TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 72

Seventy-Two

Cameron

The specialist kept explaining the new protocol. Nadia sat beside me, and Evangeline was on the exam table in a gown that hung off her frame, arms crossed tight like she was bracing herself.

“Immunotherapy has shown good results in cases like yours,” the specialist said. “We’d start low, watch how you respond, and adjust. The side effects are manageable–”

“No.” 1

“Eva-” I started.

“I said no.”

The specialist looked at me, then Nadia, then back at Evangeline. “I know you’ve tried many options over the years, but this is different. The data is solid. If you’d just listen-”

“I don’t want to hear about data,” she snapped. “Every doctor says the same thing, and nothing ever works.”

“That doesn’t mean you stop trying,” Nadia said.

“I’m not stopping. I’m being realistic.”

“You’re being stubborn,” I said, before I could stop myself.

Nadia shot me a look.

I dragged a hand down my face and tried to calm myself. We’d been here three days. Three days of Evangeline refusing tests, arguing through every consult, crying afterward, then clinging to me while accusing me of leaving her. Three days away from my territory while rogue reports stacked up and patrols needed decisions.

And this was what we had to show for it.

“The choice is yours,” the specialist said carefully. “But I strongly suggest you think about it. We don’t have to start today. Take time-”

“I’ve had enough time.” Evangeline looked at me, eyes wet. “Can we go home now?”

They discharged her with pamphlets she wouldn’t read and pain meds she probably wouldn’t take. Nadia helped her dress while I stood in the hall, jaw tight, trying not to punch the wall.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

I turned. Nadia had stepped out and closed the door.

“What?”

“You being here makes her more emotional,” she said. “I could’ve handled this and called you if it was serious.”

“And staying away would’ve made it worse,” I said. “I’m her mate. I’m supposed to be here.”

“I know.” She rubbed her face. “I just don’t understand why she won’t try. It feels like she’s already decided.”

She stopped herself.

“Decided what?”

1/4

“Nothing.”

+15 Bonus

The door opened and Evangeline came out dressed, reaching for my hand the second she saw me. I took it because that’s what you do, even when part of you wants to scream.

The ride home was quiet for a long time. Evangeline leaned against me, Nadia drove, security followed.

Then Evangeline spoke.

“You were with her before you came here.”

“What?”

“Lisa. You stayed home two days. How many times did you sleep with her?”

“Eva-”

“Don’t lie. I can smell her on you. Even now. She’s everywhere on you. You’re always with her, and I’m here dying while you- ”

“While I’m doing what your mother asked,” I said. “She chose Lisa, she negotiated the contract, and now I’m the villain for following it?”

“I didn’t ask you to fall in love with her,” she cried. “I didn’t ask you to look at her the way you used to look at me.”

“Cameron,” Nadia warned.

Evangeline was shaking. Red rashes crept along her arms and chest. The doctors said stress, maybe an allergy, maybe nothing they could identify.

“It’s because of her,” she sobbed. “The bond is breaking because you’re giving yourself to someone else.”

“That’s not true.”

She laughed, sharp and broken. “Isn’t it? You don’t touch me anymore. You pull away. You smell wrong. You can barely stand to be near me.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had pulled back. I had avoided touch. Not because I didn’t care, but because my body stopped responding, because the bond felt thin and wrong, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

“Please,” Nadia said. “Stop.”

When we got home, I suggested Evangeline stay with her mother for a bit.

“No.” She grabbed my arm. “I’m staying here. You just want me gone so you can have her.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then answer me,” she said. “If I left, would you miss me, or would you feel relieved?”

She didn’t wait for my answer. She went upstairs, and Nadia followed, already planning the talk we’d have later.

I stood alone and wondered when everything had fallen apart.

I found Nadia an hour later in her room, sitting on the bed with her shoes off and her head in her hands.

2/4

+15 Bonus

“Can we talk?”

“Yeah.”

I sat across from her, and neither of us spoke at first.

“She’s getting worse,” Nadia said. 1

“I know.”

“Not just sick. Mentally. The accusations, the fear.” She looked at me. “It’s like she doesn’t want to get better.

I’d thought the same thing but hadn’t said it out loud.

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe being sick keeps you close. Maybe she’s afraid of losing you if she’s not.’

She shook her head. “I shouldn’t even be thinking that.”

Then she looked at me. “The smell. Is it worse?”

“Yes. My wolf can barely handle it.”

“And the bond?”

I exhaled. “It used to be there. Now it feels weak. Like static.”

“Since Lisa?”

“No. Before.”

Nadia leaned back. “So what do we do?”

“I don’t know.”

She frowned. “Why isn’t Lisa pregnant yet? It’s been over a month.”

“There’s no set timeline.”

“Be honest,” she said. “Are you really trying?”

“I’m doing everything right.”

“Then why hasn’t it worked?”

“I don’t know.”

“You need to spend less time with her and more with Evangeline,” Nadia said. “Because from the outside, it looks like you’re falling for Lisa, and I know you’re confused, not reckless.”

“I’m not falling in love with her.”

“Good,” she said. “Because that would destroy everything. Fix the bond, figure out the smell, get Lisa pregnant so she can leave, and then we move on.”

She said it like a task list.

“I’ll do it.”

3/4

Laventy-two

+15 Bçnus

“Don’t say you’ll do it. Do it.” She softened. “I hate watching this tear you apart. You’re my brother, and she’s my best friend.”

I left her room knowing she was right. 1

The sooner Lisa was pregnant and gone, the sooner I could focus on what mattered.

Even if it felt like choking myself to do it.

I went to my room and tried not to think about the four days I’d avoided her, or whether she noticed, or whether she missed me.

I tried to think about Evangeline.

I failed.

Because no matter how hard I tried, my mind kept going back to Lisa, the woman who was supposed to be temporary and somehow wasn’t.

P

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