Page 26 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

Taking my place at the head of the clearing, I let them settle before getting into it.

Tessa is at the edge of the group, wearing that look of absolute reluctance.

I told her she needed to be here and left her no room to argue. Luckily, I didn’t have to carry her here, either. Still, she’s standing there with her jaw set, arms crossed, and slightly apart from the others, like she always used to. The way she’s always been made to.

“I’ll keep this short,” I eventually begin, noting how the clearing goes completely quiet as my eyes scan over them. “I’m taking a mate, and the ceremony will be happening tomorrow.”

A beat of silence hangs through the space as shock sets in, then the murmuring begins. It moves through the crowd like it normally does, flitting between surprise, confusion, and then undeniable curiosity.

“Tessa Collins will be your luna.”

The murmur becomes louder, and as expected, several pairs of eyes slide in her direction, and I can sense her discomfort from here.

One of the younger wolves looks at me, and her brows go up in disbelief. “Tessa Collins… you’re serious.”

“I didn’t call everyone here to be funny.”

Reid, one of our patrols standing on the left side of the group, clears his throat, and his voice carries through the clearing. “With respect, you know what her name means to this pack.”

Of course I do… how could I not?

“I know, perhaps better than anyone,” I return, which causes several of them to drop their gazes under the pressure of my insinuation. Everyone knows, regardless of how long it has been since that night. “I’m aware of what happened, but that doesn’t change my decision.”

The clearing stays quiet longer than I expect it to, but I don’t try to force it away.

I can feel Tessa without looking at her, along with the particular stillness that comes over her when she’s trying to hold herself together. It’s likely killing her to be here, yet I’m forcing her to be. Once again, not my ideal solution.

“Then you know what her parents cost us, and what they cost you, more importantly,” Reid continues, looking like he can’t understand my thinking. “She’s been living out in that cabin for years, and you’re asking us to accept—”

“I’m not asking.”

Reid stops, and his expression falls slowly, as if he knows he has pushed too far.

“I’m informing you,” I tell them frankly, finding that I don’t have the patience to coddle anyone. Scanning the crowd, I make deliberate eye contact so each person feels it. “Tessa was still a child when her parents made their choice. She had no part in it, yet she carried its weight in this pack her entire life. It’s something I’m aware of and should have addressed by now. I didn’t, and that’s on me. But it ends here.”

“The pack won’t—” another begins, only for me to cut them off.

“The pack will adjust, as they always must, and because I’m telling every one of you to.”

It’s blunt and likely harsher than I need to be, but there’s a sort of clarity that comes from making a decision I’ve been avoiding for years. Regardless of what it might mean moving forward, I’m done working around this, and I’m done pretending I can outmaneuver something biological and completely immune to reason. A decade of deliberate distance has only made it worse.

My inner wolf clings to her, as it always has, and I have the feeling time will help me see why on a deeper level.

More voices rise, and I let them.

Not looking away from the crowd, I’m still aware of Tessa in my periphery. I see the set of her spine and the stiffness of her shoulders. She’s bracing herself like someone waiting to be hit, and the sight of it turns my stomach.

She has heard her parents’ names be weaponized for most of her life. What they did has been used to explain why she doesn’t deserve the ordinary things and everyday common decency ever since it happened. She’s hearing it again right now, in front of everyone, and she’s still standing there.

I find her eyes briefly, and while her expression moves subtly, it shuts down too fast for me to read it.

When they realize this isn’t up for debate, the meeting ends the way most meetings do. There isn’t exactly a definitive agreement, but my plans have been acknowledged, even with some resentment.

I expected friction, and in all honesty, I can’t be bothered to care. Not when I want her, and I want this, regardless of the unknowns hovering above me.

That thought surprises me even as I have it. Want.

I’ve been framing this in terms of duty and protection, but beneath it all lies the simpler and more unsettling truth… I want her.