All Chapters of TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS : Chapter 271 - Chapter 280

My body was overwhelmed by pain and confusion, even as I held myself together.My wolf shrank into herself with a whine. Our mate was looking right through us. He didn't even react, as though he hadn't seen or felt anything.The mate bond was supposed to be the one thing nobody questioned. The Moon chose. Both wolves knew. It was simple. Then why was mine standing in front of me as though I were invisible?I remained frozen as my sister's arm settled on my mate's shoulder. None of them paid any attention to me.Was he ignoring me on purpose?I couldn't walk over and tell a complete stranger he was my mate when he hadn't even looked at me twice. Especially not in Barbara's presence.Every time I thought I'd found something good, it slipped away before I could hold on to it. The only person I had ever been able to call mine was Maverick, and even with him, nothing came easily. Every day was another fight to keep him safe, fed, and accepted in a world that could dismiss him over the basi

Wesley POV Mom and I were talking when a football rolled into the room. A little boy came charging after it, scooped it up, then paused when he noticed us. He couldn't have been more than three years old."Who's this little menace?" I said with a snort.Mom had no idea.A young woman hurried in after him."Maverick, get back here!"She stopped short the moment she saw us, and seemed mortified.“Isabella," she said with a smile. "I'm glad you and your son are settling in.""I'm sorry, my lady. I thought he was asleep. I was helping in the kitchen.""Nonsense," Mom said , resting the back of her hand against the little boy's forehead. "Let him run around. As long as he doesn't knock over my figurines, we're perfectly fine.""How are you, handsome? What's your name?""Maverick," he replied."Oh? That's a strong name," Mom said, smiling up at Isabella.I wasn't looking until now and recognized the boy's mother as the same girl who'd walked straight into me.She seemed about my sister's a

"Go to him!" my wolf cried the moment I spotted Wesley standing alone in the garden.I took a step back from the window, then looked again.He was still here, which meant Barbara's red SUV was still in the driveway. Her spending the night under the same roof as me should have been reason enough to lock my door and stay exactly where I was until morning. My eyes drifted back to the garden.Wesley stood beneath one of the hedges, his hands tucked into his pockets. Was he struggling to sleep too? Had the growing heat disturbed him enough to pull him from his room?The absence of any audience was telling.Maybe he didn't want to acknowledge the bond publicly. The first time it hit, Barbara had been there. The second time our eyes met, Luna Lisa had been standing beside him. Perhaps he hadn't wanted to name something so sacred in front of other people.Or perhaps I was making excuses for a man whose intentions I didn't know.I closed my eyes. He hadn't ignored me or looked irritated by my

By lunchtime, I'd learned Emerald could find fault with almost anything. Everyone was genuinely busy working for Luna Lisa, but she always seemed to have one more job waiting for me. I had barely set the coffee she'd asked for on her desk before she sent me downstairs for biscuits because the ones on our floor had finished. By the time I returned, a fresh pack was already open on her desk. She was eating one while typing with her free hand. She'd sent me for biscuits, then found a way to have some before I made it back."You're too slow," she said, pushing a stack of charts toward me.I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. If being slow meant sixty minutes of nonstop errands without sitting down once, I could live with the label. I'd carried a sick child through a hospital that pretended not to see either of us. A woman who wanted an audience for eating a biscuit wasn't going to be the thing that ruined my morning.I did as she asked. Since I wasn't talking to anyone or getting distra

Wesley POVI walked to the cabinet and poured myself a glass of water to swallow a painkiller. The headache had started creeping in somewhere between Isabella bolting out of my office and Anita looking at her as though she'd just discovered the meaning of life.The scent of Isabella's cologne still lingered in the room.Grapes.It was cheap. The sort of thing you'd find in an ordinary supermarket. Yet the scent had settled into the office, refusing to leave, and it reminded me just how close I'd come to making a spectacularly stupid decision.If Anita had walked in thirty seconds later, she'd have caught us kissing.And then there was Barbara and I, who'd spent the last dinner with my family convincing them that we'd court and build toward marriage. Getting caught kissing another woman had nothing to do with guilt. Still, it wouldn't have looked good, considering Anita didn't know our relationship was fake.Anita was standing where Isabella had left her, her nose lifting slightly as s