The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Zayn’s knife gleamed faintly in the firelight, his voice barely a breat “If it gets in, you run. Understand?”

I nodded, though my body felt locked in place.

The voice pressed closer to the door, right against the wood now.

“Let me in,” it whispered. “It’s me. Please, Rory. Please.”

The last please fractured into two voices–one Mira’s, one something else.

Both speaking at once.

I backed up until my shoulders hit the wall. The pendant against my chest pulsed once–faint, but sharp enough to sting.

Zayn noticed. “It’s reacting again.”

The humming outside stopped.

Silence fell again.

Complete, suffocating silence.

Kael waited.

Zayn didn’t lower his knife.

Then–slowly–the shadow under the door began to move.

It stretched, sliding along the floorboards, too dark, too thin, creeping toward the center of the room.

I couldn’t breathe.

Kael reached for the lantern, hand shaking slightly. “Stay back.”

The flame inside flickered, sputtered–then went out.

The fire dimmed to embers.

And in that perfect, lightless silence, Mira’s voice spoke one last time.

Not from outside.

From the wall behind me.

“I said it smelled like pine and nerves.”

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Chapter 177

I spun around.

Nothing.

Just the wall.

But the chill in the air was enough to tell me–it had been inside for a moment.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it was gone.

The silence returned.

But it wasn’t the same.

Kael relit the lantern with shaking hands, his face pale in the light.

Zayn stood perfectly still, jaw locked tight.

No one said a word.

Finally, Kael spoke–his voice rough. “No one answers the door again No matter what it sounds like.”

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I didn’t argue with him.

Didn’t tell him he was being dramatic, or paranoid, or that the idea of never opening the door again made my skin crawl.

Because after hearing Mira’s voice come out of the wall, I kind of wanted to rip the door off and burn it.

Instead, I sank back down near the hearth. The fire was little more than a low orange glow now, licking weakly at the logs Kael had

brought in. The air tasted like smoke and cold metal.

My stomach chose that moment to growl.

Loud.

All three of us heard it.

Zayn’s head turned first. Kael’s mouth twitched like he almost smiled, but it died before it reached his eyes.

“How long since any of us actually ate?” Kael asked quietly.

I thought back. The drive. The walk. The cabin. The witch. The fight. The mimic. The not–night.

“Yesterday?” I guessed. “Maybe. I don’t even know what day it is.”

Kael dug through his bag and hauled it over, crouching by the table. We ration,” he said. “Small, slow. We don’t know how long this

holds.”

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He pulled out what was left–two protein bars, a small pack of dried fruit, a bottle that was maybe a quarter full of water. It looked

pitiful all lined up like that.

He broke one bar into three pieces. “Eat,” he said simply.

I took mine, even though my throat felt tight. Zayn just stared at his for a second.

“Not hungry,” he muttered.

Kael shot him a look. “This isn’t voluntary. Eat.”

Zayn’s jaw flexed, but he shoved the piece into his mouth anyway like it offended him personally. I picked at the corner of mine,

forcing myself to chew, even though it tasted like cardboard and dust.

For a moment, the simple act of eating felt almost normal. Ridiculous, given everything, but normal.

“If this spell is stuck on one hour,” I said, after swallowing, “how are we still tired? Hungry?”

Kael leaned back on his heels, considering that. “Because whatever this is, it isn’t a real time loop. It’s more like-”

“A cage,” Zayn finished. “The outside is frozen. We’re not.”

“Exactly,” Kael said. “We’re still burning through energy. The spell just keeps us in the same… frame.”

I stared at the empty wrapper in my hand. “Great. So we get weaker while this thing stays the same.”

We ate the rest in silence. He made us share the last protein bar, split the water between three cups. It wasn’t enough; my tongue still felt dry afterward, but it was something.

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