TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 234

Two hundred and thirty four

Harry doubled over, laughing so hard he had to bury his face in his shoulder.

“You should have seen the way I ran off like someone lit a fire under my butt,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You’re getting entirely too much enjoyment out of this.”

He didn’t even try to deny it. “My greatest mistake was leaving early with the bond reader and being deprived of the drama.”

“It felt like somebody pressed a button and Evangeline just appeared,” I muttered. “At this point, if someone told me she was summoned by an ancient curse, I wouldn’t even be surprised.”

He reached for my chart, his smile fading. The aftermath of her arrival had been ugly. According to Franklin’s later call, Evangeline had completely lost her mind, dropping the sweet act entirely to brag that Cameron’s life was in her hands. The sheer possessiveness of it was chilling. How was anyone supposed to fight an enemy that could make your own thoughts feel foreign?

“Nobody should have that much access to another person,” I said.

Harry sighed, nodding. “I’m not a big fan of Cameron, but he doesn’t deserve what they’re doing to him. I sincerely hope he gets better.”

In the weeks that followed, Cameron started checking in. It wasn’t anything grand or romantic, just ordinary texts asking about my day, or calls asking if the baby was behaving, before jokingly complaining that the baby got more updates than he did. For so long, every interaction between us had carried the heavy weight of contracts, the pregnancy, or the next impending crisis. Now, there were beautiful stretches where we simply existed in each other’s lives, talking about small things neither of us would have cared about months ago.

The wolf examination had shifted something. I still couldn’t feel a magical bond, but the uncertainty between us grew smaller. Cameron stopped acting as though caring about me was something he needed to defend, and I stopped pretending his messages didn’t brighten my day.

Yet reality never stayed buried for long.

Sometimes during a call, he would fall silent right in the middle of a sentence. I could hear the brutal strain in those long pauses as he fought for control, masking a leaking frustration before continuing the conversation as if nothing had happened. He tried to joke about Franklin treating him like a patient under observation, or complain that nobody trusted him alone for five minutes. But beneath the humor sat a bitter resentment, the raw humiliation of knowing his own pack was watching him, terrified of what he might do if they looked away.

The Dominion was still there. Evangeline was still there. The voices were still trapped in his head.

Cruel.

Alpha Kieran said, bursting into the sitting room with a grin, too energized to bother sitting down.

I looked up from the couch. “Who?”

“The Daughters.”

My mom and I exchanged glances. “When?”

“Sunday. Nine p.m. The invitation came through Cassidy.”

I stared at him. “Why?”

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He laughed. “Beats me, considering we don’t even have proof of your bond with Cameron yet. But proof isn’t the only thing people look at. There are different doors to evidence.”

“Or maybe they want something from Lisa,” my mother said, her voice dropping.

Kieran looked at her. “Susan,”

“What if she walks into something she doesn’t understand?” my mother interrupted. “What if she enters a room she can’t come back from?”

I knew where the panic was coming from. Every major decision in my life seemed to begin with someone wanting something from me. A surrogate contract. A pregnancy. A child. Loyalty. Time. Sacrifice. The list never seemed to end.

I moved beside my mother and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She sighed, leaning into my touch as Kieran’s expression softened.

“I understand why you’re worried,” Kieran said gently, finally taking a seat. “But we need their help. If she doesn’t go, she loses an opportunity. The Daughters aren’t angels. They’re stubborn, and they keep information close to their chest, but everything they stand for opposes the Meridian. Right now, the thing you need most is protection. They have the resources to provide it.”

The invitation consumed my thoughts long after Kieran left. The next two days blurred past, and before I knew it, Sunday evening had arrived.

Nobody talked much during the journey. When we finally pulled into the parking lot, I didn’t immediately reach for the door handle. Instead, I stared through the windshield. A few vehicles occupied the dark lot, and muted lights glowed from inside the building. Nothing about it resembled the crowded charity fundraiser I’d attended the first time. This felt entirely private.

Kieran switched off the engine and turned to face me, while my mother squeezed my hand tightly before letting go. “We’ll be right here when you’re done.”

I nodded and stepped out into the cool air.

Cassidy stood near the entrance, her hands buried deep in the pockets of her jacket. She didn’t smile or acknowledge me until I was standing directly in front of her. She glanced at her watch. “You’re late.”

I hurried after her, keeping pace as she pushed through the entrance doors. They clicked shut behind us, instantly cutting off the outside world and leaving only the low murmur of voices ahead.

Cassidy pointed toward the left side of the room. “Sit there.”

She walked away without another word, leaving me to head toward the rows of occupied chairs. As I approached, a few women looked up. Their attention was neither hostile nor welcoming. Having experienced plenty of judgment in my life, I knew the difference; this felt like people trying to solve a puzzle.

I found an empty seat near the middle and looked around. While some women sat with the easy posture of people who belonged here, others clearly did not. A young woman ahead of me kept rubbing her thumb against her palm, another adjusted her jacket repeatedly, and someone near the back flinched at every sound from the entrance.

The sight settled something inside me. I wasn’t the only newcomer. Some of them were here for the exact same reasons I was: help, answers, and protection.

I shifted in my seat and faced the front of the room like everyone else, waiting to find out why I had been invited.

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