Page 8 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

Cole notices me straighten immediately, and his brows lift. “Heading out?”

“I’m checking the perimeter.”

“At midnight?”

I shrug, setting my dishes aside. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway. Might as well.”

His knowing look says he sees straight through that excuse, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he only nods once, well aware he doesn’t have the same pull over me like he once did.

“Take Kieran or Garrett with you.”

“I’ll survive alone for an hour.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

I snort quietly and head for the door before he can elaborate, and before he can try talking more sense into me.

The night air is a bit colder now that the rain is gone, but it’s refreshing enough to clear my head again.

Pine Ridge is quiet after midnight, though lights still glow in some windows across the pack grounds, and others from my pack laugh somewhere near the bonfire pit farther down the hill. Some are already out patrolling deeper in the woods.

It’s all familiar, and even if my life has changed significantly in the time I’ve been gone, being here again fills me with a newfound nostalgia.

My boots crunch over damp gravel as I move toward the northern perimeter, taking in the usual scents.

The forest swallows sound quickly once I leave the main grounds behind, and the trees tower overhead while fog coils low across the ground.

My wolf sharpens beneath my skin the deeper I go, and I don’t know what it is, but I’m restless and agitated.

I frown to myself as the feeling intensifies another mile out.

Unable to place it, I know something is wrong, but not having an answer for it only irritates me further.

When I reach a dense patch of spruce trees, I stop, and then I hear it.

It’s muffled at first, but I catch what sounds like movement, then some kind of struggle. A male wolf scent hits me first, and without warning, it registers.

Hayes.

Recognition flares inside me, since I’ve run into him enough times to know his signature by now.

Just as I’m about to let it guide me closer, I pick up on another. This one’s female, and it’s familiar enough to feel more like it’s being pulled from somewhere deep in my memory.

Going rigid, I almost don’t believe it.

Tessa.

Confusion hits me next, since I haven’t even seen her since I got back.

What the hell is she doing out here?

Stepping through the trees, I see Hayes dragging her by the arm while she tries to dig her heels into the ground, but it isn’t enough to slow him down.

Everything inside me cracks at once, and rage hits so violently it almost makes me stagger.

Hayes has one hand fisted in her coat while Tessa stumbles against his grip, mud streaked across her jeans. Her coat hood has fallen back, exposing her long brown hair as it moves around her face.

Fear wraps around her scent so intensely that it sends another bolt of anger through me, and it’s all because of him.