The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173

Aurora

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Zayn walked ahead, knife still in hand, his shoulders tight beneath his shirt. Every so often he glanced back to make sure I was

there, his gaze sharp but unreadable. I stayed close like he’d told me, my fingers brushing his sleeve, because somehow, being able

to feel him made the dark less suffocating.

We hadn’t gone far–maybe fifty feet–when movement flickered ahead.

Zayn stopped dead. I nearly ran into his back. The lantern flame trembled.

Then-

“Zayn?”

The voice came from ahead. Familiar. Steady.

My chest tightened. “Kael?”

Zayn’s knife rose, his stance sharp. “Don’t.”

The figure stepped into the light. Kael.

Wood in his arms, dirt on his shirt, eyes catching the flicker of flame He stopped when he saw our faces–saw the blade pointed

straight at him.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, breath fogging in the cold.

Zayn didn’t move. “Prove it’s you.”

Kael blinked. “What?”

“I said prove it.”

He looked between us, the confusion slipping into irritation. “Zayn, put the damn knife down-”

“Prove it,” Zayn repeated, sharper this time. “Right now.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “What the fuck is going on?”

“There was something in the cabin,” I said, my voice unsteady. “It lapked like you.”

That stopped him. His expression flattened, the easy humor gone in an instant. “What do you mean, looked like me?”

“It was a mimic,” Zayn said. “Used your face, your voice.”

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Kael’s jaw clenched. “Then you did the right thing.”

He hesitated, glancing between us. “Fine. You want proof?”

He straightened, tilting his head toward me with the faintest smirk the kind he got when he was about to push his luck.

“Remember Saturday? You were staying at my place after Seraphina’s, and you came out of the shower-”

“IT’S HIM!” I blurted, heat rushing to my face before he could finish

Kael blinked, startled. “What?”

I shot him a glare that probably said shut up louder than words could.

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But Zayn had already heard enough. The muscle in his jaw twitched once, hard. He didn’t look at me. Didn’t say a word. Just turned

sharply toward the trees. “We’re done out here. Move.”

Kael looked between us like he wanted to ask, then decided against. He scooped the wood back into his arms, muttering

something under his breath as he started walking.

I followed, keeping my head down. The silence that settled between us wasn’t comfortable this time–it was thick, jagged, heavy

with all the things no one was saying.

The forest pressed closer as we walked. The light from the lantern reached less and less with each step. The trees were wrong here

-leaning too far, roots exposed like claws. Somewhere far off, a branch snapped.

Kael didn’t look back. “Keep moving.”

We did. The mist clung to us, thicker now, curling low around our feet like smoke. Every so often, I caught flickers of movement

between the trees–faint and fast, gone before my eyes could focus.

Zayn walked a few paces ahead of me, his shoulders tight, knife still ready. He hadn’t looked at me once since Kael spoke. The

distance between us felt sharper than the cold.

The cabin appeared through the trees a few minutes later- the same as before, but different somehow. The lantern’s glow touched

the edges of the clearing, and for a heartbeat, I thought I saw something move behind the glass.

“Go,” Kael said, his voice low.

We crossed the clearing quickly. The second we stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind us–Kael’s doing, but it still made me

jump.

The air inside was freezing, heavier than before. The lantern light caught the dust hanging thick in the air, swirling like smoke. Kael

dropped the wood by the hearth and crouched to start a fire.

Zayn stood by the door, silent, his back to me. The knife stayed in his hand even now.

“What the hell happened?” Kael asked as he struck the flint. Sparks umped, catching weakly on the kindling. “That mimic–how

III

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Chapter 173

long was it here?”

“Long enough,” I said quietly.

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The fire began to grow, throwing flickers of light over the walls, but the warmth didn’t reach far. The cabin still felt wrong–like it

was breathing beneath the floorboards.

I sat down near the hearth, wrapping my arms around my knees. My pulse hadn’t slowed. My pendant was cold now, but I could still feel that faint hum under my skin–the echo of something in the woods that hadn’t stopped watching.

Kael leaned back, wiping soot off his fingers. “We stay here till sunrise,” he said. “The magic should thin with daylight.”

Zayn didn’t answer. He just crossed the room, sank into a chair by the window, and stared out into the dark.

The fire popped once, throwing sparks up the chimney. The smell of smoke mixed with damp earth.

Kael’s eyes flicked between us, landing on Zayn. “You good?”

“Fine,” Zayn said shortly.

He wasn’t. The word came out too fast, too clipped.

Kael looked at me next, like he wanted to ask what that was about, but I shook my head. Not now.

He nodded once, letting it go. “Get some rest. I’ll take first watch.”

I didn’t argue. The exhaustion was bone–deep, heavier than fear now! I laid down near the fire, the warmth barely cutting the cold.

Zayn didn’t move from his chair. He didn’t look at me either.

And long after Kael’s quiet breathing told me he’d finally drifted off I lay awake, staring at the ceiling–listening to the wind whisper through the cracks.

Somewhere in it, faint and cold, I swore I heard my name again.

I didn’t remember falling asleep.

One minute, I was staring at the ceiling, tracing the slow crawl of moonlight across the boards. The next, I was waking to silence so

deep it felt wrong.

At first, I thought I’d only been asleep for an hour. The fire had burned down to cold ash, the room gray with smoke and shadow. But when I blinked the sleep from my eyes and glanced toward the window, the world outside hadn’t changed.

Still night.

Still that same washed–out, motionless black.

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Kael was by the door, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, eyes half–open. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all. Zayn sat across from him in the chair, elbows on his knees, his stare fixed somewhere outside the window.

The silence between them was thick. Tense. I didn’t need to ask if they’d argued–it was written in the set of their shoulders, the

space between their words.

I pushed myself upright slowly, the air biting at my skin. It was colder than before.

“How long was I out?” I whispered.

Kael’s voice came out low, rough. “A few hours.”

Zayn didn’t move. “Time’s not moving.”

It took me a second to register what he said. “What do you mean?”

He nodded toward the window. “It’s been like that all night.”

I looked out. The forest was exactly the same–black trees, pale mist that faint shimmer of moonlight that wasn’t really moonlight.

No change. No dawn. No shift in color or sound.

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