TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 255

Two hundred and fifty five

Evangeline POV

Kade’s words, Trust us, kept echoing in my head.

Trusting them would mean killing them.

If all of this were over, and the Meridian finally got what they wanted from me, Kade would be glad he hadn’t tangled himself in something that would ruin his life forever. His bravery would get him killed within hours if I didn’t keep my mouth shut.

Cameron had looked at me, searching my face for signs of the cult’s conditioning, as if he himself wasn’t already a Meridian target.

I was heading to the bathroom to empty my bladder when I spotted a midnight-black ribbon tied around the doorknob. The fabric carried the choking smell of grave dirt. I leaned closer, and the metallic stench of rotting blood filled my nose.

It was the psychic calling card of a cult execution, not my panties, or whatever I’d left hanging there carelessly.

My teeth chattered as I tried to untie the knot with shaking fingers. But the ribbon felt unnaturally heavy, sticking to my skin like wet tar until I gave up and bolted down the hallway.

My vision blurred, forcing me to brace myself against the wall as I stumbled toward Kade’s room. I looked over my shoulder, certain I could see the black mold of the cult’s tracking spell spreading from the doorknob across the tiled floor.

I hit the door with both palms, the sound echoing through the quiet house.

“Kade!” I called, scratching at the grain of his door.

They were coming for me.

The smell of decay grew so thick in the corridor that I had to dry heave into my sleeve while I kept kicking and throwing my weight against the locked bedroom door. When the lock finally clicked, I shoved past Kade before he could open it fully, slammed the door shut behind me, and locked it.

“What is it?” Kade said, his voice thick with sleep.

I collapsed onto my knees at his feet, wrapping my arms around his legs so tightly he couldn’t step away as my body shook with terror.

“Eva, what is it?” he said, dropping to the floor and cupping my cheeks.

Then I grabbed his hands and forced them against my throat.

“Squeeze.”

Kade frowned.

“Do it. Don’t let them take me, please.”

His eyes widened as I pressed his hands harder against my throat.

“What are you doing?”

He tried to pull away. I held on tighter.

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+15 Bonus

“Kill me before they find me. I can’t fight anymore.’

My voice broke into a wail. A mercy killing from him was better than what they would do.

He caught both my wrists. I fought him, thrashed, kicked, and screamed. His face crumpled.

“Evangeline, look at me,” he said, grabbing my shoulder.

I couldn’t. Something crawled beneath my scalp again. I clawed at my head. He caught my hand before my nails reached my skin.

“Stop.”

“Let me go. They’re inside me.”

“No, they’re not.”

“They’re taking my mind.”

He pulled me against him and wrapped both arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides before I could hurt myself. I struggled until every bit of strength drained out of me. The fight left me. Only sobs remained, and Kade didn’t let go.

Eventually, he reached for the bedside table and poured a glass of water.

“Drink.”

I looked at it. The stench of rot and death seemed to drift beneath the surface, and I slapped the glass away. It shattered across the floor.

“Can’t you smell it? It smells like death.”

My breathing broke apart again as he cupped my face. He wiped away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.

“Breathe,” he said. “In, out.”

I tried and failed, then tried again until the room slowly stopped spinning.

“Just talk to me. You don’t have to carry this alone anymore.”

A tired laugh escaped me.

“Can’t you see? I’m trying to protect you.’

I trembled.

“Don’t ask me questions I cannot answer. If you want answers, go to the woman who opened the gate.”

He looked confused, then it dawned on him that I was talking about our mother.

I scoffed.

“She’s a Meridian salesperson living in our house.”

Memories of the day I came home from one of the many sleepovers I’d had with friends flooded back. Her hands gripped my arms, holding me down. The smell of burning herbs. Someone chanting. My mother’s face above mine.

“She held me down,” I said, sobbing. “I begged her. She wouldn’t let me go. And now she raised me to be a sacrifice.”

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I turned away.

“I never wanted any of this near you. I told her I’d do anything, but she should never bring you into this.”

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, and he stared at me as though he’d never seen me before.

“Be careful,” I said, squeezing his hand. “People you trust will smile at you, love you, but they could be something you can never escape. And if you’re their target, your life is already over.”

+15 Bcnus

The shrill ring of my phone tore through the silence of 5 a.m., yanking me awake from another restless sleep.

I fumbled in the dark for it, rubbing my forehead in circles to ease the headache.

My mother’s name flashed across the screen. A cold spread through me. I almost didn’t answer. Was she calling me to mock me? To remind me how many days, or months if I was lucky, I had left before they destroyed me?

Her voice over the line was crisp, without a trace of sleep.

“Eva, get dressed right now and come to the site.”

“Why?” I said flatly, even as my heart skipped.

“You have been trying to vilify me all this while, saying that I abandoned you. I found a way to redeem you from the Meridian’s final punishment.”

My pulse quickened.

“We might have before us a final window of redemption. And if you can pass this assignment, all your failures will be wiped away.”

The words filled my lungs like air. Did I still have a chance?

“We just caught someone. She has been Lisa’s strongest protection. And she belongs to the Daughters.”

