The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 400

Chapter 400

Kael

Snow drifted slowly through the empty street, soft and constant, blanketing the cracked pavement and rusted railings with a quiet white layer that made the whole place look abandoned. The broken streetlamp near the curb flickered weakly, its yellow glow barely strong enough to cut through the darkness.

I stood there for a moment, letting the cold air fill my lungs.

Russia had a way of feeling endless at night.

Vast.

Silent.

Unforgiving.

Behind me Viktor locked the motel door with a dull click and slipped the key into his pocket. The sound echoed faintly down the empty street before disappearing into the wind.

“You sure about this?” he asked quietly.

His voice carried that careful tone men used when they already knew the answer but asked anyway

I didn’t turn around.

“Yes.”

He exhaled slowly behind me, his breath fogging in the frozen air.

Snow crunched beneath our boots as we walked toward the SUV parked beneath the dying streetlight. The engine started with a low growl when I turned the key, the heater coughing to life as warm air began pushing through the vents.

For a few moments we drove in silence.

The city outside the windshield was still half-asleep, long streets stretching out between old Soviet buildings and newer glass towers, their windows glowing faintly like distant stars. Snow drifted across the road in lazy waves, gathering along the sidewalks and the roofs of parked cars.

Viktor had the laptop open again in the passenger seat, the blue light reflecting off his face while surveillance footage flickered across the screen.

“That’s the building,” he said after a while, pointing toward the skyline abead

I saw it immediately.

Tall

Sleek.

A glass tower rising above the surrounding district like it had been placed there deliberately to remind everyone exactly who owned the view.

173

11:40 am P P

Chapter 400

M

Luxury lived in places like that.

Men who bought human lives for entertainment liked their surroundings polished and quiet.

I slowed the SUV a few blocks away and pulled into a shadowed side street, cutting the engine. The sudden silence pressed in around us again, thick and

heavy.

For a moment neither of us moved.

The tower stood in the distance, its upper floors glowing softly against the dark sky.

“Front entrance has guards,” Viktor murmured, glancing down at the surveillance feed again. “Garage too.”

I nodded slightly.

“We won’t use either.”

He closed the laptop with a quiet snap.

“Thought so.”

The cold hit again when we stepped out of the car.

The wind had picked up slightly, carrying thin ribbons of snow across the pavement as we made our way down the block. The city lights reflected off the frozen streets, turning the snow into a pale silver shimmer beneath our feet.

The building loomed larger with every step.

Up close it was even more sterile than it had looked from the distance-polished stone, dark windows, the kind of architecture that tried too hard to look

elegant.

We slipped around the side of the building and into a narrow service alley where the wind didn’t reach as strongly.

The metal service door sat halfway down the wall.

Locked.

Of course it was.

I didn’t bother checking the keypad.

Instead I stepped back and drove my shoulder into it.

The lock snapped with a sharp metallic crack.

Inside, the corridor smelled faintly of cleaning chemicals and cold marble.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify