The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 181

Chapter 181

Kael climbed down after me, steady, practical. Zayn came last, the lantern swinging above his head. The wooden ladder groaned

under our weight, but it held.

The air grew colder with every rung. When my boots hit the packed earth below, my breath came out white.

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We were standing in a small circular room–low ceiling, stone walls lick with condensation. The floor was marked with a large circle, drawn in chalk and something darker that had long since dried. Shelves lined the walls–jars, books, scraps of parchment. And on one wall, a series of pages pinned up by rusted nails, the ink faded but still legible.

Kael landed beside me. Zayn followed, his knife raised, the muscles in his forearm tense.

The air was thick, humming softly. Every breath I took tasted like smoke and rain.

Kael crouched by the markings, his fingers hovering just above them “It’s witch work. But not Seraphina’s.”

Zayn’s gaze flicked to him. “How do you know?”

Kael’s eyes lifted to the wall, where faint lines had been carved deep into the stone. “Because this isn’t her handwriting.”

He traced one of the carved words with his hand, and my stomach twisted when I saw it.

Aurenya.

Written over and over again–dozens of times–like a prayer.

Zayn froze beside me. His breath came out hard.

“Someone was calling you,” Kael said softly.

“No.” Zayn’s voice was low, strained. “Not someone. My father.”

My skin went cold. “You’re sure?”

He nodded once, grim. “I recognize the mark beside it. That’s the royal sigil of Velmoria.”

Kael’s face hardened. “Then this isn’t a spell. It’s a summoning.”

I stared at the word carved into the wall, the letters etched so deep hey’d cut through stone.

And beneath it, scratched almost as an afterthought, were two smaller words in a trembling hand.

She’s coming.

For a while, none of us said anything. The air down there was heavy damp stone, dust, and something sour underneath it all.

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12:16 Thu, Jan 29 B GG.

Chapter 181

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Kael was crouched near the markings on the floor, tracing the faint glow of old sigils with the edge of his boot. Zayn stood a few

feet away, jaw tight, hand still gripping the lantern like he was ready to throw it if he had to.

Finally, Zayn said quietly, “I think my father did it.”

Kael looked up. “Did what?”

Zayn’s gaze found mine, dark and steady. “He’s the one who took her Your mother.”

My chest didn’t tighten. My world didn’t spin. It just… confirmed itself. The sky was blue. Fire burned. Zayn’s father was a monster.

“Well,” I said flatly, “no shit.”

He blinked at me, thrown.

“What? You said you heard a woman crying in your basement, calling for someone named Aurenya. Who the hell did you think she

was? The mailwoman?”

Zayn’s mouth twitched like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t. “I was a kid,” he said instead, voice low. “I didn’t know that name

meant anything.”

“You knew it enough to remember it your whole life.”

His jaw flexed, but he didn’t look away. “You don’t understand what it was like in that house. There were always… voices. Locked

doors. Screams. I told myself it wasn’t real, because it was easier than thinking he was capable of that.”

Kael straightened, brushing dust off his hands. “He was capable of worse.”

Zayn shot him a glare but didn’t argue.

I glanced around the small underground room–the circle carved into the earth, the symbols etched in soot and ash. “So he takes my

mother,” I said quietly, “and then what? Builds this under someone else’s cabin just for fun?”

Kael crouched again, eyes narrowing at the glowing lines. “No. This wasn’t his craft. This is witchwork. He used her. Forced her to

make it.”

I felt my stomach turn. “And what exactly are we standing on?”

He ran a hand along the circle’s edge, careful not to touch it directly! “A seal. Binding magic. Meant to keep something down.”

Zayn shifted closer, every muscle coiled. “What kind of something?”