TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 346

Three hundred and forty six

na Lisa’s mouth fell open when she saw me beside Grandma Cassidy. She whispered to the woman next to her, excused herself, and came toward us with quick steps. I stepped back before I could stop myself.

“Stay calm,” Grandma Cassidy whispered near my ear. “She doesn’t bite.”

My heart hammered against my ribs anyway.

“What is going on?” she asked Grandma Cassidy, but her eyes stayed on me. “Why is she here? What are you up to?

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“Is she a recruit?”

“Far from it,” Grandma Cassidy said.

Luna Lisa’s brows pulled together. “Is she in trouble?”

“It depends on how you see it,” Grandma Cassidy said.

Luna Lisa pressed her fingers to her temple. She wasn’t angry. She looked like someone trying to follow a moving trail, like the girl who kept showing up in her family’s problems had followed her again.

“I can’t talk until I confirm you won’t blow up the place with overreactions.”

Luna Lisa blinked. “Can we step aside and talk, then?”

“There’s nothing to hide, Lisa,” Grandma Cassidy said. “If you weren’t so bent on accusing me of overindulging Wesley and supporting him in what you called a lie, maybe I would have told you earlier.”

She smiled at me and took my hand. “Isabella believes she’s Wesley’s fated mate.”

Luna Lisa’s breath caught. “You’re joking, right?”

“You know me,” Grandma Cassidy said. “I don’t play pranks. If I bring an outsider past these doors, it isn’t a joke.”

Luna Lisa grabbed the back of a nearby chair, her fingers curling around the wood. Grandma Cassidy took my hand and guided me closer. Luna Lisa stayed silent.

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“Everything we’ve seen so far supports her,” Grandma Cassidy said quietly. “It’s a one-sided bond.”

A knot tightened in my stomach as Luna Lisa went pale.

I braced for the words I had heard before. Liar. Gold digger. Opportunist. Instead, she covered her face with both hands and turned away. When she faced us again, tears ran down her cheeks.

Grandma Cassidy’s lips pressed into a small smile.

“Is this true?” Luna Lisa asked me, her tone broken.

I nodded, unable to speak.

Her body trembled as she wept into her hands. Grandma Cassidy glanced around the room at the passing women.

“Control yourself, Lisa,” she murmured. “We don’t want a scene.”

Luna Lisa fumbled in her purse for a handkerchief and wiped her face. She stepped toward me and stopped. Her hand lifted, hovering in the air, unsure where to land. She sniffed hard.

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“Are you truly his mate?”

Peat stung the back of my eyes. “I can feel a bond with him,” I said.

“Oh, Cassidy,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Grandma Cassidy closed the distance and pulled her into a hug. Luna Lisa cried into her shoulder while Grandma . Cassidy rubbed her back, speaking low into her ear. I stepped away to give them privacy. Every few seconds, Luna Lisa looked up at me. Shock moved across her face, followed by relief, then guilt, never fully settling.

Luna Lisa pulled away and turned back to me. “When did you find out?”

“The day I first saw him.”

Her mouth opened again. “You didn’t feel safe enough to tell me? I am his mother.”

“I… I thought he was going to reject me.”

Her expression softened. Grandma Cassidy nodded for me to come closer.

“I was wrong about you, Isabella,” Luna Lisa said. “My instinct told me to help you. Then the gala happened, and I started doubting your intentions.”

I said nothing. The apology wasn’t complete, and she knew it. She was still making sense of her own thoughts.

“Let’s leave the reconciliation speech for later,” Grandma Cassidy said, trying to lighten the mood. “Until we know how to navigate this, we can’t tell Wesley.”

Luna Lisa nodded, understanding this wasn’t automatically good news.

“I told her the risks,” Grandma Cassidy added, “so she doesn’t walk in blind.”

“Wesley still feels guilty about Beatrice,” Grandma Cassidy continued. “She felt overwhelmed by his condition and planned to leave him before she died. This will reopen old wounds. He might not want to put Isabella through

that risk.”

Luna Lisa nodded slowly, twisting the handkerchief in her hands.

That detail caught me. Beatrice’s death and Wesley’s condition were linked, even though they weren’t fated mates. I wanted to ask, but the moment wasn’t mine.

“How do we protect her?” Luna Lisa looked at me. “Are you comfortable with this? I don’t want to lose my son, but we won’t force you.”

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