The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Aurora

I stayed frozen in the doorway, caught somewher

stretched too long, because the man leaned one si

and… something else I couldn’t quite name. My silence must’ve

the frame, studying me with a sort of lazy amusement.

“Are you lost, beautiful?” He asked. His voice was low and easy, smooth but with something sharp tucked underneath.

My lips parted automatically, but no sound came out. Heat crept up my neck before I could stop it, and I hated the way he noticed, the faint quirk of his mouth giving him away. He raised one dark eyebrow, and that slow, knowing smirk curved his lips as if he were already

far too entertained by my reaction.

“I–uh…” I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to work. “Who are you?”

His smirk widened just a fraction, like he’d been waiting for me to ask. “Funny,” he said, tilting his head just enough to let the light catch in his black eyes. “I was going to ask you the same thing. After all, you’re the one knocking on my brother’s door.”

Brother.

The word hit me with a quiet jolt. Suddenly, it all made sense–the resemblance in the jawline, the intensity in his stare. Just sharper.

Older. More dangerous somehow.

“You’re… Zayn’s brother?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Mhm,” he hummed, drawing it out like a secret he enjoyed keeping. “And you are…?”

“Aurora,” I managed, shifting my weight under the weight of his gaze.

His smirk softened into something else, something far too practiced. “Aurora,” he repeated slowly, tasting the name. “A beautiful name for

a beautiful girl.”

I rolled my eyes so fast I thought they might stick that way. “Original,” I muttered, though the flush at

ed me.

hurry. noved

His laugh was low, rich, and maddeningly unbothered. The kind of laugh that said he wasn’t in a hurry. The kind that said he had all the time in the world to toy with me.

“So…” His gaze swept over me, deliberate and unhurried, before settling back on my face. The smirk hadn’t moved an inch. “Are you planning to stand there all night looking pretty, or are you actually going to tell me why you’re knocking on my brother’s door?”

I felt my cheeks warm again and cursed myself for it. With another exaggerated roll of my eyes, I folded my arms, forcing my voice into something steadier than I felt. “He told me he would… help me with something. Where is he?”

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0:22 Thu Jan 20

Chapter 40

He shifted his weight lazily against the doorframe, anne crossing over his thest in a

then finally answered.

hine. He died me for a long finden.

“He’s out. With Father.”

That made me pause. My brow arched instinctivel

but the parent. The King.

carried weight in his mouth, sharp and heavy Flot just some parent.

My stomach tightened, though I tried not to let it show. “With… your father,” I repeated carefully, buying time. “The King?“

He gave a small, amused tilt of his head, as if the obvious didn’t need to be spoken aloud. “Mim.”

I pressed my lips together, then asked, “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

Zade shrugged one broad shoulder, the gesture maddeningly casual. “No idea. Knowing my father…” His tone dipped, low and edged with something unreadable. “Not for a little while.”

Something in the way he said it made me hesitate. Like there was more in that answer–more about their father–than he was willing to

share.

Zade’s smirk deepened as his eyes flicked past me, toward the hallway. “Well, since my brother isn’t here to play host, it looks like the job falls on me.” He pushed the door wider with one hand, stepping aside in a mock show of chivalry. “Come in, beautiful. Unless you’d rather keep loitering in the corridor like a lost pup.”

My jaw tightened at the jab, but I stepped inside anyway. His presence filled the room the second the door shut behind me–the air heavier, charged. Zayn’s dorm looked the same as it had earlier, but with his brother standing in it, everything felt… different. More

dangerous.

Comments

Su. R

why is she entering a room with a stranger?

3 days ago

69

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