TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 259

Two hundred and fifty nine

Cameron POV

The urge to turn and look at Catherine’s body stretched across the backseat kept pulling at me, but I refused. I’d already looked. Her pupils had swallowed her eyes, and blood had spread beneath her.

A ringing filled my ears. Sweat gathered along my hairline, but the panic never came. I knew what I’d seen, ye everything inside me stayed numb.

Kade knelt beside Evangeline, splashing water across her face and calling her name. He checked her pulse, then wiped another handful of water over her forehead as though refusing to believe she wouldn’t wake.

“We should leave,” a woman seated in the passenger seat said.

“They’ll come for her.”

She looked to be in her forties. Dirt streaked her clothes, rope burns marked her wrists, and dried blood clung to the corner of her mouth. Yet there wasn’t a trace of panic on her face.

She wasn’t the hag who had come to my office the previous month, but that didn’t make me trust her any more.

Kade looked up sharply.

“You.”

He pointed at her with a shaking hand.

“You’ve been following me. Now you’re here with my sister… and my dead mother.” His voice cracked. “You did this!”

She shook her head and glanced toward the tree line.

“This was Meridian. I’ll explain everything, but not here. Every minute we stay increases the chance they’ll find us.”

I searched her face for anything that would tell me she was lying, but I found nothing.

My hands shook as I called for more backup. Dawn was beginning to break through the trees. Whatever had happened here, we couldn’t stay long enough for someone else to discover it.

My gaze drifted to the bloodied knife lying on the dashboard. It had to be the weapon Evangeline had used.

“My mother is dead,” Kade whispered. He stared at Catherine as if saying the words might somehow make them

untrue.

“I can’t believe this.”

His eyes lifted to me. Tears rolled silently down his face.

I forced myself to think past the shock.

“I’ll drive,” I said. “You stay with your mother. When my security team gets here, we’ll move them both.”

The first vehicle pulled into the clearing moments later. Several armed guards spilled out. One team secured the road while another swept the perimeter before approaching us.

I pointed toward Evangeline.

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“Get her into the van.”

Kade sat at the back with his mother. Sweat clung to my shirt as I pulled away from the clearing.

The woman spoke when I started driving.

“You can’t take her home.”

“And where exactly do you expect us to go?” Kade snapped. “Your fucking cult?”

She didn’t react.

“We need somewhere Meridian can’t reach.”

I kept my eyes fixed on the road, but my head felt light. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. If I looked back at Catherine again, I was going to throw up.

The horror of what had happened finally reached me.

A woman killed by her own child.

My mate.

If the world caught even a whisper of this, Evangeline’s reputation would be destroyed. Mine would go with it. They would blame me for everything she had become They would say my love for Lisa had driven my mate mad.

I shoved the thought away and forced my attention back to the road.

The convoy stretched behind us as more security vehicles fell into formation, Dawn had begun to break over the empty road, but the growing light did nothing to lift the heaviness pressing against my chest.

We were heading north toward the safe house when my phone rang.

The driver of the van.

Evangeline’s screams burst through the speaker.

“Alpha, she’s awake and hysterical.”

“Hold her down,” I said.

Her cries echoed through the phone.

“Kade,” I said quietly, handing the phone to him. “Talk to her. Maybe she’ll listen to you.”

He sat beside me with tears streaming down his face and didn’t speak.

I couldn’t imagine carrying what he was carrying. However Catherine had lived, she was still his mother.

By the time we reached the safe house, Evangeline’s cries were still pouring from the van. The gates slid open. I waited until the last vehicle entered before ordering them shut again.

The heavy steel gates clanged closed behind us. Only then did anyone climb out.

Evangeline stumbled onto the driveway. Her eyes darted wildly before landing on Kade. She collapsed.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I swear I don’t know what came over me. I did it to save my life. Please… forgive me.”

She wrapped both arms around his leg as though letting go would kill her.

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Kade slowly crouched beside her, gathered her into his arms, and held her while they both cried.

I looked toward the older woman. Her expression revealed nothing.

I motioned for the guards to move Catherine’s body.

“No. Please.”

The woman stepped forward.

“We can’t trust anyone with her body.”

I frowned.

“What do

you mean?”

“They’ll come for her. And if they get her, they’ll use her against Evangeline.”

A chill crept down my spine.

“She can’t be buried without her husband’s permission,” I said.

“We don’t have that kind of time. Every minute we wait increases the risk.’

