Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146 The Chance to Come Home

Blake

This morning, Charlotte sits on the living room floor with Mum. The bakery puzzle is spread across the coffee table, half-built and waiting. Mum blanket draped around Charlotte’s shoulders and a mug of hot chocolate near her knee. Charlotee’s braid hangs over one shoulder, loose from slee every so often she reaches for a piece, studies it, then looks at the box before trying to fit it into place. Mum hums under her breath. The same lin she used yesterday when she brushed Charlotte’s hair.

I stand in the doorway longer than I need to. Lex doesn’t like leaving her. Neither do 1.

Mum looks up before I can pretend I’m not hovering. “Go, Blake.”

Charlotte glances over her shoulder at me. “Go where?”

“Just out back,” I tell her. “Dad

for a bit.”

I watch as her fingers ti

e piece. “Is everything okay?”

I step into the roo okay?”

Shanti must s

brushing my thumb lightly over the back of her hand. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’d be close if you need me.

se she relaxes a little. “I’ll be fine with Mara,” she says.

Mum giv

L

ctly, see?”

head before I leave the warmth of the house behind and step out into the backyard.

e engines, and metals banging and men calling out instructions. The whole acre beyond our yard has changed in a day and a nd and snow-dusted trees is now churned mud, tyre tracks, floodlights, temporary fencing, and wolves moving with purpose the house before the hospital even released Charlotte. By the time I got her home, crews were already working Past the fence forced with concrete and steel. I stand and watch for a moment as our pack works beside contractors from three neighbouring

she

erground cells and holding rooms for the rogues. They’ll be secure, renforced, and, most importantly, separated from my gut. They’ll be earth, and monitored with care. A delivery truck sits near the far side with medical equipment strapped down in the back. That would be traint beds, monitoring equipment, warming blankets, sedatives and other things to help ease their transition. Ferything we seed and

charlotte to see yet.

k into the mud as I cross the yard to where Dad stands near the temporary site office. He looks like he hasn’t slept. His law is rough with coat half-zipped, his eyes red around the edges. He sees me coming and ends whatever call he’s on.

ng okay,” I say. “Confused. Tired. But okay.

face softens for one second before he turns he

Nors spread fast after the incident at

many packs saw them crossing t

He told them all about the w

we think a rogue migration the Move quiet so nding Alphos alivad kes something bag hat happinenati

10:35 am P pp.

Chapter 146 The Chance to Come Home

Dad has been in countless meetings since the lake. His phone hasn’t stopped, and neither has he. Some packs were more cautious than others, bu rame flooding in anyway. We’ve received warriors, trackers, builders, doctors, money and supplies. Almost every pack with the resources to spare to hunt the rogues moving toward our territory. The aim is not to kill on sight unless there’s no choice, but instead to intercept, contain and deliv they can be safely moved. It’s been rollective decision between marry packs to keep Charlotte alive and give the lost a chance to come back.

Farther back from the underground cells, another frame is going up. A transition house. That’s what Mum called it when Dad explained the plan at the morning, while Charlie and I sat in the hospital and listened to it on the phone. It’ll be a piace for restored wolves to live after Charlotte pulls back. There will be therapy rooms, training areas, medical supervision, and rooms for the wolves and our pack representatives to stay in it’ll be a wa return them slowly to society instead of dumping them at the edge of a territory with a blanket and some trauma. It’s smart, human, it’s massive, and depends on Charlotte. My mate, who is inside right now, is trying to remember whether she likes corner pieces.

A truck door slams, and I flinch before I can stop it. Dad narrows his eyes at me. “You’re no good to her if you burit yourself out,” he says.

I huff a humourless laugh. “Is this your gentle fatherly advice?”

“It’s my Alpha advice. Fatherly would involve your mother and tea.”

I smile, but it doesn’t last. “What if this is too much?” I ask, watching two workers lower steel reinforcement into the ground. “What if we tell her, and sh feels responsible for all of it?”

Dad is quiet for a moment, then he steps closer, voice lowering. “She will feel responsible,, because she will be. But we can make sure she knows this is mos hers to carry alone.”

Through the window, I hear Charlotte laugh. The sound barely reaches us through the glass, but I feel it anyway, and Lex settles inside me

“I don’t want her hurt again,” I say.

“She will be protected, that’s what all this is for. This is how we keep her safe. We control it.” Dad says.

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