Page 64 of Plus-Size Bullied Mate

Understanding that, I move my lips along her neck, moving down while I pull in the intoxicating scent of her. My palm flattens against her lower back while I taste her skin. “I could always keep you busy… and I could keep you here, all to myself. You’d forget about everything else.”

A soft, breathless sound escapes her when my teeth lightly graze her skin, then Tessa huffs with quiet amusement. “Don’t tell me you’re getting possessive now.”

She earns herself a low chuckle from me, and I press another kiss to the faint mark still on her neck. The sight alone stirs more need in me, but I keep it down for now.

“I’ve always been possessive. I’m even more so now,” I tell her, kissing back up her neck slowly and feeling how her body responds so honestly to my attention. My opposite hand moves along her waist, and I give her a gentle squeeze while hovering my lips above hers.

Tessa’s eyes glimmer back at me as a small, good-natured smile settles on her face. “That sounds insufferable.”

“It is,” I agree with a grin of my own before I kiss her slowly and deeply.

She goes more pliant in my arms, returning the gesture. She eventually breaks it just when things start heating up more, and she looks up at me through her lashes. “Doesn’t Cole want to see you?”

I sigh at the reminder, stifling an annoyed groan. “Yes, he does… but he can wait.”

At that, Tessa laughs lightly, but puts distance between us even if she doesn’t truly want to. “You’d better go see him before I start getting blamed.”

I scoff, but my lips pull anyway. “He can try. But fine, I’ll do it if my mate tells me to.”

More interest flickers in her eyes at that, but she schools her expression before it gets out of hand. “Your mate is telling you to.”

With another chuckle, I cut the space long enough to plant another drawn-out kiss against her mouth before finally letting her go.

Tessa walks out on somewhat wobbly legs, cheeks blooming with a light blush that she can’t hide from me.

***

Cole is waiting for me by the community building at ten, and given the look on his face, he has clearly had enough time to organize his thoughts, and there’s a chance I won’t like them.

We walk, since Cole thinks better when he’s walking, and the storm debris on the path gives both of us somewhere to look that isn’t directly at each other.

“Word has been going around,” he says, after we’ve covered enough ground to establish a typical rhythm. “About what happened to that family.”

“I expected as much.”

“And what Tessa did by getting between those children and Hayes’ wolves. People are talking about it.”

I glance at him. “As they should be. She did more than most would have.”

“I won’t deny that,” he says, hands folded behind his back. “Some opinions are shifting gradually. Not all, but some. The outer families, in particular those closer to Brooke, have been talking amongst themselves. That means something.”

“It does. I’m glad they’re recognizing what she has done.”

We walk in silence for a moment, then Cole sighs.

“But…”

“There’s always something.”

He gives me a more grim expression, and he nods his understanding of my frustration. “There are still some members who aren’t keen on the idea of a Collins being our luna.” He pauses and takes another breath before looking at me squarely. “There’s talk about whether the claim was made out of desperation, and whether you were thinking clearly when it was done.”

Immediately, my expression drops, and I turn to face him. I keep my voice even since my frustration isn’t aimed at him, but these supposed others who still doubt both of us.

“I’m only going to say this one more time, then I’m not going to say it again. Tessa is my mate. It’s not up for debate and not subject to a pack consensus. Regardless of what they might think, I’m not interested in sitting in a room while people who have spent years treating her like she owed them something for existing weigh in on whether my bond is legitimate.”

Cole is quiet for a moment, and he nods, understanding the weight of pack opinion better than anyone.

“I’m not debating about her. Not with you, not with the pack elders, and not anyone else,” I tell him firmly, refusing to cave to that pressure.