TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 292

Two hundred and nienty two

Wesley POV

Joanna and the other Daughters watched me as I stepped into the courtyard.

Dressed in the same flowing white robes they wore every month, they seemed like apparitions. Candles were arranged in a circle around the stone platform, and bowls of herbs burned slowly at each corner. The earthy scent settled in the back of my throat before I even reached them. I couldn’t smell those herbs anywhere else anymore without thinking about another cleansing and prayers that ended exactly

like the last.

Nothing ever changed.

I took my place in the center without saying a word. Grandma Cassidy stood nearby, holding a bronze bowl filled with dark oil, while my mother watched me with that hopeful look she somehow managed to wear after all these years.

“You’re late,” Joanna said.

“I came, didn’t I?”

She scoffed. “Such enthusiasm.”

Tonight I wasn’t in the mood to answer back. She noticed, and everyone probably did.

She uncorked a clay bottle and sprinkled more crushed herbs over the burning coals. The smoke thickened, carrying that familiar sting that always made my eyes water.

“Repeat after me,” she said.

Her voice settled into the same ancient prayer I’d heard since I was a child. I moved my lips because they expected me to.

My mind drifted. I stared into the smoke, pretending to listen while counting the minutes until it would all

be over.

Maybe one day I’d stop coming altogether.

The thought barely formed before I dismissed it. I couldn’t. Every time I’d skipped even part of my treatments, my body paid for it. The headaches returned first. Then the nightmares. Then the days when my wolf retreated so deeply I could barely sense him.

For someone who was supposed to become Alpha, I spent an embarrassing amount of time managing my own body just to function normally.

The thought dragged me back to the argument I’d had with Mom less than an hour earlier.

“I’ll head home,” I’d told her after dinner. “You all can continue without me.”

She’d looked at me as though I’d suggested setting the Alpha House on fire.

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Tavishinaria and nienty two

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“Wesley, you don’t understand how much the Daughters have done for us. You wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for them.”

“I know, Mom. I’ve heard it my whole life.” I’d rubbed the back of my neck, already tired before the conversation had properly begun. “I know they’re trying. I’m… tired.”

She’d gone quiet.

“The prayers aren’t working,” I’d said. “Let’s be honest with ourselves. We keep doing the same thing month after month, and nothing changes. Sometimes I think maybe I should stop expecting things to get

better.”

She reached up and cupped my face.

“Don’t say that.”

“I’m serious.”

“And I’m serious too.” Her voice trembled. “Do you think everything we’ve done has been for nothing? You think I’ve spent all these years watching you suffer because I enjoy it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I know you’re exhausted.” Her thumb brushed across my cheek. “And I know you’re in pain. But please… if you can’t do it for yourself anymore, then do it for me.”

She smiled through eyes that already looked tired enough.

“Do it for Mommy.”

I sighed.

“Don’t baby me. I’m not Charlie.”

That earned a laugh. And that was how I’d ended up standing here again.

Joanna finished the final prayer before stepping toward me with something resting across both palms.

A necklace. Black and deep purple beads woven together into an intricate pattern.

She held it up.

“You’ll wear this from today onward.”

I looked at it, then at her.

“That won’t exactly go with most of my shirts.”

She stared at me before laughing.

“Out of everything I said, fashion is your greatest concern?”

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Two hundred and nienty two

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“I like looking presentable.”

“You can wear it underneath your shirt.”

Grandma Cassidy snorted behind us.

“You are impossible.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“This has been specially fortified. You are not to remove it,” Joanna said. “You may remove it only during your fortnightly treatments.”

I frowned.

“What makes this one different?”

“We’ve picked up signs of Meridian activity closer than we’re comfortable with.”

I felt my shoulders tense.

“I thought Meridian had already been broken.”

“It has.”

“Then why am I wearing protective jewelry?”

“Because organizations die much faster than ideas.” Joanna lifted the necklace over my head. “Their influence isn’t what it once was, but fragments remain. Loyalists remain. We don’t ignore lingering threats simply because they’re weaker than before.”

The beads rested against my chest before she lifted my chin.

“You will survive this.”

Her eyes held mine with an intensity that caught me off guard.

“Every person standing here believes that.”

I looked away first.

Joanna wasn’t usually gentle. She was blunt and sarcastic. Half the time I wasn’t sure whether she liked me or merely tolerated me.

“I actually prefer it when you’re insulting me,” I muttered. “The emotional speeches don’t suit you.”

She laughed.

“You and I have earned the right to speak honestly after all these years.”

Around us, the other Daughters began extinguishing candles and packing away the bowls of herbs as the ceremony finally came to an end.

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