TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 238

Two hundred and thaty eight

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Two hundred and thirty eight

Cassidy still sounded strained over the phone, like I was interrupting her. Before, that would have made me anxious. Now I knew better.

“I wanted to confirm tomorrow.”

“It’s still tomorrow.”

“I know. I mean… should Alpha Kieran’s guard drop me at your place?”

A short silence followed.

“Yes. Eight-thirty. One second late and you’re on your own.”

“I’ll be there.”

The call ended before I could say anything else.

For someone who claimed she didn’t want company, she seemed to be getting more bearable to my presence, ever though nothing had changed between us, but she no longer felt like a stranger.

My mom looked up from the couch.

“Everything settled?”

I nodded, and she grew quiet.

“I still think you shouldn’t become too attached.”

The words caught me off guard, and she explained herself.

“We don’t want to get our hopes crushed because we still don’t know their decision. If they say no, we walk away.”

I understood what she meant. If the daughters decided I wasn’t worth the cost, Cassidy would simply become another person I had to leave behind.

“I know,” I said.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to regret that weekend. Whatever Joanna decided,

“She acts like she doesn’t need anyone, but she shouldn’t have to live like that forever. Maybe if Alpha Kieran tried again…”

The look she gave me made me pause.

“I’m saying maybe he still has a chance to make things right.”

“A chance to make peace isn’t the same as a chance to rebuild a life. If someone doesn’t want your help, you can’t keep offering it. After a while, kindness starts feeling like pressure.”

“But Cassidy’s lonely.”

“I know she is, and I understand why you want this for both of them. Kieran has been carrying that guilt for years. He has no heir of his own. When he’s gone, the Alpha title will pass to his nephew. He’s paid for his choices in more ways than people realize, but none of that gives us the right to force things on Cassidy.”

“So we do nothing?”

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“We let her heal at her own pace. If she ever decides to open that door again, it has to be because she chose to.”

I lay on the couch.

“Fair enough.”

Alpha Kieran stepped into the living room. He took off his coat, draped it over a chair, and stayed standing instead of sitting. He looked like he’d carried something heavy all the way home.

“What happened?” I asked, having not seen him since I returned.

“Cameron had another episode yesterday.”

My heart pounded faster at the mention of Cameron. He sat beside my mother, rubbing a hand over his face.

“He started hallucinating. Franklin had to bring a doctor in. He kept shouting at Evangeline to get away from him. The doctor couldn’t make sense of half of what he was saying.”

The knot in my stomach tightened. Hearing that he had slipped back into hallucinations made the Dominion feel closer than it had a few days ago. It wasn’t waiting for us to catch up. It was already pulling him under again.

“Is he all right now?” my mom asked.

“Stable,” Kieran said. “For now.”

“I hate that he doesn’t just leave that house,” I mumbled.

“Unfortunately, Evangeline is the source maintaining whatever they’ve done to him. Remove her the wrong way, and there’s no telling what happens to his mind before we can break that bond.”

Then he looked at me.

“If Cameron calls or messages you, don’t tell him anything about the Daughters.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“Good. Because if Evangeline hears even a hint of it through him, she’ll know someone’s moving against the Meridian. We can’t afford that.”

“And if he asks where I’ve been?”

“Tell him anything that keeps the Daughters out of the conversation. Until we know who we’re dealing with, assume nothing you say to Cameron stays between the two of you.”

He was right. Until the Dominion was broken, even an ordinary conversation could become another weapon against him.

The assembly meeting had already ended by the time Cassidy led me into a smaller chamber where a handful of women remained.

Some looked old enough to be grandmothers. Others were barely older than me. None of them smiled as I took the empty chair facing Joanna.

Joanna folded her hands, smiling at me, which I found quite uncomfortable.

“You spent the weekend with Cassidy.”

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I nodded.

“What did you observe?”

The question caught me off guard.

“I…” I looked at Cassidy before answering. “She notices everything.”

Joanna said nothing.

“She doesn’t waste words. She keeps herself busy because stopping would force her to think.”

Some women chuckled. Cassidy’s face remained stoic.

“And?”

“She cares more than she lets people see.”

“Or perhaps you’re simply projecting,” Cassidy muttered.

“Did she convince you we’re worth joining?” Joanna said.

Tongue-tied, I remained silent.

Joanna turned toward the others.

“You’ve heard enough.”

The discussion that followed moved away from me.

“She’s still a civilian. We’ve committed resources before and paid dearly,” one whose hair was streaked with silver said, her gaze on my stomach making me want to hide.

“We don’t recruit because someone has suffered,” another said.

Each objection chipped away at the hope I’d walked in with. They had seen women like me before, and most of them had decided I wasn’t worth another risk.

Cassidy spoke this time.

“If the Meridian completes Dominion, we’ll lose far more than one civilian and access over this region. And if Joanna believes I need a companion for what comes next, then Lisa is my recommendation.”

She was choosing to spend what little influence she had on me.

The room quieted. Joanna looked around the table.

“Recommendations.”

Cassidy raised her hand. Two other women followed. The remaining hands stayed down.

“The chapter should decline,” the silver-haired woman said. “The risk outweighs the return.”

Joanna remained silent until every voice had been heard. Then she spoke.

“I have a score to settle with Catherine.”

Luna Catherine. Evangeline’s mother.

Whatever had happened between them?

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Hope bloomed in me. Someone with the power to stand against the Meridian also had a reason to stand against the woman who had destroyed so much of my life.

“Catherine and her minions have taken enough from this chapter. Whether Cameron reaches full Dominion or not, the Meridian is unlikely to leave this girl alive. She knows too much. She’s carrying a child they have already tried to eliminate.”

My pulse pounded. She was stating what she believed was inevitable. If the Daughters walked away, the Meridian wouldn’t.

She looked directly at me.

“I’m invoking emergency admission authority.”

She closed the folder in front of her and asked for a petal to be called.

The blonde woman who had watched me during the previous meeting stepped forward.

“Victoria, show Lisa the chapter house. She’ll be staying there whenever chapter business requires it.”

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