TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 42

Forty-Two

LISA POV

I couldn’t sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the hurt on Evangeline’s face when she walked in and found Cameron kissing me. The moment replayed in my head again and again, each time making the shame burn deeper in my chest.

She was his mate. The woman he loved. The woman who was dying while I stood there letting myself get carried away, letting myself forget that I was nothing more than a transaction.

God, I was pathetic.

I spent the entire day hiding in my room, pacing from one wall to the other, trying to convince myself this wasn’t my fault. Cameron had been the one who kissed me. I had tried to maintain the boundaries. He was the one who

crossed them.

But that excuse rang hollow.

I had wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to feel like I mattered to him as something more than a womb he was renting.

That made me complicit.

That made me the other woman.

For a while I thought about calling Sasha and telling her everything, but I already knew what she would say.

Evangeline is your pack sister. You’re betraying her.

I was sleeping with another woman’s mate. Enjoying it. Maybe even developing feelings I had no right to feel.

That made me wicked.

Didn’t it?

I curled up on the bed with my knees drawn to my chest and stared at the wall, trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do next. 1

By the next afternoon I had made a decision.

I needed to apologize to Evangeline. Face to face. No hiding in my room and pretending yesterday hadn’t happened.

I owed her that much.

A servant directed me to one of the private living rooms on the second floor. I knocked before stepping inside.

Evangeline sat on the sofa with a book resting on her lap. Nadia sat across from her in an armchair, clearly in the middle of a conversation.

They both looked up when I entered.

My stomach tightened immediately. I hadn’t expected Nadia to be here.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, already stepping back toward the door. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back.”

“Nonsense.” Evangeline set the book aside and smiled at me. The warmth in her expression caught me off guard. ”

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Torty Twe

+15 Bchus

Come in, Lisa.”

I hesitated in the doorway. “I just needed to speak with you privately.”

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Nadia,” Evangeline replied gently. “We don’t keep secrets in this family.”

I glanced at Nadia. She watched me with the same cold look she always wore, as if she were examining something unpleasant.

“I wanted to apologize,” I said, forcing the words out before I could lose my nerve. “For yesterday For what you saw. It wasn’t what it looked like. I never intended to cause trouble between you and Alpha Cameron.”

Evangeline leaned back slightly.

“What did it look like, Lisa?”

The question caught me off guard. “I… what?”

“You said it wasn’t what it looked like,” she continued calmly. “So tell me. What did it look like?”

Heat crawled up my neck.

“Like I was… like we were…”

“Kissing,” Evangeline finished. “Like you were kissing my mate. Like he had his hands on you. Like you were enjoying it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I know I shouldn’t have-”

“Shouldn’t have what?” Evangeline asked. “Shouldn’t have responded when he kissed you? Shouldn’t have let him touch you?”

I didn’t have an answer.

“You’re here to do a job,” she continued. “And that job involves physical intimacy with my mate. I agreed to that. But there are boundaries, Lisa. When those boundaries are crossed, everything becomes complicated.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” she asked.

Before I could respond, Nadia spoke.

“It’s just sex,” she said dismissively. “That’s all it is. You understand that, don’t you?”

I looked at her.

“Cameron is a Lycan Alpha,” Nadia continued. “You’re a werewolf girl with a broken family and no connections. What exactly do you have that would make him choose someone like you?”

Her words landed exactly where she meant them to.

She wasn’t wrong.

I had nothing. I was just a desperate girl who sold herself because she had no other options.

“I understand,” I said.

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+15 Bohus

Evangeline reached out and touched my hand.

The kindness in the gesture surprised me enough that my eyes stung.

“You don’t need to apologize, Lisa,” she said softly. “Cameron won’t make that mistake again. He simply got carried away.”

The forgiveness in her voice made the guilt settle heavier in my chest.

“But you must remember something,” she added, her fingers tightening slightly on mine. “You chose this arrangement. No one forced you to sign the contract. You agreed to the terms, and those terms are clear. This is a business arrangement.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Her gaze searched my face. “Sometimes I worry you might forget. That you might start hoping før something that can’t happen.”

“I won’t forget,” I said. “I promise.”

Evangeline smiled and released my hand.

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

She paused.

“Have you heard about the ball next week?”

I nodded.

“Have you found a dress?”

“I’m planning to shop for one this afternoon.”

“Wonderful.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Make sure you look your best. My mother will be there, and she was the one who selected you for this arrangement. I’d hate for her to feel she made the wrong choice.”

The implication settled between us.

“I don’t think she should go,” Nadia said. “People will talk.”

“Let them talk,” Evangeline replied. “Lisa is carrying Cameron’s potential heir. She has every right to attend.”

Then she looked at me again with that same gentle smile.

“Besides, it will be good for you to see Cameron in his element. To see him where

he truly belongs. With his pack. With his family.”

She paused.

“With me.”

The message couldn’t have been clearer.

Remember your place.

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Forty Threa

+15 Bonus

Forty-Three

LISA POV

I took that as my dismissal and left quickly before either of them could say anything else that would make me feel smaller than I already did.

I found Franklin in the driveway just as he was about to climb into one of the pack’s black SUVs.

“Franklin,” I called. “Wait.”

He paused with the door half open, looking back at me. I walked over and slid into the passenger seat before he could ask questions. We pulled away from the estate and drove in silence for a few minutes before he finally spoke.

“I’m assuming you need to shop for the ball.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I need a dress.”

Franklin drove us into the Lycan district and parked outside an upscale boutique, the kind of place I never would have stepped into on my own. Inside, polished marble floors reflected soft lighting, and racks of expensive fabric lined the walls.

The saleswoman took one look at Franklin and immediately started pulling dresses.

I tried on what felt like dozens of them, stepping out of the fitting room each time while Franklin sat in a velvet chair with the patience of someone used to long negotiations.

“That one makes you look like you’re going to a funeral,” he said after one glance at a black dress.

I disappeared behind the curtain and changed again.

“That one is trying too hard.”

Back into the fitting room.

When I stepped out the next time, Franklin leaned forward slightly.

“That one works.”

I turned toward the mirror.

Navy blue silk hugged my curves without being obscene. The neckline dipped low enough to be interesting but stayed within the line of formal. Long sleeves balanced the cut, and a slit ran up one leg when I moved.

For the first time since arriving here, I didn’t look like an outsider pretending to belong.

I looked like I could actually walk into a Lycan Alpha’s ball without people immediately questioning why I was there.

“This one,” I said.

Franklin nodded without hesitation. “Definitely that one.

After paying with Cameron’s money, Franklin suggested lunch.

We walked a few blocks to a quiet restaurant and ordered sandwiches and coffee. I expected the usual comfortable silence between us, the kind that had grown familiar over the past few weeks.

Franklin had other plans.

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