Semua Bab TEMPORARY MATES, PERMANENT CRAVINGS : Bab 61 - Bab 70

Franklin Nadia leaned against the sink. The bathroom door stayed locked. I knocked until my knuckles ached, but the jazz pouring from her speaker swallowed the sound. Trumpets clashed with drums, the kind of music meant to drown thought.One of my men had seen her earlier at a gas station on the highway. A quick exchange with a rough looking male. I did not need a report written in neat lines to know what that meant.“Get the fuck out,” she said when I finally forced the door open.Her voice held steady. It carried the calm of someone who had already decided something and saw no reason to explain it.A plastic bottle lay in her hand. The cap sat loose. I pointed at it. “What is that?”She did not look down. “My doctor’s prescription. Any problem?”I scoffed. “Those aren’t pills a doctor gives. Those are the kind Cameron would lose his mind over if he knew his sister was swallowing them.”That made her turn. Her eyes met mine, dull with exhaustion.“Fine,” she said. “Go run to your ma

Lisa I climbed the stairs to my room, my face burning with humiliation. The staff had changed too. As I walked through the hallways, I could feel their stares. Hear their whispers. "—thinks she can just waltz in and take someone's mate—" They didn't even bother to hide it anymore. I kept my head down and kept walking. In my room, I locked the door and leaned against it, trying to breathe. This was going to be unbearable. I decided I'd spend as much time as possible at the hospital. With my mother. Away from this house and its poison. At least there, I wouldn't have to pretend everything was fine. The next morning, I woke early and took a car service to the hospital. My mother was already awake, nervous about the surgery. "You'll be fine," I said, holding her hand.

LisaThe hospital room had become familiar enough that I could navigate it half-asleep, which was basically how I arrived most mornings. My mother was already awake when I walked in, propped up against a mountain of pillows that had slowly migrated into the wrong positions overnight.“Let me fix these,” I said, already reaching.She let me. I fluffed, rearranged, tucked the blanket tighter around her legs the way she liked it.“You’re staring at nothing,” she said.I blinked. “What?”“That pillow.” She lifted her head, her good eye studying me. “You’ve been adjusting it for over a minute. You’re somewhere else entirely. Where?”“Nowhere. I’m fine.”“Lisa.”“Mom. I’m fine.”She didn’t believe me. I could see it in the slight press of her lips. I sat down in the chair beside her bed and picked at a loose thread on the armrest.“Is the pressure getting to you?” she asked.“Huh?”“The arrangement. Everything that’s being asked of you.”“There’s nothing to complain about,” I said firmly. “

LisaI woke up at three in the morning feeling more rested than I had in weeks. Which made no sense. I'd only been asleep for four hours. Lisa, with her body tucked against mine.Four hours shouldn't have been enough.But I felt grounded. Like someone had reset something fundamental inside me that had been running on fumes for too long.Lisa was still asleep. One hand tucked under her cheek, the other resting on top of mine where my arm was wrapped around her waist. I lay there in the dark and let myself feel the rise and fall of her breathing. The warmth of her skin through the thin fabric of her sleep shirt. The way her hair spread across the pillow in a mess of waves.My mind drifted back to earlier that evening. A teenager had been executed in the neighboring pack. Seventeen years old. And now there was gossip spreading that the rogues responsible were planning to push into Silver Creek territory next.My security was tight. I'd made sure of it. Patrols doubled. Guards stationed a

LisaI hadn’t seen Cameron in four days. I told myself I didn’t care and that this was better.I was lying.By the third day, I asked Franklin.“He’s at the specialist hospital with Evangeline. They’re running more tests and trying a new treatment.”“Oh. When is he coming back?”“Not sure. A few days, maybe longer.” The house felt wrong without Cameron, which didn’t make sense because he was one person in a place built for dozens. Still, his absence made everything feel empty, like the walls were waiting for him.The last thing I’d said to him after sex replayed in my head no matter how hard I tried to shove it away. I hope this gets me pregnant so you can focus on your family.I’d told myself it was practical, but it had landed like a dismissal, and I’d watched him shut down in real time.Now he was gone, and I was stuck with the silence and the consequences.My mother asked about him during one of my visits.She was doing well. Her vision was improving“Where’s Alpha Cameron?” she