Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 186

Where The leer Gives Way

Chapter 186 Lowly Wolf

Charlotte

Thomas stares at the cage for a long second while Marcus stands behind the bars with both hands wrapped around the metal, breathing hard through his

nose. Thomas looks at him like he cannot quite understand how his son ended up on the wrong side of the door. The silence stretches until Thomas finally

lifts one hand and gives the smallest nod.

“Leave him there,” he says.

Marcus’s head snaps toward him, his hands tightening further. “Father.”

The word comes out rough and broken, but there’s a growl buried underneath it,

Thomas flinches, but he turns his back to him. “You will remain here until we decide how to proceed.”

“Bennett,” Gareth says, his voice steady behind me.

Bennett steps forward from where he has been standing with Dr Hale near the entrance. “Alpha?”

“Stay here with Dr Hale. I want a full assessment of every wolf in this building. Conditions, injuries, food, water, anything that needs immediate attention.

No one goes near Marcus without Blake or me present.”

Bennett nods. “Yes, Alpha.”

Dr Hale already has his bag in one hand and a grim look on his face. His eyes move over the cages, taking in the cloudy bowls and filthy concrete, and his

mouth tightens. “I’ll start with the ones showing signs of dehydration.”

“Our own medical team can handle that.” Thomas’s Beta says, then Dr Hale turns his head slowly toward him. “Then they should have.” He says, with a little

more bite than I had expected from him. I like Dr Hale more every time he speaks.

Thomas inhales through his nose, long and thin, ignoring his Beta, then starts toward the door. “We can speak inside.”

Marcus’s eyes cut to me, but Blake steps between, and we leave the prison, ready to find qut what the hell is going on here.

The inside of the pack house is physically beautiful. The entrance hall opens beneath a high ceiling with a chandelier hanging over polished floors. A wide staircase curves up one side with carved wooden rails, and portraits line the walls in heavy gold frames. Men with the same square jaw as Thomas stare down from the past, all of them dressed in formal suits, all of them looking like they, too, were assholes. A maid appears near the doorway and lowers her head. “Alpha Simmons.”

Thomas removes his gloves and hands them to her without looking. “The sitting room.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Her eyes flick to me for half a second curiously before she lowers them again and moves away. I step closer to Blake. This whole place gives me the creeps. We follow Thomas to the sitting room, which sits at the front of the estate, overlooking the drive. It is grand in the kind of way that makes me afraid to touch anything. Deep green velvet couches. A marble fireplace with flames already burning. Heavy curtains. Silver trays set out on a long side table with sliced meats, cheeses, fruit, pastries, little sandwiches, tiny cakes dusted with sugar, and a crystal jug filled with something amber and expensive looking

Thomas gestures toward the couches. “Please. Sit.”

12:30 pm PTNM

Chapter 186 Lowly Wolf

I do not sit. I look at the food instead and ask. “If we get all of this,” I say, “why don’t the rogues?”

Thomas’s eyes move to the trays, then back to me. “Those refreshments were prepared for guests.”

“They’re hungry.”

Thomas pinches the bridge of his nose like he is tired of having to explain the obvious to a child. “Miss Charlotte, with respect, you have been dealing with

rogues who have already been subdued by your pack and brought into your care under controlled conditions. You have not lived with this problem for

months.”

“No,” I say. “I have been dragged under ice by them. I have nearly died for them. I have listened to them cry through wolf bodies because their human parts

are still trapped inside. So do not stand in this room with all this food and tell me I do not understand.”

Blake’s hand slides to my lower back, telling me silently that he’s here, he supports me.

“Why exactly are we here, Thomas?” Gareth asks gruffly from where he stands near the fireplace.

Thomas walks to the side table, pours himself a drink, then seems to think better of it and sets the glass down without taking a sip. “When Emily left,” he

says, “Marcus started losing himself.”

Okay, yeah, no. Emily didn’t just ‘leave.‘ Blake’s fingers press lightly into my back, and Thomas continues. “At first, we believed it was just shock. A rejected

bond is painful, even when done by choice. We thought he would stabilise within days, but he only grew worse. He’s been aggressive and restless, unable to

pull Desmond back in at times.” He sighs. “After we realised the rejection had damaged Marcus more severely than expected, we tried to look for Emily. We

began capturing rogues moving through the outer territories in the hope that if Emily had turned, Marcus would recognise her. We thought if we found her,

if he saw her, perhaps his wolf would settle.”

My hands curl at my sides. “You were collecting rogues hoping one of them was the girl your pack threw away.”

Thomas closes his eyes briefly. “We were trying to keep my son alive, able, sane, here with us.” Thomas paces the room, speaking loudly with his hands,

before he turns to me. “Then I heard Wellington had a white wolf who could bring rogues back. I thought that if Charlotte came here, she could help the

rogues we had collected. And perhaps, if her power worked as the rumours claimed, she might be able to stabilise Marcus.”

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