Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 185

Chapter 185 Like An Animal

Charlotte

Munroe Pack is nothing like Wellington. I know it before we even pass through the gates. The whole place is fenced in, high black bars stretching along the road, with cameras mounted on the posts and patrol wolves standing at the entrance in dark uniforms. Munroe is clearly a town built for wolves and wolves alone.

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We drive past large houses that sit back from the road behind neat fences and bare winter gardens. Everything is clean, expensive–looking, and oh–so–carefully arranged. The paths are clear, the hedges are trimmed, and every person we pass stops what they are doing to stare at the line of vehicles moving toward the centre of the pack. No one waves or smiles like I imagine they would in an exclusively wolf territory. It’s unnerving.

The pack house rises before us at the end of the road like something built to be looked up at. It’s right in the middle of the town like a beacon, and it’s not even a house; it’s more like an estate. Stone steps sweep up to wide double doors. Tall windows stare over the grounds, Pillars stand on either side of the entrance, pale, smooth, and polished. The whole building looks expensive and cold. Not an ounce of warmth or life to all of its grandeur.

Blake parks beside Gareth and turns the engine off.

“You okay?” he asks quietly.

3

I look through the windshield at Alpha Thomas climbing out of his car. Two men open the rear door of the patrol vehicle behind us, and

Marcus is hauled out between them, wrists bound, shoulders hunched, his eyes still borderline feral.

“No,” I say.

Blake’s hand tightens on my knee, and his lips thin. “Yeah,” he says. “Me either.”

We get out together, and Alpha Thomas walks toward us casually.

“Alpha Atlas,” he says formally. “We should move inside to speak.”

Gareth stands beside the car, coat open, arms crossed. “We will”

Thomas glances at me. “Charlotte, perhaps you would like to rest first after the drive,”

I reach out to touch Blake’s wrist lightly before he can get defensive. I know he’s on edge, and I completely understand it, but I also need

to get to the bottom of this.

“I want to see where the rogues are kept,” I say.

Thomas’s expression barely changes, but something moves behind his eyes, something that both Shanti and I pick up on. “Of course. We

can arrange that after we have spoken.”

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Chapter 185 Like An Animal

“No,” I say, looking toward Marcus. “Now.”

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The quiet spreads through the front drive, and several Munroe wolves glance at each other. One looks at Thomas, waiting for permission.

Waiting for his Alpha to decide if my request matters. At Wellington, someone would have already offered me a coat, food, and directions.

Here, everyone stands still until Thomas breathes.

“Very well.” He says, finally, and turns without another word and leads us away from the estate.

We walk past the side of the building, along a path that cuts behind the gardens and toward another structure set farther back from the

pack house. It is large, square, and built of grey brick, with narrow windows set high into the walls. There are no flowerbeds here. No

benches. No sign of anyone spending time near it unless they have to, and the closer we get, the stench of rot only grows. The guards at

the door straighten when Thomas approaches.

“Alpha Simmons,” one says, lowering his head, and I take note of how titles are used here. Thomas gestures for the door to be opened, the

guard unlocks it, and the stench is thick enough to coat my tongue.

The building is set up like a prison. A long central walkway runs between rows of cages, each one made of thick metal bars bolted into

concrete. There is barely any light beyond the harsh bulbs overhead and the narrow slices of winter coming through windows too high for

anyone inside to see out of. The cages hold wolves in different states of decay and panic. Some pace wildly, while others lie curled in

corners, barely enough strength to lift their heads. They all growl as we enter, their bodies matted with old blood and dirt. I look at each

one as we pass, Dog bowls sit on the floor, water gone cloudy. Food is left in lumps that look dry, moulding at the edges, on the dirty

floor. A wolf in the third cage lifts its head and whines, and the sound goes straight through me. He wants my help. He needs it. I can feel

it so strongly that it physically pains me

“They are alive, as you can see“, Thomas says behind me, as if that is supposed to count for something, and I turn slowly with my teeth

bared.

“They are in pain.”

His mouth tightens in one long flat line, his arms crossing his chest. “Rogues are dangerous.”

“So is your son.” I raise my voice, angry for the treatment of these people, these wolves, who someone should have cared for.

Thomas’s eyes flash as Marcus is brought in behind us, two of his own patrol holding him by the arms. His gaze drags over the cages, then

lands on me, and his lip curls into a snarl before Blake steps between us. I look back at Thomas. “Put him in one.”

Thomas coughs and splutters, his voice rising. “Excuse me?”

“Put Marcus in a cage.”

One of the guards shifts uncomfortably. The beta beside Thomas draws in a breath, but Gareth’s gaze snaps to him, and the man shuts his

mouth.

Thomas steps toward me, his voice lowering. “My son is not one of them.”

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Chapter 185 Like An Animal

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