Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249 Be a Man

Charlie

“How do I look?” I ask, turning toward Theo and Blake, who are sitting on my bed.

Blake is leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, quiet sud watchful. Theo is lying back on his elbows like he is being forced to be here. He’s j because Emily didn’t spoon him last night.

“The same as you did ten minutes ago,” Theo says, clearly bored.

I pick up a pillow and thump him over the head with it.

“You could at least try to be fucking supportive, dick.”

Theo catches the pillow before I can hit him again and hugs it to his chest. “I am supportive. I’m just saying, I don’t think the girl is going to give a d about your clothes or your hair when she finds out the very thing that scared the shit out of her two nights ago is now what she’s going to become.”

The air drops out of me.

Just like that.

One sentence, and all the effort I have put into standing still disappears.

The anxiety comes crawling straight back up my spine, cold-fingered and mean. I turn away from them and run both hands through my hair hard enough

pull at my scalp, then I start pacing the length of the room again.

Wall.

Window.

Door.

Wall.

Window.

Door.

My feet know the path now. I have been walking it for the past twenty minutes, trying to wear a trench through the floorboards while telling myse

calm.

I am not calm.

Titan is not calm either.

He is pacing with me, trying to outrun this restless fear, pushing against the inside of my skin every time I think about tesphä

“She’s going to hate me,” I mutter.

Chapter 249 Be a Man

Blake lifts his head. “No, she’s not.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you didn’t do this to her.”

I stop long enough to glare at him. “Does it matter? She touched Titan, and now this is happening.”

Blake stands so fast that Theo actually sits up.

“Jesus Christ, Theo,” Blake mutters first, throwing him a look.

Theo spreads his hands. “What? I said it badly, but I wasn’t wrong.”

“You didn’t have to say it at all. Look at him.”

Blake steps into my path, stopping me with both hands on my shoulders.

I try to look away, but he does not let me.

There is something terrifying about being stared down by Blake Atlas when he decides to stop being my friend for a second and start being the future A

He doesn’t raise his voice or growl. He looks straight into me with the kind of steadiness I wish I had been born knowing.

“Charlie,” he says. “Your mate is about to go through something very real here.”

The word mate still hits me in the chest-every time.

It feels enormous. It feels like a responsibility I don’t know how to carry, handed to me by fate with no instructions and no warning.

“You know what you need to do?” Blake asks.

I shake my head because, honestly, I don’t. I have no fucking idea.

“Be the calm,” he says. “Everything is going to be big and scary and loud for her. She might get angry. She might shut down. She might want to run. You de

not get to fall apart here.”

Blake’s hands stay firm on my shoulders as he continues talking sense into me. “You need to be the one person in this entire world she feels safe enough to

run to.”

The words hit somewhere deep, because all night, I have been thinking about me.

My fear.

My guilt.

My wolf.

My bond.

My chance to lose her before I ever really get to have het

11:16 am

ppp.

Chapter 249 Be a Man

But this isn’t about me. This is about less, and what she needs.

Theo comes to stand beside Blake, and for once, there is no grin on his face.

“He’s right, man,” Theo says. “No matter what you’re feeling, pack it away. Be there for her.”

I drag in a breath, but it shakes.

Theo points at me. “You feel scared? No, you don’t. Your palms are sweating? Wipe them off. Your wolf wants to pace holes through the floor? Tell him to

sit his furry arse down.”

Despite everything, a rough laugh breaks out of me, and Theo’s expression softens.

“This is about what she needs. Be the best mate you can be, even if that means standing on the other side of the room and saying nothing. Even if it mean

letting her be angry. Even if it means she doesn’t want you near her today.”

Titan growls at that, and I close my eyes.

Theo is right. The only thing I need to do today is whatever Jess needs me to do.

I wipe my hands down the front of my jeans, then I suck in a lungful of air and let it out slowly.

“Okay,” I say, looking at Blake and then Theo. “Okay,” I say again, with a little more confidence and a lot less fear. “I can do that.”

Blake searches my face for another second, then nods and lets go.

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