TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 47

Forty-Seven

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Cameron POV

That night I tried to take Nadia’s advice. I went to Evangeline’s room intending to prove to myself, to my wolf, to the universe that the bond was still there. Still strong.

Evangeline was already in bed reading. She looked up when I entered.

“Can I stay?” I asked.

“Of course, my love. Always.” She set the book aside and lifted the blankets.

I climbed into bed beside her and pulled her close, kissing her gently. She responded with the eager affection that should have stirred something in me, the kind of warmth that used to make my body react without effort.

Nothing happened.

I kept trying. I deepened the kiss, touched her the way I knew she liked, tried to force a reaction through sheer determination. My body refused. And the smell kept growing stronger, thick and sour in the air until my eyes watered and my stomach twisted.

I couldn’t do it.

I pulled away and sat back against the headboard, breathing hard.

“It’s completely me,” I said.

Evangeline stayed quiet for a moment. Then she asked, “Are you going to go to her?”

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

“Cameron.” She found my hand in the darkness and held it. “You’ll have to eventually. She needs to get pregnant. That’s the point of all this.”

I knew that.

Avoiding Lisa wouldn’t solve anything. It would only drag this arrangement out longer. But the thought of walking to her room right now felt like the worst kind of betrayal.

“Not tonight,” I said.

Evangeline squeezed my hand and settled against my side. Her breathing grew steady as sleep took her.

I stayed awake.

For hours I lay there listening to her breathe, trying to reconcile the woman I had sworn to love with the reality of what I was feeling, or not feeling.

Around two in the morning I gave up and went to my office. Pack accounts, budget reports, patrol schedules. Anything that would keep my mind occupied.

It didn’t work.

My wolf paced under my skin, restless and insistent. It pushed at my thoughts, urging me toward Lisa’s room, toward the scent and heat my body recognized as-

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No.

I shut the thought down.

Lisa wasn’t my mate. She couldn’t be. I already had a mate.

This was just the ugly side effect of an arrangement that required physical intimacy with someone who wasn’t my bonded partner.

It didn’t mean anything.

It couldn’t mean anything.

All I had to do was get through this. Get Lisa pregnant. End the arrangement. Return to my life with Evangeline.

Simple.

Except nothing about this felt simple anymore.

Franklin appeared in my office the next afternoon, the day before the ball.

I was reviewing seating arrangements, a tedious task Nadia insisted I handle personally, when he knocked on the

door.

“Come in.”

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

“We need to talk.” “We

“About what?”

“Matthias approached me yesterday.”

My attention sharpened. “Did he?”

“He offered me a place on his team. Said when he becomes Alpha, his words, not mine, he’d make me Beta. He tried to buy my loyalty.”

Rage settled under my skin.

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him to fuck off,” Franklin said, his mouth twitching. “More politely than that, but the message was clear. He can promise me the moon. It won’t change anything.”

The tension in my shoulders eased.

“Good.”

“Don’t thank me for doing what’s right.” Franklin sat across from me. “But you should know he’s getting bolder. If he’s trying to recruit people around you, he’s planning something.”

“Let him plan,” I said. “The Oracle chose me. The pack follows me. Matthias can scheme all he wants.”

Franklin nodded, though his expression suggested he wasn’t finished.

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“There’s something else,” he said.

“What is it?”

“I want to escort Lisa to the ball tomorrow.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

“No.”

Franklin raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Because there are plenty of other women you can escort. You don’t need to bring the surrogate.)

“She’s not ‘the surrogate,’ Cameron. She’s a person. She’s going to walk into that ball alone while half the room whispers about her. I thought it would be decent to-”

“Find someone else to be decent to.”

The words landed between us.

Franklin leaned back and watched me.

“You’re jealous.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.” He gave a quiet laugh. “You’re jealous of me spending time with her.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” His gaze sharpened. “Because you’re acting like a man who can’t stand another male near what he considers his.”

“She isn’t mine,” I said. “She’s a contract. And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be getting involved with her. You’re my second-in-command. I need you thinking clearly, not getting distracted.”

“By what?” Franklin asked. “Feelings? The same ones you’re pretending you don’t have?”

“I’m not pretending anything.”

He stood.

“Here’s the truth,” Franklin said. “You’re possessive of a woman who isn’t your mate. You hate seeing her with me. And you’re using pack politics and pregnancy concerns as excuses to keep her isolated because you can’t handle sharing her attention.”

“I’m maintaining the integrity of this arrangement,” I said. “If you start developing feelings for Lisa, the whole situation gets complicated. How do I know the child she carries is mine?”

Franklin stared at me.

“You really think I’d sleep with her? Betray you like that?”

“I think you’re a man spending a lot of time with a woman. Feelings develop whether you intend them to or not. It’s better for everyone if you keep some distance.”

Franklin shook his head.

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“The only person who needs distance here is you,” he said. “But you can’t do that, can you? You keep saying she means nothing. You keep swearing you’re loyal to Evangeline. And still you can’t stay away from her.”

“Get out.”

Franklin walked toward the door, smiling.

“We’ll see how long your resolve lasts,” he said. “My bet? Not long.”

The door closed behind him.

I sat alone in my office with his words echoing in my head.

And I hated that he was right.

I was jealous.

Possessive.

Completely unable to control the way my wolf reacted whenever I saw Lisa with another man.

Unable to reconcile what I felt with what I was supposed to feel.

And completely, utterly screwed.

P

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