TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 307

Three hundred and seven

Isabella’s POV

Heavy clouds had swallowed the evening sky, turning the estate soft and gray. I sat on the veranda steps overlooking the backyard, watching Maverick run in uneven circles across the grass, kicking his ball and making his own dramatic sound effects.

Rain was coming. The cool breeze lifted the edge of my T-shirt, and my wolf stirred beneath my skin, nudging insistently at the back of my mind. Rain always made shifting feel freer. I almost gave in before reminding myself that Maverick was still awake. Later tonight, after he was asleep, I’d slip into the woods behind the estate for a quick run. It had been weeks since I’d shifted, and my wolf was beginning to

resent me for it.

Grandma Cassidy’s voice drifted through the open kitchen window. The sound alone made my stomach tighten. Ever since she’d walked in on Wesley and me in that kitchen, I hadn’t known how to face her. Every time I replayed it, all I could remember was jerking away from him like a thief caught stealing. I couldn’t stop wondering what Wesley had told her afterward. Had he mentioned the bond? Had he told her I had thrown myself at him? Had he simply brushed it off as a mistake?

“Careful there,” I called as Maverick chased the ball toward the flowerbeds.

The screen door slid open behind me. I turned and found Grandma Cassidy stepping outside with two steaming mugs balanced on a tray. My nerves tightened. She smiled as though nothing unusual had happened, handed one mug to me, then settled onto the step beside me. That deliberate normalcy unsettled me even more. If she had scolded me, perhaps everything would’ve spilled out naturally. Instead, she acted as though yesterday had never happened.

For a while, neither of us spoke. We simply watched Maverick race across the yard.

“That’s going to be a big one,” she said as thunder rolled somewhere in the distance. “The kind of rain that makes you stay in bed and ignore your alarm.”

I smiled faintly.

“Thank you for helping with Maverick today,” I said. “Actually… thank you for helping with him every day.”

She waved the gratitude away.

“I’m old and have too much free time,” she said with a chuckle. “Bringing that little champ into this house. was the best thing that happened to me.”

I lifted the mug for another sip just as Maverick ran over.

“Can I have some?”

“It’s too hot.”

I blew across the surface, let him steal a sip, then watched him wrinkle his nose before laughing and running back into the yard. The moment he disappeared, Grandma Cassidy cleared her throat.

This was it.

“Wesley didn’t make you uncomfortable yesterday, did he?”

“No,” I answered quickly. “He didn’t.”

I waited for the explanation that Wesley couldn’t possibly be with someone like me. Instead, she watched me.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “If he crossed a line, I need to know. I won’t tolerate my grandson abusing his position over someone who works for this family and lives under this roof.”

I shook my head, firmer this time.

“He didn’t cross any line.”

She studied me another moment before taking an unhurried sip of her drink. The silence stretched just long enough to make me uncomfortable.

“Good,” she said, setting the mug down beside her. “I’d have been disappointed if Wesley became that

kind of man.”

Relief came first, then guilt. She wasn’t asking whether I’d tried to seduce Wesley. She was making sure Wesley hadn’t taken advantage of me. Meanwhile, I knew the truth. I’d wanted that kiss just as desperately as he had.

“You know Anita is very fond of you,” she continued. “You told me yourself, and Wesley confirmed it.”

I sighed.

“The situation would hurt her if she knew what happened yesterday. Imagine if she’d been the one to

walk into that kitchen.”

Why did everyone keep bringing Anita into this?

First Wesley used her to steer our conversations away from whatever existed between us. Now Grandma Cassidy was worried about her feelings too. Anita’s feelings mattered. I wasn’t denying that. But whatever had happened between Wesley and me had begun long before Anita ever confessed she liked me. The more people treated her as though she were standing in the middle of all this, the more

confused I became.

“I understand,” I said. “But… whatever happened yesterday didn’t start because of Anita.”

Grandma Cassidy smiled gently.

“I know. Young people develop feelings. That’s life.”

Her gaze drifted toward Maverick before settling somewhere far beyond the backyard.

“You know, everyone always knew Wesley and Beatrice would get married.”

Her voice softened with memory.

“They loved each other so naturally that people used to joke that they were already fated mates.”

The words made my heartbeat stumble.

Fated mates.

I thought was going to mention the bond. Instead, she kept talking about Beatrice. About how deeply Wesley had loved her. About how her death had broken something inside him. She never looked at me. Never connected the story to me.

Maybe he was ashamed.

Maybe an Alpha’s heir couldn’t accept that his fated mate was a poor single mother working as junior staff.

Or maybe something was terribly wrong.

Maybe this wasn’t as simple as I kept convincing myself it was.

A raindrop landed on the veranda.

Then another.

Maverick squealed happily and ran toward us.

“So…” I said carefully, “if Wesley ever found his mate…”

Grandma Cassidy smiled as though the answer were obvious.

“The whole continent would know.”

She laughed softly.

“Barbara herself would probably be the first person he’d tell.”

The words landed like a punch to my chest.

By the time the rain truly began, we gathered the mugs and headed inside. I was still trying to make sense of everything Grandma Cassidy had said when Alpha Cameron walked through the back door.

“There you are,” Cassidy said, relief crossing her face. “Did the fever break?”

“Mostly,” Alpha Cameron replied.

“Good.”

She nodded to herself.

“I’ll tell Joanna to prepare another batch. His wolf needs to get that into his system and sleep it off. That should hold him for a while.”

I stood there quietly, my fingers tightening around my mug.

The pieces were beginning to gather, but they still refused to fit together. Something was wrong with Wesley.

I just had no idea what it was.