Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 165

**Theo**

By the time I reach the rehabilitation building, the morning has already started moving without me. Not really surprising. It took me a while to roll out of bed. There are pack members everywhere getting ready for today, but I search until my eyes find Emily. She’s inside with Mara. I see her through the glass before she sees me. Her long brown hair is braided and falls forward over her shoulder. Every now and then, Mara says something that makes her mouth curve, and I drink in the image of it. She has the prettiest smile. Yelen stirs under my skin, pacing as he usually does when we watch her. *Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate.*

I stand outside a little longer than I need to, pretending to check the porch railing while really watching her reflection in the window. I’m a lovesick idiot with damp boots and no sense of pride every day now, and I couldn’t care less. Charlie appears beside me then and leans against the railing.

“You know, staring through windows is frowned upon in most civilised places, right?”

I don’t look at him as I say, “I’m checking the woodwork.”

“You’ve been checking the same bit of railing for seven minutes.”

“It’s an important bit.”

Charlie snorts and follows my gaze through the window.

Emily reaches up to place another blanket on the shelf. She has to stretch, and Mara moves to help her, but Emily manages just fine. The smile that crosses her face is small and proud. After a second, Charlie says, “She looks better.”

“Yeah.” My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to, but Charlie doesn’t tease me for it. That’s how I know it’s bad.

The back door opens, and Charlotte steps into the yard with Blake behind her. The air feels like it changes. It always does when Charlotte is about to do something with Shanti. The rogues feel it before the rest of us. The sound of growling rises beneath the yard, low and muffled through the ground. They know she’s coming for them, and they’re not happy about it. Charlotte stops for half a second, and I watch as Blake’s hand touches the small of her back. He leans down and whispers in her ear something that makes her smile and blush. I used to find it comical the way he soothes her. Now I find myself envious of it.

I bring my attention back in front of me and watch as Emily looks up from inside the building. I see the moment she understands where Charlotte is going. She sets the blanket down and says something to Mara before moving toward the door. My whole body tightens. No. I don’t want to tell her what to do. I don’t want to be that kind of mate to her… but the holding cells are loud and ugly and dark, and she was in one of those rooms not long ago with blood in her fur and fear in her eyes. I don’t want her to be scared again.

She steps outside before I can think too much about it. Mara follows her, concern clear beneath her tight smile. Emily doesn’t seem to have a worry in the world as she walks straight up to Charlotte. “Can I come?”

Charlotte’s mouth was already open, probably to say hello, and it looks like it took her a second to redirect her words. “To the holding cells?”

Emily nods confidently, though I see her fingers curl into the cuffs of her jumper. “I want to watch. I want to help.”

Blake’s jaw tightens as his eyes lock with mine. Yeah, we’re both thinking the same thing.

Charlotte studies her for a moment, then reaches out and takes both of her hands. “You can come as far as you’re comfortable. If it gets too much, you leave, okay? No pressure.”

I look around for anyone willing to say no right now, and thankfully, Gareth glances up at the same time. “She stays behind the first barrier with Theo and Charlie.” Gareth’s eyes meet mine, and the order is clear. *Guard her.* As if I needed telling.

“Yes, Alpha.”

Emily’s gaze flicks to me, then away again. Colour rises faintly in her cheeks, and the vanilla note of my own nerves is probably ruining the air around me, but then her scent reaches me. Fresh sunflowers after rain. It took me all of two minutes to source the scent at the florist. I bought every single one she had, and then asked her to order more. My bedroom has been covered in them ever since, and when they begin to wilt, I replace them with more. Dad hasn’t said a word about them. It’s been some years since we had something pretty in the house. When I came downstairs this morning, I was surprised to find some of the flowers on the counter. Dad simply said, “It looked like they needed some sun.” 

We move as a group toward the holding cell entrance. Charlotte and Blake walk at the front with Gareth and my Dad behind them. Mara stays back near the rehabilitation building, wringing her hands once before smoothing them down her jeans and waving us off with a smile. Emily walks beside Charlotte at first, while Charlie and I follow behind them. The closer we get, the worse the noise becomes. Growls roll up from beneath the ground. Bodies hit doors. Chains clatter. A howl rises, then breaks into a strangled snarl that makes Emily’s step falter. I stop too as she looks down at the concrete steps leading below. Her face has gone pale, and Charlotte turns back immediately. “Em?”

Emily swallows as the sound from below intensifies; the rogues can feel Shanti standing above them. The doors rattle harder, and the sound of claws scraping against metal makes even me shiver. Emily makes the smallest whimper. Then, before I can move or speak or offer anything at all, she steps back… behind me. Her shoulder brushes mine, and the touch is barely anything at all, but the soft pressure of her body finding shelter behind mine is everything to me. Every protective instinct in me lights up, and Yelen rises so fast my vision sharpens. *Mate behind us. Protect.* I keep myself still, trying not to make the moment bigger than it already is. But my hands curl slowly at my sides, and my body angles without permission, placing myself between her and the stairs. Emily’s breath catches behind my shoulder, and Charlie’s eyes widen beside me, but for once in his life, he says nothing.

Gareth opens the first door and looks back at us. His gaze flicks to Emily behind me, then settles on mine. I give him one short nod. *I’ve got her.* I tell him, every part of me aware of every part of her against my back. Charlotte exhales slowly, then turns toward the darkness below. “Okay,” she says as she steps inside, and the rogues scream louder. Emily flinches, but she stays behind me, and I stand there, still as stone, guarding the first touch my mate has ever given me.