Page 50 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

“I know this isn’t what you would have chosen… the way everything happened. I know that, and I’m not asking you to be okay with it yet.” I look at her fully, tracing the line of her jaw, before taking in how soft her eyes look under the lamplight. “I just want you to know I see it. What everything takes out of you. I know it’s not fair that I’ve asked all of this from you despite everything.”

Somehow, she seems to freeze up even more, and she swallows hard. “Hunter… you don’t need to do this.”

“Do what?”

“You don’t need to try and make things better just because we had an okay night,” she murmurs before letting go of a soft exhale. “I’m tired.”

While she does look physically tired, I know she means it more in the emotional sense. It hasn’t been an easy few weeks for her.

Beyond that, she’s silently telling me it isn’t fair of me to do this right now, and she’s right. I can feel the wavering in her, how the bond is looking for gaps in her resistance. She knows it, too, and neither of us can pretend otherwise.

Wanting to keep her focus on me, I don’t look away, and neither does Tessa.

The distance between us feels like nothing as the bond pulls with quiet demand, and I can see in her eyes that she feels the same thing. Her defenses are thinner than they were an hour ago, and while I’m not necessarily trying to wear her down, something in me just wants to feel that passion between us again.

So I lean in, just enough to make my intentions known.

Tessa’s eyes widen fractionally, and her gaze drops down to my lips before she can stop herself.

And just when I prepare myself to cut the rest of that space, breath carefully exchanged between us, she pulls back.

It’s a deliberate enough withdrawal to send a message, and her eyes shift to another place in the room entirely.

Not yet.

I sit back immediately, forcing myself to withdraw and ignore the way that subtle movement crushes against my chest.

The bond screams about the distance, feeling like the most tangible it has been since we first initiated it. My inner wolf needs and wants Tessa more than anything, but she isn’t there. If she can’t get past those mental barriers yet, then I’m not going to force it.

With an exhale, I put both hands in my lap and gather myself all over again.

“Sorry,” I murmur to her as I stand and resume getting ready before I lose my mind entirely.

Tessa doesn’t say anything while I change into more comfortable bottoms and forgo a shirt entirely, since it feels more like I’m burning up beneath my skin. Though I feel her gaze on me, and that doesn’t slip my mind.

Eventually, I make my way over to the other side of the bed and get in, silently telling myself not to push this. To respect her boundaries and let her see how much I mean this, and how much I want her to be all-in, on her terms.

Once the bedroom is dark and we settle in, it takes everything in me to ignore the fire in my chest and the deep-seated yearning that starves for more.

More of the bond, more attention, and more of her.

“Goodnight, Tessa,” I manage to say while I’m keenly aware of the space between us.

“Night.”

She needs time, I tell myself, regardless of how much it hurts. Give it time.

Chapter 19 - Tessa

The others are still sleeping when I get up, aside from Hunter, who went out to do a quick perimeter check.

Dominic is still quietly snoring on the couch when I walk by with my mug in hand on the way to the patio door. On the porch, I listen to the birds sing their morning songs, to the swaying branches and the rustling leaves.

In this peace, I try to find something within me that feels like equilibrium, but I still can’t find it.

Instead, I find the persistent static in the bond, which has worsened since last night. Since Hunter sat on the edge of the bed and tried to kiss me. But I pulled back and watched the new kind of patience he has been showing unfold in his features.

That was it.