The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 408

Chapter 408

The image of Aurora standing in that blood-stained room in Russia flickered briefly through my mind-exhausted, shaking, barely holding herself together

after everything she had just been through, and still somehow focused on the girls who had been left behind.

“She is,” I said finally.

Anastasia nodded slowly, pulling the jacket a little tighter around herself.

“Then remind me to thank her someday,” she murmured.

I allowed myself the faintest smile.

“Yeah.”

“You should.”

Snow continued to fall quietly outside as the SUV moved through the sleeping city, the windshield wipers sliding back and forth in a steady rhythm that cut

thin arcs through the white flakes gathering on the glass.

J

Anastasia shifted slightly beside me, still wrapped in my jacket, her hands tucked into the sleeves while she stared out at the passing buildings like she was trying to convince herself that the world outside was real again.

Viktor turned onto a quieter road, the SUV’s headlights sweeping across rows of low apartment blocks and shuttered storefronts before the city began thinning into longer stretches of road.

“We’re close,” he said from the front seat.

The motel came into view a few minutes later.

The place looked just as miserable as it had earlier that night-a tired neon sign buzzing weakly above the office, the cracked pavement of the parking lot dusted with fresh snow, and a single flickering streetlamp casting pale yellow light across the empty rows of parking spaces.

Anastasia leaned forward slightly as Viktor slowed the SUV.

“This is where you’re staying?” she asked, her tone hovering somewhere between curiosity and disbelief.

“For now,” I replied.

She glanced at the building again.

“It’s… cozy.”

“That’s a generous word for it.”

Viktor pulled the SUV into the same spot near the back of the lot and killed the engine. The quiet that followed telt heavier than before, the warmth of the car fading slightly as the cold outside pressed against the windows.

I opened the door and stepped out first, the winter air biting instantly at my skin as snow crunched beneath my boots.

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Chapter 408

Anastasia climbed out a second later, instinctively pulling the jacket tighter around herself while Viktor walked ahead toward the door of the motel room we had rented earlier.

He unlocked it quickly and stepped inside first, scanning the interior the way he always did before nodding once.

“Clear.”

The room looked exactly the same as when we left.

Cheap carpet.

A worn couch against the wall.

A small desk with the laptop still sitting open where Viktor had been working earlier.

Anastasia stepped inside slowly, her gaze moving around the room as if she were measuring it against the penthouse she had just escaped from.

“Well,” she said quietly, “this is definitely less intimidating.”

“That’s the idea.”

I closed the door behind us.

For a moment she stood there awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking down at the dark stains across her clothes.

The blood had dried now, turning the fabric stiff in places.

Her shoulders shifted slightly.

“You should take a shower,” I said.

She nodded almost immediately.

“Yeah… I think I need that.”

I walked over to my bag and unzipped it, digging through the contents until I pulled out a clean hoodie and a pair of sweatpants.

Both mine.

Both far too large for her.

But clean.

And more importantly, they weren’t connected to that penthouse,

I tossed them onto the bed.

“Take these.”

She looked down at them.

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11:13 am

Chapter 408

PPO

“You’re lending me your clothes?”

“Unless you want to keep wearing that.”

Her eyes dropped to the dried blood on her shirt.

“…Right.”

She picked up the hoodie first, holding it up slightly.

The sleeves hung almost to the floor.

“These are huge.”

“You’ll live.”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Fair.”

She gathered the clothes and walked toward the bathroom, pausing briefly at the door.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Then she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

A moment later the sound of running water filled the small motel room.

Steam slowly began creeping beneath the bathroom door.

Viktor moved almost immediately.

He crossed the room and opened the main door just enough to glance out into the parking lot before closing it again.

“Still quiet,” he said.

Then he walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside slightly, scanning the dark lot outside before letting it fall back into place.

outside

“No movement.”

“Good.”

He returned to the desk and sat down in front of the laptop again, reopening the files he had been combing through earlier.

The pale blue light from the screen illuminated his face as he began typing.

I dropped onto the couch, leaning forward with my elbows resting on my knees while the adrenaline from the fight finally started fading from my system.

My ribs still ached faintly.

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Chapter 408

The bruising would show tomorrow,

But it was manageable.

The shower continued running behind the bathroom door.

Viktor scrolled through another set of names.

The heater rattled softly in the corner of the room, pushing warm air through the vents while snow continued falling quietly outside.

For several minutes the room stayed silent except for the tapping of Viktor’s keyboard and the steady rush of water from the bathroom.

Then his phone buzzed.

The sound cut through the quiet like a blade.

Viktor glanced down at the screen.

His brow furrowed.

“Unknown number.”

“At this hour?” I asked.

He turned the phone slightly so I could see it.

The number wasn’t Russian.

That alone made my attention sharpen slightly.

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