Page 75 of Plus-Size Sold Mate
There’s movement near the north-east border,I send through the pack link.Possible breach.
Isaac responds first.How many?
Not sure yet. I’m checking now.
Pivoting, I follow the scent trail, weaving through the dense trees to try and grasp the situation before it has the chance to get out of hand.
Then I feel like the world is crashing down around me. A sharp, panicked tug on the bond slams through my chest and demands every scrap of my attention. My heart clenches, then her fear comes rushing in right after.
It’s so immediate and violent that my steps falter, and I pause to regain my bearings.
Sera doesn’t say anything down the tether, but I know it’s her, and I know something is wrong.
Right after, Eve’s voice crosses the pack link,There’s more on the west side. I smell Sera up ahead.
They found her.
Everything in my goes ice cold as the pieces click into place at once, letting me know this isn’t random. This is coordinated.
I’m already running in that direction with fury curling low in my gut. I reach out to the guys to make sure they don’t miss this.
They split us up. I need half to push them out from the north-east border, and the rest with me.
I catch their responses as they coordinate, but I don’t wait for the fine details to be ironed out. Branches whip against my fur as I rush on, watching the forest blur around me. Regardless of how fast I push myself, it still doesn’t seem fast enough.
Sera’s magic flares through the bond, kicking in to defend her. Even if I can’t see her, I can feel her panic and the way she braces herself as if she’s surrounded.
I’m coming,I tell her through the mental link, wanting her to know she isn’t alone.Just hold on.
She doesn’t respond, and she doesn’t need to. I know she’s fighting and doing what she can.
The closer I get, the louder it all becomes as I catch sight of the others closing in. The desperation I feel to get to her claws at me from the inside, and despite the snarling that begins around me once we move closer, I can only think of her.
When I break through the treeline, I see her.
Standing in the small clearing, her back is against Eve’s while they brace themselves, eyes on the assailants. Light emanates from Sera’s palms, glowing from her magic.
From what I can see, she looks unharmed, and that’s enough to keep me from rampaging, at the very least. Six of them surround the girls—two unshifted and four in their wolf forms as they try to keep them pinned in that circle. More hover in the background, likely to offer backup if necessary.
Though with my wolves starting to surround them, they won’t linger for long.
Sera’s keeping them back with the threat of her magic, but I can tell she’s hesitant to use it to avoid draining herself tooquickly. She doesn’t know how long this will last, or just how far she’ll have to push herself. She’s conserving what she has, and that’s a good thing.
As the wolves draw closer, snapping at their feet, another spark of blinding rage ignites in me, and I shift back.
“Back away from my mate,” I call out to them, body strained from barely holding back.
To my left, a wolf approaches with its predatory gaze set on me while it bares its teeth. Before it can do anything, Dominic barrels past me with a sharp snarl as he tackles it, bringing him down before it can close in. I sense that Hunter and Zane linger nearby, ready to defend and jump in.
Focusing on the girls, I step forward, and the other wolves hesitate just enough for me to catch.
Then, another scent hits me. It’s equal amounts familiar and infuriating, forcing me to stop.
To my right, Dawson steps out from the trees, dark eyes gleaming as he emerges from the shadows. He moves eerily quiet despite his human form, and even if it wasn’t that long ago when he fought Caleb, or when he tried to appeal for Sera’s surrender, he looks older now. At least, hardened by desperation.
Every alarm goes off in my head at once, screaming at me that he shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Sera or the others.
Given how they tried to create a diversion, they didn’t mean to be here this long. But we caught them, and now Dawson has no choice but to face me directly.
