Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 204

Chapter 204 Fear Can Never Earn Loyalty

Emily

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Thomas rushes Gareth again. He comes low this time, head down, shoulders bunched, blood streaking through the grey and black fur

along his side. His paws tear at the snow and stone as he launches himself forward with everything he has left, and for one breath, I

understand why people feared him for so long. He is still strong. Still fast. Still very much an Alpha… But Gareth does not move like a wolf trying to prove himself. He moves like a wolf ending something.

He waits until Thomas commits fully, until there is no turning back, then shifts his weight and lets Thomas’s own rage carry him past.

Gareth catches him across the shoulder as he goes, teeth closing only long enough to tear fur and skin before he releases and turns again, calm and steady while Thomas stumbles across the square.

The crowd watches in silence now. There are no cheers or gasps, just the sounds of the fight in front of us. Thomas spins back with a snarl, saliva gathering at the edge of his mouth, his eyes wild as he lunges again. Gareth meets him halfway, broad chest slamming into

Thomas’s side hard enough to knock the older Alpha off balance. They crash together through the broken bench, wood splintering further

beneath their paws, and Thomas snaps for Gareth’s throat, but Gareth is already gone from where the bite lands.

Gareth is bigger and stronger, but it is more than that. Thomas fights like every strike is an argument he needs to win. Gareth fights like

he has already made his point and is only waiting for Thomas to run out of fury. Beside me, Dad’s arm stays across my middle, holding

me back from the edge of the fight. Mum stands close on my other side, her hand hovering near my sleeve. Across the square, Yelen keeps

Desmond pinned away from us.

Every time Desmond tries to twist free, Yelen drives him back down with a low, brutal growl that rumbles through the stone beneath my boots. His hazel eyes flick to me once between movements, and Theo’s voice brushes my mind, warm through the chaos.

Still here, petal.

I draw in a shaky breath. Still here.

Thomas yelps as Gareth clips his front leg out from under him and sends him skidding across the snow. He scrambles up quickly, but not as easily as before. His left shoulder dips, his breath comes in harder, and a large amount of blood darkens the fur near his ribs. The pack

sees it. I see them seeing it. No one steps forward for him. I don’t think anyone would, even if they could. Thomas has always led this

pack through fear first, and now, with another Alpha standing in front of them and proving they don’t have to be afraid, something shifts. Wolves who once lowered their heads are meeting his gaze–guards who would have followed any order stand frozen where they are. Thomas is learning something I don’t think he ever understood. Fear might force obedience, but it can never earn loyalty.

Thomas’s head turns slightly, just enough to take in the crowd watching him fail. His lips pull back with another sickening snarl that tries

to prove his point of being all–powerful. Then he launches himself at Gareth again, but it seems like Gareth is done playing. He twists,

shoulder driving beneath Thomas’s chest, and throws him down so hard the stone seems to shudder beneath him. Thomas rolls, snapping blindly, but Gareth is already above him with one paw pinning his shoulder, and the other presses claws against his ribs. Then Gareth’s jaws close around Thomas’s throat, and Thomas freezes beneath him.

His chest heaves, and his claws scrape once against the stone, then stop. Everyone knows what one bite would do. Thomas knows it too. I stand there with my father’s arm around me, my mother’s hand trembling near mine, and I wait for Gareth to end it. Part of me wants

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13:00 Sat, Jul 18

Chapter 204 Fear Can Never Earn Loyalty

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him to. The part that was left broken and exiled, forgotten only until I became a tool he could use again. But Gareth does not bite down.

He holds Thomas there long enough for the whole pack to see it, long enough for every wolf in Munroe to understand that he could.

Then slowly he releases him. Gareth steps back and shifts in a ripple of fur and bone, rising into human skin, blood on his mouth, snow

melting against his shoulders. Someone throws him a coat from the edge of the square, and he pulls it on as he stands over Thomas.

“This is the difference between us, Thomas,” Gareth says, his voice carrying through the square without strain. “I do not need to kill you

to prove I am stronger.”

Thomas’s wolf growls weakly, but Gareth looks away from him and turns to the crowd instead. “An Alpha’s strength is not measured by

how many people fear him. It is measured by how safe his people are beneath his protection.”

Gareth looks back down at Thomas. “The challenge is won. Munroe will be under my protection now, until I can find a worthy Alpha for

your pack. If you have a problem with this, come and see me.”

For a moment, no one moves, but then one of the Munroe guards near the fountain lowers himself to one knee. The sound of it is so

small, it’s just fabric shifting, a boot scraping stone, a breath leaving someone’s chest, but it carries through the square with weight.

Another guard follows him, and then another, one by one, the wolves who had stood at Thomas’s back kneel to the Alpha who challenged,

beat, and spared him.

Gareth lifts one hand. “No need for that.” He says casually, and a few of the guards look up, uncertain. “Show your loyalty by doing what

is right,” he says, turning slightly toward Thomas. “Take him to the cells.”

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