Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 203

3/3

13:00 Sat, Jul 18

Where The Ice Gives Way

Chapter 203 Only One Can Win

VPN

Emily

Before Thomas can accept or reject the challenge, Desmond thrashes again. The dark brown wolf has him pinned against the broken

bench, one heavy paw pressed into his shoulder, and his teeth bared inches from Desmond’s throat. Desmond twists beneath him, wild

and foaming at the mouth, his claws scraping deep lines across the stone as he fights to get up. There is nothing human left in his eyes.

No Marcus. No future Alpha with a sharp smile and a pack full of people willing to look away. Only Desmond, and his hunger and rage

and the evidence of the bond he threw away.

He bucks hard, slipping from the brown wolf’s hold for one sharp second, and I gasp as he surges toward me again. Dad pulls me farther

behind him. His hand clamps around my arm, solid and shaking, ready to take the hit for me, but the brown wolf shoves Desmond from

the side before he makes it three steps. They crash back into the stone, claws skidding, jaws snapping, bodies rolling through splintered

wood and snow. The brown wolf plants himself between us again, his shoulders rising and falling, his fur dark against the white ground.

Then his head turns, and warm hazel–brown eyes lock onto mine.

My breath catches, because I know those eyes. Theo. Not just Theo, but Yelen too. Both of them are looking at me through the wolf’s face.

You’re okay, petal. I won’t let him get to you.

Theo’s voice brushes through my mind, rough around the edges but certain enough that my fingers loosen from Dad’s jacket, because I

believe him. Yelen and Theo will not let Marcus hurt me… But Marcus is not really here anymore.

I look at Desmond, at the foam on his muzzle and the way his eyes flicker without ever returning to blue–grey for longer than a heartbeat,

and something cold settles in my stomach. Marcus is lost beneath his wolf. Maybe this is what happens when someone tries to kill the

sacred thing inside themselves.

“Marcus!” Thomas snaps. His voice cracks across the square, but Desmond does not even look at him. Thomas steps forward, face twisted,

one hand lifted as if he can still command his son back into what he wants. “Pull yourself together.”

Desmond snarls at Yelen because he cannot hear his father. He’s not the one in control anymore.

Gareth turns slightly, his eyes moving over Desmond, then the crowd. He no longer needs to shout for the square to listen. The whole pack has gone still, watching their future Alpha foam and snap and ignore the voice of the man who raised him.

“This,” Gareth says, gesturing toward Desmond, “is what your Alpha thinks is control?” Gareth’s gaze drags across the faces gathered

around us. “This is what he calls order? A future Alpha who cannot obey his own father, a rejected bond rotting beneath his skin, and a

girl held at claw point because neither of them could wait their turn.”

Thomas’s face goes red. “Enough,” he growls.

But Gareth does not look at him. “We came here today to help the lost. We came here to restore the wolves that your Alpha collected and

neglected. Wolves who were hungry, filthy, frightened, and locked away where no one had to look at them. But Thomas Simmons could not wait. He looked at the cages full of suffering wolves and decided his heir mattered more. Why? Because of his bloodline? His title? His

1/3

13:00 Sat, Jul 18

Chapter 203 Only One Can Win

place above yours?”

VPN

13

Gareth takes one step toward Thomas. “In my pack, every life is equal. Rank gives me responsibility, not permission. My job as Alpha is to

put the needs of my people and the safety of their lives before my pride, my comfort, or my own blood.”

Thomas looks almost as feral as his son. His hands curl at his sides, his shoulders rise, and his eyes darken as his wolf presses forward

beneath his skin, and for a second, I see exactly where Marcus learned it. That rage. That entitlement. That belief that the world should

bend because he has decided it should.

“You do not come onto my land and lecture me about pack law,” Thomas snarls.

Gareth turns to face him fully. “Then defend your title.”

Thomas lunges, shifting mid–air, coat tearing as bone cracks and fur bursts through skin. His wolf is large, grey and black, with jaws open

wide for Gareth’s throat. People scream as he launches from the fountain steps, but Gareth moves one step to the side. Calm, almost lazy,

he lifts his arm, and Thomas’s wolf hits it chest–first. He folds over it with a strangled yelp, all the air leaving him as Gareth uses his

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify