TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 275

Two hundred and seventy five

Isabella POV

My phone vibrated in my pocket for what felt like the fifth time in as many minutes.

I didn’t have to look at the screen to know Barbara must have told my father and Gwen she’d seen me,

They were probably trying to decide how to get me back before I became a problem. Barbara never did anything without thinking three steps ahead, and if she had already called them, then the conversation had already shifted from Where is Isabella? to How do we keep Isabella from ruining this?

The voices drifting through the open service door drew me closer.

The kitchen staff were cleaning up. A middle-aged couple stood near the serving counter, putting away the last of the dishes, while two younger workers wiped down the stainless-steel tables. They sounded lighter than they had during dinner, relieved the evening had gone well and that no one had found fault with the food.

“They’ll make beautiful pups,” one of the younger women sighed. “Honestly, have you seen them together? Dr. Barbara is stunning, and Wesley…” She let out a dreamy laugh. “That man should come with a warning.”

“I never saw that announcement coming,” a man said. “Did any of you? I just thought Barbara was always around because she’s Anita’s best friend.”

From the rapid way he spoke, I guessed he was the sort who filled every silence simply because he couldn’t stand one. His voice carried easily through the doorway, and each sentence seemed to invite another.

“I thought the same,” the older woman said. “Besides, she’s his late girlfriend’s sister. Of all women, why her? Considering he has never stopped loving Beatrice.”

My breathing caught.

Beatrice.

It had been five years, and I still didn’t know how my sister had died.

By then, I had long since stopped living in my father’s house. I only learned she was gone months later, after I returned pregnant, penniless, and with nowhere else to go. No one thought I deserved an explanation.

The last time Beatrice and I had lived under the same roof, I was barely old enough to understand I was a bastard.

She hadn’t been cruel the way Barbara was. Sometimes she would tell her sister she’d gone too far. Other times she would look away, choosing silence over confrontation. As a child, I used to mistake that silence for kindness because it wasn’t hatred.

Now I knew better. Looking away could wound people too.

If Wesley had loved Beatrice so deeply that people still spoke about her years after her death, then why was he courting Barbara?

Nothing about it made sense.

The talkative man clicked his tongue.

“I was watching Luna Lisa during the announcement. She didn’t seem as excited as Alpha Cameron.”

His wife glanced around before lowering her voice.

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“Luna Lisa has always believed people should marry for love. So it’s quite jarring for her to support Wesley and Barbara, but maybe love would come later.”

The man didn’t sound convinced. “Or maybe mothers simply know their children better than the rest of us.”

The conversation drifted to tomorrow’s breakfast and who had forgotten to soak the beans. I stepped back before anyone noticed me standing there.

My phone vibrated again.

Too many questions circled inside my head already.

Wesley had looked at me in a way that still made my skin warm whenever I remembered it. The staff believed he was finally moving on from Beatrice by officially beginning to court Barbara.

Somewhere between those three truths was an answer, but I couldn’t see it.

I slipped quietly back toward the guest quarters. Maverick was already asleep by the time I reached our room.

I closed the door behind me and stood there for a long moment, wondering what I was supposed to believe anymore.

My wolf whimpered quietly inside me, and the ache refused to leave.

Why doesn’t he know us?

I had no answer.

The Moon Goddess didn’t make mistakes. Yet my life felt like one long mistake that refused to correct itself.

Everything that seemed to bring happiness into other people’s lives somehow found a way to become another source of pain in mine.

I rested my forehead against the cool windowpane.

Wesley must have his reasons.

Perhaps he was ashamed and didn’t think I was good enough. Maybe he had looked at me once and decided I wasn’t someone he wanted standing beside him.

I couldn’t even blame him.

People didn’t wake up hoping to reject the person fate chose for them. Life was rarely that simple. Feelings, obligations, and family complicated everything.

A rejection would have hurt, but silence was worse. Silence left room for hope, and hope had a cruel way of keeping wounds open.

I let out a quiet laugh that sounded nothing like laughter.

If I’d been born into a family that actually wanted me, someone would have stood beside me now. Someone would have demanded answers. Someone would have insisted the bond deserved to be acknowledged, whether it ended in acceptance or rejection.

Instead, the only family I had was tied to the same people standing between me and my mate. People who, if this ever came to light, would twist it into something ugly.

I could already imagine it.

2/3

+15 Benus

They would say I was jealous and wanted what belonged to Barbara. No one would stop to ask what really happened.

I wrapped my arms around myself and stared into the garden beyond the guest room. The moonlight spilled across the stone path and silvered the tops of the hedges.

A movement caught my eye. Someone was outside.

I narrowed my eyes.

A tall figure stood alone beneath one of the old trees, his hands buried in the pockets of his joggers.

Even from this distance, I recognized him.

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