The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 340

Chapter 340

My face was inches from hers now, my voice a deadly whisper. “You don’t get to decide what she deserves.”

Her eyes widened, fear finally drowning out the venom. She struggled, nail scraping uselessly against my skin, and I tightened my grip just enough to make the message clear.

“Where is she?”

“Long… gone,” she whispered, her voice barely audible, rasping through fer and defiance.

I froze for a fraction of a second, disbelief crashing through me. My hands didn’t loosen, but my chest tightened, heart hammering like a war

drum.

“What do you mean, long gone?” I demanded, each word sharp, controlled but the tension in my body betrayed the panic rising beneath.

Her eyes darted nervously, no longer full of malice but a flicker of fear-finally understanding that she’d crossed a line she couldn’t come back

from.

I leaned closer, letting the silence stretch, letting her feel the weight of what she’d done. “Tell me,” I growled, low and dangerous. “Now.”

“I made a deal,” she managed to choke out.

The words barely registered at first. They slid past my ears, meaningless, until my mind caught up and everything slowed to a dangerous,

razor-sharp focus.

“A deal?” I repeated quietly. My grip tightened without me meaning to. “What deal?”

Her hands clawed weakly at my wrists, her face flushing, eyes wide and glassy.

“W-with your father.”

I froze.

The world tilted, just slightly, like the ground beneath me had cracked.

My father.

For a split second, every sound in the room vanished-the wind outside the window, the hum of the heating, even her strained breathing. The beast went utterly still inside me, not snarling, not raging. Just… stunned.

So it wasn’t Kael.

It had never been Kael.

My jaw clenched so hard it ached. Slowly,

I loosened my hold just enough for her to suck in a shallow, burning breath. Not mercy. Never that. I wanted her conscious. I wanted every

word.

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“He promised me,” she continued hoarsely, desperation creeping into her ice now, “that once Aurora was gone, the bond would-would reset.

That I’d be your mate again.”

Again.

The word hit like a blade.

I laughed.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t even amused. It was the kind of sound that came from somewhere deep and broken, sharp enough to make her flinch.

“You’re delusional,” I said calmly. Too calmly. “That’s not how bonds work. You know that.”

She shook her head frantically. “He said it was possible. He said half-breeds were unstable. That she was temporary. A mistake.”

Something inside me snapped.

The beast surged forward, furious now, rage boiling hot and uncontrollable I stepped closer, crowding her space until her back hit the wall

beneath the window.

“You lured her,” I said slowly, each word precise, lethal. “You handed her over to him. To whatever monsters he uses to do his dirty work-”

“I didn’t know they’d hurt her!” she cried, tears finally spilling. “I swear, I didn’t! They were just supposed to take her away-somewhere far.

Somewhere you’d never find her.”

I grabbed her throat again, lifting her just enough that her feet barely brushed the floor. She gagged, eyes rolling, hands scrabbling uselessly against my arms.

“If she’s dead,” I whispered, my voice shaking now with something far worse than anger, “there is no place in this world-or the next-where

you will be safe from me.”

She shook her head wildly, panic fully consuming her. “N-no-no, he wouldn’t kill her. He needs her alive. He-he said she was valuable.”

That was the only thing that stopped me.

Valuable.

Not safe, Not unharmed.

But alive.

I dropped her.

She collapsed to the floor in a coughing heap, sobbing, gasping for air. I didn’t look at her again. I couldn’t. Every second I stayed in that room was another second Aurora was out there-alone, terrified, and suffering

cause of me.

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