Page 81 of Forced Plus-Size Mate

I try to summon my powers, praying and begging every goddess I know, but nothing happens. The earth beneath me feels dead, and the breeze has no voice.

Please… for my sisters! This can’t be how it ends!

Kelta grabs my arm and forces me to my feet. She shakes me, and my head throbs so badly, my vision wavers and my guts lurch.

“Careful, bitch,” I hiss. “Unless you want me to barf on your feet.”

“Shut up!” she snaps, shaking me again.

This time, I can’t hold it in and fall to my knees, gagging on blood. Someone kicks me in the guts, and a black wave swallows me.

The moment is brief, and the sounds of the forest trickle through my brain fog as if the mountain itself won’t let me get dragged under.

Not fair. Just let me go. I can’t live with a broken heart, anyway.

Then, I feel a gust of warm breath on my head. I blink slowly, looking up in fear. The scream that shakes out of me rings around the clearing, making the air vibrate with terror. The wolf standing over me is four times the size of any I’ve ever seen, with pure black fur and huge, pale blue eyes. An ugly scar runs across his face, exposing muscle, bone, and teeth.

“Meet Bredu,” Kelta says. “One of our elders. Bae has no clue what we have hiding up in the hills. He should never have crossed us if he wanted to keep our power allied to his.”

“You hid this from him,” I gasp breathlessly. “That means you were always planning to betray him.”

“As if we could ever trust a Silver Meadows wolf,” she scoffs. “Their ways aren’t like ours. We did what we had to.” She bends down and grabs my arm, forcing me to my feet again. “Walk,” she commands, gesturing to the forest.

Bredu growls at me, and a line of drool drips from his mouth to the ground. I can feel his intent to eat me, even without my powers.

“Are you sure you don’t want to finish off the others first?” one of the other wolves asks.

“No, not yet,” Kelta answers. “Like I said, they’re goners, anyway. Even if someone comes in the next five minutes, they’ll be dead by the time help can get here. This is the one we want.”

The other wolves fall into pace behind us, forcing me to walk ahead of them. The going is rough, and wouldn’t have been easy for me, even if I wasn’t badly injured.

As the sun gets higher above and my pain worsens, all my fears and doubts roll through me, and suddenly, I feel like the stupidest person ever to walk on planet Earth.

I should never have left Body. I see now that this was my mistake—giving up on love!

Only love can heal this rift.

We come into a small clearing ringed by tall, thick-trunked trees. Kelta stands in front of me, and one of the others kicks me in the back to force me to my knees. I look up at her with defiance, feeling stronger than I have in days.

“Remove your curse on Body,” Kelta demands, “and I might spare your life.”

“What?” I say. “What are you talking about? I didn’t put a curse on Body.”

“Everything was fine until you arrived,” she snarls. “We had peace, and the chance to find mates in the extended pack. No one cared about witches until you came. And Body never showed any interest in mating before.”

“This is starting to sound kind of personal,” I remark, looking up at her with a new understanding. “Body said he spent most of his time in the wilderness. Did you catch a crush, Kelta?”

“Silence!” she screams, leaning over to shake me. “You’re a temptress, a harlot! How could he resist you and your magic?All you witches are the same. You just want to enslave wolves and take their power.”

“I still think this sounds personal.”

She slaps me across the face, and I taste blood and feel it running down my face. Someone kicks me from behind again, and I hit the forest floor like a ton of bricks.

Fuck. It’s all over.

“What are we going to do?” one of the Decker wolves growls. “She’s not going to do it.”

“Sometimes a witch’s curse can be broken by her death,” Kelta answers. “But sometimes it can make it stronger. I don’t know if I want to take that chance.”

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