Page 22 of Plus-Size Mate

She shook her head, forcing the image of the handsome Eddie away.

Somehow, it felt nerve-wracking to imagine him. What if her mother had encouraged one of the covens to take on the task of performing the spell? She would be forced to watch Eddie mate with one of the women who were practically her sisters.

Why did that cause such a painful sensation in her gut?

She was saved from these thoughts by a sound so loud that it made her jump right out of her chair.

“What was that?” Jack demanded, apparently having heard it as well. “It sounded like glass breaking.”

That it did. And it was coming from the front of the store.

“Sorry, Jack, I'm going to have to call you back,” Winter said, and before the alpha could respond, she ended the call, dropping the phone onto the desk.

Again, the sound of clattering came from the front of the store, the sound of bottles breaking this time.

What the fuck?Winter thought, anger rising like a storm inside her. The powers passed down to her from her mother and her mother's mother and hers before her, all the way back to the first witches of Salem, sparked at her fingertips. She was alert, prepared for anything as she stormed out to the front of the shop.

“Ah!” she screamed as she slipped through the beaded curtain only to be grabbed by someone who had been lying in wait beside the door.

Strong arms wrapped tightly around her, locking her arms against her sides.

No human was this strong. Many supernaturals weren't this strong, either. Using her witchy senses, it didn't take her long to realize.Werewolf.

In fact, more than one of them.

There were three in total. The one grabbing hold of her was accompanied by two others, both of which she didn't recognize.

And if her witchy senses were correct, they most definitely didn't belong to Nightstar. If they ever had, she didn't recognize them one iota.

“Get your filthy hands off me!” she snapped, her mind whirling as she tried to come up with some chant or spell that might help her protect herself.

Yet, her mind seemed frozen, unable to come up with the words in her terror.

So instead, she had to resort to more physical means of protecting herself.

Sucking in a deep breath, she lifted her leg and aimed the heel of her boot at the top of her attacker's foot.

“Wow, she's a feisty one!” one of the other wolves joked as Winter rushed for the front door of the shop.

The injured werewolf behind her growled with pain as he leaned down to clutch his foot.

But the other two were on her before she could make it halfway across the room.

They grabbed her arms, pulling them tightly behind her until she felt as if her shoulders might pop out of their sockets.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded angrily, trying all the while to break free of their grip even though it hurt like hell. “What do you want from me?”

“Daddy sent us,” one of them growled in her ear, his breath hot and rancid against her cheek. “He says it’s time you came home.”

A cold shiver ran down Winter's spine. She didn't know her father. In fact, she didn't even know his damn name. So if he was telling the truth, they knew a hell of a lot more than she did.

Still, she wasn't about to let them in on that.

Her chest tightening, certain that they planned more than simply attacking her and destroying the shop, she tried to fight even harder.

“I'm not going anywhere with you!” she screamed, finally finding the words to a protection spell, one that would make her skin burning hot to anyone who touched her.

She began to chant.

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