Page 14 of Plus-Size Mate

Eddie’s insides twisted painfully, and he let out a low growl, his hands tightening into fists at his sides.

“This isn’t about mating. It’s about protecting the pack and the town,” Eddie pointed out. “Where’s your sense of loyalty?”

“Hey, I don’t need to fuck a witch to show my loyalty,” Will said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Who pissed in your cereal this morning?”

Eddie’s anger was rising, his wolf threatening to burst forward. It was one thing to joke about his lack of success in mating, and it was quite another to talk aboutfuckinga witch as if she were nothing but a possession to help them succeed in protecting the town.

Winter is far more than that!Eddie thought, ready to pounce on Will, though why she specifically had been the witch to pop into his mind, he didn’t know. He told himself it was because he didn’t know many witches in town. In fact, he didn’t know many at all.

But his gut told him it was something more than that, something that made him want to rip Will’s head off.

“Eddie is right, Will,” Jack said. “This isn’t about the needs of any one wolf. It’s about the pack and the town.”

“I was just being generous,” Will said, smirking at Eddie in his usual amused way. Ordinarily, Eddie might have taken his words as nothing more than a joke. But today, after seeing Carlyflirting with him, he was in no damn mood for jokes. “Eddie’s luck in the female department hasn’t been very stellar lately.”

“And yours has?” Eddie demanded, stepping up to face Will head on.

He could feel the eyes of everyone else locked on him. Were they laughing at him? Did they find Will’s jokes as funny as they always had? He was a funny guy, always making everyone laugh and smile. But today, Eddie wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into him.

“Fuck this!”

Eddie turned on his heels and strode for the door, barging his way past Kane, who was standing close by.

“Hey, we haven’t been dismissed!” Kane called after him, narrowly managing to get out of the way before Eddie yanked the door open on him.

Eddie cringed. He was right. He couldn’t just leave a pack meeting without the permission of his alpha, but right now, he couldn’t stop his feet from moving, from carrying him away from the laughter.

“Let him go,” Jack sighed, as if he knew well that no good could come of dragging him back into the room.

Eddie felt no relief at his alpha’s words. All he felt was anger and frustration. He needed to get away from Will before he did something he might regret.

Why his emotions were so high today, he didn’t know. But his wolf was clawing at his insides to be free, and he couldn’t ignore that on his best of days. The safest place for him, and for his pack right now, was outside.

Chapter 4 - Winter

The light of the candle on the desk before Winter was burning low. The dying light did nothing to help her sleep-ridden eyes, and she leaned back in her seat, yawning heavily.

All afternoon and well into the evening, she had been pawing through the books in her mother's storeroom. There had to be something there; she just hadn't found it yet.

Clasping her fingers together, she rested her hands on her stomach, elbows of the armrests of the thick cushioned desk chair.

Another yawn escaped her lips, and she allowed her eyes to close.

Just a few minutes, and then she would get right back to it. There was no time to waste, not with Jack’s intentions with her coven. She had to find another option, no matter what it took, before the full moon.

Werewolves were many things, but patient was not one of them. She was surprised he had given her the time to come up with something else at all.

And if she didn't, what was she supposed to do?

For a second, she thought of calling her mother, of asking her to speak with the others in the coven. Then, she quickly thought better of it. She already knew what the answer would be. No witch in her right mind would mate with a werewolf, even if it was to save their beloved home from the likes of Christopher.

With a deep sigh, she sank deeper into the chair, every muscle in her body aching.

Blackness was just beginning to overwhelm her when she heard the raucous sound of knocking on the back door.

The noise was so startling that she immediately jumped to her feet and grabbed the handle of the candlestick, the dying flame flickering as she lifted it from the table.

One glance at the antique grandfather clock on the far side of the room told her it was too late to be receiving any customers. Perhaps she had imagined the knocking.

---