TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 191

One hundred and ninety one

Evangeline POV

By morning, Cameron came looking for me himself. I heard him enter my sitting room while a maid arranged my outfit for the day.

“You can leave us,” Cameron told her. The maid nodded and disappeared through the side door.

I stayed seated on the couch and pretended to read. Cameron crossed the room.

“How are you feeling?”

The concern in his voice irritated me now.

“I’m okay.”

“You barely slept.”

He sat across from me.

“What happened last night?”

I looked up from the book.

“You don’t remember?”

“Parts of it.”

That meant the compounds worked deeply enough to blur sections of the episode.

Good.

“You had a nightmare,” I said. “Then another episode afterward.”

Cameron frowned.

“I remember feeling strange.”

“You scared me.”

He looked down at his hands.

“I’m sorry.”

“You kept apologizing last night too. About Lisa, were you fucking her in your sleep?”

Guilt spread across his face exactly the way I needed.

“I…I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“I don’t understand why this keeps happening.”

“You’re under pressure constantly. Pack duties keeps pulling you in different directions. We’re under scrutiny now by pack media thanks to Nadia and desmond. And there’s Lisa who’s in another pack with our baby” I swallowed carefully. “how sure are we that she’s not hurting our child just to spite me?”

Cameron looked up immediately.

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+15 Bchus

“She’s not cruel.”

I almost laughed. Instead, I lowered my gaze.

“I tried to do the right thing, Cameron.”

That sounded believable because technically it was true. Everything I did served completion. My survival depended on it. The Meridian depended on it.

Cameron moved closer and wrapped his arms around me.

“I know,” he murmured quietly, kissing my forehead. I held him tightly while staring over his shoulder toward the windows.

I infused the bedroom with cedarwood and lowered the volume on the record player while piano music drifted through the room. One of our older photographs sat beside the fireplace now. I moved it there earlier that / morning.

The photograph showed us during the first winter festival after the mating ceremony. Cameron stood behind me with his wool coat around my shoulders after I spent half the evening complaining about the cold. Snow covered the stone steps behind us and melted against the edges of his boots.

I still loved that memory more than I should have.

Another photograph sat beside the bookshelf near his desk. Familiar things surrounded the room now. That was how Dominion worked best. Slow changes settled deeper and recognition came later.

Cameron walked out of the bathroom. Damp air followed him into the bedroom. He glanced toward the bed and picked up the picture, stared at it, and then at me.

I smiled softly.

“That festival was terrible.”

I laughed.

“The food was terrible. I started a political argument over roasted lamb.”

I watched him while he crossed toward the dresser. The music continued through the room while rain pressed softly against the windows.

The Meridian called it reinforcement layering. I called it survival.

Cameron picked up his watch from the dresser, then frowned at it.

“I was looking for this earlier.”

“It was beside your study sink,” I replied.

He nodded.

The forgetting was getting worse again. That should have comforted me, but fear stayed lodged inside my chest. Every failed Dominion case ended the same way for the assigned operative.

Replacement and disposal.

“You okay?” Cameron asked.

I forced another smile onto my face.

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One hundred and ity ane

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“I’m nervous about court today.”

His expression hardened immediately.

“I told you already. I’ll handle the public pressure.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

“I’m the Alpha. I’m used to it. I won’t let them turn you into a villain over this.”

A knock interrupted the room before I answered him. One of the guards opened the door slightly.

“Vehicle is ready, Alpha.”

Cameron nodded.

“I’ll be down shortly.”

The guard left. I reached for Cameron’s tie and adjusted the knot. The silk felt warm from his skin. “You don’t need to stay the entire hearing,” he told me. “The lawyers are handling most of it.” 1

“I know.”

His phone buzzed against the dresser. He glanced at the screen, and irritation crossed his face.

“Franklin again,” he muttered.

“You should answer him.”

“He’s becoming obsessive.”

“He’s worried about you.”

Cameron rubbed his forehead and leaned against the dresser afterward.

“Everybody keeps acting like something is wrong with me.”

I stayed quiet. That sentence frightened me. Part of him understood what was happening. Part of him still felt the deterioration settling into him. Dominion worked strongest when the victim stopped trusting their own instincts.

“You’ve been exhausted,” I said. “That’s all.”

He looked unconvinced, though he let it go.

Selene wanted a stronger frequency tonight.

I did not pity Cameron.

I was terrified of failing.

