Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 115

**Charlotte**

After what happened yesterday, we’ve all come to the conclusion that I’m a walking target. No one says it like that. They use softer words like ‘temporary measures’ and ‘precautions’. Just until things settle down, but it all means the same thing. The rogues came for me, and they tore through the diner to get to me. They would have kept coming if I hadn’t stopped them.

Gareth came home in the early hours of this morning, looking like he hadn’t slept and had no plans to start. Then he called a family meeting before breakfast. Mara was still in her dressing gown. Charlie looked half awake, his hair doing whatever it wanted. Blake sat beside me with one hand wrapped around mine under the table, quiet, steady, and tense in a way I could feel through the bond. The decision didn’t take long. No school. No work. No leaving the property unless Gareth says so, and even then, only with Blake and pack nearby. I didn’t argue. How could I with what happened yesterday?

The diner is gone. Gareth decided the best way to deal with it was to set it on fire. Sophie’s insurance will cover the damage, and it will keep humans from asking questions they can’t have answers to. I understand the logic of it, but it didn’t make me feel any less guilty.

By midmorning, smoke was rising in the distance, and I stood at Blake’s window watching it drift into the sky. Everything was so normal there last night. Just another night of work, another bit of cash coming in. Now it’s nothing but ash.

Mara comes into my room around lunchtime, where I’ve been sulking, with food I didn’t ask for. She sits on the edge of the bed while I stare at my open textbook and pretend I’m reading. “Sophie knows,” she says softly. My stomach twists. “She was obviously very upset, but she’s taken it as an accidental electrical fire. She said if you blame yourself, she’ll come up here and hit you with a tea towel.” She tells me the pack has already started a fundraiser. People are donating money, time, and materials. Gareth has promised to help rebuild the diner properly. Sophie won’t be left to deal with it alone. I nod through all of it. I want it to help. It does. Just not enough. Guilt sits heavy on my shoulders, working its way through everything else.

Mara tells me about the rogues, too. The ones who came back. They’re being brought in slowly, watched, given food and somewhere safe to sleep. Some remember everything. Some don’t. Some can barely speak. She’s already planning classes at the community hall. Support groups, where they can figure out how to live with what happened to them. Everything is moving.

The pack is organising. Sophie is being helped. The rogues are being brought back. And I’m here. Sitting on my bed with textbooks spread across the blanket, reading the same sentence over and over until the words stop meaning anything at all. Blake asked if I wanted him to stay this morning when I started mopping, but I told him to go train. Then spent the next hour wishing I hadn’t. I pick up my pen and put it down again. A knock comes at the door, and before I can answer, it swings open. “Sleepover!”

Jessica launches herself onto my bed so hard my books jump, and I yelp as she lands across my legs, dragging cold air and the smell of vanilla in with her. “What are you doing?” I laugh, trying to shove her off. Annabelle walks in behind her, carrying an armful of pillows, blankets, and snacks like she’s setting up camp.

“Blake called us,” she says, dropping everything into the corner of the room. “He said you could use some company.”

Jessica grins up at me from the bed. “So here we are.”

I try not to cry at the kindness being shown to me right now, after everything I’ve caused. “You guys didn’t have to.”

Annabelle gives me a look. “Obviously, we did.”

Jessica reaches over and shuts my textbook. “This is depressing. Blake told us just how much you needed a girls’ night.”

Annabelle starts laying out blankets on the floor, smoothing them while she talks. “We brought snacks, face masks, nail polish, and absolutely no studying.”

Jessica gives me her best ‘Tad-da’ hands. “You’re welcome.”

I glance toward the window, out to the sky that still looks a little too grey, then back at them. Blake did this for me. Shanti hums softly inside me. *Our mate sees us.*

Jessica shifts closer, nudging my arm. “Hey. None of that face.”

“What face?”

“The one that looks like you’re at your peak menstrual cycle and going to cry on us.” I huff out a laugh. Annabelle climbs onto the bed beside me and nudges my shoulder. “We’re here because we wanted to come. This is what friends do. Whatever shit you’re going through, we can either talk about it, or we can eat our way through it.” She shimmies her shoulder against mine, and I can’t stop the feeling of warmth that spreads through me. I don’t deserve all these people. 

“Thanks for coming,” I say, willing back the tears.

Jessica hooks her arm through mine. “Okay, let’s aggressively cheer you up.”

“With snacks,” Annabelle says.

“And gossip.”

“And terrible movies.”

A real laugh breaks out of me, and Annabelle reaches for the snacks, opening them and tossing the packet between us. “That’s more like it. Now movies. I highly recommend a chick flick to get us into the mood.” Jessica starts pulling out movies and laying them on the bed, and I lose myself in the moment. For the first time all day, the weight in my chest shifts. It doesn’t disappear. It just… moves over a bit.

I lean back into the pillows, pulling my legs out from under Jessica as she protests loudly, and watch as Annabelle builds a nest of blankets around us and Jessica argues about movie choices like it’s life or death.

*Thank you, Blake,* I send through the mind link.

*You’re welcome,* baby. He sends back