The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175

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He hesitated, as if wanting to add something else, but just gave a short nod and reached for his jacket. Zayn stood too, grabbing his

knife from the table. The two of them stepped out together into the dark.

The door shut with a hollow sound that echoed too long in the silence.

I slid the bolt across and stayed there for a moment, listening.

Their footsteps crunched through frost for a while–two sets, steady and even–then faded until I couldn’t hear them at all.

The cabin felt impossibly still after that. The fire had long gone out, and the cold crept through the floorboards, seeping into my

skin. The lantern flame danced weakly, its light barely enough to hold back the dark corners of the room.

I sat down by the hearth and rubbed my hands together, trying not to think about the whisper that had come through Mira’s call. Or the fact that my reflection in the window had looked wrong–like it had been breathing a fraction out of sync with me.

By the time the footsteps returned, I almost didn’t believe they were real.

Two sets again. A voice calling softly through the door. “It’s us.”

I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding and unlatched the bolt.

Kael came in first, carrying an armful of wood, his jacket dusted with frost. Zayn followed, knife still in hand, shoulders tense.

Kael crouched by the hearth, stacking the wood. His shirt was torn along one shoulder, a streak of something dark staining the

fabric.

“Kael,” I said quietly. “You’re bleeding.”

He didn’t look up. “Not mine.”

Zayn gave a small shake of his head, as if to say leave it. He took a slow step closer to the window, scanning the trees outside

before finally sheathing the blade.

Kael coaxed the flame to life, and the fire caught quickly–too quickly, like it had been waiting. Orange light spilled across the room, but instead of warmth, it only made the shadows look deeper.

The silence that followed pressed in thick. Kael stood and adjusted the lantern on the table. “No one goes near the door,” he said.

“We stay inside until sunrise.”

“Assuming sunrise still exists,” Zayn muttered.

Kael didn’t answer. He moved to check the far windows instead, leaving me and Zayn by the fire.

The distance between us wasn’t physical. It was something else–quiet, heavy, sharp around the edges. He hadn’t really spoken to me since last night. Not properly.

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Chapter 175

I turned to him. “You’re still mad.”

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Zayn didn’t look at me. “Now’s not the time.”

“Then when?” I asked softly. “You’ve barely looked at me.”

He exhaled through his nose, dragging a hand over his jaw. “You really want to do this here?”

“I want to know why,” I said. “You’ve been angry since Kael came back. And it’s not about the mimic.”

That made him glance over, finally. His eyes looked darker in the firelight, gray turned to storm. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Then explain it.”

He stepped closer, the floor creaking beneath his boots. “The way he proved it was him last night. The story he started to tell.”

“Zayn-”

“You didn’t let him finish,” he said, voice low but sharp. “But I heard enough.”

I swallowed. “It wasn’t what you think.”

“He was going to talk about that night at his place,” Zayn said.

I closed my eyes for a second. “Nothing happend. I took a shower, forgot my clothes in the living room and my towel slipped. But he

didn’t see anything.”

His voice roughened. “Doesn’t matter. He almost did.”

“You don’t get to be jealous,” I said quietly.

“I’m not jealous.” His gaze dropped to the floor, then back to me, eyes hard. “I’m furious.”

“Why?”

He laughed under his breath–a sound that wasn’t humor. “Because don’t get to feel this way about you. Because I don’t have the

right to care, but I still fucking do.”

The words hit something deep inside me. “Then stop pretending you don’t.”

He took a step closer, slow and deliberate. “You think I haven’t tried You think I didn’t spend months trying to forget what it felt like to touch you?” His voice broke then, just slightly. “I can’t. I remember everything. Every sound, every breath, every inch of your

skin.”

My chest tightened. “Zayn-”

“I hate that he gets to be around you,” he said, quieter now. “I hate that he even almost saw you naked. Because I did. And I can’t stand the thought that anyone else might remember what I can’t stop seeing.”

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Chapter 175

The fire cracked, too loud in the silence that followed.

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I didn’t know what to say. He looked at me like he’d just confessed something dangerous–like saying it out loud made it real again. His jaw tightened, and he looked away before I could speak.

Kael’s voice cut through the air from across the room. “Something’s moving outside.”

Zayn turned toward the sound instantly, shoulders squaring, knife half drawn before he even realized it. The flicker of the fire

stretched his shadow across the wall, long and warped.

Kael’s lantern beam swept across the window. “Stay away from the glass,” he said quietly. “It’s not wind.”

The fire hissed, guttering lower, and the glow dimmed until the walls seemed to pulse with shadow.

And then–a sound.

A single, deliberate knock at the door.