Where The Ice Gives Way novel Chapter 97

Chapter 97 Find Your Humanity

Charlotte

The shed door opens with a low creak, and I’m greeted with the smell of damp wood, metal and the stench of rot. It clings to the air, making want to gag. I slow without meaning to as I step inside, my boots scraping softly against the concrete floor. The rogue is chained to the

He’s bigger than Arun was, broader through the shoulders, his clothes torn and hanging loose like they’ve been dragged through dirt and sh and something worse. His head is down at first, chest rising and falling too fast, but the second the door shuts behind us, he jerks his ead up, and his eyes land on me.

A sound that tears out of him isn’t fully human as he lunges forward against the chains. Metal bites and rattles, the force of it enough to make the whole structure groan around him. “Take your time,” Gareth says quietly at my side. I nod, not letting my eyes leave the rogue. His gaze is locked on me. Fixed. Shanti stirs. He is further gone. I can see that, or more so, feel it. I step forward anyway, shoving down all of the rot and bad feelings this guy gives off. The rogue’s breathing grows rougher with every inch I close between us, his chains pulling tight as he strains forward again. He bares his teeth, lips peeled back far enough that I can see the edge of the wolf wanting to break through. I stop just out of reach.

My heart is beating hard enough that I can feel it in my fingertips, but I hold where I am and force myself to breathe through it. This worked before at the diner, and with Arun. I kn ot it feels like. I reach forward slowly and place my hand on his shoulder. The second my skin

makes contact, he jerks like I’ve b

echoes off the walls and sett

sharpens. I pull my hand

like this, but he’s try

This ti

hains snap tight with the force of it, his body twisting, a growl ripping out of him that but nothing changes. Not the way it did before. The anger doesn’t drain; instead, it arder. Behind me, I feel Blake take a step forward before stopping himself. I know he doesn’t n it calmly. Again.

ettling against him with less pressure, focusing on that feeling I had earlier, that quiet place, that A tiny flicker, and his breathing stutters. Then it snaps right back, harder than before, and the chains nd growls. I step back. Humans are easy. This is not the same. His anger and pain are so twisted that I find myself. I draw in a breath and let it out slowly, my hands dropping to my sides. “Okay,” I murmur under my and I turn, stepping away from him and the heat of his anger, moving back toward the door. “Charlotte?” Blake’s

need a second.”

and step outside, the cold air hitting my face hard enough to clear the edge of the scent from my lungs. The yard is quiet, ose my eyes and breathe in, and then out again. The same way Mara showed me. The same way I found that field. That place now. I let the noise fall away. Let the tension drain out of my shoulders, out of my hands, out of my chest until all that’s left

grounded calm sitting low and solid inside me. Shanti rises, and I let go. The shift takes me faster than it ever has. My body

nd reshapes in a smooth, fluid motion, the cold biting less as fur settles over my skin, the world sharpening instantly into sound,

nd movement. Shanti stands where I stood, and this time, she moves. The door opens again under her shoulder, and we step back

Everything changes. The rogue feels it, I know he does, because before I even fully cross the threshold, his movements falter. The chains still, his breathing catching as his head lifts again, and his eyes lock onto mine. Shanti holds his gaze as she steps forward slowly, each movement

measured and grounded in that same calm

and falls, still rough, still uneven, h

Shanti stops in front of him.

Then her body shifts cle

oosens by degrees

me pull, that

The space between us closes again, but this time, he doesn’t lunge. His chest rises

oak in the pattern. A pause where there was only reaction before.

ving his. Then she reaches. Her nose brushes his shoulder firs

mediate. His breathing stutters. The tension in his body er, more uncertain sound. I feel it through her, that

on, and w

ack around to face him, she lowers herself to sit in from

hots He bag and k He’s th

Comments

R Visitor

she has so many layers, the story is so captivating, I’m emotional here

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Where The Ice Gives Way