TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 276

we head and myenty ta

+15 Beats

Two hundred and seventy six

“Go to him!” my wolf cried the moment I spotted Wesley standing alone in the garden.

I took a step back from the window, then looked again.

He was still here, which meant Barbara’s red SUV was still in the driveway. Her spending the night under the same roof as me should have been reason enough to lock my door and stay exactly where I was until morning.

My eyes drifted back to the garden

Wesley stood beneath one of the hedges, his hands tucked into his pockets. Was he struggling to sleep too? Had the growing heat disturbed him enough to pull him from his room?

The absence of any audience was telling.

Maybe he didn’t want to acknowledge the bond publicly. The first time it hit, Barbara had been there. The second time our eyes met, Luna Lisa had been standing beside him. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to name something so sacred in front of other people.

Or perhaps I was making excuses for a man whose intentions I didn’t know.

I closed my eyes. He hadn’t ignored me or looked irritated by my presence. He had looked at me. I remembered it clearly, but that proved nothing unless he named the bond and put me out of my misery.

And if I judged by the way his eyes had roamed over my body, that proved nothing either.

“Go,” my wolf said. “Go to him.”

I pressed a hand to my chest, as though that might quiet her.

The closer I imagined myself to him, the more restless she grew. It wasn’t just longing anymore. It felt like standing outside a house after years of wandering, knowing without being told that home was waiting beyond the

door.

Rejection was the worst that could happen.

If he wanted to reject me, let him do it to my face. If he wanted to pretend the bond didn’t exist, then at least I would know where I stood.

I owed us both the chance to find out.

Before I could lose my nerve, I slipped out of the guest quarters and headed for the garden.

The night air wrapped around me, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and trimmed hedges. I stopped just inside the garden gate. Crossing that threshold had felt easier in my head; standing here was another thing \ entirely.

The moonlight made the garden look almost enchanted. I knelt beside a patch of herbs and plucked a few sprigs of rosemary, my fingers moving without thought. The crunch of gravel beneath my shoes shattered the quiet. Wesley turned, his gaze settling on my crouched form.

“It’s time,” my wolf cooed, thrilled.

I looked down at the sprig of rosemary between my fingers, as if I’d come outside for no other reason.

“Planning to harvest the entire garden?” he asked.

1/4

hundred and vanity in

+15 8chus

I looked up, startled.

“I’m sorry to intrude. I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d come pick a few herbs.”

His gaze swept over the herb beds as though searching for something. Then he moved to another patch and plucked a few leaves from one plant, then another, with easy familiarity.

I watched him without a word.

He rubbed a leaf between his fingers, as if testing its scent, then gathered the rest in his palm. He made his way to the stone bench beneath the jacaranda tree and sat, still without offering me the herbs he’d picked.

The silence grew awkward because he was watching me. My heart raced so loudly I was sure he could hear it.

Why draw out the suspense?

I looked up at the moon.

“It seems brighter tonight,” I said. “When the moon is this bright, it’s harder to sleep.”

He stretched out his legs.

“I’ve got a better view from my quarters,” he said. “You’re welcome to join me.”

Heat bloomed across my body. It was so obvious how much he wanted to claim me.

Until his next words crushed the thought.

“A drink takes the edge off. The rest usually happens under the sheets.”

He winked on the last word. The spell shattered so fast it almost hurt.

“I… I don’t understand.”

“For someone whose face I’ve seen three times tonight, you’ve been orbiting me, and now you have my attention.”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Was he messing with my head?

“I’m not complaining, though,” he said. “I love attention from breathtaking women.”

“I’m not orbiting you,” I said, forcing out something like a laugh, though it felt as if a hand were closing around my throat.

Heat pooled beneath my clothes where his gaze had lingered, and my nipples tightened against the fabric.

“The night’s good for things that don’t need an audience.”

My heart pounded.

He wasn’t waiting for privacy so he could acknowledge me. He wanted secrecy so he could sleep with me.

He was ashamed of me. He saw me as a body, something to use until it broke.

When he stood, I took a step back.

“Do I make you that uncomfortable?” he asked with a chuckle. His voice was warm rather than accusing.

Then he reached for me. I couldn’t take his hand. My body remembered things my mind wished it could forget.

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INTEventy t

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Men who had taken from me until they no longer saw me as human.

One demon who had ruined my life.

Maybe Wesley was no different. Maybe I was only ever meant to be someone’s hidden shame, wanted only behind closed doors, just like my mother.

Knowing how stories like this usually ended was what finally gave me the courage to speak.

“I’d have thought the future Alpha would be bold enough to say what he wanted instead of hiding behind implication,” I said.

I caught a flash of annoyance in his eyes, there and gone almost before I could name it. Now he looked amused, or something close to it.

He took another step. “So you’re calling me a coward?”

“No, sir. I just want you to be plain.”

“You want me to be direct?” He smiled, though the irritation hadn’t quite left his eyes. “Very well. I want you in my bed.”

I looked away.

If I didn’t, I might burst into tears.

“I don’t imagine your lady would appreciate hearing that.”

He chuckled, the irritation gone this time.

“News spreads around here like wildfire, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t answer.

He came closer, and the pull of the bond became unbearable. Every part of me ached for him to say that one word. Instead, his hand shot out and caught my chin, tilting my face up to his. It was only my chin, yet that single point of contact sent a tremor through my whole body.

My body screamed two opposite truths.

Take what he’s offering.

Run.

“You can turn down my invitation if you want. Don’t deny the way you’ve been looking at me.’

I took another step back.

“Luna Lisa gave me a home. I won’t repay her by becoming the future Alpha’s dirty little secret.”

He laughed under his breath. “You have a real talent for turning a simple invitation into a scandal. If I weren’t so taken with you, I’d leave you to your imagination.”

I searched his face for something more, but there was nothing beyond the smugness in his gaze. His eyes made a fleeting sweep over my body, and heat rose in me, this time from shame.

I turned away.

“I should go.

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+15 Bohus

There was the faintest note of challenge in his voice.

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Tonight only.”

“Good night, sir.”

I turned before he could see how badly my hands were shaking and hurried away as fast as I could.

Tears stung my eyes. I wanted him. I ached for the bond to be real, and hated myself for it, because if he couldn’t acknowledge something as powerful as the bond, then I couldn’t trust him.

Then it struck me. Perhaps he had an ulterior motive. Perhaps he wanted to sleep with me and reject me anyway. Even imagining it felt like the cruelest thing I’d ever conjured.

Then maybe self-preservation would have to be enough.

I’d survived worse. As powerful as the mate bond was, the most powerful thing I’d ever felt, I wasn’t sure survive the earth-shattering way he was going about this; using me, then discarding me, for no reason other than Barbara.

I would accept the help his mother was offering and avoid him as much as I could until, perhaps one day, whatever restraint let him ignore something this powerful finally shattered.

And on that day, when I saw that he was as vulnerable as I was, perhaps I would accept his offer.

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