Chosen by the Beast Alpha

Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Lena’s POV

Reed looked seriously uneasy. It was obvious he was still on the fence, like he couldn’t decide whether to stay or go.

"Go on," Lena urged, her voice low but firm. "We can talk later."

That was enough to make him let go of her hand. He stepped back, though the look on his face made it clear he still wasn’t fully buying it.

"If anything happens, call me."

"I will."

Reed walked past Dominic. Their eyes met for one brief second, cold and sharp, full of tension. Neither of them looked away first.

Then Dominic started toward her.

With every step he took, something strange tightened in Lena’s chest. At first, she thought it was panic. But no. It wasn’t that.

By the time he stopped in front of her, she had already forced herself calm.

"Don’t you have something to explain?" he asked first.

Lena looked straight at him, then pulled out a faint, almost mocking smile. "You saw what you saw. What exactly is there to explain?"

Her detached answer dimmed his eyes a little. Maybe because she wouldn’t even bother giving him an explanation.

"Do I need to remind you," he said, his voice dropping, dangerous and heavy, "you’re still my mate."

Lena lowered her gaze to her fingers. The tissue Reed had pressed to her cut was still stuck there. She peeled it off. The bleeding had already stopped.

"Dominic, when you brought up ending the agreement, I said yes. So let’s do that. End it. For real this time."

The second the words left her mouth, a dull ache spread through her chest. His eyes fixed on the small cut on her finger, and his throat bobbed once. "You couldn’t even wait through one business trip?"

Lena lifted her head, sarcasm plain in her eyes. "If we don’t end this, how are you planning to explain it to Eliza?"

"Don’t bring up people who have nothing to do with this."

"Nothing to do with it?" Her voice suddenly turned sharp before she could stop it. "She makes one phone call and you’re gone. She gets sick, and you’re at her bedside. She gets in a car accident, and you’re at the clinic. You stay out all night. During all that time, did it ever cross your mind that you still had a mate waiting for you?"

She didn’t want to be this person. Standing in a hotel hallway, throwing accusations like this.

But she couldn’t stop herself.

He did the exact same thing himself—actually, worse—and he kept it up for weeks. So what right did he have to demand an explanation from her?

Dominic’s fists locked hard at his sides. He didn’t argue. Didn’t say a single word.

Lena dragged in a breath, forcing herself to steady down. "There’s nothing real between us. Stop pretending there is. If you want to keep this arrangement going, fine. Then we live our own lives. You go see your ex, do whatever you want. I won’t ask, and you don’t ask me either."

"You can go wherever you want. See whoever you want." She held his gaze without blinking. "As long as neither of us tries to control the other, that’s enough."

His face darkened, heavy and grim, like a storm about to break. She didn’t care. She was beyond tired—flat-out drained.

"Let’s both cool off. If you want to end this agreement, I’ll go along with it. If you don’t, then be honest about it. I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep."

She turned, pushed the door open, and walked inside. As she pulled it shut, she caught one last look at his face.

He stood in the hallway, watching her close the door on him. For that split second, he looked weirdly wronged, like someone swallowing a grievance he didn’t even know how to put into words.

That had to be her imagination.

The door was almost closed when his hand shot out and caught it. The gap widened, and he stepped inside.

"What are you doing?" She moved to stop him.

"If you don’t let me in, I’ll go talk to that guy." His voice was icy enough to cut skin.

Lena clenched her teeth. Talk to that guy? He was already inside.

Dominic tossed his coat onto the sofa, loosened his collar, grabbed a bottle of water from the table, and finished it in one go.

He crushed the empty bottle in his hand. The plastic caved and twisted under his grip.

She shut the door and watched him. The anger he was holding in, the way every line of his body was strung tight—it all screamed restraint. She stayed wary, but deep down she knew that even now, Dominic would never hurt her.

She grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom, washing off the exhaustion from the night before. The water was warm, almost too nice, and she stood under the spray until the tension in her muscles finally started to let go.

When she came out, Dominic was still standing there, staring at her.

She walked past him, went to the bed, lifted the blanket, and lay down.

She acted like he wasn’t even there. The air in the room felt frozen solid, and he was the reason for every bit of it.

My phone lit up. It was Reed.

He’d sent a bunch of messages I hadn’t even opened, all asking if I was okay.

Before I could text back, his call came through. I picked up. "I was in the shower just now."

