TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 79

Seventy-Nine

Evangeline invited me to breakfast the next morning.

I almost said no. My first thought was to fake a headache or an appointment, but that would raise questions. So I went. If I was going to survive in that house, I could not keep avoiding her.

Sunlight came through the tall windows and fell across the table. Evangeline was already seated. Nadia sat across from her, wearing sunglasses indoors, her hair pulled into a loose bun.

Cameron was not there.

I sat down and poured myself coffee. I added sugar and stirred. The spoon clinked against the cup.

“Good morning,” Evangeline said, smiling.

Nadia did not greet me. She reached for water and swallowed something small from her palm.

We ate in silence. Cutlery scraped against plates. Evangeline watched me over the rim of her cup.

“Are you pregnant yet?”

My fork paused halfway to my mouth.

“Not yet.”

She leaned back. “It’s been two months. I thought it would have happened by now.”

“Bodies are unpredictable,” Nadia said flatly. “You know that.”

Evangeline laughed. “Of course. I only meant something might be wrong. We cannot afford delays.”

When I looked up, she wore a wide, innocent smile.

I wanted to tell her it was not a machine you switched on.

“I ran tests. I’m fine.”

“The pack council is watching. The arrangement does not leave much room for waiting. Unless you are enjoying yourself too much.”

“Eva, leave the girl alone,” Nadia said, setting down her coffee cup. “Can we please not do this before 9:00 in the morning? I have a nasty hangover.”

“I am only asking,” Evangeline replied quickly. “I am under stress. I have every right to be concerned.”

I pushed my plate away. I had barely eaten.

“I lost my appetite,” I said, standing up.

“I did not say I was canceling the contract,” Evangeline added. “I am only asking questions.”

“I know,” I replied. “I just do not feel like eating.”

As I walked out, I heard Nadia mutter, “Take your meds.” Evangeline complained that they made her worse.

I didn’t see Cameron for the rest of the day until I went to the pool.

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The outdoor pool sat behind tall hedges. No one used it at that hour. I wore a set of underwear and slipped into the water. The cold hit my skin and cleared my head.

I swam laps until my arms burned. The water closed over my ears and drowned out the noise in my head.

When I stopped at the edge to catch my breath, I looked up.

Cameron stood on his balcony. He was leaning on the railing, watching.

Our eyes met. Neither of us looked away.

The air felt thicker. I became aware of the fabric clinging to my skin. I adjusted the strap at my hip, even though it did not need fixing.

I waited to hear his footsteps on the stairs.

He did not.

I stayed in the water longer than I needed to. I remembered the last time he had me against a wall, his hand at my throat. I told myself he was not mine. I told myself I had agreed to this.

None of it made me move.

I pushed off the wall and swam again until my lungs hurt.

After I changed, I headed toward the library. I stopped in the hallway when I saw Cameron walking toward me.

He looked tired. There were shadows under his eyes.

“Alpha Kieran asked about your mother,” he said. “He wants to court her properly, after the divorce is finalized.”

I stared at him.

“He is willing to wait,” Cameron continued. “He is a widower. He wants her happiness. Nothing else.”

I crossed my arms. “It is not easy on her. Now someone else wants to claim her because fate says so.”

“No one is claiming her,” he said.

“Fate should not matter more than choice,” I said. “She should choose, not be pushed because of a bond.”

He did not answer.

For a second, I realized I was not only talking about my mother.

He noticed too. His gaze shifted, and he looked past me.

“Kieran will not force her,” Cameron said. “If she never comes to him, he will survive. Mate bonds are not death sentences. They are opportunities. Only if both people want them.”

I held his gaze.

“Help her see that he is different,” he said. “Tell her he will give her space.’

“I will not convince her to accept something she does not want.”

“I am not asking you to pressure her. I am asking you to let her know she has options.”

We stood there a moment too long before he walked past me.

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Three days later, I woke up with a low fever and a weight in my limbs.

I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, counting backward through dates.

My period was two weeks late.

I pushed myself upright.

I went to the bathroom and pulled out two pregnancy tests from the cabinet. I tore the first box open too fast and nearly dropped the stick.

I waited.

Then I opened the second.

Two lines.

On both.

I sat on the edge of the bathtub and stared at them. I blinked hard and they did not disappear.

I was pregnant.

I laughed once, then pressed my hand over my mouth.

This was the goal. The contract, fulfilled.

But now there was a real child inside me. Cameron’s child.

The contract deadline flashed in my head.

I slid down until I was sitting on the bathroom floor. The tiles were cold against my back.

I cried there, not loud, but steady.

I texted Cora. She called immediately.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m pregnant,” I said.

There was a pause. “Is that good news?”

“I don’t know.”

She exhaled. “You love him.”

I closed my eyes.

“I’m stupid.”

“No. You have a heart. The situation is impossible. He’s a good man. And now you have to carry his child and give it up like it meant nothing.”

I did not know if I could.

“You have to tell him,” she said.

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“I know.”

I waited until evening.

Cameron was in his study when I knocked. I held the test kit in my hand.

“Come in,” he said.

He looked up from his desk. The tension in his face eased when he saw me.

I stepped inside and closed the door.

“I’m pregnant.”

The room went still.

He stood up. “You’re sure?”

“I took two tests.”

He crossed the room and pulled me into him, his arms tight around my back.

For a moment, I let myself sink into it.

“You’re going to be a father,” I said, trying to smile.

He did not smile back.

He held me a second longer than necessary, then released me. His hands stayed on my shoulders.

“This changes everything.”

I stood in front of him and kept my voice steady.

“Yes,” I replied. “It does.”

Neither of us moved.

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