Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 247

11:15 am Ppp.

Where The Ice Gives Way

Chapter 247-Tonight She Gets Us

Charlotte

One little text from Blake, and the world comes crumbling down.

Well, not really.

Not this time.

Life-changing events are definitely happening again, but this time, it doesn’t feel like the world is cracking open and leaving one frightened girl to fall

through the middle of it alone.

This time, everyone is moving.

Everyone is rallying around Jessica before the storm actually hits.

Which is better.

Still terrifying, obviously, but better.

I sit on the edge of Jess’s bed with Blake’s message open in my hand, reading it for the third time even though I understood it the first.

Jess’s parents came to Dad. Apparently she’s got a white wolf suppressed under that skin. Breakfast tomorrow. Don’t tell her yet. She needs

support tonight. You okay?

I am not sure okay is the right word.

I know what it feels like to realise everyone around you knows more about you than you do.

And I know what it feels like to be the girl no one prepared.

So, no, I am not exactly okay.

But I am ready.

I text Blake back first.

I’m okay. I’ve got her. xx

Then I text Emily.

She replies almost instantly, which tells me Blake or Theo has already updated her, because her message is less paix and sore t

Almost there. Bringing pizza.

I smile despite myself.

Of course she is bringing pizza.

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Chapter 247 Tonight She Gets Us

barely have enough time to tell Jess we re both staying before Emily is walking in with an overnight bag on one shoulder and two pizza boxes balanced her arms. Her hair is tied up messily, her cheeks pink from the cold, and she gives me a look over the top of the boxes that says she knows exactly how

strange this might is and has decided food is the only reasonable response.

Mini pack sleepover? she asks through the mind link.

I huff a soft laugh. Mini pack sleepover.

Jess looks up from her spot on the bed with a weak smile. Her hair is pulled back, but loose pieces have escaped around her face. Her eyes are red-rimmed

her jumper hangs off one shoulder, and she is still rubbing at the centre of her chest as if trying to press something back into place.

I push my own nerves down and smile. “Em brought pizza.”

Jessica looks from me to Emily, then to the boxes. “Is this pity pizza?”

Emily lifts her chin. “It is emotional support pizza.”

“That sounds like pity pizza.”

“It has extra cheese.” She sing-songs and waves the boxes like an aeroplane.

Jess gives a small, exhausted laugh before patting the bed between us.

“Fine,” Jess says, shifting over. “Come in before I start crying and ruin the cheese.”

We settle like everything is normal.

It is not normal.

TE

But we pretend gently, as girls do when one of us is on the edge, and none of us wants to push too hard. Emily puts the pizzas in the middle of the bed, and

I choose a movie none of us will pay attention to. We curl into the blankeys and talk about school, Annabelle’s inability to whisper, and the absolute crime

of early mornings.

Jessica laughs and smiles, but I can see her checking her phone on repeat.

We have all agreed not to spill the beans until breakfast tomorrow. I understand why. I even agree with it.

But sitting beside legs, feeling the strange tension in her body watching her finch every time a car passes outside. I hate havidy to hold apply operez year

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Chapter 247 Tonight She Gets Us

Callum is-standing by the bench with his hands braced against the edge. Elena is near the sink, one hand wrapped around a mug she does not seem to b drinking from. They both look like people who have spent the last hour trying not to fall apart loudly.

I almost turn right back around, because their fear is so exposed it feels rude to walk into it.

Then Elena looks at me, and something in her eyes makes me stay.

The terrible, aching look of parents who know they have hurt their child while trying to save her.

“I just came for plates,” I say softly.

Elena blinks quickly. “Of course.”

She moves toward the cupboard, but her hand shakes when she reaches for the handle.

I step closer before I can talk myself out of it, and help her. “Hey…”

Both of them look at me.

I swallow, suddenly aware that I am standing in their kitchen as the thing they spent Jessica’s whole life fearing.

“You know,” I say, trying for a small smile, “when I first came to Wellington, I had no idea other wolves existed… I thought it was just my brother and me thought some wolves came in black and some came in white, and that was it.” A quiet laugh slips out of me. “I had no idea there was a massive target on

my back.”

Elena presses her lips together as I take the plates and she closes the cupboard.

“I found out the hard way about the pack, about what I was, and what people wanted from me.” My voice softens. “What you’re doing now, letting her kno before the storm hits, is the best way to go about this.”

Elena’s eyes fill, and I take a moment to set the plates down and place my/hand over hers.

“She’ll be safe here,” I say. “Especially with Charlie.”

Both of Jess’s parents look at me, letting my words sink in.

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