Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 59

**Blake**

The fire pops low in front of us, and smoke drifts up through the cold evening air. Theo is in the middle of a story now, using both hands while Charlie stands beside, trying not to look like he’s enjoying himself. Charlotte watches them too. “Your friend talks a lot.” I look over at her. “Theo?” She nods, and I laugh. “He only breathes between stories.” I lean back in my chair a little and point across the yard with my bottle. “That’s Uncle Ross near the firewood. He’ll tell you the same hunting story six different ways if you let him. The woman beside him is Aunty Jean. She runs the school canteen and terrifies half the town.” Charlotte follows where I point. “Terrifies?”

“She smiles while she does it, too.” Charlotte laughs outright at that. I keep going, just giving her people instead of throwing a whole pack at her in one go. Mrs Donnelly and her sharp ears. Callum, Renee, and their twin boys, who climb everything they shouldn’t. Old Mr Baker, who pretends he hates every gathering and still never misses one. She listens while she picks at her food, lifting her eyes when I name someone, glancing back at me when she has a question. It settles her, I can see it happening little by little. She pulls one sleeve further over her hand and tucks that hand closer to the fire, warming her fingers in the heat. “You cold?” I ask. She starts to shake her head, but pauses and shrugs. “A little.” I’m already pulling my jacket off before she finishes speaking. Her eyes widen. “Blake, you don’t have to.”

“I know.” I drape it over her shoulders anyway. The leather hangs too big on her, swallowing her hands and falling almost to her knees where she sits, and I have to look away for a second because seeing my mate in my jacket makes me want to lose any restraint I have left. She slips her arms carefully around the plate, into it and looks down at herself. “It’s huge.” I grin. “You’re tiny.” She peeks at me from under those lashes with the sweetest smile before she looks back at the fire. I take that as a win, so does Lex.

For a little while, we sit in comfortable quiet, watching the pack together.  Charlotte glances sideways at me. “Does it always feel like this?” I know what she means without asking. “The pack bond?” 

“Yeah.” She says quietly. “Not this loud.” I rub a thumb over the neck of my bottle. “It’s louder when it’s fresh. You’ll get used to the feel of everyone. After a while, you stop noticing most of it unless someone’s pushing a thought hard on purpose.” Her fingers still on the fork. “Can everyone hear everything I’m thinking?” I almost laugh at the look on her face. “No. Thank God. The pack would never recover if it went that far.” She nudges her knee on mine, and I turn my head to look at her properly. Her cheeks have gone pink again, either from the fire or from me, and I like both options more than I should. “You have to mean it,” I tell her. “Sending something. Same as hearing it. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“How?”

“Mum will probably explain it with tea and too many biscuits.” I tip my chin toward her plate. “I can show you the basics later if you want.” Her eyes lift to mine. “Really?” I hold her gaze as my heart thunders in my chest. “Yeah, Lotty. Of course.” Her fingers smooth once over the sleeve of my jacket, where it covers her wrist, as she attempts to avoid my eyes.

Across the yard, Mum has managed to gather a circle of women around one of the tables, all of them talking at once while she points toward us with a proud little smile she thinks I can’t see from here. I can. So can Theo apparently, because he follows her line of sight, spots me looking, and immediately starts grinning like an idiot. I lift a finger at him without expression. His grin gets worse. Charlotte notices the exchange and glances between us. “What was that?”

“Theo being Theo.”

“That explains nothing.”

“It explains enough.”

She huffs a quiet laugh and takes another bite. A cold wind slides through the yard from the tree line. It moves the fairy lights strung along the fence and stirs the smoke sideways. It carries the scent of snow and pine and damp earth. Then something underneath it hits me. I go still, inhaling deeply to be sure. “What?” Charlotte asks, but I’m already on my feet. Dad’s head turns near the fence when he catches the same scent, and John goes still a second later. I set my bottle down on the chair and take Charlotte’s plate from her hands, quickly placing it on the table beside us. “Stay here.” Her fingers catch around the sleeve of my jumper before I can step away. “Blake.” I look down, and my heart aches at the fear in her expression. I crouch in front of her so I’m level with her face. “You’re alright. Just stay with Mum, Charlie and Theo until I come back.”

Before I can say any more, Liam breaks from the side gate near the back fence. Snow clings wet to the cuffs of his jeans. His chest heaves like he’s run hard to get here, and there’s a smear of mud across one side of his neck. He heads straight for Dad and John, but half the yard has already gone silent, watching him. I shoot one look at Theo, and then he’s dragging Charlie toward Charlotte. “Don’t panic,” I tell her quietly. “Just stay put.” Then I rise and turn as Liam reaches Dad.

“Rogues,” he says, not even trying to lower his voice now. “East side of the boundary. Three of them, maybe four. They came right up to the fence line.” Dad’s face doesn’t change, but I know that look; he’s pissed. “How long ago?”

“Minutes.” A murmur rolls through the pack bond, and protective instinct rises fast through every link in the yard. I turn my head to where Charlotte has pushed herself half up out of the chair, one hand white-knuckled around the armrest, the other gripping the front of my jacket around her body. Charlie is already beside her now, and Theo moves to her other side. Dad lifts raises voice to pack. “Women and children inside. Warriors to the east boundary. Men, guard the house.” Theo looks between Charlotte and me once. “I’ve got them,” he mouths, and that’s exactly why he will be my beta. Loyal to the bone, and ready to protect his future luna.