Alle Kapitel von TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS : Kapitel 331 – Kapitel 340

Isabella POVThe restaurant had grown quieter as the evening wore on. The men near the bar had left, and one of the couples was gathering their things. Our plates had been cleared, along with the beef special—a kebab drenched in rich, spicy sauce.Wesley pushed another glass toward me. The drink was creamy and sweet.“Easy,” he said when I took another sip and felt warmth spread through me. “It's still a weekday. I'm not covering for you if you decide you can't make it to work tomorrow.”I laughed. “I'm nowhere near drunk.”“I know. I'm just making sure you remember that you have a job.”We talked about everything, and even though we'd covered some of it at his place, none of it felt boring. The longer we stayed together, the more we seemed to discover about each other.I learned that Wesley was closer to his mother, while Anita was closer to their dad. He told me about Luna Lisa's mother, who'd been cheated on by a Beta and later married an Alpha, who then fathered Wesley's uncle, Ch

Isabella POVThe muffled drums from the ballroom followed us through the walls, mingling with voices and laughter. Wesley led me through a side door into a hallway that connected to the backyard. It split in two directions, forming a V, with one of the outer doors leading outside. Only the maids had reason to use it, making it quieter than the main hall.I sighed when Wesley pulled me closer and laced his fingers through mine.“Your dress was designed specifically to make it impossible for me to look anywhere else.”“Please don't,” I said. “I need to find Grandma Cassidy.”He dipped his head and kissed my neck.“She already knows,” he murmured, his breath warm against my skin.“I know, but I need to talk to her myself.”He drew me closer.“You're shaking,” he said with a chuckle. “You don't need to confess anything to her. She already knows we're not exactly spending our nights discussing the weather.”Wesley was taking everything far too lightly. I couldn't blame him. To him, the big

Isabella POV I ran until my legs burned, Anita’s cry still ringing in my ears. Guilt twisted my stomach. I was hurting someone badly, even though my heart hadn’t slowed since her hand struck my face.I didn’t stop until I reached the corner of the hallway where Wesley and I had stood earlier, listening to the drums pounding through the walls. Beyond them, people danced, laughed, and celebrated, ready to end the night happy, while everything I’d built here was a lie waiting to explode.The hatred in Anita’s eyes sent a chill down my spine. I never took threats lightly. Anyone who made one always found a way to follow through.I turned to leave when someone slammed into me.Barbara.Her face was expressionless, somehow worse than the hatred I’d just seen in Anita’s eyes. It was the look she wore before plotting something that would ruin my life all over again.“Watch where you’re going,” she said, shoving me with her shoulder.I caught myself against the wall before I fell.A small smi

Barbara POVCharlie’s grip tightened on the wheel when I mentioned the guest house. I could already see how tense he was, the muscle in his jaw working as though he were testing the idea.“I just don’t want to go home,” I said. “I don’t even know what to tell my parents. They’d find out and blame me, thinking I’d done something to piss Wesley off.”“I could talk to them,” Charlie said.I smiled and shook my head. “You don’t want to see my mother when she’s hysterical. It’s something no one should have to experience.”He was approaching the T-junction leading to the highway toward my house. He had to decide soon, so he pulled over instead.“Why don’t we just talk here?” he said, staring straight ahead.“Charlie, I don’t bite.”He looked at me, managing a smile. For someone who was already an Alpha, it was almost ironic how shy he seemed.Then he met my eyes. Everything I needed to know shone in his grey eyes.“I don’t think it’s smart for me to be in an enclosed space with you tonight,”

Barbara POV “In the meantime, we can lay our grievances before Luna Lisa and Alpha Cameron,” mom said. “I’ll call Luna myself and tell her what that girl has done while making sure the Alpha family doesn’t look too closely and discover she’s connected to us.”I nodded, knowing that if that happened, our family would be the ones people whispered about, breeding illegitimate children and hiding them like something shameful.“I don’t plan on exposing anything,” I said. “We just need to be tactical. There’s more than one way to burn a house down without anyone seeing you holding the match.”“That’s my girl.” She smiled and kissed my forehead. “Leave it to me. I’ll call Luna Lisa. As for Isabella, she’s as good as gone.”I smiled back, letting her believe she was the one in control.My father returned home later that day, and I trusted my mother to make sure the entire house heard her grievances about Isabella, especially how bringing her back while she was pregnant with Maverick had been