TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 96

Ninety-Six

Cameron

I avoided Evangeline for the rest of the evening, not out of pettiness, but because I dreaded saying something that would make things worse.

I shut myself in the study and opened my laptop, stacking files across the desk so I had something to focus on My coffee had gone cold beside the keyboard, untouched. I had enough work waiting that slipping into it felt easy.

The door creaked open. Evangeline hovered in the doorway, then crossed the room toward the desk, watching my face as if waiting for permission.

“Honey, I’m sorry about earlier.”

I set my pen down on the desk and leaned back in the chair.

“I know you’re trying. I know Lisa was just a distraction. But you can’t blame me for being jealous.”

“It’s fine.”

She shook her head. “It’s not. I hate fighting with you. You’re the man I love. No one else understands me the way you do.”

I pushed the chair back and walked around the desk toward her.

“I hate fighting with you too. It drains me.”

I cupped her cheek and kissed her, forcing myself to ignore the smell. Her arms closed around my back, pulling me against her.

We held each other until I pulled back.

“I wish things could go back to how they were before the contract. Can we spend the night together?” She tilted her head and gave me the look she used when she wanted something.

I smiled. It reached my eyes. “Sure. And someone needs to make sure you’re taking your medication. I hear you’re not taking it anymore.”

“That’s not true. Whoever told you that is lying.”

She took my hand and led me upstairs to her room. I picked up the medication bottle from the bedside table and held it out to her. Her nose wrinkled when she saw the pills.

“It tastes terrible, that one. And it’s so long, I can’t swallow it.”

“You need it. We’re trying everything to get you back to yourself.”

She held the bottle without opening it.

“Fine.” She took the pills and chased them with water. A little of it ran down her chin. I wiped it away with my thumb.

“See? It’s still you. Still my Cameron. Still the one who takes care of me.”

I gave her a small smile and followed her into bed. The pill bottle sat on the nightstand between us, orange plastic catching the lamp light. She turned toward me and rested her hand on my chest.

1/5

“I miss us. I miss waking up with you, feeling you next to me.”

“So do I.”

+15 Bonus

She leaned up and kissed me. I kissed her back and tried to pull myself into the memory of what we used to be, when being alone together felt enough, when there was no smell, no distraction, no other woman in my head. Her tongue slid against mitie. She shifted over me, hips pressing down, trying to pull a reaction from my body.

Her hair brushed my chin, and the scent trapped between us grew stronger with every movement. I focused on anything except the smell. When her body settled against mine, it hit harder. I clenched my jaw and forced myself through it. 1

She pulled back. Her expression collapsed, and I pulled her against me.

“Eva, honey… we need to try a cleansing ritual. See if it fixes the smell.”

She stiffened.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way. I’m trying to get us back on track. If we talk to the oracles, maybe they’ll know what’s wrong.”

“No. Lisa is what came between us. Give it a few days and this will disappear.”

I stayed silent, despite having a lot to say. She pushed herself off me and turned away.

“You think I’m broken.”

“I think something is wrong.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“It’s okay.” I didn’t push it. “Let’s just go to bed.”

She looked at me. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

I nodded. “Come here. I’m exhausted. I want to sleep.”

She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. Her breathing deepened as sleep took her. The medication always knocked her out.

I lay there, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. She lay against me, but the space between us felt real. I hated it, and I didn’t know how to close it.

I loved Evangeline. She was my mate, and that would never change.

With Lisa, the chemistry burned. It felt raw and endless. I remembered her body against mine, her lips, her breasts, her wetness. The way she looked at me, open and hungry at the same time.

I missed it.

I hated it.

I hated that part of me compared them without permission. Evangeline deserved loyalty, yet my mind kept drifting anyway.

I wouldn’t act on it, but I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t there, and that truth made me feel like a piece of shit.

2/5

1sty Su

+15 Benus

“Is it me, or have you visited Wildfang five times in the past two weeks?”

I leaned back in my chair as Alpha Kieran walked into my office without knocking. He never did. He planted his hands on the edge of my desk and leaned forward.

“You know why I’m here. And why do you look terrible?”

I grabbed the glass on my desk and took a long drink. “Good to see you too.”

“Cameron, when did you last sleep?”

“Alphas don’t sleep.”

