Page 56 of Plus-Size Sold Mate
The thought alone is enough to make my heart clench, and I take a moment to steady myself.
“You don’t need to explain yourself.”
“I do,” she counters quietly with a harsh swallow. “The others were right about it leaving a mark and acting as a beacon. They’ll be able to track my magic use.”
Catching the part she doesn’t say, I glance down at her. “The Wraith Peak wolves weren’t just here for you. They were pushing our borders even before you showed up.”
At that, Sera pauses as the news catches her off guard, and she needs to sit with it. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I know,” I admit. Truthfully, I didn’t want to admit how precarious things have been ever since I took over as Alpha. “But I’m telling you now because I don’t want you thinking this is all on you.”
She doesn’t say anything to that at first, and instead, looks out at the ocean while her eyes betray just how hard she’s thinking now.
Then her voice comes out even softer. “What if another attack happens?”
“Then we’ll deal with it.”
After a beat, Sera carefully pushes herself up into a sitting position, still unsteady but with a little more strength than before. She studies me. “You’re not worried?”
I loosen my grip on her, letting her move as she needs, but my hand remains against her waist just in case.
“I’m furious…just not at you.”
Sera glances down at the small ripples brushing against her legs, then back to me, and her jaw clenches before hershoulders drop a little more. She says just above a whisper, “I’m tired of feeling like I’m on trial.”
The almost defeated confession makes me soften without hesitation. “I know.”
I’ve felt the same weight of expectations pressing in from all sides, left feeling like nothing I do will ever be enough. Though what she carries is different.
“But they won’t decide your worth, or if you’re doing enough,” I tell her quietly, taking in her features. “I won’t let them.”
Sera’s eyes return to mine, and for a long moment, neither of us speaks. It’s just the ocean around us, and the steady presence of the bond reminding us both that it exists.
Slowly but surely, more color returns to her cheeks, and I adjust my position to face her better. Bringing a hand up, I gently wash away the stained smear of blood at the corner of her lip.
“You’re shaking less,” I murmur, letting that touch linger against her jaw.
I watch as every thought and emotion moves through her face, a little surprised by the gentle contact, but she makes no effort to move either.
Still, she exhales slowly. “The others will probably want to hear from you after everything.”
“They can wait.”
Right now, all that matters is the woman in front of me who risked serious damage to herself just to protect the others. To protect the wolves who still haven’t fully come around to her.
“You defended me,” Sera says, eyes searching mine as more vulnerability creeps into her features. “You didn’t hesitate.”
I huff out a quiet breath and shake my head. “I hesitated before, and I won’t again.”
Even if she doesn’t mean to, she softens. “But they still doubt me, and they probably always will.”
“They might…or maybe tonight will mark the change we’ve been needing.”
She considers that, then asks with a softness that speaks of her finally conceding that she needs reassurance. “You believe that?”
“I believe you belong here,” I respond, keenly aware of how close I am to her now without forcing it.
The wavering in her defenses continues, and the sound she makes sounds both disbelieving and undeniably tired.