“What?” I said, pushing myself out of bed. “Lisa knows the Daughters?”

“It would seem so,” my mother said with a chuckle.

That explained things.

“But not to worry. Slit her sponsor’s throat, and all your failures and misgivings will be forgotten, at least to an extent. Lisa’s powers rely entirely on this woman. Destroying that protector makes her completely helpless. Then we can march on our way to victory.”

She chuckled softly over the receiver.

“Just imagine it. You can have Cameron’s loyalty back permanently. All you have to do is make her bleed to death.”

Her words cleared the fog in my head. Even as the temptation settled in, I’d never killed anyone before, at least not by myself. I only followed instructions while someone else finished the job.

I walked to my dresser and tried to make my hair look presentable. My bloodshot eyes stared back at me from the mirror. I wondered if I already looked like someone capable of killing just to buy back her own life.

The thought of Lisa, pregnant, safe, and loved by Cameron sent envy surging through my chest until it drowned out my fear.

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+15 8chus

Benut

Lisa and her people in exchange for my sanity.

I pictured the curved ritual dagger they would hand me and squeezed my eyes shut. The smell of death no longer felt like a warning. It drew me in.

If death was coming anyway, I might as well choose who died first.

A small smile touched my lips.

Perhaps this really was my mother’s way of saving me.

The house was empty as I made my way downstairs. The guards already stationed there nodded as I drove off.

I wasn’t useless after all, I thought, my fingers drumming against the steering wheel. I had a mission again.

I didn’t know who this woman was. I didn’t need to. If this was what it took for the madness to stop, for the nightmares and the smell of blood to end, then I would do it. I would live. There was still hope.

I stepped into the clearing and stopped. The mood felt wrong for an execution. About six Meridian members stood around talking as though they had gathered after last night’s meeting. The normalcy of it made my stomach tighten.

“There you are,” my mother said, walking toward me with a smile. “I knew you would come.”

She hugged me, but I stayed stiff.

My gaze moved past her to the ancient oak tree at the center of the clearing.

A woman I had never seen before was tied tightly against the trunk. Thick hemp ropes bit into her forearms and waist. A dirt-stained cloth gag filled her mouth, turning every breath into a muffled groan. Dark bruises spread across her jaw and collarbone, the marks of whatever it took to drag her here,

I’d never seen her before, but something in my gut told me she belonged to the Daughters of the Moon, the mortal enemies of the Veiled Meridian.

She looked at me. Her eyes pleaded for mercy.

My mother winked as though this were a rite of passage. She pressed the handle of a silver ritual knife into my palm and whispered, “Redeem yourself.”

My fingers kept slipping against the silver handle, making the knife feel heavier each time I tightened my grip. The shaking spread from my knees into my chest until the blade trembled in front of me as I’stared at the bruises circling the woman’s throat.

She was middle-aged, perhaps a few years older than my mother.

I glanced back. My mother nodded for me to continue while the others stepped away.

“I don’t want my precious dress ruined by dirty blood. I would not forgive myself for it,” my mother said.

“Why not tear the gag off so we can hear her scream to death?” another woman said.

My breathing grew louder. I reached up with shaking hands and ripped the cloth from the woman’s mouth, bracing myself for a scream or a desperate plea.

Instead, she sagged against the ropes and looked at me with pity. Blood stained her lips as she mouthed, “Don’t do

it.”

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+15 Bcnus

She spoke so quietly the others wouldn’t hear. Her eyes never left mine.

“Look around you. You have already been replaced. They’ve already broken you.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Your own mother has replaced you. She doesn’t need your loyalty.”

Blood coated her teeth and ran from her nose.

“This isn’t your redemption. It is your execution. If they didn’t need your blood, one of them would have killed me already. The second I die, they’re throwing you onto the altar beside me.”

“What is she saying?” my mother called from behind me. “Get it done already, Eva. This is your final chance.”

I turned to her. She nodded, urging me on.

Then I looked back at the woman.

She didn’t look afraid.

I stepped back from the tree and looked between the woman and my mother. The woman kept shaking her head.

I raised a hand for my mother to come closer. She walked toward me, and I looked at her as though I were seeing her for the first time.

“Is it true?” I whispered. “She says you’ll kill me today.”

I watched her. There was no guilt on her face. Only detachment.

“How would she know that? She’s not one of us.”

I looked back at the woman. Her eyes were filled with tears.

“But I’ve already been replaced,” I said.

My mother shrugged with a chuckle.

“Useful things are replaced, honey.”

She said it so plainly that I finally understood.

I had failed. I was no longer useful to anyone. Especially my mother.

Everything inside me went quiet.

The shaking left my hands as I looked at the woman who had given birth to me.

If I killed this woman, the Meridian would kill me anyway.

“Do it already,” she said. “I taught you better than this. Finish her.”

“I will,” I said.

She smiled and turned away.

My left hand caught her shoulder. She looked back with mild annoyance. The silver knife disappeared into her

chest. 2

I held her gaze as the pride on her face gave way to shock.

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