The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 274

Chapter 274

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I left before dawn, pulling my cloak tight against the early chill, breath fogging faintly in the air. The woods were quiet but alive,

branches creaking softly as the sky lightened from indigo to pale gray. I walked without haste, rehearsing nothing, trusting the

moment to shape itself when it came.

The magic around me felt thin there–not absent, just subdued, like held breath. I barely noticed. My thoughts were elsewhere.

I didn’t hear the first step behind me.

The second came with a hand clamping over my mouth, hard and unyielding. Another grip seized my arm, twisting it back before I

could even gasp. Instinct flared, magic rising-

-and vanished.

Not resisted. Not blocked.

Gone.

The shock of it knocked the air from my lungs. I struggled, not understanding, panic surging too fast for thought. The forest blurred

as I was dragged sideways off the path, boots scraping uselessly against roots and stone. I tried to scream and tasted leather. Tried

to kick and found myself lifted, weightless for a terrifying second.

I never saw their faces.

They moved with efficiency, with practiced coordination, as if this was not violence but procedure. My cloak was torn away, my hands bound with something cold and faintly humming. Whatever it was, it drank magic like water. My heartbeat thundered in my

ears as the world tilted and folded in on itself.

Then everything went dark.

When awareness returned, it came in fragments.

Motion. The sway of travel beneath me. The smell of unfamiliar land–hotter, drier, laced with something metallic and sharp. My wrists ached. My head throbbed with a dull, persistent pain that made thinking difficult, as though my thoughts were wrapped in

wool.

I opened my eyes to blurred stone and shadow.

I was lying on a floor–smooth, cool, not forest earth. My cloak was gone. My boots remained. My hands were bound in front of me now, the restraints fixed to a thick iron ring set into the stone. I tested the bond instinctively and felt nothing answer. Panic spiked

again, sharper this time, edged with fury.

I drew a breath and forced myself to stay still.

Voices echoed beyond the door. Deep. Masculine. Unfamiliar. They spoke a dialect I recognized only partially, words carrying the clipped cadence of the south. Lycans. The realization settled heavy in my chest–not fear yet, but awareness.

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12:31 Thu, Jan 29 BGB.

Chapter 274

This was not Theron’s kingdom.

The door opened without warning.

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Heat spilled in with the light, and with it, a presence that seemed to bend the space around it. The man who entered moved with unhurried confidence, his gaze sharp, assessing, already knowing more than he let on. He wore no crown, but power clung to him

like a second skin.

Our eyes met,

Something cold slid down my spine.

He studied me for a long moment, then smiled–not kindly, not cruelly, but with interest. Calculation. Recognition.

“So,” he said at last, voice smooth and deep. “You’re real.”

I swallowed, lifting my chin despite the restraints. “Where am I?”

His smile widened just slightly. “Far from where you meant to be.”

He turned, gesturing for someone beyond the door.

“Fetch water,” he ordered, then looked back at me. “We’ll speak properly once you’re settled.”

“I don’t know who you think I am,” I said, keeping my voice steady, “but you’ve made a mistake.”

That earned a soft laugh.

“No,” he replied. “I don’t believe I have.”

He left without another word, the door closing behind him with a final, echoing thud.

I sat there in the sudden quiet, heart pounding, mind racing–not with dread yet, but with disbelief. None of this made sense.

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