TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 30

Thirty

LISA POV

My phone rang twenty minutes later. I glanced at the screen and swore under my breath.

My father.

I let it ring twice more before answering.

“What do you want?”

“Lisa.” His voice carried that familiar concern he used when I was younger, the same tone he used whenever he tried to smooth things over. “sweetheart, I’ve been worried about you.”

“Don’t you dare call me that.”

“I know you’re angry,” he continued, ignoring the warning. “But you have to understand something. I’m trying to protect you. This arrangement you’ve gotten yourself into is dangerous and degrading. You deserve better than this.”

Anger surged up my throat.

“You don’t get to tell me what I deserve. Not when you’re the reason I’m here.”

“Your mother is the reason-”

“Mom didn’t cheat. Mom didn’t drain the accounts. Mom didn’t walk away and leave us with nothing.” I pushed off the bed and started pacing the room. “You did that. You destroyed our family. So don’t pretend you’re some worried father when you’re the one who put me in this position.”

Silence stretched across the line.

When he spoke again, the warmth was gone.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you? You and that useless mother of yours. But this will end badly for both of you if you keep disrespecting me.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s a warning.” His voice turned colder. “People are talking, Lisa. The whole pack knows what you’re doing. They know what you’ve become. And they look at me with pity, like I failed as a father,”

I laughed.

“You did fail. You chose your mistress over your family.”

“Watch your mouth—”

“No. You watch yours.” My voice shook but I didn’t stop. “You don’t get to call Alpha mirty

Cameron. You don’t get to interfere with my life. And you don’t get to threaten Mom. Leave us alone, or I’ll make sure everyone knows exactly what kind of man you are.”

I ended the call before he could respond.

The room went quiet.

My hands trembled as I lowered the phone. I had said everything I wanted to say, but the victory felt hollow. The anger drained out of me and left nothing but exhaustion.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Sleep wouldn’t come. My mind kept drifting back to Cameron’s reaction earlier when I told him I was injured. The way his entire posture changed. The way he looked at me when he asked the question.

Did I hurt you?

Why had that mattered to him?

He had made it clear I was nothing to him. Just a contract, a womb for hire. Yet the idea that he might have hurt me had shaken him.

I turned onto my side and faced the wall.

My body still felt the effects of the past week. My muscles were sore. My pelvis ached, thought not from any fall.

Beneath the soreness sat something else.

A restless, unsatisfied tension.

I had grown used to him arriving at nine. Used to the rough urgency of the encounters. Used to the way he took control of my body and the way his scent filled the room until my wolf stopped resisting.

Now the silence felt wrong.

My body waited for something that wasn’t coming.

I pressed my legs together, trying to ignore the ache between them.

It didn’t work.

I wanted him.

Even after everything he had said.

Even knowing he felt nothing.

I wanted him to come back through that door, push me onto the bed, and take me the way he always did. I wanted the overwhelming pressure when he entered me and the way the room filled with his scent when he lost control.

I did as she asked, my pulse beating harder with every second.

She pressed gently along my pelvis, asking w

She pressed gently along my pelvis, asking where the pain was strongest. I reacted carefully, wincing when it made sense, answering her questions without exaggerating.

“Does this hurt?” she asked, pressing on my lower abdomen.

“A little.”

“And here?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t feel any fractures or tears,” she said after finishing the physical exam. “But I’d like to run an ultrasound to be safe. We should confirm there’s no internal bruising or pelvic damage.”

“Is that really necessary?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral. “It already feels better. Maybe it was just a bruise.”

Dr. Beauty gave a small smile.

“I understand. But considering your arrangement with Alpha Cameron, we have to be thorough. Any pelvic injury could complicate conception or pregnancy. It’s better to confirm everything is healthy.”

She wheeled a portable ultrasound machine closer and turned it on.

I lay still as she applied gel to my lower abdomen

The wand pressed against my skin.

My stomach tightened while she studied the monitor.

She adjusted the wand, scanning from different angles. The machine hummed quietly while the screen flickered with images I couldn’t interpret.

“Well,” she said after a moment, “everything looks normal.”

Relief washed through me so quickly it almost made me dizzy.

“The discomfort you’re feeling is common after frequent intercourse, especially if your body isn’t used to that level of activity yet. Some pain relief and rest should help.”

I nodded.

She believed the fall had caused it.

She didn’t know the fall never happened.