TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 289

Two hundred and eighty nine

Wesley POV

The weekend usually followed the same routine. One of the two nights was always reserved for dinner at my parents’ house, and no matter how busy life became, everyone somehow found their way back here.

Even Charlie had made it, despite carrying the responsibilities of an Alpha while trying to oversee the construction of new oil rigs.

Being my uncle despite being a year younger had inflated his ego, and the idiot never let me forget it, insisting I address him with the respect an uncle was owed. It had become our tradition over the years. He’d pull the “I’m your uncle” card whenever it suited him, I’d remind him I was older, and we’d spend the next few minutes roasting each other while everyone else laughed like they hadn’t heard the same argument a hundred times before.

From the corridor, I watched the dining room gradually fill.

Mom moved around the table, making sure every glass was filled and every dish was exactly where she wanted it. Tonight wasn’t just family anymore. Barbara’s parents, Henry and Gwen, sat beside her, and she was doing everything she could to make them feel welcome.

Dad, Grandpa Kieran, and Henry were already deep into a discussion about council politics. Charlie listened with half an ear while helping himself to another serving. Anita and Emma were arguing over dessert before dinner had even started.

It looked exactly like every family dinner we’d had growing up.

Grandma Cassidy tapped me with her cane, making me flinch.

“You could stop lurking in the hallway and join your family.”

“You should come too.”

She answered with the same scoff she always wore whenever the subject came up. I slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer. The height difference between us was almost ridiculous.

“I’ll never understand why you’ve been holding a grudge against Grandpa Kieran and Grandma Susan for…” I paused, pretending to count. “What is it now? A hundred years?”

“A little over.”

“And yet you live with their children.”

She shrugged without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

“Life has a sense of humor. Your mother opened her home to me. Who am I to reject free food and the comforts of the Alpha House?”

I chuckled.

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“How shameless.”

“I agree, and you should join them now.”

My stomach tightened at Henry’s laughter.

“You’re still carrying that blame nobody is placing on you,” Grandma Cassidy said softly.

“I’m not.”

“Then what is it?”

I rubbed a hand across the back of my neck.

“I don’t know.”

I knew exactly what it was. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her that every time I looked at Henry and Gwen, it felt as though I’d stolen something from them that I could never return.

They’d never once accused me or raised their voices or even hinted that I had anything to do with Beatrice’s death. If anything, they’d spent the last five years trying to convince me of the same thing everyone else had.

But guilt didn’t care about evidence.

“How could you have killed her when you weren’t there when she died?”

I closed my eyes, memories rushing in.

Beatrice had been counting down the days until her nineteenth birthday without having the faintest idea what was waiting for her.

I’d spent months carrying a ring around like it was some classified government secret. Barbara had become my accomplice. She handled everything that would’ve immediately made Beatrice suspicious, confirming ring sizes and helping me settle on the smallest details.

I’d even chosen the place.

Mooncrest Hill.

The overlook sat just beyond the eastern forest, where the valley opened beneath the cliffs. It wasn’t the grandest place in the territory, but it was ours. We’d had our first real date there after I snuck away from a council festival. Beatrice had once laughed and said that if anyone ever proposed to her, they’d have to do better than a crowded restaurant.

“I want somewhere I can hear the wind,” she’d said. “Somewhere that actually feels like us.”

I’d remembered every word.

The flowers had already been ordered, the photographer was booked, and even the lanterns Barbara insisted on hanging from the oak overlooking the hill had already been delivered.

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I remember how absurdly proud of myself I’d been.

Two days.

That was all I had left before getting down on one knee.

Instead, Dad had looked at me strangely when I returned home from a compulsory meeting with the future heirs of the fourteen packs that made up our region.

At the time, I’d thought nothing of it, as Dad had never been good at hiding his emotions. Then at three in the morning, he knocked on my door. I still remembered opening it half asleep and the look on his face before he’d spoken.

“Son… Something happened to Beatrice.”

The world had simply stopped.

A few days later, Barbara had asked me to come upstairs after the funeral. She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.

She’d placed a folded piece of paper in my hands.

“I found this in her room,” she’d whispered. “Please… don’t tell anyone yet.”

It was Beatrice’s handwriting.

She wrote about being tired and being afraid of the future.

About my wolf.

She never accused me, and that somehow made it worse.

The next morning, Dad ordered an immediate autopsy.

Barbara had kept saying the note didn’t mean what I thought it meant, that we should wait before jumping to conclusions.

I couldn’t. I needed answers. The report gave us none.

No signs that she’d taken anything herself.

The doctors called it immune collapse brought on by catastrophic organ failure after her wolf died. Five years of investigations never changed that conclusion.

Everyone accepted it and insisted the letter wasn’t proof of anything.

Anita, who was Beatrice’s best friend, cried in my arms the day the report came back.

“She loved life too much,” she’d said through tears. “If something was wrong, she would’ve told me.”

I wanted to believe her. But every time I unfolded that letter, every certainty I’d managed to build collapsed all over again.

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Grandma Cassidy’s voice pulled me back.

“Go.”

I did.

