Todos los capítulos de TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS : Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 60

Lisa POVThe dance floor was crowded. Cameron and Evangeline moved at the center of it, surrounded by other couples. I focused on Kade instead as he guided me into the waltz.His hand settled at my waist. I shifted to create space, but he drew me closer.“You look beautiful tonight.”“Thank you.”“I’ve missed you.”I let the music carry us across the floor and ignored that.We moved through the turn of the dance before he leaned closer.“What does he have that I don’t?”“Kade—”“No, really. What does Cameron have?” His hand tightened at my waist. “He’s my sister's mate. He’s renting your body like you’re an incubator. What could you possibly see in him that you didn’t see in me?”“This isn’t about Cameron,” I said. “It’s about us. We weren’t good for each other.”Kade gave a short laugh. “You’re acting like your father wasn’t a Beta. Like you’re some commoner. We were perfectly matched.”“Were we?” I shifted again, trying to break the closeness he kept forcing.His voice lowered. “Spre

CameronI found Luna Catherine near one of the tall windows watching the dance floor.“Can we talk?” I asked.She turned from the glass. “Of course.”We stepped into a small alcove where the curtains muted the noise from the ballroom.“Evangeline’s scent is changing.”Catherine’s gaze sharpened. “Changing how?”“She smells wrong.” The words sat heavy in my mouth. “Rotten eggs. Sulfur. It’s getting stronger. My wolf struggles to stay near her.”Color drained from Catherine’s face.“This has happened before,” she said after a moment. “Not often, but it happens. Mated couples forced into arrangements like this sometimes feel strain in the bond. The body reacts. The connection destabilizes.”My chest tightened. “So this is normal?”“I wouldn’t call it normal,” Catherine said. “But it isn’t unheard of.” She rested a hand on my arm. “Cameron, you have to hold on to her. You must love her more than ever. The Moon Goddess may be testing your commitment.”We both looked toward the dance floor.

LisaFranklin came to pick me up at five. I had planned to stay until six, but he appeared in the nursery doorway with an apologetic look.“You didn’t need to come get me,” I said as I gathered my bag. “I can walk back.”“I know,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you anyway. Come on.”I said goodbye to the children, promised Benji I would see him tomorrow, and followed Franklin to his car. We drove for several minutes without speaking before I finally asked the question that had been sitting in my head.“Did Kade leave? And Luna Catherine?”“I’m not sure about Kade,” Franklin said. “Catherine and Marcus left this morning.”Relief moved through me.“Was Kade bothering you?” Franklin asked.I told him about the ball, about Kade offering to “rescue” me and insisting Cameron was taking advantage of me.Franklin gave a short, irritated laugh. “Kade has always been an entitled idiot who thinks every woman should fall at his feet.”“He meant well,” I said, although the words sounded weak even to

CameronI woke in the middle of the night in a hotel room drenched in sweat and painfully hard. My wolf snarled inside my head, pacing and demanding that I go to Lisa. Not Evangeline, not my mate waiting at home, but Lisa. The urge hit with such force it bordered on pain. I sat up in the dark gripping the sheets and forcing myself to breathe.What the hell was wrong with me?I had come to the regional Alpha meeting out of necessity. I needed their support against my cousin and needed to reinforce my position as the Oracle-chosen leader of Silver Creek. The meetings had gone well. Most of the Alphas claimed they preferred me over Matthias. They could have been lying. Politics rarely came without deception.One of the northern Alphas had pulled me aside during dinner and told me I had nothing to fear.“Anyone the Oracle chooses is the true Alpha,” he said. “The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. Your enemies will fall away once you secure your bloodline.”Secure your bloodline.Get Lis

LisaCameron agreed to let me go, though not without conditions. Security would drive me, I would check in every day, and I would be back in exactly one week. I nodded through all of it because I was too relieved to argue about the details.The drive to Creek Keepers took four hours. I spent most of it staring out the window while Silver Creek territory faded into neutral land and finally into the forests I had grown up knowing. Home, except it didn’t really feel like home anymore.The security detail, two silent Lycans whose names I hadn’t bothered to learn, dropped me at the address my mother had given me weeks ago. The new house was a modest rental on the edge of pack territory and far nicer than I expected. I told the security team to wait in the car because this was something I needed to do alone. Their vehicle remained parked down the road, far enough away to give privacy but close enough that I could still see it through the trees.I hadn’t told my mother I was coming. I wanted