TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 213

Two hundred and thirteen

Cassidy POV

The silence in the driveway hung heavy. George’s gaze bounced between Kieran and me. I looked past his car toward the edge of the property, where the scent of freshly cut grass drifted across the lawn from somewhere beyond the hedges. A lawnmower engine sputtered and died in the distance, leaving only the sound of wind rustling through the pine needles.

“Cass, please stay,” George said, Breaking the silence. He reached out to rub the sleeve of my leather jacket before dropping his hand back to his side. “You can see the girl is in danger. And Cameron’s already deteriorating.”

I let out a laugh that tightened my throat, my fingers gripping the leather strap of my duffel bag. “Interesting. So now I’m useful again.”

George looked caught between a grimace and a deadpan smile. Kieran remained silent, his large frame cast in the long shadows of the late afternoon sun. One of the guards stood near the stone wall with a cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling past his face while he watched the front gates. When he noticed me looking, he dropped the cigarette beneath his boot, crushed it into the gravel, and straightened the hem of his jacket.

“I cannot be forced into something because people suddenly decided my connections are convenient,” I said, turning my back to the main house. “I’m not the only Daughter, and I don’t control the chapter houses.”

“That’s not fair,” George said.

Anger flushed through my body. I turned toward him, my heels digging into the loose stones. “Not fair? Which part exactly, George? The part where he ignored warning signs for years? Or the part where another Alpha got careless enough to drag some pregnant girl into Dominion?”

A muscle jumped along Kieran’s cheekbone as he fixed his gaze on the iron gates. Even with his arms crossed over his chest, I could see his eyes darken.

“I had no idea,” he mumbled. “Evangeline hid herself well. None of us realized what she was until it was too late.”

Too late.

That phrase again.

The same excuse men always used after women cleaned up the damage they left behind.

George tried to force the tension downward. “Well, if I’m being honest, Cassidy reacting like this makes sense after the way you ended things.”

The two men looked at each other.

“Are you helping right now?” Kieran asked flatly.

The exhaustion in his voice made my heart pound. He sounded worn down instead of ashamed. As though enough years had passed for everybody to quietly move on.

“He doesn’t deserve my help,” I said, shifting the strap of my bag higher against my shoulder until the buckle dug into my collarbone. “I swore I would never help him again after what he did to me.”

George’s smirk disappeared.

“You humiliated me,” I continued, stepping closer to Kieran until I could smell cedar clinging to his coat. “You watched Vanessa soil my reputation, then stood there expecting me to survive it quietly because you found your

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soulmate.”

Kieran drew a slow breath. “Cassidy, it wasn’t planned.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

“You looked me in the face while I was carrying your child and told me another woman was your future.”

Kieran closed his eyes, the skin around his temples tightening. George muttered a curse beneath his breath and walked a few steps toward the hedges, rubbing his jaw.

I hated the sting gathering behind my eyes.

Thirty years later and my body still betrayed me around him.

I turned my face away and wiped beneath my lashes with the back of my wrist before either of them could look too closely.

“You know what’s insulting?” I asked quietly. “The fact that after everything, you still came to me because you knew I’d understand Meridian. You came because some part of you still expected me to save you.”

“Cassidy,” Kieran said again, lifting a hand toward me before letting it fall.

“No.” My voice cracked harder this time. “You don’t get to stand there acting tired and noble. You chose Vanessa. You defended her. Even after she nearly destroyed your mind, you still mourned her while I sat there wondering why I was never enough for anyone to stay.”

George stayed near the driveway curve now, staring toward the gates to give us space.

Kieran didn’t move.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he said finally.

The words landed uselessly between us.

“But you did,” I replied. “You hurt me, and now you have the nerve to stand here asking me for help again while you play house with another woman.”

His shoulders lowered slightly at that.

“You have Susan now,” I continued, my chest tightening beneath the leather jacket. “A new mate. A family. Her daughter. Another chance at happiness. Meanwhile I’m still carrying pieces of things you broke decades ago.”

“I know I don’t deserve your help,” Kieran admitted quietly. “I know that.”

Something painful moved through my chest because part of me had waited years to hear him say it.

It changed nothing.

George stopped beside the car door and looked at me carefully. “Cass, forget him for a second. That girl upstairs has no idea what she’s standing in front of. She’s pregnant and terrified.”

The girl’s face flashed through my mind again.

The shaking in her fingers.

The softness in her voice.

The way she still believed somebody could save Cameron without losing herself in the process.

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They had no idea what the Daughters demanded from women.

And sadly, she reminded me of myself.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I muttered, tossing my duffel bag into the backseat through the open window. “But I can’t force her into this. She has to walk into the Bower willingly.”

I looked toward the mansion windows glowing gold against the evening light.

“And if she does,” I said flatly, “she won’t come back out the same.”

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