TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 11

Eleven

Cameron POV

Fourteen hours earlier

Evangeline’s breathing rasped against my chest. Each wheeze scraped through the quiet hospital room and chipped away at the hope I kept trying to rebuild.

I had spent months telling myself she was getting better.

She wasn’t.

Her illness came in waves. She would recover just enough to make me believe the worst had passed, then the sickness dragged her under again.

I no longer knew which was worse.

Watching someone remain sick foreve or watching them improve, only to slip closer to death every time.

Something else had begun to bother me.

Whenever I held her, my wolf reacted.

Not with the hunger or pull a mate should inspire.

With resistance.

It pushed at me to step away. To stop touching her.

I crushed the instinct every time.

Maybe the bond was strained because she was sick. Maybe the sickness itself was interfering with the connection.

I had no answer.

But one thing stayed constant. She was my mate.And she needed me.

Four years of loving her, protecting her, building my life around her. Now I sat beside her bed and watched that life slip away piece by piece.

The mate bond that should have anchored her wolf to this world now fought against me.

The irony tasted bitter.

“I got food.”

Nadia stepped into the room carrying paper bags. She dropped them onto the small table and studied me.

Tevon

“You should go home, Cameron,” she said. “You haven’t slept in days. You look like hell.”

Her voice held concern, but grief shadowed it.

Evangeline was her best friend.

While I watched my mate fade, Nadia watched the same thing happen to someone she loved.

“What did the doctor say?” she asked.

I gave a small shrug. The same answer as always.

Nothing useful.

“Go,” Nadia said again. “I’ll stay with her. The surrogate girl is here. The sooner you get her pregnant, the better.”

My stomach twisted. The thought of touching another woman felt like betrayal, even if Evangeline herself had approved it.

“Not today.”

“Cameron-

“I said not today.”

My voice cracked across the room.

Evangeline stirred. Her eyes opened.

Damn it.

She barely slept as it was. Nadia mouthed a silent apology. Evangeline looked at me.

“You’re still here.”

Her hand lifted and slid into my hair.

“You need rest,” she said. “You have meetings. You can’t neglect your responsibilities because of me.”

Nadia nodded in agreement. Evangeline smiled weakly at her.

I took Evangeline’s hand and pressed my lips against her knuckles, forcing myself not to react to the uneasy warning my wolf kept pushing through my skull.

The same bond that had driven my wolf wild with need the day I met her now pushed me away. ↑

Nothing about that made sense.

“The girl is here, isn’t she?” Evangeline asked.

She tried to sound cheerful.

I nodded.

“Good. I want to meet her tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “She’s just a contract.”

Her smile disappeared.

“I need to meet the woman carrying our child. She’s sacrificing a year of her life for us. The least I can do is thank her.”

Sacrifice.

That word sat wrong in my head.

“She’s being paid a fortune,” I said. “You think she’d be here without the money?”

“Eva,” Nadia cut in, trying to redirect her attention. “Focus on getting stronger first.”

“I just want to meet her. Is that a crime? And the sooner we move forward with this, the better.”

Her gaze moved between Nadia and me.

“We cannot give Matthias another chance to challenge the throne. The oracle chose you. Anyone who doubts that can take their complaints to the goddess herself.”

Her breathing grew uneven.

“We will beat them in their own game.”

I rubbed my temples.

“Fine. Franklin will bring her tomorrow.”

Evangeline studied me.

“Is she acceptable?”

Nadia and I exchanged a glance,

“She meets the contract requirements,” Nadia said.

“That isn’t what I asked.”

Evangeline’s eyes settled on me.

“Cameron?”

What exactly did she expect me to say?

That Lisa looked young and desperate?

That she probably didn’t fully understand what she’d signed?

That selecting her had felt like choosing the least disastrous option on a very bad list?

“She’ll do,” I said.

The memory returned immediately. The entire selection process had been a farce.

Three candidates had walked into that room before Lisa. Each one delivered polished speeches about duty, honor, and devotion to the pack.

All rehearsed.

I had nearly dismissed them all.

