TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 214

Two hundred and fourteen

Cassidy’s POV

Thirty years ago

Hot oil, chilli, and heat pressed against my skin as I stirred the pots of broth. Even knowing Kieran was coming to. pick me up did nothing for my mood.

My mom hunched over the counter, grating vegetables at machine speed, then snapped her fingers at me.

“Why are you slacking, Cassidy? There are more people to feed at the counter.”

“I’m trying, Mom,” I mumbled, rubbing my hands on my apron as I picked up a tray. She didn’t hear me over the hiss of meat frying in the giant pan beside her.

Men called for more soup before finishing what they already had, and I moved between their tables balancing bowls against my wrists. Some of them, like the idiot who had just walked in, talked to me too much, asking when I planned to marry and pointing out that my hips were getting wider.

“You’ll make some man very happy one day,” he said with a laugh thickened by alcohol.

I smiled tightly, collected his empty plate and I moved past two men loudly discussing the upcoming installation of the young Alpha, Kieran, and how he already carried himself more confidently than men twice his age.

“The boy has his father’s backbone,” one of them said.

“And his mother’s brain,” the other replied.

A smile tugged at my mouth despite the sweat dripping down my neck. I added an extra portion of meat to the heavier man’s plate before moving away.

I checked my wristwatch again. Kieran would be here soon.

My irritation deepened at the sight of the stack of dirty dishes beside the sink. My mother always found extra work for me whenever Kieran was involved.

“Get your head out of the clouds, Cassidy,” she snapped. “Do those dishes. You don’t expect me to do everything.”

“Mom, if you don’t want me to go, just say it.”

She huffed loudly through her nose while scraping burnt sauce from the bottom of a pot.

“As if you’d stay if I asked. You’d start talking about how Luna Diana invited you personally and how disrespectful it would be to refuse.”

I laughed under my breath while scrubbing plates as quickly as I could.

Headlights slid across the puddles near the roadside. My heart jumped. I pressed against the window to confirm it was his car approaching through the evening traffic.

“He’s here,” I said quickly. “I need to go.”

I abandoned the rag and hurried toward the corner where I kept my spare clothes folded inside a plastic bag. The floral dress was short and slightly too tight around my chest now. I rubbed oil perfume against my wrists to hide the smell of soup and smoke, popped mint into my mouth, brushed my hair, and changed in less than five

minutes.

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Even after a year together, I still got nervous stepping into his expensive car.

The rumors spreading through the Gamma district never stopped either. Women whispered when I passed. Men stared longer than usual whenever Kieran came to pick me up.

The future Alpha and a Gamma girl.

People treated it like a scandal waiting to collapse, but Kieran loved me.

We met after he returned from Alpha Academy to bury his father. Every girl in the territory already knew his name. Handsome and powerful. I never imagined he’d choose me.

I rushed outside and smiled when I saw him leaning against the car. At twenty, he stood taller than most men in the territory, his broad shoulders straining against dark wool that probably cost more than everything in my closet combined. Even leaning against the car, he carried the kind of presence people noticed immediately.

“We should leave before my mom remembers another chore,” I said quickly, avoiding his attempt to kiss me because too many people were watching.

“At least let me greet her.”

“She’s busy. I’ll tell her you said hello.”

Two girls passed nearby carrying shopping bags, their eyes dragging across Kieran openly before landing on me. Kieran didn’t notice them. His attention stayed fixed on my face.

As he opened the passenger door for me, he asked, “You’re sleeping over tonight, right?”

I slid into the seat and shut the door halfway. “You know my mom hates that.”

He leaned against the open window with a grin.

“Well, lucky for us, your mother also knows you still have etiquette classes to complete.”

My face dropped. Kieran laughed.

The etiquette classes had become another reminder that loving him wasn’t enough. The women teaching me treated every mistake like proof that I didn’t belong beside an Alpha.

“Don’t laugh,” I muttered as he got into the driver’s seat.

“You act like Mistress Helen eats people.”

“She enjoys torture.”

Kieran laughed again while pulling the car onto the road.

“My mother adores you, yet somehow the women under her scare you more.”

“Your mother is kind,” I said. “The others stare at me like I climbed out of the kitchen sink.”

We drove past the crowded Gamma district where mechanics, soldiers, factory workers, and people like my family lived packed closely together before heading toward the quieter upper territory. Noise faded the farther uphill we

drove.

The Alpha estate sat above the valley surrounded by trimmed lawns and armed guards stationed beside the gates.

