TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 175

One hundred and seventy five

Lisa POV

“Lisa, please. This is not something you need to be part of.”

The urge to scream climbed up my throat.

“You’re already talking about me. So I am part of it.”

My chest tightened, and I could hear the thud of my blood in my ears. Alpha Kieran looked at my mom, then back at me, his mouth opening and closing as if the words were stuck in his throat.

I stared at them across the small gap. Alpha Kieran’s eyes stayed on my mother, waiting for a nod that did not

come.

“Mom, let him talk,” I snapped. “If this is about me, you have no right to hide it.”

“This is not your burden,” my mom said. Her hands shook as she smoothed her skirt. “You are a surrogate. That is your only role. You do not need to drown in the mess of Cameron’s life.”

The words “just a surrogate” stung like a slap, but I kept my eyes locked on Kieran.

“I’m not just a surrogate, mom. If something is wrong, it affects me too. I deserve the truth.”

Kieran gave a slow nod.

“You do. But this truth is…dark.”

He hesitated again. 1

“Have you noticed anything unusual about him?” he asked.

His question made me picture Cameron’s face.

I held his gaze. “Define unusual.”

The rash. The memory of my fingers brushing over it the night before.

“He’s been… off.”

My mother let out a sharp breath. “That doesn’t mean anything. He has responsibilities. He is under pressure.”

Kieran did not look at her.

“Pressure doesn’t cause this,” he said.

“What does?” I asked.

He remained silent. My heart sank as I tried to figure out what he was hiding.

“Is this because of me?” I stood up, my chair scraping loudly against the floor. “Is he sick because he is sleeping with me? Is this a punishment?”

“Of course not,” he said, staring at his boots for a long moment before looking up.

“Someone is working on him.”

My stomach tightened.

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“Working on him how?”

“I don’t have full confirmation yet,” he said. “But the pattern is familiar.”

Another pause.

“If this is what I think it is, then someone close to Cameron is influencing him.”

“Who?” I asked.

He did not answer immediately.

“There are people who don’t operate openly. They don’t take positions. They position others.”

I frowned. “You’re talking in circles. What does that have to do with Cameron?”

“They use proximity,” Kieran said. “They stay close and create dependence. Then they take control. Cameron is falling under the shadow of dark powers.”

I looked at my mom, hoping she would laugh or tell me he was joking.

“You’re saying someone around him is doing that?”

“I’m saying it’s possible.”

My mind moved on its own.

“Evangeline,” I said.

Kieran did not confirm it.

“Our sources and our own eyes point to one person,” Kieran said. “”If this is what I think it is,” he repeated, then she may not be who we believe she is.”

“How?” I pulled back, my mind racing. “They are fated.”

Kieran gave a bitter smile. “The bond can be lied to.”

I sat back down, my spine stiff as a board. “I don’t understand.”

”

“No,” my mom said. “No, we are not doing this. You are not getting dragged into whatever this is. I am not losing you to it.”

“I’m already in it,” I said.

Kieran sighed and looked at my mother.

He told me about the sect named the Veiled Meridian. He described them not as a club, but as a ghost hand that had gripped the world for hundreds of years. They didn’t sit on thrones; they owned the kings. They wrote the laws and controlled the medicine we took. They were the reason the world stayed broken.

My jaw dropped. “But his wolf feels a bond. Can you really steal something like that?”

“With enough blood and ancient power, yes,” Kieran said. His eyes grew misty, looking at something far away. Many have been destroyed this way. Cameron is just the next name on a list.”

“So they aren’t real mates?”

He let out a long breath. “I cannot say. But we have to move fast. The Meridian works in stages. If they win,

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Cameron will be nothing but a puppet.”

Another heavy silence followed. I felt a chill run down my back.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. “What do I have to do with a secret society?”

Kieran stood up, his tall frame casting a long shadow over me.

“When you are around him,” he continued, “have you noticed any change?”

I thought about it.

“Last night, he told me I calmed him.”

He nodded.

“That matters.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because whatever is being done to him doesn’t hold the same way when you are there.”

I stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you interfere with it. They don’t like interference.”

My mother’s voice came out low. “What does that mean for her?”

Kieran did not rush his answer.

“It means she becomes visible to the same people who are trying to reach him.

My throat went dry.

“And what happens when they notice?”

He hesitated again. 1

I felt cold.

“We have seen the patterns, Lisa. If Cameron feels something real that isn’t about the baby it ruins their plan. You are the glitch in their machine.”

Fear settled in my stomach like lead.

“And there is the child,” Kieran added. “That baby is his blood. When you touch him, you give him strength. You are a shield he didn’t know he had. That makes you a target. If they cannot break him, the Meridian will come to remove the interruption. They will come for you.”

My mom’s face broke. Tears tracked through her cheeks. “We’re done. We’re leaving. We’re not staying anywhere near this.”

Something still didn’t sit right.

“Why me?” I asked. “Why does any of this involve me?”

Kieran’s expression turned grim. “The Veiled Meridian does not stop. I know this because I lived it.”

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He spoke of his own past, his late wife. For two decades years, he thought he loved her. He thought she was his soulmate. But she had been a tool of the Meridian the whole time. She wasn’t forced; she was a willing soldier.

“Your wife was sent to destroy you?” I whispered.

He gave a painful nod.

“What do they want from all of this?”

“The world,” Kieran said. “Total control.”

“Lisa, we are leaving,” my mom said, grabbing my arm. Her grip was tight and frantic. “We cannot fight ghosts and magic. We have no power. We have to run.”

I looked down at my stomach, thinking of the life growing inside me.

“What about the baby?”

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