Henry’s gaze was the first to meet mine. When our eyes met, he smiled and waved me over.

“There he is.”

I crossed the room and met him halfway, taking the firm handshake he’d greeted me with ever since I was old enough to remember. Five years hadn’t changed it. Neither had everything we’d lost.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight. I would’ve been here sooner.”

“No apology needed.” He squeezed my shoulder before pulling me into a brief hug. “It’s good to see you,

son.”

Gwen didn’t even wait for me to sit before wrapping her arms around me.

“You’ve gotten thinner,” she said, stepping back to look at me with the same motherly concern she’d always had. “Lisa, are you feeding this boy properly?”

Mom laughed from the other side of the table.

“I ask myself the same thing every week.”

Gwen smiled, but it softened almost immediately into something bittersweet.

“You know…” She reached up to straighten the collar of my shirt before letting her hand fall away. “You really are destined to be my son-in-law.”

The room didn’t become quiet. Dad and Grandpa Kieran were still talking. Anita was stealing food off Charlie’s plate. Emma looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.

Gwen sighed, her eyes lingering on me.

“I miss my baby every day. Sometimes I still expect her to walk through the front door. She smiled to herself. “But when she started dating you, I knew she’d found the right man. Watching the two of you together made it easy to picture the future.”

She glanced toward Barbara.

“And now life’s brought the two of you together instead.”

Grandma Susan finally spoke.

“Life rarely gives us back what it takes,” she said.

She dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin before looking toward Barbara with a smile. Sometimes it simply gives us another blessing. Not that Barbara has ever lived in anyone’s shadow. She’s remarkable in her own right. A doctor with enough patience to put up with stubborn patients and

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enough heart to sacrifice for the people she loves. That’s a gift all by itself.”

The conversation moved on naturally after that, exactly as it always did whenever Beatrice’s name came up. Nobody avoided talking about her, but nobody lingered there either.

It wasn’t deception. Henry and Gwen had read every medical report and sat through every conversation with the doctors. The official conclusion had never changed. Beatrice’s body had simply failed after her wolf died, and nothing had produced evidence that she’d taken her own life.

Except the letter.

Everyone else had found peace somewhere between those two truths. I was the only one who still unfolded that letter whenever sleep refused to come.

Dinner settled into its usual rhythm after that.

“So…” Gwen said, looking between Barbara and me with the kind of casualness that usually preceded trouble. “Have you two settled on a wedding date yet?”

Oh shit.

My knife paused midway through cutting my steak. Beside me, Barbara reached for her water and took a long drink, leaving me to answer.

“Not yet.”

“Mom,” Barbara said after swallowing. “I told you not to ask.”

“What?” Gwen looked genuinely confused. “Everyone keeps asking me, and I don’t have an answer to give them. Beatrice and I used to talk about weddings all the time. We even picked out a few things she liked.”

My grip tightened around my knife.

“There’s a veil that’s been in our family for generations,” she continued. “I know Barbara will wear the Luna’s ceremonial gown for the official rites, but I always imagined my daughter wearing that veil for part of the celebration. The reception venue isn’t…”

“Gwen, I know where your heart is,” Mom said softly. “But Barbara isn’t Beatrice. She deserves a wedding that reflects who she is, not the one her sister imagined.”

Gwen’s face fell.

“Oh goodness, that’s not what I meant.” She looked quickly at Barbara. “We’ve already talked about this, sweetie, haven’t we?”

Barbara wore an uncomfortable smile.

“I don’t want anyone thinking I’m trying to replace one daughter with another.” Gwen shook her head. “I only… sometimes I still catch myself remembering all those conversations we’d had.”

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The table grew quiet.

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Most people didn’t look up, staying focused on their food as though they couldn’t hear Gwen. They were giving Barbara and me room to handle our own issues instead of speaking over us.

“She’s right, though,” Anita said. “Why wait forever? We could still pull off a wedding before the end of the year.”

Charlie let out a scoff.

“It’s September. Unless you’re planning to kidnap every vendor in the territory, that’s not happening.”

A few people laughed.

This didn’t look good. It was getting much further than Barbara and I had ever intended.

The council was supposed to reconsider my eligibility before any of this became real. Once that happened, we’d end the engagement quietly, and everyone could move on before families started making plans around a wedding that was never going to happen.

Barbara set down her glass.

“You don’t rush an Alpha’s wedding,” she said. “If we’re going to do it, we’ll do it properly.”

Dad smiled.

“I agree. Whether it takes six months or three years doesn’t matter. The important part is that the two of you are happy and making the decision because it’s right for you, not because everyone else is impatient.

The conversation drifted to easier topics after that. I managed to finish the rest of my meal without anyone mentioning venues, flowers, or guest lists again.

Near the end of dinner, Gwen dabbed her lips with her napkin before looking toward Mom.

“Luna, would you mind pointing me to the restroom?”

“Of course.” Mom smiled. “First door on the left once you reach the upstairs landing.”

As Gwen excused herself, Barbara leaned toward me, keeping her voice low enough that only I could

hear.

“Sorry, I didn’t know she’d bring all that up.”

I managed a smile.

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