The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 399

Chapter 399

I crossed my arms loosely.

“Hypothetically.”

He rubbed his temple slowly before answering.

“If the bond stays split too long, it starts destabilizing.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning it doesn’t just affect the bonds.”

He glanced briefly at my eyes.

“It affects you.”

I frowned.

“How?”

“Your magic. Your wolf. Your emotions.”

His voice stayed calm, but the warning underneath it was unmistakable.

“Split bonds can cause instability if they’re left unresolved.”

Something about the way he said that made a small knot form in my stomach.

“Instability like what?”

Zayn hesitated for a second.

Then he said quietly,

“Like what happened in Russia.”

My breath caught slightly.

The shift.

The rage.

The way I had lost control.

“I didn’t even know I could shift,” I said softly.

“You shouldn’t have been able to.”

1/6

11:40 am

Chapter 399

My head snapped toward him.

“What?”

“First shifts don’t usually happen like that,” he said. “Not under that kind of pressure. Not that violently.”

I stared at him.

“But it did.”

“Yes.”

The fire popped softly behind us again.

I leaned back slightly, trying to process everything he’d just said.

“So let me get this straight,” I murmured. “My wolf thinks both of you are my mate. My magic is confused. My eyes are like that until I choose. And if I take

too long to decide…”

Zayn finished the sentence quietly.

“You could start losing control.”

I exhaled slowly.

“That’s… comforting.”

He didn’t smile.

For a moment we both just sat there again, the weight of the conversation settling over us like a heavy blanket.

Then I asked the question I hadn’t wanted to say out loud.

“Do you hate him?”

Zayn blinked.

“What?”

“Kael.”

His expression flattened instantly.

“That’s not really a fair question.”

“Why not?”

“Because the answer isn’t simple.”

I watched him carefully.

216

1:40 am P p

pp M

Chapter 399

“Try me.”

Zayn leaned back again, staring up at the ceiling.

“I don’t hate him,” he said eventually.

I waited.

“But?”

“But I don’t trust him.”

“That’s different.”

“Not really.”

1 tilted my head slightly.

“He stayed behind to save those girls.”

Zayn’s eyes flicked back toward me.

“I know.”

“And he helped save me.”

“I know that too.”

“So why don’t you trust him?”

Zayn was quiet for a long moment.

When he finally answered, his voice was very calm.

“Because he’s my rival.”

The blunt honesty of that answer caught me off guard.

“For me?” I asked.

“For the bond,” he corrected.

Another silence followed.

Then I asked quietly,

“Do you think I’ll choose you?”

That time he didn’t answer at all.

316

11:40 am

Chapter 399

Instead he stood up suddenly from the couch.

The movement startled me.

“Zayn?”

He ran a hand through his hair and turned slightly away from me.

“That’s not a question I can answer for you.”

“But you have an opinion.”

He exhaled slowly.

“Yeah.”

I waited.

But he didn’t say it.

Instead he walked over to the fireplace and adjusted one of the logs with the poker, the metal clinking softly against the grate.

The fire flared slightly brighter.

I watched his back for a moment.

Then something strange happened.

At first it was faint.

Just a strange tug somewhere deep in my chest.

A pulse.

Like something invisible had suddenly tightened around my ribs.

I frowned slightly.

“Zayn…”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify