TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 273

Parents: Kieran & Susan

– Charlie (23)

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Wesley POV

Having what looked like a real family had once been something I’d taken for granted. These days, I liked to pretend it didn’t matter. The truth was, it did.

My parents had been married for twenty-four years. Most people would expect the excitement to have worn off by now, leaving only routine, duty, or habit. Somehow, they had escaped that fate. They were still hopelessly in love.

Dad leaned toward Mom and whispered something that made her laugh.

They weren’t the only ones.

Grandma and Grandpa Kieran were just as bad. Charlie, my uncle and best friend, never missed a chance to complain that his parents were too old to act like teenagers. Then there was Aunt Nadia and Franklin. Their daughter, Emma, always pretended to gag whenever they got too affectionate.

I looked away before any of them noticed me watching.

None of it should have bothered me. They weren’t doing anything wrong. If anything, this was exactly what a family should look like. I just wasn’t in a place where I could watch people love each other without wondering if that part of my own life had ended before it ever really began.

As if on cue, Anita launched into another speech about becoming a DJ while keeping up with her responsibilities as the Alpha’s daughter. Mom insisted the two had nothing to do with each other. Dad, as always, took Anita’s side. Being his favorite came with privileges.

On the surface, we looked like the perfect Alpha family. Once or twice a week, we’d gather around this table and leave pack politics outside the dining room.

Tonight, though, I had my own reason for being here.

Barbara nudged my arm.

“We should tell them now,” she whispered.

I took a sip of water, buying myself a few more seconds.

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Choosing to court Barbara had never been about love. The idea had been hers. We’d present ourselves as a couple long enough to satisfy the Council, then end things before either family started planning a wedding.

It sounded simple when we agreed to it. Explaining it to my family wouldn’t be.

Mom, especially. She knew me too well to believe I’d suddenly opened my heart to someone else.

I lifted my glass and tapped my fork against it, drawing everyone’s attention.

“I have some news.”-

“Let me guess,” Aunt Nadia said. “Another business idea? At this rate, you’ll be the richest man in the region before the rest of us retire.”

Laughter rippled around the table.

I smiled faintly. She wasn’t wrong. Building wealth had become second nature to me, even if my reasons for doing it were different.

“There is some business news, but that can wait,” I said. “This is something else.”

My cousin Emma, Aunt Nadia’s daughter, leaned forward with a grin. She and Anita had been born just weeks apart three years after me, and the two of them had been inseparable ever since.

“Anything that isn’t about business already sounds ifiteresting.”

I smiled at her.

No one knew what I was about to say. Not even Charlie, who could read me like an open book.

“Barbara and I have decided to officially start courting.”

Silence settled over the room.

Barbara wore a bright smile while I glanced around the table, taking in everyone’s reaction.

Dad was the first to speak.

“Well… I didn’t see that coming. Congratulations. Barbara is a wonderful girl.”

My sister’s mouth had been hanging open the entire time.

“Excuse me?” She nearly shouted, “Are you the same Wesley who spent years saying Barbara was off-limits?”

Everyone else seemed pleased. Charlie looked confused, Emma’s smile had vanished, and Mom sat quietly, studying me as though I were a puzzle she couldn’t solve.

“Is something wrong, Mom?”

She looked up.

“No. I… I didn’t see that coming.”

“Neither did I,” my cousin Emma said. “Barbara is your late girlfriend’s twin. Isn’t that weird?”

“It solves more than one problem,” I said flatly.

Barbara was Beatrice’s twin sister. After Beatrice died five years ago, grief drew us closer. She’d been there through some of my darkest days, and as one of my doctors, she understood my condition better than almost

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anyone. If I was going to fake a courtship with someone, she made the most sense.

Mom held my gaze.

“Wesley, if this is about the Council pushing you to take over from your father, don’t make this decision because you feel cornered. Your father and I are with you, no matter how long it takes.”

My palm slammed against the table. Everyone flinched.

