TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 35

Thirty-Five

LISA POV

Three days had passed since Cameron walked out of my room after I lied about being hurt.

Three days of silence.

No footsteps in the hallway at nine. No knock on the door. No demands for my body, my compliance/ or anything else.

Nothing.

I should have been relieved to finally let my body recover. Instead the silence gnawed at me.

The isolation felt suffocating. Evangeline hadn’t sent for me. It was as if I stopped existing the moment I became inconvenient.

Cameron’s absence was worse.

I kept expecting the door to open, expecting him to ignore my supposed injury and take what he paid for. Part of me even wanted it, because at least then I would feel something other than this hollow ache.

At least then I wouldn’t feel forgotten.

Franklin was the only person who bothered with me. Every day or two he stopped by with food from the kitchen, asking if I needed anything, making small talk about the weather or pack business.

Kind, careful Franklin.

He never asked the questions I could see behind his eyes.

Why did you really ask for a break?

Are you okay?

He never asked. I never answered. We both pretended everything was normal.

But nothing was normal.

The break I asked for wasn’t helping. If anything, it made everything worse.

My body missed Cameron as if he were something I needed instead of something I endured.

At night I lay awake staring at the ceiling, my skin tight with restless energy. The ache between my legs wasn’t pain anymore.

It was need.

All I could think about was the weight of him on top of me. The way he spread my legs and positioned himself. The burn when he pushed inside me and the way that burn turned into something else. The fullness when he knotted inside me. His scent flooding my senses.

I hated that I wanted it.

I hated that I was close to leaving my room and going to him. Close to knocking on his door and begging him to use me just to make the wanting stop.

That was the final humiliation.

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I hadn’t just sold my body.

I had sold my mind, my pride, whatever part of me still understood how wrong this was.

My phone rang late on the fourth day.

James.

I almost ignored it. I wasn’t in the mood for another lecture about how I was destroying the family of how Dad had been right about everything.

But he was still my brother.

I answered.

“What?”

“You sound thrilled to hear from me,” James said.

“I’m busy.”

“Busy doing what? Spreading your legs for a Lycan who doesn’t give a shit about you?”

I straightened on the bed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He laughed without humor. “My friends keep asking about you. About how much you’re getting paid to be Alpha Cameron’s personal whore.”

“James-”

“They say you’re pathetic. That you sold yourself because you’re too lazy to get a real job. That you’re going to bring some bastard into the world and then get dumped on the street like trash.”

My hands tightened around the phone.

“Why are you calling to tell me this?”

“Because I want to know if you actually think this is okay. If you think you can do this and then walk back into a normal life afterward.”

“I’m doing this for our family-”

“Don’t.” His voice snapped. “Don’t you dare say you’re doing this for us. You’re doing it because you’re desperate and stupid.”

“Desperate and stupid?” Anger surged through me. “I’m the one keeping us from being homeless, James! I’m the one making sure Mom has a roof and you stay in school! Where do you think that money is coming from?”

“Blood money,” he shot back. “Money you got by selling yourself. Maybe we need it, but that doesn’t make it right.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” I shouted. “Tell me your brilliant solution. What should I have done when Dad drained the accounts and left us with nothing?”

Silence stretched between us.

“I don’t know,” James said finally. “But not this.”

His voice lowered.

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“Don’t you feel guilty? Don’t you feel dirty? Knowing you’re bringing a kid into the world who was conceived like that? A kid who’ll grow up knowing their mom was just a hired womb?”

The words sank deep.

Because yes.

I felt guilty.

I felt dirty.

Every day.

“I have to go,” I said.

“Lisa-”

I ended the call.

I sat there shaking, trying to steady myself, but James’s voice kept echoing.

Don’t you feel dirty?

Don’t you feel guilty?

I stood and changed into running clothes. Leggings, sports bra, loose shirt. I tied my hair back and left the room.

Servants glanced at me but didn’t stop me. I crossed the gardens, passed the training grounds, and walked through the massive iron gates.

I kept going.

Past the manicured land, past the paved road, until the estate disappeared behind me and the hills opened wide.

I needed to run.

A cluster of trees stood nearby. I stripped, folded my clothes, and hid them beneath a trunk before letting the shift take over.

The transformation burned through my bones and muscles.

Then the pain faded.

Four legs replaced two. My senses sharpened. The world exploded with scent and movement.

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I ran.

Faster than I had in months.

My paws struck the ground in a steady rhythm, the wind rushing past while the hills rolled beneath me. For the first time in weeks I felt something close to freedom.

I ran until my muscles burned.

Ran until I didn’t notice the other wolves until they were already circling.

I stopped.

Four massive Lycans surrounded me, their size and scent unmistakable.

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Hunters.

One of them shifted.

The man stood naked and completely unconcerned about it.

“Well, well,” he said. “What do we have here?” 1

I shifted back automatically, my human form suddenly small and exposed.

“I’m just passing through.”

“Passing through,” he repeated with a crooked smile. “Alone. In neutral territory. That’s dangerous, little woll.”

He stepped closer. The others closed the circle.

“Where’s your totem?” he asked.

Cold spread through me.

“Let me see your mark.”

I didn’t move.

“No mark. No totem.” His smile widened. “That means you’re unclaimed.”

“I have a pack,” I said quickly. “I’m with Alpha Cameron’s-”

“Then where’s your totem?” he cut in. “Show me.”

I had nothing to show.

Cameron had never given me one.

No mark. No protection. Nothing outside the bedroom.

“I left it at home,” I said. “I didn’t plan to come this far.”

“Convenient.”

He grabbed my wrist.

“You know the rules. No totem means no protection.”

I tried to pull free.

“Let go.”

“She smells sweet,” one of the wolves growled behind me.

“I want a taste.”

“We all get a taste,” the man holding me said. “One at a time. Maybe all at once if she’s lucky.”

Panic slammed through me.

I twisted and fought but he held me easily. Another man shifted and stepped forward, reaching for my hip.

“Please,” I said. “Please, I’m-”

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“You’re ours now,” the first man said. “Unless you want to run. We like it when they run.”

He shoved me.

I stumbled and then bolted.

My bare feet pounded the dirt while my lungs burned.

Behind me they laughed.

Enjoying the chase.

I didn’t get far.

A body slammed into me from the side and drove me into the ground. The impact knocked the air from my lungs.

Hands pinned my wrists above my head while a knee forced my legs apart.

“Got her!”

“Hold her still!”

“Pretty little thing-”

I screamed.

Then a roar tore through the clearing.

The weight on top of me vanished.

Bone cracked. Someone howled in pain. The hands holding me disappeared.

I scrambled backward and looked up.

Cameron stood over me.

Naked.

Furious.

His eyes burned gold and his chest rose with restrained violence.

The man who had pinned me lay on the ground clutching his ribs, blood spilling from his mouth.

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