Pelt unprotected louts and retreat (7)
I believe the answer is:
hideout
'retreat' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'pelt unprotected louts' is the wordplay.
'pelt' becomes 'hide' ('hide' can be a synonym of 'pelt').
'unprotected' means to look at the middle letters.
The centre of 'louts' is 'out'.
'hide'+'out'='HIDEOUT'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for hideout that I've seen before include "sanctuary" , "retreat" , "den" , "Place to lie low" .)