"You okay?" His voice loosened a little, like he’d finally exhaled.

"I’m fine. I’m already in bed."

"Is he still there?"

I bit my lip. The silence on my end said pretty much everything.

"Lena, are you thinking about ending the agreement?"

She blinked. That question hit out of nowhere.

She did want to end it. But right now, Dominic was standing only a few feet away, and saying it out loud felt seriously wrong.

"Do you love him?" Reed asked when she still didn’t answer.

That was one question she couldn’t give an answer to.

"Okay." His breathing slowly steadied. "Get some sleep. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning."

Before she could say no, he hung up.

Then a text came in.

["Lena, I’ll wait for you."]

Something in her chest stirred, light and soft, like a ripple spreading across still water. But the feeling sank back down almost right away.

She put her phone aside and pulled the blanket over herself, burying herself completely.

She fell asleep faster than she’d expected.

The next thing she knew, her alarm was dragging her awake the following morning. She turned it off, sat up, and saw a figure standing by the window.

She had almost forgotten he was there. Had he really stood there all night?

Hearing her move, Dominic turned around.

Their eyes met from across the room.

She had no idea what he was trying to prove with all this. He stayed by the window the entire night, like he was carrying out some kind of devotion he would never, ever admit to.

She got up and went to wash up. When she came back out, he said, "I’ll go to the office with you."

"Why?" she asked flatly, picking up her laptop and bag.

He didn’t answer. He just walked to the door, opened it, and looked at her. The message was crystal clear: whether she liked it or not, he was coming.

She brushed past him, and they took a cab. The whole ride, neither of them said a word.

When they got to the company building, she stepped out and noticed Grant’s car wasn’t there.

As soon as she walked inside, her coworkers greeted her warmly. None of them seemed to notice anything from last night. They only asked why she hadn’t shown up for dinner.

She asked, "Where’s Grant?"

"He didn’t come in today."

She turned and glanced back through the glass door. Dominic Voss was standing outside. He hadn’t come in.

She headed into the building and took the elevator up, but her stomach started twisting. That uneasy feeling kept getting worse, like something bad was already on the way.

The moment she sat down, her supervisor called. "Book a flight. Come back today."

"But the project isn’t finished yet..." she said.

"We’re ending the partnership with Moonshadow Pack. That’s the boss’s order."

She frowned. "Why?"

"No idea. Just come back."

The call ended. She sat there, trying to process what had just happened, her mind basically a mess. A few minutes later, the person in charge from Moonshadow Pack came over, looking completely confused.

They had just gotten a call from her company saying the collaboration was off. Did she know what was going on?

She shook her head, but deep down, she had a strong feeling this had something to do with Grant.

She packed her things, said goodbye to everyone, went back to the hotel, booked a ticket, packed her luggage, and headed for the airport.

In the waiting area, Lena sent a message to the work group chat, asking if anyone knew why the partnership had been canceled.

"No clue. But word is the Moonshadow Pack ran into financial trouble. And not the small kind. The client pulled the project from them and handed it straight to us. So there’s no need to keep the joint deal going."

What were the odds? Just yesterday, the Moonshadow Pack had looked totally fine. And now, overnight, their finances had supposedly crashed hard enough to kill off a major project?

No one had anything else to add. The chat went dead fast.

A heavy, uneasy feeling settled over her chest like a cloud. She looked up and saw Dominic Voss sitting in the seat beside her, eyes closed, like he was taking a nap.

She glanced at his boarding pass. Same flight. Same row. Only one seat between them.

Lena looked away without saying a word. Her thoughts were a mess, all tangled up, one worse than the next.

The boarding announcement came over the speakers, sharp and mechanical. She stood. Dominic still looked asleep.

She bit her lip. In the end, she didn’t wake him. She just turned and walked off.

After getting on the plane, she found her window seat, put away her bag, and sat down. The passenger assigned to the middle seat arrived soon after and settled in too.

The aisle seat that belonged to Dominic stayed empty.

More and more passengers boarded, filing past one after another, but Dominic still didn’t show up.

Lena stopped thinking about it. She put on her headphones, leaned against the window, and closed her eyes.

The person beside her shifted, like they had stood up for a second, then sat back down.

After takeoff, once the flight had leveled out, she opened her eyes and glanced to the side.

...Dominic was sitting right next to her.

He had switched seats with the passenger in the middle.

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