TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 73

Seventy Three

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Seventy-Three

Lisa

I felt restless the moment Cameron and Evangeline came back, and I reminded myself that the smartest thing I could do was stay out of their way.

Stay a stranger in this house. Keep my distance. Respect boundaries that should have existed from the start.

I had been managing it for a few days. I spent most of my time at the hospital with my mother or at the nursery with the kids. That was the plan. Stay invisible and stay out of trouble.

Let them deal with their relationship without me standing there as a reminder of everything wrong with it.

Franklin found me in the library that afternoon and dropped into the chair across from me.

“You’ve been keeping to yourself.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No. Just an observation.” He watched me for a second. “You okay?”

I shrugged.

“The hospital called,” he said. “They think your mom could be discharged for a few days if she wants.”

“She could come here?” I set the book down. “To the main house?”

“If she wants.”

I hesitated. This wasn’t my house, and bringing my mother here felt like crossing a line I wasn’t supposed to touch.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because it feels like I’m getting too comfortable.”

Franklin frowned. “Lisa, your mom just had major surgery. She could use a few days somewhere that isn’t a hospital. Cameron has empty rooms he never uses. No one’s going to complain about that. Just ask him.”

“Ask who what?”

We both turned.

Cameron stood in the doorway, and our eyes met.

That pull was there, the one that showed up every time we were in the same room, and the air shifted before he looked away and broke it.

Franklin stood, either unaware or pretending to be. “Lisa’s mom might be discharged for a few days. We were talking about whether she could stay here.”

“If it’s too much,” I started.

“It’s fine,” Cameron said.

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“Thank you.”

Silence settled between us. Franklin glanced between us like something didn’t add up, then left.

Cameron and I stayed where we were, eight feet apart, and it felt like eight miles.

“How’s Evangeline?” I asked.

“Good. The doctors are optimistic.”

“That’s good.”

More silence.

“I should-” we said at the same time, then stopped.

“You first.”

“I was just going to say I should let you rest,” I said. “It’s been a lot.”

He rubbed his face. “It has.”

“I should go.”

I walked past him toward the door, close enough to catch his scent, the one that shut my thoughts off and made my body react before I could stop it.

I didn’t look back.

At the nursery, I helped Dorothy with snacks, broke up arguments over juice boxes, and read a story about a bear who went on an adventure.

I left before dinner and headed back to the main house. I turned a corner and almost ran into Evangeline.

“Oh,” she said, stepping back with a hand to her chest. “Lisa. I didn’t see you.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

She smiled. “Clearly.”

Dr. Beauty stood beside her, and Evangeline’s smile widened. “We were just talking about you. I was telling her how sweet you’ve been. It’s rare to find someone with real integrity.”

The word hit harder than it should have.

“I’m just doing my job,” I said.

“Of course you are.” She touched my arm, her hand cold. “But between us, I can tell you feel guilty. It shows. You’re trying so hard not to do what’s the phrase, steal my man?” She laughed like it was a joke.

I didn’t answer.

“Oh, I know you’re not actually trying,” she continued. “But feelings happen, even when they shouldn’t.”

Her eyes stayed on mine, steady and sharp. She was turning this into my fault, right there in the hallway, with a witness.

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“I’m fulfilling the contract,” I said. “Nothing more.”

“Of course.” She patted my arm. “How’s your mother? I heard she’ll be staying here.”

“She is, if that’s okay.”

“It’s fine,” Evangeline said, smiling. “Just remember this isn’t a hotel. Your family being here isn’t part of the contract. But since you’re my sister, I’m happy to accommodate.” 1

“Thank you.”

“That’s what sisters do.” She squeezed my arm once, then let go. “We should catch up soon. I feel like we haven’t talked in ages.”

“Sure.”

She walked away with Dr. Beauty, and I stood there trying to remember how to breathe.

I was heading to my room when voices drifted from one of the sitting rooms. The door was half open, and I should’ have kept walking.

I didn’t.

“I want to move into your room,” Evangeline said, her voice thick. “We need to fix this. We need to try again.”

“Eva-”

“I’m trying,” she said. “I’m trying to get pregnant, for real. Our child. Not a contract baby with a stranger. But you won’t touch me. You won’t even-”

“Your health-”

“Fuck my health,” she snapped. “I need you. I need to feel like we’re still together. Like you still love me. Like I’m not watching you leave.”

“I’m not leaving-”

“Yes, you are,” she said. “And it’s because of her. You’re sleeping with her, thinking about her-”

“I haven’t touched Lisa in over a week,” Cameron said. “I’ve been at the hospital. With you,”

“Then prove it,” Evangeline said, her voice dropping. “Move me into your room. Sleep beside me. Show me we still matter.”

“I can’t. The smell, Eva. You know I can’t handle it anymore. My wolf-”

“You’re lying,” she shouted. “You’re making excuses because you don’t want me anymore. Because she turned you against me.”

“That’s not true.”

“Then why won’t you prove it?”

“Because I’m exhausted,” Cameron said. His voice broke. “I’m trying to hold this pack together. I’m dealing with threats, politics, and a mate who won’t try to get better. Who refuses treatment and seems determined to die.”

“Is that what you think?” she asked. “That I want to die?”

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“I don’t know what you want anymore.”

Silence followed.

Then, softer, Evangeline said, “I want you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. But you don’t want me back.”

I stepped away from the door before I heard more.

She was trying to get pregnant, for real, which meant this arrangement had an end point.

Either I would get pregnant and leave, or she would, and I would disappear.

I made it to my room.

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The knock came twenty minutes later.

Nadia didn’t wait for an answer. “We need to talk.”

I sat on the bed. “Okay.”

“My brother’s relationship is falling apart, and you’re part of the reason,” she said. “I don’t care what you were hired to do. Evangeline is my best friend, and she’s suffering.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Haven’t you?” She stepped closer. “If you’re taking advantage of my brother’s confusion, if you’re playing games-”

“I’m not.”

“Good,” she said. “Then keeping your distance should be easy. Stop whatever it is you’re doing that’s making this worse.” Her eyes hardened. “Consider this a warning. Stay away from Cameron, or I’ll handle it myself.”

She left.

I sat there and tried to remember why I’d agreed to this in the first place.

The money. My family. My mother’s surgery.

All good reasons.

None of them felt worth this.

The accusations, the manipulation, the threats. Watching Cameron fight with his mate.

I needed to focus on the one thing that would end this cleanly.

I went to the bathroom and took the pregnancy test out of the drawer, then put it back.

Not yet.

Franklin brought my mother home the next afternoon. She looked better than she had in weeks, and the surgery had worked.

“This place is beautiful,” she said. “You didn’t tell me it was this grand.”

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“It’s something.”

Cora was there too, and the four of us sat together making small talk.

Franklin looked pleased until Nadia walked in. Her gaze went straight to Cora, then to him, then back again, and something ugly crossed her face.

“A heat worker?” she said. “You’re dating a heat worker?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“No status, no connections, no pedigree,” Nadia said. “You could do better than some omega who-”

“Careful,” Franklin said. “You’re about to say something you can’t take back.”

She rolled her eyes and wal ked away.

“I don’t owe you an explanation,” Franklin called after her. “Cora is my girlfriend. You don’t have to like it, but you will respect her.”

Cora kept her face still, but I saw the hurt anyway.

My mother looked horrified.

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