Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 195

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Where The Ice Gives Way

Chapter 195 My Fear of You Ended

Emily

Theo tries to hide it, and he does a decent job of it for everyone else, but I can feel the change in him. There is something tighter around his mouth now-

something locked behind his eyes. The golden retriever’s softness is still there, but he’s defensive now. Whatever my parents said to him, it upset him. I

know that. I also know he is not telling me yet for a reason. Old Emily would have spiralled. She would have wondered if she had done something wrong, if

the secret was about her, if she was about to be dropped into another moment she couldn’t control. But I trust Theo. Later can be later.

Right now, I am walking through Munroe with a confidence I was never allowed to have here. Eventually, the streets curve back toward the land behind the estate, and I lead everyone toward the prison. The building has been sitting on Munroe land since before I was bort. Older wolves used to mention it when

children misbehaved. “Keep that up, and Alpha Simmons will send you to the cells.”

I remember being small and clutching Mum’s skirt when we passed it once, staring at the narrow windows and the grey stone. She told me not to look. So I

didn’t. Everyone here learned not to look.

Thomas used to keep his own pack in there when they stepped out of line. Wolves who disobeyed or embarrassed him. Wolves who needed to be taught

respect. Now it seems he has found a better use for it. I wonder if Thomas had found me before Charlotte did, if he would have put me in there. A small

laugh slips out of me before I can stop it.

Theo looks down at me. “Petal?”

I shake my head once, still staring at the prison ahead. Of course, he would have. I expect the thought to hurt more. It does hurt, but there is a satisfaction

in it now, too, because Thomas did not find me. Charlotte did.

Alpha Thomas comes jogging around the side of the building when he sees us approaching. His coat swings open, and his polished mask is already back in

place.

“Ready to start?” he asks Charlotte, but Charlotte looks at me. I breathe in, then nod, and Charlotte turns back to Alpha Thomas. “Yes,” Charlotte says.

“We’re ready.”

Thomas smiles too quickly. “Great. I’ll show you to where Marcus is.”

He turns eagerly and strides ahead like a man leading us to the whole reason we came. I follow him for the entertainment of it.

Theo stays at my side, while Charlotte’s arm slips from mine, but I understand the need for her to be by her own mate’s side now. The guard opens the

prison door, and the smell of rot wafts out. The first thing I notice is that fresh blankets are sitting folded near the entrance. Somewhere farther down the row, I can hear Dr Hale speaking quietly to Bennett, his voice low and clipped. The wolves stir as we enter, growls ripple through the cages, and I step a

little closer to Theo, as Charlotte does the same with Blake.

Thomas keeps casually leading up to the front of a cell, where I see Marcus curled up in the corner on the floor. His hair is a mess. His skin shines with

sweat. His jacket hangs crookedly around his shoulders, and his hands twitch against his knees as he mutters something too low for me to hear. His eyes

flicker between human and wolf, brown then yellow, yellow then brown, like Desmond is pacing too close behind his skin. He looks awful and small.

Yesterday, seeing him nearly broke me. Today, all I feel is satisfaction.

Then his head snaps up, and he launches himself at the bars so hard and fast the metal rattles. “Emily.” Marcus’s claws wrap around the bars, and his yellow

eyes drag over me like he has any right to look. “You came,” Marcus breathes. “You actually came.”

I take one step back, then right into Theo’s arms. His hands settle at my waist, warm through my coat. Marcus’s face twists as his gaze drops to Theo’s hands. A growl tips out of him, and several rogues answer from the cages around us.

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Chapter 195 My Fear of You Ended

Get your hands off my mate;” Marcus spits.

Theo barks out a laugh. It echoes down the prison. “Your mate?”

Marcus bares his teeth, and Theo’s fingers flex lightly against my coat, but his voice stays almost cheerful. “That’s interesting. Because I was under the

impression you rejected her in front of your entire pack like a spineless little prince with daddy issues.”

“Theo,” Charlotte mutters.

“What?” Theo asks, still watching Marcus. “We’re all thinking it.”

Marcus slams himself into the bars again. “She belongs to me.”

With that, Sasha rises. Not cowering or crying, no, she’s pissed. I step out of Theo’s hold, but only enough to step right into Marcus’s face. I look at the boy

who destroyed my flowers. The mate who rejected me. The future Alpha who thought my life was something he could throw away and then summon back

when he needed it.

“No,” I say and his chest heaves. “My mate bond to you ended when you rejected it. My loyalty to this pack ended when it exiled me. My fear of you ended

when I remembered my worth.” Marcus stares at me, with nothing to say. Beautiful. I turn away before he can find words again.

“Emily,” he snaps. I keep walking. “Emily!”

I stop at the cage beside his. A brown wolf lies near the front, muzzle on its paws, watching me through tired yellow eyes. Fresh water sits in a clean bowl

near its head. A blanket has been shoved into the corner, unused, like the wolf does not yet understand it is allowed to be warm. I kneel slowly, and the

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