The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 164

Chapter 164

Zayn’s mouth twitched. “Because you weren’t exactly giving me the ption to stay behind.”

“Right, because leaving her alone would’ve been better,” Kael snapp, his voice still low but laced with irritation.

86%

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady the pounding under my ribs. Their voices sounded far away. The pendant’s echo still lingered somewhere inside me, soft but insistent–they’re coming for you.

My throat felt dry. “It’s not your fault,” I said quietly. “Either of you asked to come.”

Kael stopped pacing and looked at me, jaw tight. “Yeah, well, I shoul’ve said no.”

“You couldn’t have stopped me,” I said, and it came out more hones than I meant.

Zayn let out a quiet, humorless laugh. “She’s not wrong.”

Kael turned on him, a flicker of something sharper in his expression. “Don’t start.”

Zayn met his glare, unbothered. “Not starting anything. Just saying she’s stubborn as hell. You of all people should know that.”

The silence that followed carried too much meaning. Kael looked away first, running a hand through his hair. “This whole place

feels wrong. We need to leave before it gets worse.”

I wanted to agree–but my gaze drifted back to the pendant on the floor. It lay there in the dust, still warm, still faintly humming

like a heartbeat that wouldn’t quit.

“Worse?” I murmured. “What if it already is?”

Kael’s voice softened slightly. “Aurora-”

“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head. “You didn’t hear her. It was Seraphina. I swear it. She said they’re coming. She sounded…

terrified.”

Zayn crouched beside the pendant, not touching it–just looking. His eyes followed the faint burn marks on the floor, tracing the broken circle with his gaze. “If she left this for you, it wasn’t random” he said. “She was trying to tell you something important.”

Kael crossed his arms. “Yeah, like ‘don’t come back.“”

Zayn’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t argue. “Still doesn’t change the fact hat we’re here.”

He finally looked up, meeting my eyes. “What exactly did she say in that message again?”

I swallowed, thinking back to the sound of her voice–how it cracked how every word had sounded rushed. “Not much. Just that

they found her. And not to trust-”

I paused.

1/2

12:14 Thu, Jan 29 BGB.

Chapter 164

Kael frowned. “Not to trust who?”

86%

I shook my head slowly. “She never finished.”

The air seemed to shift again, a faint ripple that brushed against my skin like static. Zayn noticed it too; his gaze flicked toward the window, muscles tensing beneath his shirt.

Kael noticed the look and went still. “What?”

“Nothing,” Zayn said after a beat. “Just… thought I saw something nove.”

Kael muttered something under his breath and went to the window anyway, peering through the cracks. The trees were still. The clearing empty. But the quiet outside wasn’t comforting–it was the kind that pressed against your ears until you started to hear things that might not be there.

He stepped back. “It’s fine. But we’re not staying long.”

Zayn rose slowly, his gaze still fixed on the woods beyond the glass. Fine by me.”

The two of them stood there for a moment–tense, watchful, like they were waiting for the forest to blink first.

I tried to breathe evenly, to pretend the chill crawling up my spine was just the cold.

Zayn finally turned to me. “You’re shaking.”

I looked down at my hands. “It’s colder than I thought.”

He didn’t buy it, but he didn’t push. He just stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him. “You stay in the middle when we head back,” he said quietly. “Kael in front, me behind. No arguments.”

Kael didn’t even glance over. “For once, I agree.”

I nodded, but my mind was still caught on Seraphina’s voice–the fear, the warning, the way it felt like she was speaking directly

into me.

They were right. Coming back had been a bad idea.

But as I looked at the pendant still lying there in the dust, its faint low pulsing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that leaving might be

worse.

Comments

3