TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 52

Fifty-Two

Lisa POV

The dance floor was crowded. Cameron and Evangeline moved at the center of it, surrounded by other couples. ! focused on Kade instead as he guided me into the waltz.

His hand settled at my waist. I shifted to create space, but he drew me closer.

“You look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ve missed you.”

I let the music carry us across the floor and ignored that.

We moved through the turn of the dance before he leaned closer.

“What does he have that I don’t?”

“Kade-”

“No, really. What does Cameron have?”. His hand tightened at my waist. “He’s my sister’s mate. He’s renting your body like you’re an incubator. What could you possibly see in him that you didn’t see in me?”

“This isn’t about Cameron,” I said. “It’s about us. We weren’t good for each other.”

Kade gave a short laugh. “You’re acting like your father wasn’t a Beta. Like you’re some commoner. We were perfectly matched.”

“Were we?” I shifted again, trying to break the closeness he kept forcing.

His voice lowered. “Spreading your legs for a Lycan Alpha. Is that what you want?”

The urge to slap him rose fast and hot, but we were in the middle of a ballroom full of pack members and visiting Alphas. I tried to step away.

Kade held on.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That was crude.”

“Let me go.”

“Lisa, just listen-”

A stare cut across the room and settled on the side of my face.

I glanced toward the edge of the dance floor.

Cameron stood there now. He wasn’t dancing anymore. Evangeline spoke with someone beside him, but Cameron’s attention stayed fixed on us.

Cold anger settled across his expression.

He looked ready to cross the room and drag Kade away from me by force.

That level of possessiveness should have scared me.

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Instead it stirred heat low in my stomach.

He was jealous over a man who wasn’t even touching me improperly.

“I’m thirsty,” I said, stepping back from Kade. “I need a drink.”

“I’ll get you one.”

“I can get my own.”

I left the dance floor before he could argue.

He followed anyway.

For the next hour Kade stayed near me while I drifted from table to table, pretending to study the desserts and decorations.

“It’s not too late,” he said again. “You could still walk away from this.”

“Kade-”

“I’m serious.” He moved closer, blocking my view of the room. “There are other women. Millions of them. We could find someone else for Cameron. Refund his money. Get you out of this contract.”

I stared at him. “You’re offering to buy my freedom?”

“I’m offering you a way out,” he said. “Before this destroys you.”

The idea tempted me for a reason that had nothing to do with Kade.

Escape.

Walking away before my feelings for Cameron grew strong enough to ruin me.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I signed a contract.”

“He’s using you,” Kade said. “They’re treating you like livestock. Something to breed and discard. Using your family’s situation to trap you.”

“Stop. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” He gestured across the room toward Cameron. “Look at him. Look at how much control he has over your life. Where you go. Who you see. What happens to your own body. That isn’t business. That’s abuse.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

I wanted to defend Cameron. I wanted to explain that none of the intimacy between us had been forced.

But Kade wasn’t entirely wrong.

I depended on Cameron for everything. Money. Housing. Security. The contract gave him access to my body.

By any normal definition, that was exploitation.

Except it didn’t feel like that.

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“This is for your sister,” I said finally. “Evangeline agreed to it. She encouraged it. If Cameron is abusing me, then she is too.”

Kade paused.

“I need the restroom,” I said. “Excuse me.”

I headed toward the hallway and almost made it before Franklin intercepted me.

“I’m sorry,” he said: “Some of the elders would like to see you.”

I stopped. “Why?”

“Just a formality. They want confirmation that Alpha Cameron has hired a surrogate. A few questions. It won’t take long.”

Great.

Being cornered by Kade had been unpleasant.

Being inspected by the council sounded worse.

Six Lycans waited inside the room, four men and two women seated around a table. Their attention turned toward me the moment I entered.

Franklin stopped beside me.

“This is Lisa,” he said. “The surrogate Alpha Cameron has contracted.”

“Werewolf,” one of the men said.

“Yes.”

The room went quiet while they looked me over.

Evaluating bloodline.

Breeding potential.

One of the men leaned forward. He looked younger than the others, close to Cameron’s age, with dark hair and careful eyes.

“This is an unusual arrangement,” he said. “Hiring a werewolf to bear the heir to Silver Creek.”

“People have different destinies.”

I turned.

Evangeline entered the room with Cameron beside her and Nadia following behind.

“Just because we’re outsourcing conception doesn’t mean the child won’t be ours,” Evangeline said as she stepped closer. “The child will be Cameron’s by blood and mine by love.”

The dark-haired man smiled faintly.

“Of course, Lady Evangeline. No one questions your… creative solution.”

The pause before creative was deliberate.

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“But one must wonder,” he continued, his attention shifting to me, “about the character of a woman desperate enough to sell her body this way. What kind of mother will she make for the future Alpha?”

Anger surged through me.

Before I could answer, Evangeline laughed.

“Lisa is my sister,” she said warmly. “She’s doing this for me out of compassion and generosity. She’s a respectable girl.”

The words should have reassured me. Instead they made me uncomfortable.

She was protecting the arrangement, not me.

The dark-haired man inclined his head.

“Of course. My apologies for the implication.”

His tone made it clear he wasn’t sorry at all.

P

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