in relief, wiping sweat from her forehead. She still looked worried but didn’t dare linger. "I’ll get going, thank you," she murmured, practically fleeing down the stairs with the guards.

The tower fell quiet again. I adjusted my hold on Lena and headed to the master bedroom.

When I set her on the bed, her sweater rode up, revealing a strip of smooth, toned waist. That bit of skin seemed almost luminous in the dim light, the lines of it annoyingly beautiful. I looked away immediately—but the image was already carved into my mind.

The real trouble came next. It wasn’t just her outer layer; even the shirt underneath was soaked. I couldn’t let her sleep in wet clothes all night. I told myself it was only to keep her from catching a cold. She’d just gotten over one recently, after needing an IV drip no less. What a hassle.

Unbuttoning her shirt felt like torture. Her skin was soft and warm, rising and falling gently with her breath. I forced myself to focus only on the buttons, like some emotionless machine, but my gaze refused to behave.

By the time the shirt slid off her shoulders, she was down to something thin enough to barely count as clothing. I could hear my own blood pounding in my ears, and that cursed wolf inside me growling—nothing but a stupid creature acting on instinct.

Her scent filled the room, heavy and laced with alcohol, making it even harder to stay calm. I grabbed a clean set of sleepwear and put it on her a bit more roughly than intended. My fingers brushed over her arms, shoulders, back, the side of her chest—her skin felt charged, like a faint shock.

Maybe she felt cold, because she instinctively leaned toward me. I practically stuffed her deeper under the blanket, wanting to get away from this maddening closeness. But just as I started to stand, she suddenly grabbed the hem of my shirt.

The grip was feather-light, but every muscle in my body went taut. Then her slurred, nasal, alcohol-laced whisper brushed against my ear.

"...don’t die."

I froze completely.

"That curse is so annoying..." she murmured, rubbing her cheek against the pillow like she was half-asleep and drifting. Her fingers tightened on the hem of my shirt, as if she were clinging to something that might vanish. "Don’t listen to it... don’t die... okay...?"

My pulse thudded hard enough to echo in my ears. Then came her next whisper, softer than a sigh, barely shaped into words. "Actually, you’re... kinda cute..."

Cute.

The word dropped into me like a stone hitting frozen water—no ripples, just a sharp, cracking shock tearing through the ice.

It had never belonged anywhere near me. Violence. Monster. Curse. Death.

Those were the labels carved into my bones. Even when Eliza ran, all I saw in her eyes was terror and disgust.

But now this Omega—drunk out of her mind, a walking headache as far as I was concerned—mumbled that word at me in her haze. Something strange and piercing hit me square in the chest, too sudden to brace for. It wasn’t happiness. It felt more like the brittle snap of ice when fire touches it for the first time.

My breath stalled. For a heartbeat, all my defenses—those cold walls and ingrained doubts—simply... blinked out.

Just for a heartbeat.

I shoved that ridiculous crack in my armor away, and the familiar chill surged back, laced with irritation that tasted almost like anger. What was that supposed to be? Drunk nonsense? Some instinctive, pathetic slip of the tongue? Or a clumsy hit right where I was weakest?

I pried her fingers off my clothes, maybe a little too fast, pulling the fabric free from her hand. She mumbled something, then sank deeper into sleep.

I straightened, looking down at her. Half her face was buried in the pillow, moonlight sneaking through the curtains to rest on her lashes, casting tiny shadows.

I turned away and walked toward my own bed, steps heavier than usual. My fingertips still held the ghost of her skin—warm, soft, almost impossibly gentle. That word, cute, kept echoing like an unwanted refrain. And the feeling of her leaning toward me—soft enough to wreck a man’s sanity—wouldn’t stop replaying.

The wolf chained inside me thrashed, restless, not with its usual violence but with something far more primal, hotter, and harder to ignore. My body remembered too clearly what it felt like to hold her, how perfectly she seemed to fit against me, how that softness sent a jolt straight down my spine.

But my mind kept shouting its warning. This is a trap. A mess. A breach of the contract, and a slide straight into dangerous territory.

I need to stay away from her.

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