TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 252

Two hundred and fifty two

Lisa POV

Harry looked up as I came down the stairs. He squinted and leaned forward hard enough that I stopped.

“What?”

“So when do you start floating?”

I stared at him, trying to work out what he meant.

He burst out laughing.

“Come on, Lisa, don’t be a killjoy. You’ve joined an ancient secret order.” He glanced at the ceiling and flapped his arms. “I expected glowing eyes by breakfast and levitation after lunch.”

I laughed.

“You’ll be disappointed.”

“What a scam.”

Kieran laughed from across the room.

“I’m just saying, if someone tells me they survived a terrifying initiation beneath an underground labyrinth, I’m expecting at least one supernatural side effect.”

“If sore feet count, then chalk that in.”

I smiled, but it didn’t last. Every step made me aware of the weight I carried, and exhaustion sat deep in my bones.

My phone buzzed.

Pack your bags and get to the chapter house immediately. Your protection begins today.

“What does that even mean?” I groaned, looking at Mom.

Kieran gave me a sympathetic look.

“Meridian must have realized you’re no longer vulnerable.”

I dropped my head.

“Can’t they just leave me alone? I’m pregnant. The room isn’t comfortable enough over there.”

“Perhaps we could get you a bed,” Mom said.

I looked at her. ⚫

“They wouldn’t even let me bring one last time.”

“You have to go,” Kieran said. “Otherwise they’ll come looking.”

Another message from Cassidy.

Leave your phone at home. You won’t be carrying it anymore.

“What? No phone?”

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+15 Benus

I understood why. They didn’t want anyone outside the chapter house contacting me, or me contacting them. Meridian could be listening. It still stung. I wouldn’t even be able to call Mom. Cameron would notice I had disappeared, and his imagination would do the rest.

I blew out a breath and called Cassidy. She answered over the noise of what sounded like a train station,

“We’ve begun rotating surveillance on Luna Catherine.”

“Anything?”

“She has attended every major couture exhibition for years.”

The words pulled at something in my memory. I had been her personal shopper. I knew the exhibitions she never missed. The annual Moonweave exhibition. The designers she always visited. The private lounges she disappeared into whenever she wanted to get away from people.

I told Cassidy everything I remembered.

“That’s good,” she said. “Very good.”

The praise caught me off guard. Cassidy had never given it before. My chest eased.

“Will you be going there alone?”

“I’ve done harder things. We just need her to get comfortable with her routine.”

I hesitated.

“Evangeline’s brother says she’s getting worse. I don’t know the details yet.

“Great.”

She ended the call, then rang again almost immediately.

“Pack your things and head to the chapter house. Be there before three.”

I looked at the clock.

Past twelve.

My stomach sank.

“Why the sudden urgency?”

“Don’t ask questions,” Cassidy snapped. “They’ll find you. They’ll know you’re protected.”

“But how? Is someone inside the Daughters feeding them information?”

Cassidy laughed.

“If we believed that, none of us would still be alive.”

The answer settled heavily in my chest. Meridian had found me before, in the place I thought was safest. They didn’t need a spy.

Before I left, I handed Mom my phone and the bracelet Cameron had given me.

“If he asks…”

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Asthunded and filty two

+15 Benus

quickest route to a bathroom. It definitely wasn’t the one upstairs.

Night didn’t help much either. Every position hurt. One side made my hip ache. Rolling over earned an angry kick. Even when I managed to fall asleep, the smell of ritual incense drifting under my door sometimes sent me running to the bathroom before sunrise.

I caught myself listening for Cassidy’s return. I couldn’t believe I missed her. She was the only piece of home I had left here. Sometimes I woke with tears already on my face before I even remembered the dream.

Some nights someone had taken my baby. Other nights Meridian walked into the chapter house as if nothing could stop him. I always woke up sweating. My hands went straight to my stomach, waiting. When the baby kicked back, my chest loosened.

I missed Cameron too. I wondered if he was all right and whether he hated me for disappearing without a word.

Victoria and I were crossing the courtyard when Joanna rushed out of the infirmary carrying a newborn. Three other women guided the mother toward another part of the building. The woman kept looking over her shoulder.

“They took her baby,” I whispered.

“It’s for safety,” Victoria said. “Precautions.”

I wondered what would happen when mine was born. Whether “only for a while” could quietly become forever.

That thought followed me back to my room.

A dark smear streaked the outside of the windowsill. I leaned closer without touching it. It looked like greasy fingerprints.

Or claw marks.

That couldn’t be right. My room was upstairs.

I hurried to get Victoria.

“I think someone was outside my window.”

She came over and studied the mark beside me.

“It could be grease.”

She looked at me.

“You don’t really think someone climbed up here?”

“I don’t know. You’ve barely slept all week. And you’re scared.”

I rubbed my face.

“I think I’m becoming paranoid.”

She rested a hand on my shoulder.

“I think you’re exhausted.”

After dinner, I came back to my room and found another bed being carried inside. My old one had been replaced with something softer. A few minutes later, Victoria walked in with a bundle of clothes.

“They’re letting me stay here.”

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whunted and fifty two

+15 Bonus

Relief hit so hard my eyes burned.

That night I slept straight through and the nightmares stayed away.

The following afternoon, Joanna wrapped a thin thread around my stomach. It looked more like a waist bead than anything mystical.

“What does it do?” I asked.

“It reminds certain spirits to look elsewhere.”

She tied the knot and let the thread rest against my skin.

“Has Cassidy reported in?”

Joanna didn’t answer.

My stomach tightened.

“We’ve lost contact with her.”

Victoria lowered her book.

My heart pounded.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know.”

Only then did I notice how tired Joanna looked.

“She told me she was following Luna Catherine,” I said.

Joanna nodded.

“We believe Catherine left the territory for another ritual. Cassidy followed her to an old tree line. Catherine appeared to be checking the stars. Cassidy stepped on a dry branch and hid before she was seen. Then a street child wandered over asking for coins. After that…” She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Oh no.”

“We’re looking.”

My hand settled over my stomach.

Until then, I’d believed the daughters could always protect each other. Now I knew they could disappear too.

I wanted to apologize. To tell Joanna this had happened because of me. The words never left my mouth.

Instead I asked, “Can I at least speak to my mother?”

“No.”

“It’s been days. Please.”

“We closed every line of communication for a reason. It won’t be forever.”

“Will she be here when I give birth?”

“Yes.”

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