Page 48 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

She was uncomfortable when she came downstairs, and I felt it before I saw it. The bond made it obvious enough, and has been feeding me information I didn’t ask for, yet can’t return.

She braced herself, but even so, she stood in the middle of the living room anyway and found her footing among strangers.

I wanted so badly to go stand next to her, but I didn’t. That would have made it worse, since I didn’t want to crowd her or force this on her more than I already have. Being smothered is the last thing she needs.

Fortunately, the girls handle it well, and they welcome Tessa easily.

Within ten minutes, Tessa had found the wine and said something that made Lila laugh, and the tension moving through our bond had eased enough for me to relax little by little.

Now, an hour in, I’m in the kitchen with the guys, but I can feel something warmer from Tessa. In fact, it’s the warmest she has felt in some time. I wouldn’t call it happiness necessarily, but she has the pleasant ease of being unexpectedly surprised by something, and is allowing herself to exist in it without fighting it.

Knowing that her world isn’t crashing down around her makes me feel better than I thought it would.

“So, how long has this been a thing?” Dominic asks.

The other three look at me with equal curiosity, and given how I haven’t provided much for them to work with in terms of my mate, I already know they’re bursting with questions.

“The bond’s been there most of my life,” I admit, already feeling the subtle shifts in their focus.

Caleb raises an eyebrow. “Most of your life?”

“I was aware of it since we were young,” I murmur, absently rubbing at my jaw. “I just didn’t act on it; then I went away.”

“For how long?”

“Long enough.”

Dominic huffs, sounding faintly amused. “Let me guess, you weren’t ready?”

I pick up my glass and nod. “Pretty much.”

The silence that follows doesn’t feel like a judgmental one, but it’s more like they’re recalibrating. They’ve seen me in conditions that stripped everything nonessential away, watched me make hard calls in difficult places, and came out the other side with me. They know my capacity, and it seems they’re trying to wrap their heads around a version of me they never knew.

“The pack gave her a rough time,” Caleb says carefully, filling in the blanks. He knows that all too well.

“Yes. And I only made it worse.”

Each one of them zeroes in on that fact, and another bout of silence follows. I expect Dominic to ask the follow-up question to that, but Caleb beats him to it.

“How so?”

I stop to consider my words, aware that I could try to save face here and give them the version that is both easier to say and easier to digest. These are the people closest to me, and while I try to be honest whenever I can, I’m not used to opening myself up for deep inspection like this.

“The night my dad died, her parents didn’t alert anyone of the Wraith Peak wolves they saw near the outskirts, so they were blamed for it. But because they died, Tessa was the one who experienced the worst of it,” I tell them, taking a steadying breath. “Even though I could already feel something between us, I was one of the people blaming her. I avoided the bond by alienating her, and I used the situation as a cover for it. I saw how the others treated her, but even when I started to pull back, I didn’t stop them. I should have, but I didn’t.”

The kitchen is quiet for a moment, and I know with certainty now that they’re all at odds with the Hunter they know and pieces of the one I just revealed to them.

“Damn,” Dominic murmurs.

“I wouldn’t have expected that from you,” Luke says without hostility.

“Neither would I,” I say, letting go of a deep breath while I lean back against the counter. “Which almost makes it worse.”

“I’m not going to pretend like any of us have been perfect in the past either,” Caleb starts, watching me with the expression he gets when he’s deciding something. “But you feel it now… the regret.”

“Every time I look at her.”

I say it plainly because it is that simple. Seeing the lasting effects of how many years are written in the way she moves through a room and the way she flinches is not something I’ve found a way to be comfortable with.