TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 69

Sixty-Nine

Lisa 1

I woke up at three in the morning feeling more rested than I had in weeks. Which made no sense. I’d only been asleep for four hours. Lisa, with her body tucked against mine.

Four hours shouldn’t have been enough.

But I felt grounded. Like someone had reset something fundamental inside me that had been running on fumes for too long.

Lisa was still asleep. One hand tucked under her cheek, the other resting on top of mine where my arm was wrapped around her waist. I lay there in the dark and let myself feel the rise and fall of her breathing. The warmth of her skin through the thin fabric of her sleep shirt. The way her hair spread across the pillow in a mess of waves.

My mind drifted back to earlier that evening. A teenager had been executed in the neighboring pack. Seventeen years old. And now there was gossip spreading that the rogues responsible were planning to push into Silver Creek territory next.

My security was tight. I’d made sure of it. Patrols doubled. Guards stationed at every vulnerable point along the border. Anyone crossing without authorization would be detained immediately.

But tight security didn’t mean impenetrable.

And Matthias, my cousin and rival who wanted my position more than he wanted his next breath, had apparently decided to handle the situation himself.

He’d executed ten of the rogues and fed their bodies to wild animals as a warning to anyone else who thought about encroaching on Lycan territory.

It was barbaric, even by our standards. But it was also effective.

And I felt a grudging respect for him that I didn’t want to feel. Because Matthias was ruthless in ways I couldn’t afford to be. He didn’t hesitate or second-guess himself. He just acted. And people fell in line because they were terrified of him.

Lisa made a sound in her sleep. I looked down at her and felt something shift in my chest. Tenderness. That’s what it was. Not just desire, though that was there too.

She was beautiful.

I’d known that from the beginning. You didn’t hire someone to carry your child without noticing whether they were attractive. But this was different. This wasn’t cataloging her features objectively. This was looking at her and feeling something break open inside me. Something I’d been keeping locked down for so long I’d forgotten it existed.

She was beautiful in the way broken things could be beautiful. Fragile and strong at the same time. Surviving something that should have destroyed her and somehow still managing to be kind.

And maybe that’s why this was so hard.

Because it wasn’t just physical. It wasn’t just my wolf responding to her scent or my body craving hers.

It was more.

It was everything.

1/4

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I wanted to sleep with her. Right now. Wanted to wake her up and strip away the layers between us and lose myself in her until nothing else existed. But I didn’t.

For once, I needed to restrain myself.

I let myself enjoy the rest of the night pressed against Lisa. My body plastered to hers. My arm around her waist. My face buried in her hair.

And I was so turned on it was painful.

Every shift of her body against mine sent heat straight to my groin. Every breath she took made me hyperaware of the curve of her back, the softness of her skin, the way she fit against me like she’d been designed for it.

I could have woken her up. Could have slipped my hand lower, found the heat between her legs, coaxed her awake/ with pleasure until she was gasping my name.

I didn’t.

Because if I started, I wouldn’t stop.

I slipped out of her room just before dawn like a guilty teenager sneaking home after curfew. I showered. Changed into fresh clothes. Tried to shake off the lingering warmth of her body against mine. By seven, I was knocking on Evangeline’s door.

“Come in.”

She was already dressed. Sitting at her vanity. Looking at herself in the mirror.

“Hi, sweetheart,” I said.

“Morning.” She didn’t turn around. “Nadia and I are leaving for the clinic soon.”

“I know. The car’s ready. Security’s briefed.”

“You’re not coming.”

It wasn’t a question. But it landed like one anyway.

“I can’t,” I said. “The rogue situation-”

“Even for the consultation.”

“Eva-”

“I know why you’re staying.” She finally turned to look at me. Her eyes were red-rimmed, like she’d been crying. ” You want to fuck Lisa unrestricted.”

“Stop this, Eva,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” Evangeline stood. “You’re choosing to stay here instead of coming with me. Your mate. To a medical appointment that could determine whether I live or die. And you’re choosing to stay because you can’t bear to be away from your surrogate.”

“That’s not true. I’ve arranged for extra security to go with you. Five additional guards beyond the usual detail. Because with the rogue situation escalating, I can’t afford to take chances.”

Her voice broke. “Just admit it, Cameron. Admit that you’d rather be near her than me. Admit that she’s replaced me.” She crossed the distance between us. “Please. Just-come with me. Be there. Show me that I still matter.

2/4

Saty Nine

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That you haven’t completely given up on us.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow. I promise. But today—”

“Today you’re staying here.” Evangeline dropped my hand. “Fine. I understand.”

“Eva-”

“I said I understand.” She turned away. “If you’re going to choose her, at least be honest about it.”

She walked out before I could respond.

The morning passed in a blur of pack business. The usual administrative bullshit that came with running a territory this size.

But my mind kept drifting to Evangeline. A large part of my brain wanted to conclude she was overreacting, but then, was I really fueling her insecurity?

Things got even weirder that afternoon when I overheard Evangeline’s voice coming from one of the sitting rooms near the entrance. I stopped and listened.

“Please don’t take him from me.”

Silence.

“I know you didn’t mean for this to happen,” Evangeline continued. “I know none of this was supposed to be personal. But it is now. And he’s all I have left. My mate. My future. The only thing keeping me alive.”

“I swear that’s not what this is-“Lisa’s voice was careful.

“I’m begging you.” Evangeline was openly crying now. “Don’t take my lover from me. Don’t make me watch him fall in love with you. I can’t survive that. Losing my health, losing my life, that’s one thing. But losing him? That will kill me faster than any illness ever could.”

I couldn’t hear Lisa’s response. If she even gave one.

“You have your whole life ahead of you,” Evangeline said. “You’re young. Healthy. You’ll find someone else. Someone who’s actually free to love you back. But Cameron is mine. The Moon Goddess chose us. And I need you to respect that. Please.”

I backed away before I could hear more.

Found an alcove and pressed my back against the wall and tried to breathe through the guilt crushing my chest.

I still loved her. I wanted her to get better. Wanted that rotten smell to stop so my wolf would stop recoiling every time I got close. I’d never, not once, thought about replacing her with Lisa.

Except now, standing here listening to my mate beg my surrogate not to steal me away. She was making me regret everything. Making me feel like a monster.

Lisa came around the corner minutes later. She stopped. Looked up at me with eyes that were wet but not crying.

“Come on.” I took her elbow and led her toward the staircase, away from prying eyes.

We stopped on the landing between floors. Lisa stared at the wall instead of at me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m repeating my father’s mistakes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

3/4

I frowned. “What?”

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“My father cheated on my mother while she was at her most vulnerable. He chose someone who made him feel good about himself. And I-” Her voice cracked. “I swore I’d never be like him. Never be the person who destroyed someone else’s relationship. Never be that selfish.”

“Lisa, this isn’t the same-”

“Isn’t it?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Evangeline is dying. She needs you. And here I am, the other woman, taking what doesn’t belong to me.” ..

“You’re not taking anything. You’re being paid for a service-”

“A service you’re enjoying a little too much. Admit it, Alpha Cameron. This stopped being purely transactional weeks ago.”

The accusation hit hard.

I tried to sound neutral. Tried to squash the guilt clawing its way up my throat. “The arrangement is what it is. We’re both adults.”

Lisa held up a hand. “Just stop. If this really is just business, we must prove it. I don’t want to be responsible for another woman’s unhappiness.”

She turned and walked away.

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