We arrived at the courthouse through the private entrance beneath the building. Rumors of Cameron’s affair with the surrogate spread across half the territory.

The Meridian media channels handled their work carefully. Stories and commentary followed after. Public morality discussions filled community forums and territory broadcasts. Sympathy pieces appeared afterward from women discussing betrayal.

Cameron stayed beside me through the corridor while an elder briefed him quietly.

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“This remains procedural,” he explained. “The council prefers resolution without spectacle.”

+15 Bgnus

“Good,” Cameron replied. A lawyer handed him documents. He skimmed through the pages while walking beside

Nadia appeared at the far end of the hallway with Franklin and her lawyer. Her eyes passed over me without stopping. No insult or accusation came. That unsettled me more than open fighting.

Franklin reached her already. He must have warned her that confronting me would push Cameron closer toward defending me.

Smart move.

Cameron noticed her too.

“Nadia,” he called.

She stopped walking.

“You okay?”

Nadia glanced toward me before looking back at Cameron.

“Such an ironic question,” she said, and continued down the hallway without another word.

Cameron watched her leave.

“She barely speaks to me lately,” he muttered.

I lowered my gaze toward the marble floor.

“She’s angry because of me.”

“No,” he replied. “She’s angry because everything became complicated.”

Complicated covered it nicely.

An older attendant approached me afterward.

“Lady Evangeline. Elder Miriam would like a private word before proceedings begin.”

I followed her toward one of the consultation rooms near the upper hall. Thick carpet softened our footsteps while muted voices drifted through the closed courtroom doors nearby.

Elder Miriam sat beside the window waiting for me. Gray streaked through her dark hair while years of authority rested comfortably across her posture. A ceramic cup sat untouched beside her chair. She gestured toward the seat opposite her.

“Sit.”

I obeyed quietly.

Silence stretched between us long enough to feel deliberate, then she spoke.

“I’ll ask directly because I dislike dancing around problems. Who is the surrogate? Why wasn’t the process monitored thoroughly to the extent that the Alpha became emotionally attached to her?”

I looked down.

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mahusand and minely one

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“I was sick frequently during the process. Cameron handled more appointments alone than he should have. I believed professional boundaries existed.”

Elder Miriam studied me carefully.

“You believed your Alpha accidentally fell in love with another woman during a private surrogacy arrangement?”

Skepticism sat openly in her voice now.

I let tears gather naturally in my eyes.

“I know how foolish I sound. I trusted him; I still do. The girl became emotionally possessive.”

The elder sighed.

me

“She insulted me several times,” I continued softly. “She wanted Cameron emotionally separated from me completely.”

Elder Miriam stayed quiet.

“She’s carrying his child and got pregnant through natural means,” the elder replied. “Emotions were always going to become messy.

“I know.”

“Did Cameron encourage the attachment?”

I paused again.

“I will not fault my mate. He did what he did because the council was already pressing him to get an heir. Nor am I pretending I’m perfect,” I admitted quietly. “I became controlling after the fertility failures. I monitored his schedule too much sometimes. I pushed him emotionally whenever I felt insecure.”

Transparency worked beautifully. People stopped digging deeper after voluntary flaws entered the conversation.

Elder Miriam’s expression softened.

“You don’t deserve this,” she said.

I stayed silent.

“You are our future Luna. You visit injured pack members personally. You organize donations before anyone asks. Half the young wives in this territory model themselves after you.”

“I never wanted public conflict,” I whispered.

“I believe that.”

Elder Miriam leaned back in her chair.

“You understand the territory wives will discuss this extensively.”

I nodded.

“Some already are. And they will not be kind to the surrogate.”

I lowered my eyes without answering.

“Nobody is blaming you for your health crisis. But what we will not do is sit back and watch a stranger destroy our

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77-008nd nuity on

+15 Bonus

Luna’s name. Do not collapse publicly because of one scandal.”

“Thank you.”

We got up together, and she gave me a side hug.

And I knew that this would be the beginning of women defending social loyalties viciously and choosing sides

One of Cameron’s guards drove me home afterward while Cameron remained behind for Nadia and Desmond’s

case.

My phone buzzed halfway home.

Unknown secure channel.

I opened the message. Three attached financial authorization files appeared first. Meridian accountants had plans to move parts of Cameron’s empire before Dominion reached completion.

Another message appeared beneath the files.

Avoid his beta’s scrutiny. Increase ritual frequency tonight.

I stared at the screen while dread settled deeper into my stomach.

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