Page 67 of Forced Plus-Size Mate

“Good to see you, too,” I say, hugging her back. “I didn’t see you at the fight?”

“I was hunkered down with Caleb,” she answers. “But Peter was out fighting. Luckily, he wasn’t injured.”

“I can’t stand to think about the families who lost people,” I shake my head, my voice cracking. “I’m trying not to think about it, but it’s like I can feel their grief. This never should have happened.”

“Hey, don’t,” Lucy cautions. “It sounds like you’re about to blame yourself there.”

“Shouldn’t I?”

Lucy grabs my hand and leads me over to the hall. There’s a few chairs set out, and a table covered with food and pitchers of punch and iced tea. We both grab some snacks and sit down under a tall tree.

“You’re not fully healed,” Lucy remarks, narrowing her eyes as she looks at me. “I can detect quite a few blood vessels in your skull still knitting back together. Do you have a headache?”

“Yes, but it’s getting better.”

“Liar.”

I scowl at her. “You were never this good at monitoring before.”

Lucy shrugs. “Power just keeps coming to me. Especially since I had Isla.”

“Where is the little cutie?”

“Carla has all the kids, and there’s a unit of wolves stationed around the house,” Lucy says, looking off into the distance. “I don’t like being away from my baby, but it’s the safest place for them.”

I focus on my piece of cake, trying to block out the chattering thoughts rising in my mind.

“What is it, Amanda?” Lucy asks.

I raise my eyebrow. “Oh, you read thoughts now?”

“No,” she chuckles. “I’ve never met a witch who could do that as well as Nell, but your body language and your aura are flickering around like sirens.”

“I don’t think I should have come back,” I whisper after a moment. I don’t want to make these words real, as if disturbing their air with them would curse me, my love, and my magic.

“What?” Lucy asks, her voice hushed.

“I don’t think I should have come back!” I say firmly. “Fuck it, fuck it all. I’m saying it, I don’t care what anyone thinks… this is the truth.”

Lucy looks over my shoulder to see that the wolves are all still playing, not paying any attention to us. “Don’t let the others hear that, especially Body,” she says. “You’re talking crazy.”

“Why is it crazy?” I snap. “We’ve caused nothing but trouble here. We did this, me and the other witches. There would be no fighting if we had stayed away.”

“Not true,” Lucy says simply. “They were already getting upset about my marriage to Peter. The only reason they let it slide was because he was a rogue—he had no allegiance to any particular pack when he came to town. After we got married, he was accepted into Silver Meadows, but as far as Decker was concerned, he was still an outsider, not bound by the rules of the treaty.”

“I didn’t know all of that,” I acknowledge. “But really, you’re making my point for me that the trouble didn’t start until we got back.”

“Your magic was failing. All of you would have died out in the canyon if you hadn’t returned.”

“We could have gone to another town, or brought in better supplies so we could live as ordinary people. That wouldn’t have been so hard.”

Lucy glares at me. “Really? Can you imagine living without your powers, even for a day?”

I look down at my hands, shaking my head. “Don’t. At the moment, I feel like I’d do anything to bring back peace to the packs.”

“So what are you going to do? Leave?”

“I don’t know.”

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