TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 40

Forty

LISA POV

“I told you they won’t let you visit,” I said into the phone. “Sorry, babes. I tried.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sasha snapped. “They won’t let me? Who the hell do they think they are?”

“They’re Lycans. And I’m here for a job.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I know.”

She went quiet. I could hear her breathing hard, forcing herself to calm down.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Like really okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Lisa.”

“I am,

“I insisted. “It’s just complicated.”

The words spilled out before I could stop them.

“Cameron is confusing me. One minute he’s cold and distant and treating me like I’m nothing. The next he’s-“I stopped, heat crawling up my neck even though she couldn’t see me.

“The next he’s what?”

“We had sex in the woods,” I blurted. “Not scheduled. I went for a run, almost got attacked by rogues, he showed up, and then we just… did it. Right there.”

Sasha made a strangled noise. “Holy shit, Lisa.”

“And he kissed me.” My voice dropped. “That’s not supposed to happen. It breaks the rules. But he did it anyway, and it felt different. Like he actually wanted me instead of just using me.’

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“And then afterward, while we’re lying there, he tells me not to fall in love with him. Like I needed the warning.”

“Oh, honey.”

“I know it doesn’t mean anything,” I continued. “I know he loves Evangeline. I know I’m just a contract. But it’s messing with my head. The way he looks at me sometimes. The way his hands feel. I can’t tell what’s real and what I’m imagining.”

Silence stretched on the line.

Then Sasha spoke.

“Lisa, listen to me carefully. Don’t take it seriously. None of it means what you want it to mean. He’s a Lycan Alpha with a sick mate and no heir. You’re the solution to his problem.”

I already knew that.

But hearing it out loud landed harder.

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“I know,” I said quietly.

“Do you? Because it sounds like you’re halfway to falling for him.”

“I’m not-”

“You are,” she said, softer now. “And I get it. He’s powerful. Dominant. He makes you feel things you’ve never felt before. But Lisa, he’s mated. To Evangeline. Your pack Luna’s daughter. You can’t forget that.”

My stomach twisted.

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then protect yourself. Keep it transactional. Keep it about the money. Don’t let him inside your head.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.” She hesitated. “Actually… you should charge him.”

I blinked. “What?”

“For the forest sex. That wasn’t scheduled, right? That’s extra. You should charge him for any unplanned sex.”

“Sasha-”

“I’m serious. You’re already selling your body. You might as well get paid properly. Make him pay every time he can’t keep his hands off you outside the schedule.”

“That’s insane.”

“That’s business.” She laughed. “Come on, Lisa. You’ve already sold your dignity. Might as well make bank.”

The words should have offended me.

They didn’t.

Because she wasn’t wrong.

I had sold my body.

What was one more transaction?

We talked a little longer before hanging up. I sat on my bed afterward, staring at my phone while Sasha’s words replayed in my head.

Don’t fall for him.

Keep it transactional.

Good advice.

Advice I should follow.

If only my body would cooperate.

Franklin appeared at my door around two in the afternoon.

“Alpha Cameron wants to see you,” he said. “In his study.”

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My pulse jumped.

I followed him through the estate, my palms damp while my mind ran through every possible reason Cameron might have summoned me.

Franklin knocked.

“Come in,” Cameron called.

Franklin opened the door and stepped aside for me. I walked in and he shut the door behind me.

Cameron stood behind his desk, reading something. He looked up when I entered.

My pulse betrayed me again.

I hated that reaction. Hated that my body still remembered the taste of his mouth.

“Close the door.”

I did.

He walked around the desk holding something small in his hand.

A crystal pendant etched with markings I didn’t recognize.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A totem,” he said. “Silver Creek Pack’s mark.”

His gaze locked on mine.

“So you don’t almost get raped again.”

The words were blunt.

His tone wasn’t.

I reached for the pendant. Our fingers brushed when I took it, sending a sharp jolt up my arm.

He noticed.

“Turn around.”

I turned.

He stepped closer, lifting my hair aside. His fingers worked the clasp behind my neck, fastening the chain.

But his hands didn’t leave.

They lingered against my throat, sliding down to my collarbone before touching the pendant now resting against my chest.

My breathing stalled.

“There,” Cameron murmured. His hands settled on my waist. “Now everyone will know you’re under my protection.”

I turned to face him and found him closer than expected.

Close enough to kiss.

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“Why did you kiss me?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

His expression hardened. “What?”

“In the forest. You kissed me. That breaks Evangeline’s rule. So why did you do it?”

His gaze sharpened.

“You don’t get to question me.’

“I just did.”

For a long moment he stared at me.

Then he said, “There’s a ball next week. A formal pack event. You’re attending.”

The change of subject threw me.

“Why?”

“Because I said so. Do you have a dress?”

“No.”

“Then buy one.”

“I don’t have money.’

“I gave you fifty thousand tokens.”

“I sent it to my mother,” I said. “Rent, food, school fees. It’s gone.”

Sasha’s voice echoed in my head.

Charge him.

My mouth moved before I could reconsider.

“Then I’ll charge you for it,” I said. “And for any extra sessions.”

His eyebrows rose.

“The forest wasn’t scheduled,” I continued. “That was extra. So you owe me.”

He stared.

Then he laughed,

A real laugh. Deep and unguarded.

I had never heard that sound from him before.

It shocked a laugh out of me too.

For a moment we stood there laughing together, like normal people sharing a ridiculous joke.

Cameron’s laughter faded first.

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“You’re charging me for sex,” he said.

“You said I’d do anything for money,” I replied. “I’m living up to your expectations.”

His gaze sharpened.

“How much?”

“I don’t know. Whatever you think is fair.”

“Fair.”

He stepped closer.

“What if I call your bluff? What if I say I want you right now? Are you going to spread your legs on my desk at two in the afternoon?”

Heat rushed through me.

But I held my ground.

“No. Not until nine. That’s the schedule. If you want me outside that window, you pay.”

“Your terms.”

“Yes.”

He opened his desk drawer, pulled out a checkbook, wrote quickly, and handed me the check.

Ten thousand tokens.

My eyes widened.

“Five for the dress,” he said. “Five for yesterday. Are we square?”

I nodded.

“Good.”

He moved without warning. One hand caught my hip while the other gripped the back of my neck and pulled me into a kiss.

The kiss devoured me.

His mouth opened mine, his tongue sweeping inside while my hands grabbed his shirt. He backed me against the desk and lifted me onto it, stepping between my knees without breaking the kiss.

His hands moved over my sides, up under my shirt, gripping my breasts through the bra.

A gasp escaped me.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer, feeling the hard press of him through our clothes.

Cameron groaned. 1

“Lisa.”

Hearing my name from him felt different now

Powerful.

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Because he wanted me.

And I had made him pay for it.

I kissed him harder, dizzy from the rush of it.

Neither of us noticed the door open.

Not until a voice cut through the room.

“Cameron?”

We both turned.

Evangeline stood in the doorway.

Her face had gone pale.

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