“Have things been any more complicated than the last time?”

“That’s one word for it.”

He dropped into the chair across from me. “That’s one cross we have to bear as alphas. Everything you do is watched. If people start talking, it weakens you.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Because scandal spreads faster than loyalty. “Keep it together. Whatever it takes. The optics won’t look good if people think you left your sick mate for your surrogate.’

“Alpha Kieran, stop. I’m handling it.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m just saying. How are they?”

“I moved her to a safe location. Her mother is with her.”

His face fell.

“I was hoping to visit-”

“Let’s give them space. Susan is recovering physically and mentally. After the divorce is finalized, maybe things will be easier.”

He let out a dry laugh. “Look at you, giving relationship advice. When you’re not exactly doing better yourself.”

I chuckled.

After he left, I opened a folder on my desk just to have something to look at. None of it stuck in my head. My mind kept circling the same problem.

Franklin stepped in with a stack of documents.

“What’s with Evangeline? She was asking questions.”

I leaned back in my chair. “What kind of questions?”

Franklin shifted the papers in his hands. “She wanted to know your schedule, who you were with yesterday, how long you stayed at headquarters.”

I leaned back. “And?”

He lifted one shoulder. “She asked if you went anywhere else after work.”

“What did you tell her?”

3/5

Ninety Sw

+15 Bonus

“What else? That you were working. She also asked how often you check on the safe house, what time you go, how long you stay.”

I let out an annoyed huff.

“Well, in her defense, she just wants to know if Lisa and the baby are doing okay. Maybe she’s trying to make up for the outburst last time. You should tell her that this isn’t good for her or for Lísa. Neither of them needs that.”.

I nodded. He walked to the door, then stopped. “Lisa is fine. She’s settling in. Still irritated, but nothing unusual:”

I stayed quiet.

He looked at me, waiting for a reaction I didn’t give, then walked out.

The door swung open again and he rushed back inside. “Evangeline is here.”

Before I could respond, she walked in wearing a short red dress and stilettos. The smell reached me before she did.

I kept my expression neutral and stood to greet her anyway. For someone recovering, she looked striking.

“Sweetheart, why didn’t you call?”

“I wanted to surprise you.” She laughed.

She had made more effort than usual. Her hair was styled, her makeup light, and she looked more like her old self.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. I slept all day.”

She walked closer and sat on the edge of my desk, far too close for comfort.

“I know you had a long day.” She touched my cheek, and I turned to kiss her palm. “I missed you, and I wanted us to go out tonight. A real dinner. Just the two of us.”

Her gaze drifted toward the window. “We haven’t had time together in weeks. I just want dinner without arguments or stress.”

“That sounds good.”

Her shoulders loosened. “Really?”

I nodded.

“Great, because I already made reservations, and I was going to be mad if you said no.”

I laughed.

We headed to Oasis restaurant, the most expensive place in the pack. Soft music filled the space. Evangeline wrapped her arm around mine, talking the entire walk from the entrance to our table, jumping between memories of trips we had taken, stories about us before her illness, small moments I had forgotten.

The lighting was low. I caught myself studying her face, searching for the woman I remembered. She was still there. Just buried under everything else.

“Remember when you tried to cook at that resort at Blood Moon pack and nearly burned the place down?”

I smiled despite myself. “You distracted me. Who takes their clothes off in the kitchen and expects me to concentrate?”

4/5

+15 Bonus

She laughed. “I was hot.”

“You were. You still are.”

She gave a shy laugh, and for a while everything felt familiar. Comfortable. Normal. I ignored the hollow feeling sitting under my ribs and focused on her voice.

She reached across the table and took my hand. “I love you so much, Cameron. I’ll do anything for you. Anything. Nobody will take you away from me. Ever.”

Her grip on my hand tightened, nails pressing into my skin. She was smiling, but there was something rigid underneath it.

“Eva?”

“You still love me too.”

“Of course I do.”

That part was true. You don’t stop loving someone your wolf chose. No matter how complicated things became, I still held onto the day I first saw her.

I leaned forward and kissed her. She stiffened in surprise, then kissed me back. I ignored the scent. I would learn to ignore it. It came with the sickness. That was all.

“That felt nice,” she murmured, her forehead resting against mine.

“Mmm.”

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