“Stop trying to fix this, Mom,” I snapped. “Look at Charlie. He became Alpha three years ago. Every time I get close to the throne, there’s another requirement standing in my way.”

Mom looked down. Seeing that expression on her face always made me feel worse.

“No one’s asking you to prove your worth,” Grandpa Kieran said. “Your parents have crossed territories looking for answers. They’ve never once looked at you and seen a disappointment.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s exactly why I don’t want to have this conversation again.

Anita turned to Barbara.

“Are you really okay with this? I know you’ve always cared about Wesley, but are you sure you’re not saying yes because you feel responsible for him?”

Barbara smiled.

“We’ve known each other for years. We understand each other, and we’ve talked this through. I wouldn’t have agreed if I wasn’t comfortable with it.”

Anita held her gaze for a moment before nodding.

“Fair enough. As long as nobody’s being pressured.”

“Then let’s eat,” Dad said.

Mom managed a small smile and picked up her cutlery, and conversation slowly returned to the table. Emma still wore a frown and Charlie hadn’t said a word. I told myself they were both just trying to process the news.

After dinner, everyone naturally split into smaller groups. Some gathered around the card table in the living room while others lingered in quiet conversations.

Mom came over and rested a hand on my arm, guiding me toward one of the smaller sitting rooms.

“Wesley, honey, I don’t want you forcing yourself into something you’re not ready for. Don’t court someone just because you think you have to.”

“But you like Barbara.”

She gave me a small smile.

“I do, but liking someone isn’t the same as wanting them to become your wife. If your heart isn’t in it, it isn’t fair to either of you.”

“You’re really the one giving me romance advice? Last I checked, your love story started with a surrogacy contract.”

She groaned.

“You never miss a chance to bring that up.”

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I smiled and we sat down together.

“What I mean is that your dad and I found our way in the end. But it wasn’t easy. People fought us every step of the way. Your dad bent rules to keep us together, and even now some of the elders still look at me like I don’t belong here. The only reason we survived all of it was because we were fated mates. Without that, I don’t know if we’d have made it.”

I looked away.

“Son, the Council never stops asking for more. Give them one thing, and they’ll ask for another. You don’t earn their respect by handing them pieces of your life.”

I reached into my pocket, tipped a wolfbane pill into my mouth, and swallowed it. I barely tasted it anymore. Years of taking the pills had seen to that.

Mom watched me without saying a word. She looked at every pill the same way, like it was another reminder that none of us had found a way to fix me.

“Barbara says the pills are better than chewing the herbs,” I said.

Mom stayed quiet.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t need pity.”

She sighed.

“I know Barbara is aware of your condition, but I think we should wait a little longer. One of the Daughters from the Eastern Territory is arriving this weekend for-”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Wesley…”

“Stop, Mom. If the Daughters had the answer, wouldn’t they have found it by now?”

I knew I shouldn’t have snapped at Mom. If anyone deserved my patience, it was her. But somehow, she was the one I always spoke the harshest to. Maybe because I never doubted where she was coming from. She wasn’t chasing another healer because she believed the next one would finally fix me. She kept searching because I was her son, and giving up on me had never been an option.

Unfortunately, I was tired of trying.

Since my first shift, something inside me had never been right. The Daughters called it spirit fragmentation, their name for the damage the Veiled Meridian left behind after poisoning my mother while she was carrying me.

They believed my fated mate could stabilize the bond between my wolf and me. I used to believe that too, but not

anymore.

Years had passed. Every new treatment came with another promise, and every promise ended the same way. There was still no mate. The closest thing I’d ever found to peace, even without a mate bond, had been Beatrice, and she was gone. Worse, my mate could already be somewhere in this world, and I still wouldn’t recognize her if she

were standing right in front of me.

Mom rested a hand on my knee.

“If you’re certain about Barbara, then I won’t stand in your way. Her parents are good people, and after everything that happened with Beatrice, the fact that they’re still trust you says something.”

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I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“There she is,” I said with a grin. “That’s the Mom I was trying to convince.”

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