Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132 Tell Me Once This Is Over

Charlotte

I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t stand in that hall with children running between tables and humans laughing under fairy lights while rogues came straight for us, for me. I couldn’t be the reason blood was spilled in a place that was meant to feel safe. Charlie understood before I even said anything. It’s a twin thing. A look, a shift, something that passes between us without needing words, and the second the warning hit the pack link, his eyes found mine across the stall, and everything in him went still in the exact same way I felt it happen inside me. Then he looked toward the back door, and we ran.

Now Shanti runs for me, her body sure and fast as she tears through the snow with Titan at my side, my brother’s black wolf keeping pace beside me, large and solid. His head is constantly turning as he scans the trees while we push farther and farther away from the halt. Keep going, Lotty, Charlie says through the link, his voice calm even as his wolf’s breath comes harder with the run.

Branches whip past us and snow sprays under my paws, the cold air cutting into my lungs in sharp pulls, but Shanti doesn’t falter and neither do L. If this is happening, if they are coming for me, then I will not let them reach the humans. I won’t. A sour rotting scent thickens the air, rolling in from the trees on both sides, and I know before I see them that they are close. I can smell them. I can feel them. Everywhere. On both sides of us, behind us, moving fast.

One bursts from the treeline to my left, all matted fur and wild eyes, launching straight for me, and I barely have time to turn before Titan slams into it

mid-air, his body hitting with enough force to send both of them crashing into the snow. They snarl and snap, teeth flashing, and Titan clamps down on the

rogue’s neck with brutal precision, shaking once before the body goes slack beneath him. Then he’s up and moving again before the snow settles, falling

back into stride beside me as if nothing had happened. Keep going.

I push harder. The trees begin to thin ahead, the dark giving way to open light, and I see the lake coming into view. We break from the treeline together, the world opening wide in front of us, the frozen surface stretching pale and still beneath the sky, snow drifting across parts of it while the centre gleams smooth and solid. My paws hit the ice and slide, the surface stealing traction for a split second before Shanti digs her claws in, her body adjusting, correcting, pushing forward again in a half-run, half-skid toward the middle.

Titan struggles for grip beside me, his weight making it harder, but he forces his way forward, his body angling to stay close to me as we move. We don’t stop until we’re far enough out that we have enough distance from the trees. Only then do we turn. We circle immediately, sides pressing together, our bodies forming a single point in the open space, Titan’s warmth solid against me as we face outward.

The first rogue steps from the trees. Then another. Then more. They spill out, gathering along the edge of the lake in broken shapes, their bodies ragged and wrong, their movements uneven as they pace along the bank, some crouching low, some pacing, some whining under their breath with something inside them is trying to claw its way out. Their eyes stay on me.

Shanti growls, the sound low and rolling through my chest. I feel them react to it, not stepping back, but their attention tightening, narrowing to the thing

ope they want to erase. I can feel them all too. Something in me reaches toward them, brushing against the broken edges inside them, feeling the wolf and the human twisted together, battling for space inside the soul. They are lost and hurting, but they’re still dangerous. We’re going to be okay Lorry I won’t let anything happen to you. Charlie says quietly.

I keep my eyes forward as the first of them tests the ice, stepping out cautiously, claws slipping before catching, their bodies lowering as they try to figure out the surface. It’s going to slow them down, but it won’t stop them forever. I love you, Charle, I send, the words tight in any chest. Tusan’s bixiy stiffens slightly against mine before his answer comes back. Tell me once this is over.

I don’t answer, I can’t. One of them has found its footing and is moving toward as now, is body low, its eyes locked. Then another follows. I’m They’re learning. They’re coming. My paws scrotch against the ice as 1 adjust my stance, staying pressed to Tiran’s side as we fun together, krepung tem front of us, tracking every movement, every angle. The hand in my chest pulls suddenly, sharp and urgent. Blake Mes chuse i can hurt him movie theagh the trees, bust, powerful, furious in a way that makes all of the ache. The ones beel it too. I can see a tow of them bellate, thu haud tutoring toward the rest behind us, distracted for just a second it’s enough shum rises frende me. My head hits and the sound fears war of and Hamel that bred across the lake, rolling over the ice and into the wolves wathead of the edge.

The effect is instant Sevend of them here. One drops too, whining, its tedy trembing as it felts whitever the shared y dung to a tromber shakes its

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2:59 pm PA

Chapter 132 Tell Me Once This Is Över

head violently, backing a step before catching itself again. The sound burns in my chest, but I push through it, pouring everything I have into it, every memory, every feeling, every piece of myself that knows what it is to be found, to be safe, to belong. Come back. Come back. Come back. The closest rogue stumbles, its eyes flickering, something clearer breaking through for just a second-

-and then he’s slammed into it from behind, knocked forward by a larger rogue that breaks through the line, charging straight across the ice toward me. Titan moves quickly, his body tensing against mine as he prepares to meet it. I try to move, but my paws slip for half a second, the ice stealing my balance at the worst possible moment. The rogue closes the distance. Its jaws open…

And then Lex comes barreling in. I can feel the power radiating off him. His growl vibrates the ice as he hits it from the side so hard that it sends both of them skidding across the ice. That is all it takes. The hesitation shatters The rogues surge forward all at once, slipping and snarling as they flood onto the ice, bodies colliding, claws scraping, teeth snapping as they fight for footing and space. They don’t stop. They don’t think. They just come. The lake fills with chaos. There is no holding this back now. The war has begun.

Comments

Sherry Fulayter

((GASP)) all hell!! it’s about to get real!! pulse is frantic!! Biting my nails!!

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