The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Aurora

He suddenly shoved his door open, the hinges groaning, and stepped out without a word. The stam that followed made me flinch.

For a second, I just sat there, frozen, staring at the empty driver’s set, my brain trying to catch up.

What the hell just happened?

My pulse kicked up, uneven. The silence that followed was deafening broken only by the faint chirp of crickets and the low houm of

the engine still running. I hesitated, then reached for the handle and pushed my own door open. The cold hit me immediately-

sharp, biting air that smelled like damp earth and rain waiting to happen.

1 stepped out, wrapping my arms around myself as I looked over at m. Kael was standing beside the car, eyes fixed on me like herd

been waiting. The wind caught his hair, ruffling it slightly, and for a second, with the headlights casting shadows across his face, he

looked almost… untouchable.

He wouldn’t leave me here. He wouldn’t.

Right?

“Why…” My voice came out quieter than I intended. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Why are we outside?”

Kael tilted his head, one eyebrow raising in that infuriatingly calm way of his. “You didn’t think we’d drive into the woods, did

you?”

His tone was casual, almost teasing, but the faint smirk that followed didn’t reach his eyes.

wasn’t…” I mumbled, my voice barely louder than the whisper of the wind. My feet carried me toward him almost on their own, slow

and unsure, gravel crunching under my boots. Kael didn’t move at first–he just watched me approach, eyes half–shadowed under the

faint glow of the streetlight.

When I stopped in front of him, close enough to see the shift in his expression, he reached out without warning. His fingers caught

the open edges of the leather jacket hanging loose on my shoulders, and with one smooth motion, he zipped it up all the way.

The sound of the zipper felt too loud in the quiet night.

I looked up at him, startled, the cold still biting at the air between . He was only wearing his black hoodie, the thin fabric clinging

to his chest and sleeves, and for a second, I wondered if he was cold. If he’d given me his jacket without even thinking about it. The

thought made something twist uncomfortably in my chest.

His eyes flicked down to meet mine, and whatever softness I thought I saw there vanished in an instant. “Let’s go,” he said, his tone

clipped, not unkind but leaving no room for argument.

Before I could say anything, he reached for my hand. His fingers wrapped around mine, firm and warm despite the chill, grounding

me in a way I didn’t expect. I barely had time to catch my breath before he was pulling me along, his other hand fishing the keys

from his pocket to lock the car with a sharp click.

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We crossed the road, the faint glow of the headlights fading behind us. The pavement gave way to dirt, and the world grew darker, quieter. Ahead of us loomed the tree line–dense, twisted shapes stretching into the night, the woods swallowing the light whole.

Kael didn’t hesitate. He just tightened his grip on my hand and led me straight toward the darkness.

I started following Kael’s lead, his hand still wrapped firmly around mine. The forest swallowed the faint sounds of the road behind us, and soon, all I could hear were the crunches of our boots against damp leaves and the distant hum of night insects. His grip was steady, almost possessive, like he was afraid I’d bolt the second he let go.

“You don’t have to keep holding my hand,” I muttered under my breath, eyes fixed on the narrow path ahead.

He gave a low, amused sound–not quite a laugh, not quite a scoff. “You think I’m doing it for you?” he said, voice dry and teasing.

but he didn’t loosen his hold.

I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see it in the dark. “Right. Of course not,” I mumbled, but I didn’t pull away either. The truth was, the forest already felt wrong–too quiet, too cold–and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, his hand grounding me made it a

little easier to keep walking.

We went on like that for a while, the flashlight beam cutting through the mist, lighting up thin branches that reached down like claws. He didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched–heavy, uncomfortable. I knew he was still mad, maybe even hurt, and the weight of it pressed harder on my chest with every step.

“Look, Kael,” I said finally, my voice quieter than I meant it to be. “I’m sorry.”

He stopped mid–step. The sudden halt made me bump lightly into his shoulder. He turned toward me, his face shadowed except for the sharp outline of his jaw caught in the glow of the flashlight.

Without a word, he lifted the light and aimed it straight at me.

The beam hit my eyes, blinding me for a second. I squinted, raising a hand to block it. “Can you not?” I muttered, squirming a little

under his gaze.

“I’m sorry too,” he murmured.

For a second, I actually thought I’d misheard him. Kael? Apologizing That didn’t sound right. That didn’t sound like him at all.

I blinked at him, trying to read his face in the dim flashlight glow, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were on the path ahead, his voice low and even when he added, “I shouldn’t have been an ass. And you shouldn’t have lied. We’ve both been in the wrong.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. My mouth opened, but the words got stuck somewhere between my chest and throat.

“We can talk about it on the way back,” he went on, his tone shifting again, more businesslike now. “But we need to keep moving.”

I didn’t like the urgency in his voice. It set something uneasy crawling up my spine, but I just nodded and kept quiet as he reached for my hand again. His palm was warm and solid against mine, steady even when mine wasn’t.

We walked deeper into the woods, the air growing colder with every step. The smell changed too–from damp earth and pine to something acrid, almost metallic. The light from his flashlight barely pierced the growing fog, and the deeper we went, the more the

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forest began to change.

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At first, it was subtle–the trees too close together, the shadows moving in strange ways when the light hit them. Then I started

noticing things. Wrong things.

Charred symbols burned into the bark of trees. Candles half–melted and abandoned, their wax pooled like frozen blood. Small bones -animal, maybe–hanging from branches on bits of twine that swayed gently.

My breath hitched. The air felt thick now, almost alive, like the fores itself was watching us.

Without thinking, I squeezed Kael’s hand tighter and inched closer to him. He didn’t say anything, but I felt the faint pull of his fingers tightening around mine in return–a silent, wordless reassurance that I wasn’t imagining it.

But that didn’t make me feel any safer.