TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 78

Seventy-Eight

Two hours after Cameron left, the surgeon finally came out. I was already on my feet before she reached us.

Her surgical cap was gone, and red lines marked her forehead where it had pressed for hours. She was smiling.

“The surgery was successful,” she said.

My knees loosened, and I had to steady myself. James exhaled beside me and gave me a tight nod.

“She’s stable,” the surgeon continued. “The eye is bandaged and will remain that way for a few days. We’ll monitor closely for infection and graft rejection. If recovery goes as expected, she could regain significant vision in that eye within a few months.”

“Thank you.”

James cleared his throat. “Thank you, doctor.”

“She’s in recovery now,” the surgeon said. “You can see her soon.”

We kept nodding even after she turned away.

When I walked into her room, she looked annoyed.

Her eye was covered with thick white bandaging. Tubes ran from her arm. Her hair was flattened against the pillow. A monitor beeped beside her bed.

“You took long enough,” she mumbled when she heard my voice.

I laughed and wiped under my eye. “You were in surgery for half a day.”

She shifted slightly, wincing. “Feels like I fought a truck.”

“That sounds about right.”

The anesthesia was wearing off. Her words slowed and tangled. She said something about the lights being too bright even though her eye was covered. Then she drifted, her hand searching until it found mine.

“You’re strong.”

She squeezed my fingers, then her grip loosened as she fell asleep.

James stood on the other side of the bed and studied her face.

“She looks small,” he said.

“She’s always been small,” I replied.

He did not answer.

I watched him and tried to decide if this was the moment to tell him about the mate bond. With tubes in her arm and gauze over her eye, it felt wrong. Keeping it from him felt wrong too.

I waited until we left the hospital a few hours later to get food.

We sat at a small diner near the hospital. The table was sticky. James was halfway through his fries when I said, ” There’s something else.”

He looked up.

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+15 Benus

“Mom has a mate.”

His hand stopped halfway to his mouth.

“What?”

I nodded.

“Who the fuck is that?”

I did not snap at him.

“He’s a Lycan Alpha,” I said. “Alpha Kieran. He leads Shadow Fangs. He also mentored Cameron.”

James stared at me like I had said our mother had joined a cult.

“At her age?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“This is some kind of joke. He shook his head. “So the Alpha pays for surgery and now this?”

“James.”

He leaned back in the booth. “So what, she’s supposed to run into another marriage?”

“She doesn’t want it. She’s scared. The divorce is not finalized. She said she does not want to lose herself again.”

James went quiet.

“And do not tell Dad,” I added. “Please. Not now.”

He rubbed his forehead. “He’d lose his mind.”

“I don’t care.”

He stared at his plate.

“Does she want this guy?”

“She doesn’t know what she wants,” I said. “She only knows she does not want to be controlled again.”

James nodded and finished his fries. He went back to his hotel. I went home.

When I got back to the house, Franklin was in the hallway. He lowered his voice when he saw me.

“Nadia ran into Cora at the shopping center today. It did not go well.”

“What happened?”

“She made comments about Cora’s background and her job. She implied she was not good enough.”

I felt heat rise in my chest. “Of course she did. Maybe you should call it off. If Nadia keeps targeting her, it is not worth it.”

He shook his head. “Cora is stronger than you think. She can handle Nadia. Nadia does not like losing control, so she lashes out.”

“That is childish. I wish this fake dating thing would stop being fake.”

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He gave me a look. “It won’t.”

I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

+15 Bcnus

Later, I lay alone in my room. I wanted sex.

I turned onto my back and stared at the ceiling. The sheets were twisted around my legs.

I wanted Cameron there with me. It had been days since he touched me. Everything between us had felt careful

instead of warm.

For a moment, I did not care that he had a mate. I only cared that I wanted him. But I could not go to him. Evangeline was fighting to survive. Whatever we were doing came with limits, and I was not sure which ones we had already broken.

The arrangement felt like paperwork. It had to stay that way.

I pressed my face into my pillow and screamed into it.

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