“I’m not letting someone appear out of nowhere and start telling us what to do,” Kade snapped. “Who the hell are you?”

Evangeline remained curled against him, crying into his shirt.

The woman met his glare.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. But please believe me. What we do next will decide Lisa’s safety.”

I looked sharply at her.

Lisa?

Kade seemed to remember something.

“Aren’t you the woman who came to warn me at the lounge?” he asked. “And what do you know about Lisa?”

“I’m doing this for her.”

She glanced toward Evangeline before looking back at us.

“I was trying to help Lisa when Catherine captured me. Evangeline was supposed to kill me.”

Another broken sob escaped Evangeline. She buried her face deeper into Kade’s shoulder.

“We need to keep her ashes where Meridian will never find them,” the woman said. “They’ll keep searching.”

She looked at me.

“Whatever you decide, remember this isn’t only about Evangeline anymore. It’s about Lisa and your baby.”

I stared at her, confused.

Another vehicle pulled into the compound. Franklin climbed out. He stopped the instant he saw the woman. Recognition crossed his face, then relief.

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I didn’t like that.

He walked over to me and lowered his voice.

“She’s on our side.”

I stared at him.

“Then why don’t I know her?”

“You will.”

The guards wrapped Catherine’s body before carrying her inside. Kade paced the living room, one hand buried in his hair. Evangeline sat on the floor with her knees pulled tightly against her chest, staring into nothing.

After cleaning the older woman’s cuts and bruises, Franklin crossed to Evangeline with a damp cloth. He reached for the blood covering her hands. She flinched away before he could touch her.

The rush inside me kept fading, leaving behind confusion and a numbness I couldn’t shake.

All I could think about was Lisa.

I already knew Meridian wanted her, and I knew Evangeline had somehow become trapped inside all of this.

But who was this woman? Why was she risking her own life for Lisa?

“We can’t wait for your father’s permission,” Franklin said to Kade. “Meridian is a cult. You either stay ahead of them or you let them get to you.”

“And what happens when my father asks how she died?” Kade snapped. “Do you think he won’t come after Evangeline too?”

My chest tightened. He wasn’t defending what his sister had done. He was trying to understand how any of this could end without destroying what little remained of his family.

“She’s already dead,” the woman said gently. “His anger won’t matter if her body disappears and gets used for something worse.”

She looked at Kade.

“And maybe… in time… he’ll realize this gave him something he never truly had.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not my place to tell you.”

Her eyes shifted to Evangeline.

“She should.”

Kade followed her gaze. His sister never looked up.

I rested a hand on Kade’s shoulder.

“You’ve been looking for answers this whole time,” I said quietly. “If this protects the people who are still alive, then let’s do it.”

The woman explained what had to happen and asked us to follow her.

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“I don’t trust her,” Kade muttered. “The two times I’ve seen her, everything has gone wrong.” “You don’t have to trust me. I’m trying to help. My loyalty is with Lisa.”

Hearing Lisa’s name again made my heart pound. Franklin’s confidence in the woman unsettled me more than anything.

She explained what needed to be done and said several women would be coming to prepare Catherine’s remains before the cremation.

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Are all of you part of the same cult?” I asked. “Is this some kind of faction war?”

She shook her head.

“Meridian turned against its own. The people they turned on needed people like us. If you don’t trust me, ask Kieran who I am.”

She held my gaze.

“Ask him how I helped free him from Dominion.”

My pulse stumbled.

Could she really do that?

Could she free me too?

“We’ll take Evangeline somewhere safe,” she said. “My sisters will stay behind and make sure Catherine’s remains are handled properly.”

I still didn’t know whether letting Evangeline leave with strangers was the right decision.

About two hours later, we headed to a deserted cliff overlooking the sea, where I’d expected chanting or some strange ritual.

Instead, everything was quiet.

When the women returned, one of them placed the urn into Kade’s trembling hands.

“Let her rest,” she said softly. “Tell her you love her. Tell her not to hold on to you, your sister, or your father anymore.”

Another woman with rosy cheeks stepped beside her.

“It won’t make sense today,” she said. “But this is one step toward your freedom.”

Kade stared at the urn. His hands shook so badly I thought he might drop it.

I stayed beside him. Together, we walked to the edge of the cliff.

He opened the urn. The ashes scattered into the wind before disappearing into the tide below. He stood there with tears running silently down his face while I rested a hand on his back.

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