The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 185

Chapter 185

Aurora

It whispered again.

Closer this time.

“Don’t leave me…”

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Every instinct in me screamed run.

The voice had the softness of a memory, but the sound didn’t belong to anything alive. It stretched too long on the edges, like it was mimicking the way humans spoke but hadn’t quite learned how to sound human.

I took one step back, slow, keeping the dagger raised. The fog rippled in front of me–like breath against glass.

Then I saw it again. The same figure. Closer.

It didn’t move like a person. It glided. Too smooth, too careful. The mist bent around it as if it owned the air.

My pulse thundered in my ears. “No,” I whispered, backing away. “You’re not real.”

The shape tilted its head.

And smiled.

That was enough.

I turned and ran.

Branches whipped at my arms as I stumbled through the dark, boots catching on roots hidden under the fog. The cold bit through my clothes, sharp enough to burn. I didn’t look back–every instinct had told me not to.

The forest blurred around me, a smear of gray and black, and the only thing I could hear was my breath and the drum of my

heartbeat.

Then, suddenly–impact.

I crashed hard into something solid. A wall of heat and muscle and startled sound. My feet slipped, the ground tilting beneath me,

and I almost went down-

But hands caught me before I hit the dirt.

“Hey–hey, easy.”

Zayn.

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Chapter 185

His voice broke through the panic like a light splitting fog.

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I grabbed him without thinking, arms wrapping tight around his chest, my dagger clattering uselessly to the ground. For a second,

neither of us moved. I just pressed my face into the fabric of his jacket, trying to breathe past the sharp, uneven tremors in my

lungs.

His heartbeat was steady against my cheek, grounding me in a way the world hadn’t been since the cabin. Real. Warm. Alive.

He went stiff at first, probably out of shock, but then his hand came up to the back of my head, fingers threading gently into my

hair. The other arm circled my waist, pulling me closer until I could finally breathe again.

“What happened?” he murmured, his voice low, rough with leftover anger. “You shouldn’t be out here.”

“I thought you weren’t coming back,” I said, the words tumbling out in a rush. “I waited–and Kael–he said to give you time–but

there was something out here, something wrong.”

Zayn’s hands tightened slightly. “Something followed you?”

I nodded against him, my voice shaking despite myself. “It looked like you. Or tried to. It kept whispering my name–trying to make

me follow it.”

He pulled back enough to see my face, eyes scanning mine like he was checking for proof that I was real. “You shouldn’t have come

alone.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But you didn’t come back.”

The look that flickered through his eyes then wasn’t anger–it was something quieter, heavier. Guilt, maybe. He exhaled slowly, his forehead resting against mine for half a heartbeat.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

I almost told him it was fine–that I understood–but the words caught somewhere between my throat and my heart. Instead, I just

nodded.

He reached down, brushing the hair away from my face with his thumb. His touch was warm, but his eyes were still on the trees.

“It’s not following us now.”

Zayn’s hand stayed at my back as we both turned toward the trees, spanning for movement. Nothing but fog and silence. The forest had gone completely still again, like it was pretending nothing had ever happened.

When I finally looked up at him, the adrenaline still pounding through my veins, I saw it—just barely, in the dim light.

His cheeks were streaked.

Not with blood. Not with dirt.

With tears.

O

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He’d tried to wipe them, but I could see the faint glint where the ski still shone wet. The sight made my chest ache in a way the

fear hadn’t.

Zayn didn’t cry.

The only time I’d ever seen him break like that was the night he whipered I’m sorry,

“Zayn,” I said quietly, stepping closer. “You were crying.”

He blinked, startled, as if he hadn’t realized it himself until now. His hand came up fast, swiping across his face, smearing the dirt.

“No, 1- It’s just the cold,” he muttered. “The wind.”

“There’s no wind,” I said softly.

He froze, his jaw flexing, throat working like he wanted to speak and couldn’t.

For a moment, he looked lost. The kind of lost that didn’t have anything to do with the forest or the fog–the kind that came from

carrying too much for too long.

I reached up before I could stop myself and brushed my fingers along his cheek. The skin was cold and damp. He didn’t pull away.

“You don’t have to lie,” I whispered.

His eyes met mine then–red–rimmed, tired, still burning with all that stubborn pride he hid behind.

He exhaled, the sound rough. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Too late,” I said, my voice breaking just enough to betray me.

Something in his face changed–not softened exactly, but cracked, like the anger holding him together was wearing thin. His hand came up slowly, fingers curling around the back of my neck, and before I could think, he leaned in.

The kiss wasn’t careful. It wasn’t even planned. It was something raw that just happened–a desperate meeting in the middle of everything wrong. His lips were warm, trembling faintly against mine, tasting like the cold air and something bitter underneath.

I didn’t pull away.

Not when his thumb brushed my jaw.

Not when I felt the quiet tremor in his breath.

For a moment, there was no fog. No whispers. No thing waiting out here in the dark. Just us–alive and terrified and holding onto something we probably shouldn’t.

When we finally broke apart, he stayed close, his forehead resting against mine. His breath was unsteady.

“I’m fine now,” he murmured, though it sounded more like a promise to himself than to me.

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“Good,” I whispered. My voice came out smaller than I meant it to. “Because we should head back before Kael burns the cabin down looking for us.”

That almost pulled a smile from him–not a full one, just the ghost of it. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”

He kept his hand in mine as we turned toward the faint glow through the trees. The mist curled low around our legs, pale and restless.

Behind us, the woods stayed silent.

Too silent.

But I didn’t look back.