Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 95

**Blake**

The second Charlotte settles into the car with me, I feel a sense of peace again. The heater hums softly as I pull out onto the road, the lights of the diner falling behind us in the rear-view mirror while her scent wraps around me. She smells like coffee and sugar and fryer oil and the soft soap from this morning, and underneath all that, she smells of strawberries and cream. I inhale it deeply and glance over at her when we stop at the first set of lights. She’s looking out the window with one hand tucked into the sleeve of her jumper, mouth curved slightly. “How was work?” I ask. Her eyes flick to mine. “It was good.” I huff a quiet laugh. “That smile on your face says there’s more to it than good.” She shifts in her seat, one leg turning slightly toward me. “There were these boys from school in the diner,” she says. “Three of them.” I don’t like this story already. “What kind of boys?”

“Human boys,” she says, and there’s a tiny warning in the way she says it, like she already knows where my mind went and doesn’t approve of it one bit. “They started arguing when I was serving their table.” I tighten my hands on the wheel without meaning to. “About?”

“I don’t even know. Something stupid. They were getting louder and louder, and I got caught standing there in the middle of it.” The light turns green, and I pull forward again, eyes on the road, but all of me is listening to her. “And? What happened?” I ask. “Shanti told me to touch one of them.” I look at her quickly before I can stop myself, then back at the road. “She what?” 

Charlotte nods, watching me carefully now. “I put my hand on his shoulder, and he just…” She shakes her head, searching for it. “Calmed down. Almost straight away.” My stomach drops somewhere around my knees. “Then Shanti told me to touch the other one too, so I did, and he calmed down as well. It was like all the heat just left them. I didn’t know we could do that to humans. I asked Shanti about it, and she told me very cryptically that we could do many things. I started thinking about why it never worked on Dad when I touched him. I think it’s because I hadn’t found a way to be peaceful myself yet.”

What I want to say is, *you put yourself in the middle of two pissed-off blokes? You shouldn’t have had to do that. Someone else should have stepped in before it got that far.* What I want to say is, *Don’t scare me like that.* But Lex lifts his head hard. *Keep your mouth shut.* I grit my teeth slightly as I talk to him. *She stepped between two angry men.*

*And handled it.*

*That’s not the point.*

*It is exactly the point,* he says, maddeningly calm. *Do not coddle her. She needs to know you trust her to handle herself.* I hate how right he sounds.

Charlotte is still looking at me, waiting, and I realise that it’s gotten to an awkward amount of time with my silence. “That’s…” I start and need to try again because there are too many versions of this sentence, and most of them are incorrect. “That’s bloody incredible, Lotty.” Her whole face changes. The little tension around her mouth eases. Her shoulders drop a fraction. The quiet pride sitting in her gets warmer. “The pack guys in the diner saw it happen,” she says. “They stood up like they were going to intervene, then after…” She glances down at her hands. “They just smiled at me. Like they were proud of me or something.” I reach over and squeeze her leg, giving her a smile I know she needs right now. “I bet they were.”

By the time we pull into the driveway at home, the house is lit warm from the inside, and the sky has gone fully dark overhead. My shoulders ache from practice. My brain aches from overthinking. And still, all I can really focus on is Charlotte and how happy she is right now. Charlotte barely gets through the doorway before Charlie is in front of her. “How was work, Lotty?” She smiles immediately, dropping her bag by the bench. “Good. How was practice?” Charlie’s grin widens. “I was unreal. You should’ve seen me. Blake was useless for half of it, so someone had to carry the team.” I scoff as I shrug out of my jacket. “That’s one way to remember it.”

“It’s the correct way.” Charlotte laughs softly and moves further into the living room, and it’s only then that I catch Dad. He’s standing in the kitchen, partly turned away from the light, watching all of us with an expression I don’t like. I watch him for another second as the twins’ conversation continues, then I decide I need to know what’s happening inside his head. “Dad,” I say, walking towards him. “What’s going on?” He looks past me first, toward the living room where Charlotte is smiling at something Charlie just said, then back at me. “We caught another rogue.” I straighten instinctively. “When?”

“About an hour ago.” His voice stays low. “North side of the boundary.”

“Is everyone alright?”

“Everyone is fine.” He rubs once at his jaw, looking older for a second than he did this morning. “But we think it would be best if Charlotte got some practice on him.” I stare at him. For a second, all I can hear is the muffled noise of the kitchen behind me and my own blood kicking hard in my ears.

“What?” Dad’s gaze flicks once more toward her, then back to me, completely serious and already decided enough that I know this isn’t some passing thought he’s just testing out loud. “She needs to be able to do with rogues consciously what she’s already done by instinct,” he says quietly, “Her best defence in this is herself, Blake.” I don’t like it, I hate it, but I understand it all the same. I let out a sigh and run my fingers through my hair. “Can I at least feed her first?” I grumble, making him laugh as he slaps a hand on my shoulder. “Feed your mate, son. I’ll ask her after dinner.”