Page 57 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

The sight alone reminds me of that night when Hayes had me pinned before he grabbed me and tried to haul me away. I can still feel the fear that tore through me, along with how helpless it made me feel.

The thought of anyone else knowing that feeling immediately instills a sense of urgency I can’t just put aside.

Racing through the threshold and across the deck, the rain hits me like a wall, both cold and loud, while the storm feels all-consuming. Still, I push forward, heading straight toward the children.

The oldest-looking one sees me coming and flinches backward before she seems to realize I’m not posing a threat.

“Go to the porch,” I tell them, pointing at the house. “Hurry inside.”

The girl with dark hair looks terrified yet holds herself together as she grips the two younger ones, then she glances at where I’m pointing. Without hesitation, she nods, pulling them along as they run for the house.

I watch them reach the porch steps before I turn toward the tree line.

By the time I’m within a few feet of them, the other two wolves are already looking at me, well aware of my presence.

Good… that’s what I need them to do. I need them to look at me, not at the woman on the ground or the retreating children. Now they’ve reoriented, focusing on me.

Unfortunately, I have no plan beyond this point. I don’t have the tactical knowledge Hunter does, or the same kind of manpower behind me.

But I’m here, and I’m between them and the others.

Before, I was nobody who never would’ve thought about charging headfirst. Now I’m the alpha’s mate, and something about that, not just the title or the status, has been building in me since the fire and the anger became apparent.

Even if I’ve held it back, something in me has been wanting to know exactly what I can do with it. That thought becomes very loud.

“Hey,” I say.

They both look at me squarely, and the larger one steps forward.

The ground is wet under my feet, and the rain is everywhere else while I stand in my socks with no backup and two Wraith Peak wolves deciding what to do with me.

Unwilling to back down like I would’ve done easily before, I reach inward for the shift like I haven’t in quite some time.

Where I’ve spent more time repressing my inner wolf than anything else, I finally let her come up for air as she stirs within me.

It rises with a surge I didn’t prepare for, and just before I can let it take shape, something from the opposite direction catches my attention, halting me at once.

It doesn’t come from the invaders, but from two others.

Without any other choice, the two standing over the woman shift from pure instinct, letting their bodies contort until thick pelts of fur emerge, immediately soaked by the rain.

Hunter and Dominic race by me in a blur at once, crashing into the other two with deliberate force, throwing them to the ground under the impact. The collision is immediately violent, forcing the intimidating edge from the others to soften more like prey.

The Wraith Peak wolves whine as Hunter and Dominic overwhelm them with their sheer mass and strength alone, narrowly managing to escape from their jaws at the last moment. They both tear away, darting through the trees and vanishing without looking back.

Despite getting away, I already know that was the case only because they let it happen. If they really wanted to, those wolves would already be dead.

They’re gone before I’ve finished processing what happened, letting the urge to shift ebb away while the weather continues to pummel down all around me.

Dominic presses on, running through the trees, likely to track where the Wraith Peak wolves are heading. Hunter approaches me immediately, shifting on the way. It happens so quickly and with such ease that it looks more natural than anything. He reaches me in four strides, and his hands are on my arms before I’ve taken a full breath, brows furrowed with intense concern.

“Are you hurt?” He asks, looking at me in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s even more intense than the night he tore Hayes off me. His hands move to my face, my jaw, and my shoulders, checking for even the slightest mark. His eyes are dark with anger barely concealed behind his worry, and any neutral mask is gone entirely. “Tessa, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, trying to shake off his concern despite how it makes something foreign move through me. My inner wolf almost preens under the attention, but I force myself to focus. “They didn’t even touch me.”

“You’re soaked.”

“So are you.”