Where The Ice Gives Way novel Chapter 108

Chapter 108 Stand Between Ruin

Blake

Mum’s eyes move over the page one more time before she clears her throat and begins to read.

“All living things are bound by balance.

Where there is stillness, there must also be force.

Where one gift restores, another must defend.

Thus, the White Wolf was never made to walk alone, nor bear her burden unanswered.

It is written that when the White Wolf marks the one woven to her by fate, she does more than bind mate to mate. She calls forth his answering nature. She awakens the wolf that sleeps beneath the wolf, the one made not to soothe, but to stand.

This counterpart, though not born in all bloodlines, rises in the chosen mate beneath the sacred mark. In these pages, it is named the Howler.

The Howler is a wolf of guarding force. Strength is laid upon him beyond his former shape. His body deepens. His power grows. His senses sharpen toward fracture, so that he may feel violence before it breaks and stand between ruin and the one to whom he is bound.

As the White Wolf calls the lost back into themselves, so the Howler breaks the path of harm. He is a shield where she is peace. He is a warning where she is mercy. He is made by her mark, and for her keeping.

Let it be known: such wolves do not rise for every White Wolf. Only where the bond is true, the mark complete, and the balance accepted in

full, shall the answering howl awaken.”

The room goes quiet when she stops. I’m still staring at the page at the back of the book. Strength beyond his former shape** Senses sharpen toward fracture*.* Feel violence before breaks** Stand between ruin and the one to whom he is bound** Every strange thing that’s happened since the bond clicked fully into place starts lining up in my head so fast it makes my pulse kick harder. Theo at the door. The shove at school. Theo flying across the rink. The jar shattering in my hand like it was made of paper instead of glass. None of it was random. I wasn’t losing my mind. It was all meant to be so that I could counter Charlotte. I can protect her. We can protect her. Lex rumbles in agreement.

Mum lifts her eyes to me then and repeats a few of the lines.

I let out a breath through my nose and drag a hand over my jaw. “So…” My mouth twitches, into what I am sure is a cocky grin. “I’m a

bodyguard?”

“No,” Mum says, and there’s just enough amusement in her face to tell me that isn’t even close. Dad steps in then, smiling in that way he does when something has just made perfect sense to him. He slaps a hand against my shoulder, solid and approving all at once.

“This,” he says, “is how you protect your mate.”

I look at Dad. “I need to train. I want to figure out exactly what’s happening and how I can use it to keep her safe. Mum closes the book with a soft thump before Dad can answer, the old leather cover settling under both her hands like she’s physically putting a stop to whatever either. of us is about to suggest.