The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 390

Chapter 390

“No,” he said.

Just that.

A single word.

A wall.

A refusal.

“You don’t get to decide that,” I snapped.

“The hell I don’t,” he shot back, stepping closer, closing the space between us until the cold wasn’t from the air anymore him.

I didn’t back down.

–

it was from

“I need to see them,” I said, voice cracking despite my best effort to keep it steady. “Charlotte kidnapped me probably terrified. Mira doesn’t know where I am. Nobody does. I just want-”

–

Charlotte

–

and they’re

“Rory,” he cut in sharply, his tone warning. “It’s not safe.”

“I don’t care-”

“Well, I do.”

The way he said it-

Not loud.

Not yelling.

Not angry.

But final.

A line drawn and cemented in stone.

My chest tightened, frustration surging hot under my skin.

“You don’t own me,” I said, voice sharp, breath fogging in the cold air between us. “You don’t get to make decisions for me.”

1/4

His jaw flexed.

Once.

Hard.

“I’m not trying to own you,” he bit out, stepping even closer, so close the heat of his body cut through the cold. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“I’m alive right now, aren’t I?” I threw back.

“Barely.”

It wasn’t a shout.

It wasn’t even loud.

But the rawness in his voice made me blink.

–

He took one more step, and suddenly the SUV, the plane behind us, the guards stationed far across the private landing strip — all of it blurred out, like the world had narrowed to just him, just me, just the argument crackling between us like electricity.

“You were kidnapped,” he said, his voice low and trembling with something I didn’t want to name. “You were tortured. Drugged. Sold. Do you understand that? Sold.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“No,” he growled, eyes blazing. “You don’t know. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be acting like this.”

“Like what?” I demanded.

“Like what happened to you was mild!” His voice broke-actually broke. “Like you didn’t almost die. Like I didn’t find you covered in blood in a room full of bodies-”

“Don’t,” I whispered, chest tightening painfully.

But he didn’t stop.

Not this time.

He couldn’t.

“Don’t what? Tell the truth? You shifted for the first time in your life because he tried-” He bit the rest of the sentence off, thro

working. “And you think I’m just going to let you run off into the open like my father isn’t hunting you right now?”

2/4

The wind ripped between us, sharp and cold.

My breath came out unsteady.

“This… THIS is exactly what I mean,” I snapped. “You’re controlling. You’re overbearing. You don’t even ask what I want, Zayn.”

His eyes flared.

“You want to go back to the academy?” he asked, voice flattening into something dark. “Back to the place where half the teachers are loyal to my father? Back to a campus with no security strong enough to stop him? Back to an open dorm room he could walk into whenever he wants?”

I stiffened.

He wasn’t wrong.

But that didn’t matter.

Not when everything inside me hurt.

Not when my chest felt carved open.

Not when I hadn’t felt safe-not truly-for days.

“I want-” my voice cracked, shamefully soft, “—to see Mira.”

His expression shifted just barely.

Pain.

Guilt.

Anger.

All of it flashed in his eyes before he shut it down, hard.

“I’ll bring her to you,” he said firmly.

“No,” I snapped. “You don’t get to isolate me.”

“It’s not isolation,” he growled. “It’s protection.”

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