I still hadn’t fully gotten used to it.

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The first time Kieran brought me here, I nearly threw up from nerves before stepping out of the car.

“You know,” Kieran said while steering one-handed through the gates, “you can’t avoid introducing our mothers forever.”

“I’m not avoiding it.”

“You are absolutely avoiding it.”

“My mother gets nervous. To face the Luna, one must prepare spiritually.”

“That sounds ridiculous.”

“It’s true.”

“One day I’m arranging the meeting myself,” he warned. “And you won’t see it coming.”

The gates opened before we even reached the checkpoint. Guards stepped aside as the tires rolled from rough asphalt onto gravel. Nothing here ever looked out of place. The grass stayed trimmed evenly. Workers moved quietly across the grounds carrying fresh flowers. Nobody shouted or argued. Even the air smelled cleaner than the lower districts.

“Please tell your mother I can finish the rest of my etiquette training through books,” I begged.

“You only have two lessons left. You’ll survive.”

We entered the mansion through the main foyer. Luna Diana was downstairs meeting with several women seated around the drawing room. Kieran dragged me upstairs. By the time we finally came back down later, my lipstick was ruined and his collar sat crooked beneath his jacket.

Luna Diana noticed. Her smile widened as she opened her arms toward me.

“There you are, Cassidy.”

I stepped into her embrace while trying not to laugh from embarrassment.

Even after losing her mate years ago, Luna Diana still carried warmth naturally. People softened around her without realizing it.

“I was just telling the others that I’ll retire peacefully one day knowing my son picked someone sensible,” she said.

My stomach flipped.

“Kieran loves you. You love him. The rest will sort itself out.”

The certainty in her voice still shocked me every time.

“You’re not marrying him just to become a wife,” Luna Diana continued. “You’re marrying him to become Luna. That requires confidence, Cassidy.”

“I’m trying.”

“You’re doubting.”

I looked down at my hands.

“It’s difficult imagining myself surviving all this.”

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She lifted my chin gently.

“You are not the first Gamma woman to become Luna. Stop behaving as though your bloodline disqualifies you from standing beside my son.”

“At least the others were better prepared.”

Luna Diana laughed, the gap between her teeth showing.

“Mistress Helen has truly damaged your spirit.”

As if summoned by evil itself, Mistress Helen entered the room carrying a stack of books against her chest. I nearly groaned aloud. Luna Diana pressed her lips together to stop herself from smiling before lightly warning Mistress Helen not to terrorize me.

For the next two hours, my back hurt from posture correction while my head pounded from memorizing / ceremonial seating charts and greeting protocols.

Mistress Helen stopped me constantly.

“No.”

“Again.”

“Your shoulders.”

“Again.”

“Future Lunas do not slouch.”

By the end of the lesson I wanted to fake my own death. Thankfully, Kieran eventually returned and sat through the remaining lecture beside me. Mistress Helen visibly hated that.

“She learns quickly,” Kieran said when the woman corrected my posture again.

I smiled despite myself. Kieran made loving him feel easy. Safe. Permanent.

Later that night, I lay stretched across his bed while he caught his breath beside me, our fingers still loosely tangled together.

“I have to finish reports for tomorrow’s council meeting,” he muttered, kissing my forehead before reaching toward the papers stacked beside the lamp.

I rolled onto my stomach and watched him.

“You know Vanessa comes home Sunday.”

He glanced up blankly. I rolled my eyes.

“I’ve mentioned my best friend returning at least six times.”

Recognition crossed his face.

“Oh. Right. Vanessa.”

“At least she’ll make all this easier,” I said. “I need someone normal around me before your etiquette demons finally kill me.”

Vanessa had been studying abroad in her maternal territory since spring. Unlike me, she came from mixed Alpha

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and Beta bloodlines and moved comfortably through spaces that still intimidated me.

Every letter she mailed home was filled with stories about city restaurants, expensive stores, and boys she claimed annoyed her.

I smiled just thinking about her.

“She still doesn’t believe you’re real,” I admitted.

Kieran looked up from the documents.

“What does that even mean?”

“She thinks I exaggerated how handsome you are.”

“That’s fair.”

“And she thinks you’ll secretly turn out to be another arrogant Alpha snob.”

His mouth curved upward.

“Then I suppose I’ll have to disappoint her.”

“I can’t wait for her to see how sweet you are underneath the Alpha act.”

“And I can’t wait for you to become my wife,” he replied quietly.

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