TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 235

Two hundred and thirty five

Conversations gradually thinned as late arrivals slipped into empty seats. A woman near the front rose and walked down the center aisle with a black folder pressed against her side. Someone closed the entrance doors from inside and checked the handle before taking a seat.

I watched as phones disappeared into bags and coat pockets without anyone being told, and did the same. The woman at the front delivered a summary of outstanding chapter matters, followed by another woman with updates from a neighboring district.

Questions came from different parts of the room, but I understood none of it. Two members even openly clashed over resource allocation, dragging several others into the argument until an older woman seated in front raised a staff, and the hall grew silent again.

My eyes stayed fixed on her. Was she the leader? She was dressed in dark clothing and wore no jewelry or visible marker of authority.

“Enough, ladies. We’ve heard both positions,” she said. Her voice was calm and matter-of-fact. “Let’s move on.”

The woman with the folder turned to the next page.

“We have four invitees under review tonight. May they rise.”

My stomach knotted as dread took over. Cassidy stood, casting a brief look over her shoulder, and I got to my feet alongside three other women and their sponsors. One looked younger than me, another kept rubbing her fingers together, and the last stood rigidly with her eyes fixed straight ahead.

Cassidy was the third to speak.

“I stand in for Lisa,” she said. “Emergency review candidate. Surrogate pregnancy. Active Meridian exposure through Alpha Cameron of Wild Fangs.”

There was no attempt to make me sound pitiful. A few women looked in my direction before returning their attention to the front. The woman at the front made a note in her folder as the older leader looked toward Cassidy.

“Why are you standing for this civilian, and what is your relationship to her?”

Cassidy’s lips pursed before she answered. She clearly didn’t want to explain how she’d become involved in my case. By now, I was certain these women knew Cassidy’s history with Alpha Kieran, the choices she’d made, and the consequences that followed. Bringing him into the conversation now might have made it look as though she’d allowed old loyalties to influence her judgment. I wasn’t offended by her silence; if anything, I respected it.

“I became involved because she came to me for help,” Cassidy said. “She’s central to it.”

1 “What is she to Cameron beyond being his surrogate?”

Cassidy didn’t answer immediately. I doubted these women tolerated lies, and I couldn’t imagine Cassidy inventing a story simply because it sounded better.

“That depends on which truth survives. Legally, she’s his surrogate and the woman carrying his child. But his wolf has chosen her. Whether that choice was stolen, buried, or never allowed to mature is precisely what we’re trying to determine.”

“So that hasn’t been proven. Then why is she here?”

“Because Alpha Cameron is a high-value Meridian target whose deterioration has resisted their conditioning because he formed a strong attachment to her. I believe the Meridian interfered with the original mate bond. If

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that’s true, then she is carrying the child of a bond they failed to erase.”

“That’s a serious allegation,” the woman said. “Belief isn’t evidence, Cassidy.”

“No,” Cassidy replied. “But Cameron’s resistance to the Dominion is. The girl needs protection.”

The woman chuckled. “If we commit resources, what do we gain that justifies them?”

Cassidy avoided eye contact with the woman. “A chance to interrupt a Meridian operation before it succeeds.”

Silence settled over the room.

“We’ll determine whether that’s sufficient,” the older woman said.

The conversation ended without a verdict or reassurance.

I returned to my seat while the meeting moved on to the next matter, as though my future could wait while regular chapter business continued.

They weren’t rescuers or running a shelter; they measured usefulness and cost before deciding whether someone deserved a place at the table.

I became aware of someone watching me. She sat a few seats away, close enough that I caught her looking more than once. Each time our eyes met, she looked away without embarrassment, only to glance back later. She had green eyes, wavy blonde hair, and looked a few years older than me.

Her expression wasn’t unfriendly, but deeply curious, leaving me to wonder whether she was a member or, like me, someone waiting for an answer.

The meeting stretched on, and I stopped trying to keep track of it until Cassidy appeared beside me and inclined her head toward the door.

Rising quietly, I followed her out into the hallway. She stopped just outside the front doors.

“You’re under emergency review. I won’t be presenting your case in the general meeting. You’ll come with me to Joanna’s tomorrow evening.”

Who was Joanna? I wanted to ask, but figured it was the older woman with the staff of authority.

“Where?”

“You’ll know when we get there.”

A dozen questions rushed to my mind, but knowing Cassidy, she didn’t volunteer information simply because someone wanted reassurance.

“What about Meridian Dominion?” I asked. “We don’t exactly have unlimited time.”

She sighed. “Child, you’re not the first woman to walk through these doors because of them. There are wives whose husbands no longer recognize them. Mates forced out of their own homes by honeypots. Children who grew up believing the wrong woman was their mother. Compared to some of them, your case isn’t unique.”

Her words stung.

“Of course,” I said, swallowing the tightness in my throat. “If there’s even a small chance we can be saved… then that’s enough for me.”

She turned back toward the meeting room, and disappeared inside without another word.

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