TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 230

Two hundred and thirty

Cameron POV

Water dripped from my hair onto my shoulders. Outside the bathroom, Nadia waited with a towel.

The ice bath had worked for now.

When the voices got too loud and layered over each other, Nadia would drag me into the bathroom and dump me. into freezing water.

The shock interrupted it, not permanently but it bought me breathing room.

“They won’t shut up,” I said, my tone gravelly. “They keep fucking talking and telling me what to do.”

Nadia stepped behind me. The towel moved through my hair. I pressed my eyes shut.

“They want Lisa dead.”

The words tasted rotten.

“They keep saying kill Lisa, again and again, and again.”

I opened my eyes. Nadia eyes filled with unshed tears. She made me sit and began brushing my hair.

“Where’s Franklin?”

She set the comb down and heaved a sigh.

“He went to see Lisa.”

Everything inside me stalled and my chest tightened.

“Why?”

Nadia smiled.

“Because he’s trying to help.”

I looked away. Help. The word carried a hundred possibilities.

Was she safe?

Was she still frightened of me?

She should be. The last time she’d seen me, I’d nearly killed her.

I stared at the floor. despite all of that, despite everything I’d done and everything happening inside my head, I wanted to see her.

Nadia must have seen something on my face because she chuckled.

“Soon.”

I found myself nodding like an idiot.

Even hearing Lisa’s name helped. The pressure inside my skull eased and the voices faded farther into the background.

A laugh escaped me and Nadia raised an eyebrow.

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“What?”

I shook my head.

“It’s ridiculous that the sound of her name calms me down.”

Nadia’s smile widened.

“Perhaps she could be your real mate.”

I looked up at her, wondering whether I was coming from at the same time my thoughts scattered,

“We think Evangeline may have tampered with the bond.”

I looked away as every memory I’d been avoiding started resurfacing.

The first night when my wolf reacted to her. The absence of struggle.

I had spent years believing those feelings belonged to Evangeline.

Could that explain why falling for Lisa felt effortless while everything with Evangeline required constant reassurance?

Could that explain why my wolf seemed to recognize something long before my mind did?

I rubbed a hand across my face. Hope frightened me these days, because hope implied something could still be

fixed.

“Wouldn’t that be a miracle?”

Nadia smiled.

“Frank has been rooting for the two of you for months. I might as well hop onto the bandwagon.”

The normality of the moment felt strange.

“Evangeline fooled us.”

Nadia rolled her eyes.

“The sickness and specialists, every one of them.”

Nadia snorted.

“Turns out half the medical community belonged to a cult who are good at deception.”

Her face softened as she reached over and squeezed my hand.

“You’ll be okay. We’re getting you back.”

The voices returned later that night.

At first they whispered. Female voices weaving through each other until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began.

I gripped my pillow.

No.

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They weren’t real.

Don’t answer them. Don’t argue with them.

Pretend they aren’t there.

1 tried.

God, I tried.

The white noise machine of ocean waves and rain sounds hummed from the corner. None of it worked. The voices kept slipping through.

Kill her.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

She’ll destroy everything.

No.

The pressure built behind my eyes. The harder I ignored them, the louder they became.

I got to my feet. The voices followed as I crossed the room. The keys rattled in my hand. I was leaving and I didn’t know where.

I didn’t care.

I just needed something other than this room and these voices and this constant battle inside my own head.

The door flew open and Nadia rushed inside.

“Cameron.”

I ignored her.

She grabbed my wrist and stepped in front of me. I tried to go around her. She blocked me again.

“Cameron.”

The voices screamed and the sound tore through my skull as I shoved a hand into my hair.

“Make them stop.”

My knees buckled.

“Make them fucking stop.”

Concern took its place on her face as she grabbed both my hands.

“Cameron.”

My breathing turned uneven.

“They won’t stop talking.”

Panic broke through. A fear that one day I would stop fighting because I was tired.

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Nadia pulled me into a hug. I hated how much I needed it.

“Don’t leave me.”

“I’m right here.”

She guided me back toward the bed, took the keys and then sat beside me.

My mind refused to shut down.

“I want to see her. I just want to know she’s okay.”-

Nadia nodded.

“You’re going to see Lisa sooner than you think.”

“How?”

“We’re working on it.”

Her smile widened.

“We just need a way to do it without Meridian finding out.”

I imagined Lisa standing in front of me. The image brought a different fear.

“What if I hurt her?”

I looked down at my hands. The same hands that had nearly killed her.

The same hands that now shook.

“I can’t risk that.”

Nadia reached over. She covered my hand with hers.

“That’s exactly why I trust you.”

I frowned.

She held my gaze.

“A monster doesn’t worry about becoming a monster. You keep fighting it.We’re all still here because we believe you’re stronger than this.”

I nodded.

I didn’t feel strong but wasn’t ready to give up yet.

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