Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 13

**Blake**

By the time we reach Block C, the hallway has thinned out, and the bell has already gone. Charlotte holds her timetable in a fierce grip, and Charlie walks like he’s trying to pretend he knows exactly where he’s going, even though his eyes keep flicking up to the signs above the doors. New kid energy is loud, even when you’re trying to keep it quiet. I keep a steady pace, a step ahead of them, leading them down the corridor like it’s nothing. Like, I don’t feel the bond pulling so hard that it makes my ribs ache. “English is in here,” I say, stopping outside the classroom door. Charlie lets out a breath and grins at Charlotte. “We made it.” Charlotte nods, but her shoulders are tight. Her eyes move over the doorway, over the faces inside, over the teacher’s desk visible through the glass panel. She’s already calculating where to sit, how to blend, how to take up the least space. Then her hand lifts to her chest again. She rubs right over her sternum like she’s trying to settle something that won’t settle. My whole body reacts to it. Lex pushes forward so hard that it takes effort not to step closer. That’s the pull. She can feel it. She has to.

The bond doesn’t just hit one side and leave the other untouched, and I can see it in the way her breath catches, in the way her fingers press in like she’s trying to calm a heartbeat that’s gone wild. Does she know what it is? Her wolf would have told her. That’s what wolves do. They recognise, they claim, they fight the human part if they have to. They will drag you toward your mate until you give in. So why isn’t she falling into my arms right now? Why isn’t she looking at me like she knows… Nothing makes sense. Charlie shifts beside her, and Charlotte's scent, mixed with his, hits me again. It makes Lex bristle, but I force him down. Charlie doesn’t deserve that. He’s not doing anything wrong. He’s just… too close to her. Too close to what’s mine. To what I can’t claim right now. He opens the door and sticks his head in. “Uh, sorry. We’re new. Office took a bit.” The teacher looks up, eyes sharp but not unkind. “Names?”

“Charlie Pierce,” he says. Then gestures at Charlotte. “Charlotte Pierce.” Charlotte stands straight, her chin up, eyes steady. She looks like she’s done this too many times. The teacher nods toward two empty seats. “Take those and catch up,” Charlie murmurs, thanks, and starts in. Charlotte follows, and as she passes me, that strawberries and cream scent wraps around my lungs again, so sweet it makes my mouth go dry. Lex growls low in my mind. Mine.

I step aside, forcing myself not to reach out, not to stop her, not to do something stupid that will make her bolt again. She’s already wound tight. One wrong move and she’ll run. I saw it last night. I felt it when she fled through the snow like something was trying to kill her. She didn’t know it was me. That’s the problem. She doesn’t know what a pack is. She doesn’t know what an alpha is. She doesn’t know what a mate bond feels like, or if she does, she’s labelling it as something else. I can see it in the way she rubs her chest, like she’s trying to calm her own body down without understanding why it’s reacting. She slides into the seat and pulls her bag close like a shield. Charlie drops into the one beside her, legs bouncing under the desk. Charlotte glances once toward the front of the room. Then, like she can feel me watching, her eyes flick up. They catch mine for half a second. My chest tightens so hard it almost hurts, and then she looks away like it’s nothing. No recognition. No instinctive pull toward me. No wolf rising up to sniff, to claim, to challenge… Just a girl trying to survive first period in a new school. Lex paces in my head, confused and angry. What is wrong with her? What happened to her? I back away from the classroom door before I stand there like a creep. The hallway is empty now, and the quiet makes my thoughts louder. I should go to my own class. I should act normally. I should pretend I didn’t just find the missing piece of my soul and watch her sit down like I’m just another guy in the corridor. But I can’t stop thinking about the way she held herself when she introduced herself. The way she pulled her hand back like she regretted offering it. The way she looked tired without looking weak. The way she flinched inward when the wind hit her, then covered it with a straight spine. She’s different, not just because she’s my mate.

Different because she doesn’t move like a girl raised in a pack. She doesn’t carry that quiet confidence wolves have when they know they belong somewhere. She carries herself like she’s always been bracing for impact. If her wolf is in there, buried under all of that, why hasn’t she surfaced? Why hasn’t she claimed me back? I take a slow breath and force my mind into order. I have to be careful. That’s the only thing that matters right now. If she doesn’t know, I can’t thrust it all on her in one day. I can’t corner her or push the bond to work the way it should. I’ll scare her, and then she’ll run, and if she runs without pack knowledge in pack territory, anything could happen. There’s the risk of rogues, hunters, or the wrong wolf catching her scent. I need to approach this like she’s a skittish animal, even if that sounds cruel. I also need to figure out what Charlie knows… Because he thinks I’m just another guy who could ruin her life. If he knew what I was, what she was, he wouldn’t be saying that. Which means either he doesn’t know… or he does, and he’s hiding it. Either way, it complicates my next move.

Lex presses at the edges of my control again, frustrated. *Mate.* I press my palm against my own chest, right over the bond, like I can physically hold myself back. *I know, buddy. We’ll work this out.* I attempt to soothe him, even when it feels like the world was just pulled out from under my feet…