Page 56 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

“The house is the safest position, and you’re close enough to the rest of the pack if anything goes wrong,” I explain, hoping it’s enough. “I would keep Dom here, but I need him.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“I know.” I hold her gaze for a moment longer, and in that time, the bond pokes and prods at me, reminding me to keep her safe. To do everything in my power to make sure she’s out of harm’s way. “Stay inside.”

Tessa looks at me for a moment with all the complicated things she’s feeling and thinking right now, but she finally sits down.

It’s not an explicit agreement, but she isn’t fighting me either.

Dominic is already at the door, maintaining that quiet readiness like he’s sliding back into his element, reminiscent of our time away.

I take one more look at Tessa in the firelight, hoping she can at least feel how seriously I take her safety beneath everything else.

If it weren’t for her or the pack, I wouldn’t be going out in this storm. But because of the risks I would surely face if I didn’t, I remind myself of what’s on the line.

“Lock the door behind us.”

Even if the invisible thread between us wants me to stay, I head out in search of the man who has been nothing but problems since the moment we returned to the island.

Chapter 21 - Tessa

When the door closes, I lock it, shutting myself in from the storm and whatever’s moving within it.

I stand with my hand on the deadbolt for a moment and listen to the wind outside, along with the distorted sound of them moving away from the house.

Moving back to the chair by the fire, I sit down and pick up my laptop, only to stare at the screen and feel the irritation moving through me in slow, steady waves.

As if I’m something to be stored somewhere safe while the real work happens.

While I understand his thinking about Hayes and how he might react badly after their confrontation, I’m too used to being excluded and pushed aside. It doesn’t matter that it’s supposedly for my own good when I spent most of my life feeling useless.

That nagging feeling stitches its way into the same place deep within me, just like it did every other time I was told to sit down, stay back, and keep out so that I didn’t make things worse.

Being told I’m not useless right before being treated like I am doesn’t change anything.

Taking a deep breath, I try to focus on the article draft I have open, even while my mind wanders to Hunter and Dominic out there, somewhere in the middle of this storm.

The fire crackles next to me, and the wind rattles the shutters. The rain comes down relentlessly, and I sit in the warm house and do nothing but feel useless.

I don’t know how long I sit around before I see it through the window.

Movement at the tree line catches my attention in my peripheral vision. A few small shapes stay low to the ground, moving despite the heavy rain and wind. They move like something frightened, and the longer I look, the easier it is to make out those figures.

Three smaller ones move urgently in a disorganized fashion while they cut across the open ground toward the house, more like they’re following the light seeping out.

Before I can fully process what I’m seeing, I’m on my feet and moving.

I can see clearly through the window as three children move with their hoods up, clutching each other and glancing out at the rain, seemingly debating whether to take the risk of pushing on.

My brows furrow as my heart clenches, not understanding why this is happening, but knowing immediately that I can’t just sit by idly.

When I reach for the deadbolt and pull the door open, I immediately see what they’re running from.

Two figures stand by the tree line behind the house, standing with the usual confidence of wolves, but in their human forms. Immediately, they stand out as Wraith Peak members, but they’re not chasing the children.

Instead, they’ve stopped short of the house where an adult is cornered between them with her back against a tree. Immediately, I know she’s one of the pack’s outer members, and one I’ve seen from a distance but don’t know.

The two wolves don’t move in, but they stand over her with those domineering stances like they’re enjoying the fear rippling through her.