The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 347

Chapter 347

Aurora

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I don’t know how long I stayed on the floor before I finally forced myself onto the bed. It wasn’t comfortable-thin mattress, stiff sheets, fabric

that felt like it had been washed a thousand times and still never managed to soften-but at least it got me off the freezing concrete.

My body felt strangely hollow. Like someone had scooped everything out of me and left only the shell behind. I sat there with my knees pulled

up, arms wrapped tight around them, trying to breathe evenly, trying to think of something-anything-that made sense.

I reached for my wolf again.

Silence.

Not the peaceful kind.

The other kind-heavy, flat, like pressing your ear to a door and hearing absolutely nothing on the other side.

She hadn’t spoken since they took me. Not on the planes. Not in the car. Not when they shoved me in here.

A small tremor worked its way across my fingers. I swallowed hard, trying to shake the panic before it grew too sharp to contain.

My gaze drifted down-anything to ground myself-and that’s when I saw.

My wrist.

There was something on my skin.

Not ink. Not a bruise.

A mark.

A stamp-like sigil burned directly into my flesh, dark and jagged around the edges, as if someone had pressed something searing hot into my skin until it sank deep. The pattern twisted slightly when I moved-thin, branching lines that crawled outward like veins, but wrong…

unnatural.

I lifted my hand slowly, my breath catching.

It wasn’t just on the surface.

It wasn’t just drawn.

It was in my skin.

Carved. Etched. Living there.

The skin around it was irritated, faintly red, tight and tender when I brushed a fingertip near it. I hissed softly and pulled back. A strange ache pulsed beneath it, low and dull but constant, like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.

“What the hell…” I whispered under my breath, but the empty room swallowed the sound.

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15:29 Mon, Feb 9

Chapter 347

It didn’t feel like a tattoo.

It didn’t feel like a brand.

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It felt like something crawling under my skin.

Like something that didn’t belong there.

1 tried my wolf again-pushing my thoughts toward her as hard as I could begging for any sign, any whisper, any flicker of her presence.

Nothing.

The silence pressed harder, heavier, until it felt like it was choking me from the inside out.

I curled my hand into a fist, staring at that mark, at the way it seemed to darken when the dim light from the chandelier brushed across it.

I got up from the bed slowly, legs unsteady beneath me, and moved toward the cracked, warped mirror above the tiny sink. The glass was so old

it distorted everything, but not enough to hide the one thing that always caught my eye first.

They were still there.

Still changed.

Still wrong.

A chill rolled down my spine at the sight-not fear, not entirely, but something uneasy lodged deep in my chest. Something unfamiliar.

Before I could look any closer, a noise snapped me out of the trance-a sharp sound from outside the door.

I spun around so fast the room tilted for a moment. My back hit the wall behind me, cold and unyielding, and I pressed against it, trying to steady my breath. The air felt suddenly thicker, heavier, buzzing with the warning instinct that crawled beneath my skin.

I didn’t know how much time had passed since they dumped me in here. Maybe an hour. Maybe longer. Time felt warped-stretching and

shrinking, refusing to make sense.

But then-

Metal scraped.

A lock turned.

The sound sliced through the silence, too clear, too certain to be a mistake

Someone was unlocking the door.

The metal lock clicked once-loud and final-then again, slower this time, ike whoever stood on the other side wanted me to hear it. Wanted

me to feel it.

The door creaked open.

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15:29 Mon, Feb 9

Chapter 347

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