The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 184

Chapter 184

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The air around us felt wrong. Heavy. The faint hum beneath the floor hadn’t stopped; it was deeper now, slower, like a heartbeat. I thought I imagined the faint sound of scratching beneath the floorboards, slow and deliberate, like claws dragging through earth.

Kael looked toward the door. “If he doesn’t come back in five minutes, we go after him.”

I nodded, even though my throat had gone dry.

Five minutes passed.

Maybe six.

Kael stood by the window, shoulders tight, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife. His eyes tracked the treeline like he could will

Zayn to step out of the fog and back into view.

He didn’t.

The night pressed against the glass–heavy and cold, the mist thick enough to swallow the moonlight. Every now and then,

something shifted outside. Not close, but not far enough, either. The sound of it scraped against my nerves until I couldn’t take it

anymore.

“I’m going,” I said quietly.

Kael turned, his expression hard. “No, you’re not.”

“He’s been out there too long.”

“He’s not stupid enough to-”

“You don’t know what people do when they’re angry,” I snapped, sharper than I meant to. “Especially when they’re hurt.”

That landed. Kael’s mouth tightened.

“He’s not thinking straight,” I went on, softer now. “And if he sees you, he won’t calm down. You know that.”

Kael exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand over his face. “You shouldn’t go alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, already moving toward the table where Zayn’s dagger lay. I slid it from its sheath, the metal catching what little light the lantern offered. “I’ll just find him, make sure he’s breathing and drag him back before something else does.”

“Aurora-”

“I’m not asking.”

He watched me for a long moment, jaw clenched, eyes shadowed. Then he stepped closer, voice low. “You have no idea what’s still

out there.”

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12:17 Thu, Jan 29 BGB.

Chapter 184

“Neither do you.”

That shut him up.

I slipped the dagger into my belt, pulling my jacket tighter around me. The air inside the cabin already felt colder, like it was leaking something from below. The hum had faded to a faint, unever pulse–almost like a heartbeat losing its rhythm.

“Keep the door locked,” I said. “If I’m not back in ten minutes-”

“Don’t finish that sentence.”

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I met his gaze. “I’ll be fine.”

For a moment, we just stood there–silence stretching between us, full of everything neither of us wanted to say. Then Kael nodded once, curt. “Stay close to the path. And Aurora…”

I paused in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“If you hear anything that sounds like him,” he said quietly, “and you can’t see him–don’t answer.”

I didn’t ask why.

The night swallowed me the second I stepped outside.

Cold air hit my skin like a blade. The mist was thicker than it had looked from the window–rolling low across the ground, curling around my boots with every step. The trees loomed close on either side, black shapes shifting in and out of sight.

ghter.

I gripped the dagger tighter.

The path wasn’t much of a path anymore, just a strip of dirt barely visible between roots and stone. The only sound was my own breathing–uneven, too loud in the stillness.

“Zayn,” I called, keeping my voice low. It felt wrong to raise it here. The forest swallowed sound too easily. “Come on, this isn’t

funny.”

Nothing.

Just fog.

A branch cracked somewhere to my left, sharp and sudden. I froze, turning toward the sound. My heart jumped so hard it hurt.

“Zayn?”

The mist shifted–slow, deliberate.

For a heartbeat, I thought I saw a figure. Broad shoulders, head lowered, standing half–hidden behind a tree. My breath caught.

“Zayn?”

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12:17 Thu, Jan 29 GG B.

Chapter 184

No answer.

I took a cautious step forward, the dagger angled low in my hand. The figure didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

And then, as the fog thinned for a split second, I saw the eyes.

Not his.

Too wide. Too still.

I stumbled back, heart slamming in my chest, but the mist closed in gain- swallowing the shape whole like it had never been

there.

The forest went silent.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself, voice trembling despite my best effort “That’s fine. Totally fine.”

I turned, meaning to head back toward the cabin–but the path behind me was gone. Just mist and trees and more dark.

Something brushed against my sleeve. Light. Cold.

I spun, dagger raised-

Nothing.

Just the fog.

And somewhere deep in it, faint but clear enough to make my blood freeze, a voice whispered my name.

“…Aurora…”

Not loud. Not angry. Just wrong.

I gritted my teeth, shaking my head. “Not listening,” I muttered, fording myself to keep walking. “Not real.”

But the voice came again–closer this time, soft enough to curl behind my ear.

“Don’t leave me.”

My stomach turned.

That wasn’t Zayn.

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