Before Lisa arrived, Luna Catherine had leaned toward me.

“You should pay attention to Lisa Hartwell,” she had said. “She works for me sometimes. I know her family.”

That alone caught my attention. Still, the decision had been mine.

By the time Lisa entered the room I was exhausted and irritated. My cousin Matthias had begun challenging my leadership openly. Rogue attacks had escalated across the borders. My mate lay sick in a hospital bed.

I didn’t want to sit through another performance.

Lisa walked in in a simple dress. Minimal makeup. Auburn hair pulled into a neat bun.

Her file said she had turned twenty a few months earlier. Beta father. Omega mother.

She looked quieter and less polished than the others. But Catherine’s recommendation had already placed her ahead of the rest.

I expected another speech when Nadia asked why she volunteered.

Instead Lisa looked straight at us and told the truth. She wanted the money. Nothing else.

Her honesty was staggering,

Brianna had been Nadia’s preferred candidate, but Brianna would have expected emotional involvement. Maybe even convinced herself she could turn the arrangement into something more.

I didn’t want complications.

Lisa looked desperate. Desperation was easier to manage,

Still, sitting here now, something about the decision unsettled me.

Evangeline wanted to meet her. And Evangeline had a habit of forming opinions that no one could talk her out of.

That wasn’t the only problem.

Earlier tonight her younger brother Kade had called. He sounded furious.

“You need to pick someone else.”

“Why?” I asked. “Is she your lover?”

Silence.

Then a long exhale.

“We had something,” Kade admitted. “I messed it up. That doesn’t mean she should end up in this situation.”

“She volunteered.”

“She’s desperate.”

“That’s her decision.”

I pulled her into my arms and held her while the machines hummed quietly around us.

“I’m grateful you came,” Evangeline continued. “I know this arrangement is unusual, but I wanted to thank you myself.”

Her voice faltered.

“I can’t give Cameron the child his pack needs.”

“She doesn’t need to hear all this,” I cut in.

Both women turned toward me, Evangeline watched me with patience. Lisa looked startled, as though she had forgotten I was even in the room

“I want honesty between us,” Evangeline said. “she’s carrying our child. She deserves the truth.”

I turned away again.

“I’m sorry you’re caught in this,” Evangeline told Lisa quietly. “If I could do this myself, I would.”

Her voice cracked.

“I hate that I can’t.”

Tears slid down her face.

“I feel useless. Like I’m failing him. Failing the pack.”

“You’re not failing anyone,” Nadia said immediately.

“But I am.”

Evangeline wiped at her cheeks, frustrated.

“I can’t give Cameron children. I can barely attend pack gatherings without collapsing. Most days I can’t even stay awake through the afternoon. How is that not a burden?”

Nadia didn’t answer.

I pulled Evangeline against my chest and held her while the sobs worked through her.

My arm stayed around her shoulders. My body stayed between her and Lisa.

Between my mate and the woman who had become necessary.

Eventually Evangeline steadied herself.

She drew back, brushing tears from her face.

“Tell me about yourself, Lisa.”

Lisa shifted in the chair.

“There’s not much to tell.”

“You worked for my mother, didn’t you?”

“Yes. As her personal shopper.”

“And your father?”

A pause,

“He’s a Beta in Crescent Falls.”

“Any siblings?”

“One brother. James. He’s seventeen.”

The questions continued.

Lisa answered carefully, measuring every word. I could feel the hesitation in the room, the weight of what she chose not to say.

When she stalled too long on a question about school, my patience snapped.

“Answer her.”

Both women flinched.

“Cameron, please be nice,” Evangeline said gently, “she’s nervous.”

Nice.

As if niceness belonged in a situation like this.

As if the girl sitting across the room didn’t represent everything that had gone wrong.

I turned to Evangeline.

“This changes nothing between us.‘

Her gaze met mine.

“I know.”

“Nothing.”

“I know, my love.”

The endearment landed exactly where she intended.

A claim.

A reminder.

For me.

For Lisa.

For anyone else listening.

My loyalty had never moved,