Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 199

Where The Ice Gives Way

Chapter 199 Nothing Beautiful Left

Emily

Alpha Thomas starts moving me toward the door. His arm stays locked around my throat, claws pressed deep enough that every swallow scrapes against

pain. Marcus keeps one hand gripping my hip, the other fisted in the back of my coat like a god damn psycho. I want to disappear. From him. From this

building. From this whole planet, because the way his breath keeps brushing my neck as he scents me is making me want to die.

“Move,” Thomas snaps.

Behind the bars, Blake slams a fist into the metal. “Thomas.”

But Alpha Thomas doesn’t even look at him. “One more word and I open her throat.”

I take one last look at Theo, and his mouth moves silently, while his voice sounds in my head. I’ll come for you, Petal. Don’t be scared, I will come for you.

Thomas drags me through the prison, and Marcus leans closer. “It’s okay,” he whispers, like that is something he has the right to say. “It’ll be okay now.

He’ll fix this.”

I turn my head as much as Thomas’s hold allows and look at him, and Marcus’s eyes flicker yellow. “You rejected me,” I rasp.

His face twists. “I didn’t know what would happen.”

“You didn’t care.”

Thomas’s claws bite deeper before Marcus can answer. “Quiet.”

I choke on a breath as Theo roars behind me and Thomas shoves the prison door open.

Two forced steps out, and the bells start ringing across Munroe. It is the same bell they use for pack gatherings, announcements, punishments, celebrations, and Marcus’s training victories. The same bell that rang the day he rejected me. My knees nearly buckle, but Marcus catches me at the waist, and my whole body recoils. “Don’t touch me,” I whisper.

Thomas laughs once near my ear. “You should have stayed grateful for what you were given.”

I stare ahead at the path as Thomas walks me forward, as if I were a prisoner being presented for judgment. Again. It is happening again. I had been wearing old jeans then; one knee had a tear, and my shoes were muddy. My hair had been coming loose from its braid because I had worked in the laundry that morning before the hall gathering. Today, my boots click with every forced step. Click. Click. Click. Fuck you boots. A hysterical little laugh rises in my throat and dies against Thomas’s hand as the square comes into view.

It sits in front of the pack house, wide and paved in dark stone, with the empty fountain on one side and the flag poles on the other. People are already gathering, staring, whispering. My heart starts to beat faster. I shouldn’t have come here. I should have stayed away. I was lucky to get out once… I don’t know if I will be that lucky again… but Theo said he would come for me. Theo said he would, which means he will. I know he will. He has to… He has to

come for me.

“You made yourself important for one morning,” Thomas says into my ear. “Do you know what happens to little wolves who forget their place?”

My pulse pounds against his claws as I look at the crowd gathering before us. At the people who once watched me lose everything. Thomas pulls me up the shallow steps of the fountain and turns me to face the pack. Marcus stays at my side, one hand still gripping my coat, his face tucked too close to my hair. He keeps breathing me in, his whole body shaking harder with each inhale. I let my eyes sweep over the square, but I find Theo nowhere…

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1:04 pm P PNT

Chapter 199 Nothing Beautiful Ieft

He will come for us. Sasha reassures us both. He will. He will. He will come.

Thomas raises his voice, ever proud of his accomplishment today. “Munroe Pack.”

The crowd goes quiet, and I focus on the snow that falls between us in small, slow pieces.

“You have watched this morning unfold,” he says. “You have seen outsiders walk through our lands and attempt to undermine the structure that has kept

this pack strong for generations.”

I almost want to laugh at how polished and practised his words sound. He sounds like an Alpha, like he’s doing something righteous for his people, but then

I feel his claws biting into my throat, and Marcus’s fingers flex at my hip. He’s no Alpha.

“This girl,” Thomas spits out and grips me harder, “was once one of ours. She was given a place here. A roof. Food. Protection. She was given more than her

rank deserved.”

Sasha snarls inside me, but I stare straight ahead at the snow flecks falling. I will not give him my fear. Thomas’s voice grows colder. “And today, she

returned dressed in arrogance, carrying another pack’s title, attempting to turn our lost against us and deny our future Alpha the help he requires.”

Marcus whispers then, low enough for only me to hear, “Tell them you’ll help me.” He sounds almost concerned for me. I want to scoff in his face. I would if

I could breathe in enough to force it out. His breath catches. “Emily. Tell them.”

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