Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 239

11:17 Wed, Jul 29

Where The Ice Gives Way

Chapter 239 Wolves Are Scary

Charlotte

By the time night settles over the house, I am exactly where I want to be.

Curled against Blake and buried under blankets, while half-watching a movie I stopped following twenty minutes ago.

On the screen, a man runs through a dark hallway holding a torch that keeps flickering.

“That’s stupid,” I mutter.

Blake hums, considering this. “Maybe he left his common sense down there.”

I tilt my head back to look at him. “That was a terrible dad joke.”

His mouth twitches. “I am practising. Future Alpha duties and all.”

“Making terrible jokes is an Alpha duty?”

“Practically a rite at this point,” he snorts.

I grin. “I’m telling Gareth you said that.”

Blake’s eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t.”

“I absolutely would.”

He moves so fast I barely get a breath in before he rolls me under him, pinning me gently to the mattress while I laugh and try to shove at his shoulders. He is far too pleased with himself, eyes warm, hair falling slightly over his forehead, mouth curved in that smile that still makes my stomach do ridiculous things.

“You’re very brave tonight,” he murmurs.

“I’m always brave.”

“That’s true.”

The softness in his voice takes the teasing right out of me.

He kisses me softly before rolling back onto his side and pulling me with him until my back is tucked against his chest again. The movie

Chapter 239 Wolves Are Scary

I am just starting to drift, my eyes heavy and Blake’s breathing warm against the back of my neck, when there is a knock at the doot.

‘Come in,” Blake calls, his voice low.

The door opens, and Charlie stands in the hallway.

My heart drops at the sight of him, his hair a mess and his eyes red.

76

“Charlie,” I breathe, already sitting up.

His face crumples the second he looks at me, and whatever fragile thread he has been holding himself together with snaps right there in the doorway.

Blake shifts immediately, sliding back without me even needing to ask. He scoots over to make space, his hand brushing my lower back

once, understanding.

I lift the blanket and open my arms, and Charlie crosses the room in three uneven steps, collapsing into me.

He is too big for this now. Taller than me. Broader than the boy I used to curl around when Dad was downstairs, and the house felt too

loud. But the second his head drops to my shoulder, he is my brother. My Charlie. The other half of every bad night I survived.

His body shakes against mine, and I wrap both arms around him and hold on.

“Oh, Charlie,” I whisper, pressing my cheek to his hair. “I’ve got you.”

He makes a sound that breaks my heart.

Blake stays close but quiet, one hand resting on Charlie’s back for a moment before he pulls away enough to give us room. There is no jealousy in him, no awkwardness. Only this protective sadness as he watches my brother fall apart in my arms.

Inside me,

Shanti rises, soft and white and aching.

She reaches for Titan without hesitation, brushing against him through whatever strange twin-thread links us when the hurt is too big fo words. I feel him there, restless and wounded, pacing beneath Charlie’s skin, completely devastated.

Shanti presses closer.

A low sob drags out of Charlie, and I rock him slightly without meaning to, the way Mum used to rock us when we were little.

“It’s okay,” I whisper, even though I don’t know if it is. “I’m here. You’re okay.”

He shakes his head against my shoulder, but he doesn’t pull away.

He stays right there in my arms, and I let him cry.

21

Chapter 239 Wolves Are Scary

1 let him be messy and heartbroken and small in the one place he never has to pretend to be strong. My hand moves

Shanti kums softly inside me, wrapping Titan in all the comfort she can.

Eventually, the worst of his tears slow. His breathing is still uneven, but the sobs fade into shaky little pulls of air. He keeps his wor hidden against me, one hand gripping the blanket near my hip.

“What happened?” I ask gently.

He is quiet so long I think he might not answer.

Then he whispers, “She left.”

My arms tighten around him.

“She didn’t…” His voice cracks, and he swallows hard. “She didn’t accept it. She didn’t accept me.”

My heart breaks clean through for him.

“What did she say?”

“She said she needed to go home

*That’s all?*

He lifts his head just enough to look at me, eyes wet and miserable. “Lotty.”

“Talk me through it, Charlie.”

He drags a hand over his face. “She didn’t say she hated me of anything. She didn’t say she didn’t want me. Not in words. But I saw her face.” His voice goes rough again. “She was terrified of me.”

A small, sad laugh slips out of me before I can stop it.

Charlie stares at me as if I have betrayed him. “Are you laughing?

“Only a tiny bit.”

“Lotty.”

11:17 Wed, Jul 29

Chapter 239 Wolves Are Scary

*1 thought if I were honest, maybe she would see,” he whispers. “Maybe she would still like me. I thought telling her the truth, was the

right thing”

“I was.”

“But she left.”

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