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Forty-One
publish date:
2026-01-30 20:05:14
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TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and fourteen
Cassidy POVThirty Years AgoThe first thing people noticed about Alpha Kieran was his size.At nineteen, he already stood taller than most fully grown men in the territory, broad shoulders stretching through dark wool shirts tailored by people who probably charged more for one sleeve than my mother earned in a month. Even walking through the pack market felt different when he was beside me. Wolves moved out of his path instinctively. Vendors lowered their voices around him. Older men watched him with the kind of caution people reserved for storms gathering over the mountains.Kieran hated it.Or at least he pretended to.“You're glaring again,” I told him as we walked past a butcher stall dripping with strips of cured venison.“I wasn't glaring.”“You were. Mrs. Dallow nearly dropped her basket.”Kieran looked over his shoulder toward the old woman before lowering his voice near my ear. “She drops that basket every time she sees me. At this point, I think she enjoys the attention.”I
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and thirteen
Cassidy POVThe silence in the driveway hung heavy. George's gaze bounced between Kieran and me. I looked past his car toward the edge of the property, where the scent of freshly cut grass drifted across the lawn from somewhere beyond the hedges. A lawnmower engine sputtered and died in the distance, leaving only the sound of wind rustling through the pine needles.“Cass, please stay,” George said, breaking the silence. He reached out to rub the sleeve of my leather jacket before dropping his hand back to his side. “You can see the girl is in danger. And Cameron's already deteriorating.”I let out a laugh that tightened my throat, my fingers gripping the leather strap of my duffel bag. “Interesting. So now I'm useful again.”George looked caught between a grimace and a deadpan smile. Kieran remained silent, his large frame cast in the long shadows of the late afternoon sun. One of the guards stood near the stone wall with a cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling past his face wh
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and twelve
The room sank into silence, everyone likely overwhelmed by their own thoughts. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. The number flashed across the screen.Cameron’s name hit me like a shove. Heat climbed behind my eyes.“Cameron is calling,” I said quietly.My mom’s eyes snapped to Alpha Kieran, who nodded.A knot twisted low in my stomach.“I can't pick it up.”“You have to, Lisa. We need evidence. Answer it and record the call. Put it on speaker.”“Kieran, she's barely holding herself together,” my mother said.“I know,” he replied, softer this time. “But this matters.”Across the room, Cassidy lounged by the far window beside George. Her attention stayed on the driveway outside, but her shoulders held tight, every muscle braced around the conversation drifting through the room.I answered just before the ringing stopped, my thumb sliding across the screen. Cameron’s breathing filled the speaker first.“Lisa.”My knees nearly gave out at the sound of his voice. He sounded
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and eleven
There was nothing in my head except a heavy, unexplainable confusion. So many questions and unanswered mysteries crowded my mind, especially surrounding this strange woman who had come to the house. My thoughts were too tangled for me to focus on anything except what they kept telling me; that if I wanted to protect myself, I needed to join another sect. It was all too much to process.I stood in the hallway, facing the huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the landscaped garden, where a hummingbird hovered outside. The tiny bird stayed suspended in front of a red hibiscus, its wings blurring gray while its beak jabbed into the center of the flower. My mind swirled with doubts and questions. Why would Alpha Kieran even want me to join something like that? And why did the solution have to revolve around me instead of Cameron himself?I tried to understand it. The baby was involved, and there was also the possibility that Cameron might be my mate, which was insane to even consider. B
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and ten
Cassidy POV "How much does she know?" I asked, pointing at Lisa and ignoring her mother entirely.Kieran nodded. "Can we all just sit?"Lisa and Susan moved toward the sofa near the fireplace, keeping as much distance as possible between us."We've reached the point where partial explanations are no longer useful," Kieran said, his eyes staying on Lisa until she finally looked back at him. She had handed him her trust already. That much was obvious."This is Cassidy," Kieran told her, his hand reaching toward my side of the room. "The woman I told you about. The one connected to the people who helped me survive Meridian conditioning years ago.”Lisa's eyes flicked to my face, lingered there, then dropped back to her lap as though she couldn't stand the sharpness in my expression."As we all know, the Meridian used conditioning to control Cameron's mind," Kieran continued, his voice dropping into that steady register he used when trying to keep a room from breaking apart. "And they've
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Two hundred and nine
Cassidy POVGeorge watched my hands through the rearview mirror as I kept them pinned flat against my knees. He had just cleared us through the checkpoint at the outer perimeter. The heavy gates took their time grinding along the track, and the delay made the air inside the sedan feel thick. I pushed the passenger door open, my boots hitting the gravel, and stood under the afternoon sun to look at Kieran's mansion.The building was massive, white stone pillars rising three stories to meet a flat tiled roof. Four armed guards in identical dark jackets stood by the main archway."All clear," a voice rasped from the radio on the lead guard's hip.George leaned across the console, motioning with a jerk of his chin for me to get back inside. I stayed on the gravel a little longer. My cousin knew as well as I did that this drive would either end with a clean conversation or a complete mess.Ever since Kieran had turned up on my porch, his presence had felt like an insult. It sat in my ches
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS One hundred and thirty
Franklin POVThe ceiling fan in the doctor’s office hummed at a frequency that vibrated inside my skull. Dr. Aris rubbed the bridge of his nose, his skin sallow under the harsh light. He slid Lisa's results toward me. The paper felt heavy, the ink crisp and undeniable.“Will this affect the baby?” I
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS One hundred and twenty nine
Lisa POV She’s awake.My mother’s voice was the first thing I heard when I woke up. It came from somewhere near the foot of the bed, low and steady, the way she spoke when she was trying to hold everything together.The doctor walked in. A stethoscope dangled around his neck and a thick file sat cl
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS One hundred and twenty eight
Evangeline POVCameron slept in the chair beside my bed. His head rested against the high back with his neck bent at an angle that would ache later. One arm hung over the side and his fingers brushed the floor. I watched him with a smile. My lips curved up on their own while I studied the slow rise
TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS Six
“Lisa, I’m not okay with this.”My mother shook her head repeatedly. The wrinkles around her mouth deepened. She looked at me with a devastated expression, as if she were the one who had failed to protect me from the world.“Mom, I’ve told you a million times, it’s not your fault. I’m not a child an
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