Page 35 of Bullied Pregnant Mate

I then turned back up to the house. Gina stood by the gate now, eager and quiet. She looked behind me and then at me. "So?"

"There is no one there, but I can tell someone had been."

She made a face. "Well, that's creepy as shit."

"It's not creepy, Gina. It's bad."

She rolled her eyes, making a clicking sound with her tongue. "Yeah, I gathered that part, but until you…"

I didn't even let her finish. "You aren't staying here."

Her mouth snapped shut, and her eyebrows went up. And after a second of confusion, she crossed her arms and glared. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"You can't stay here. It's unsafe."

"This is my house."

"I understand that…"

She didn’t let me finish. She shook her head, waved her hands, and stopped me. "No, I don't think you understand.Lucas, this is my house. This is my land. I will stay here if I want to, and you can’t say otherwise."

"And I don't know who's watching you," I snapped at her. I felt my irritation starting to grow. I understood her desire to be strong, but this wasn’t the time. "It's not safe. We aren’t going to argue about this."

"Then I can put up a security system," she snapped back at me. She dropped her arms. "But I'm staying when the time comes. There is no reason to overreact to this when it could just be someone in the woods trying to be funny."

She didn’t honestly believe that, did she? If she had, why would she have called me? I stared at her, and I could see the shock and fear in her eyes. "Gina, this isn't up for debate. You can't stay here until we get things figured out with the pack neighboring us."

She half laughed, shaking her head. "You do not get to tell me what I can and can't do, Lucas. We may be getting married, but we both know that doesn't change anything between us. And it could take years before you guys settle things with the pack next to you. I'm not waiting years before I can stay here."

I took a deep breath, knowing yelling at her wouldn't get us anywhere. When it came to Gina and me, yelling wasn't the answer. But I wanted to yell. She called me because she was worried. I’m sure her wolf could feel the shift in the air, and I felt it, too. It wasn’t safe here, and she was just stubborn.

I softened my words. "Gina, I'm uncomfortable with you being alone when we don't know who's out there."

Her shoulders dropped slightly, and her eyes flicked towards the woods. She swallowed, and I could see the concern in her eyes. It worried her as well, even if she was trying to act like it didn’t.

She then looked back at me. "If I stopped doing something every time someone made me uncomfortable, I'd still be the little fragile wolf that you obviously still see."

It felt like a slap, and it angered me. "I am trying to protect you, Gina! This is not about what I see."

"And I'm telling you that I don't need your protection. I've done fine without it this far."

I laughed. "Oh really? Because you got the house by yourself? Pretty sure if I weren't here, you wouldn't still be here either."

Rage filled her eyes. And I regretted the words. "Fuck you." She turned and started to march towards the house.

I moved after her and grabbed her arm. She tried to get free, but I held on. I yanked her, turning her back to me. "You may think you're strong, but I have seen what he can do, and you have no idea what you would be up against. Whether it was Logan or not, we have to be on high alert."

She ripped her hand free, growling at me and baring her teeth. "Fuck. You," she said, enunciating her words. "You don't know who's even out there. What makes you think it isn't just Chris lurking around? Or some lone wolf that just stopped for a second to catch his breath?"

I didn't know it was, but I didn't think it was Chris. While that sounded like something he would do, it also seemed like a waste of his time. He would rather piss Gina off than stalk her.

And the smell was off. It wasn't him. It was someone who enjoyed bloodshed. Only someone who normally enjoyed blood and shedding it would leave a scent like that.

"Gina, for once, just listen to what you're being told."

She stiffened, and I watched her face go from fury to sad. She narrowed her eyes at me. "You have no idea what I have had to listen to my entire life, Lucas. I've been told I'm a waste of space since I was born. Yet, I graduated college. Everyone told me that when I got older, someone would cross my path and teach me a lesson. They have, and I won every single time. I have broken bones and bruised every part of my body, surviving and listening to what everyone has had to say about me. So, trust me when I tell you that you can take your words and shove them so far up your ass you can taste them. Because I will never do what you tell me."

I'd seen Gina angry, but not like this. Not this raw and emotional. And for the first time, I wasn't seeing a little fragile wolf in front of me. She was showing me the claws and teeth that sat beneath the surface.

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