The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 413

Chapter 413

I slid the food onto two plates and pushed one toward him.

“Eat.”

Zayn looked down at the plate.

Then back at me.

“You didn’t poison this, right?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Eat the food.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said.

The words came with the faintest hint of amusement, like he wasn’t entirely serious, but he still pulled the chair out and sat down at the table. I followed a moment later, sliding into the seat across from him while the warmth of the food rose slowly from the plates between us.

For the first few minutes neither of us said anything.

The quiet wasn’t uncomfortable, though. Just the soft clink of forks against plates, the low hum of the refrigerator behind us, and the occasional sound of wind brushing against the windows outside.

After everything that had happened, the normalcy of sitting at a kitchen table eating food felt strangely unreal.

But also… nice.

I took another bite before finally lifting my head.

“Zayn?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t look up immediately, still chewing slowly, but his eyes lifted toward me a second later.

I hesitated for just a moment before speaking.

“Can you… help me shift?”

His fork stopped halfway to his mouth.

For a second he just stared at me.

Then he slowly lowered the fork back onto the plate.

“What do you mean?”

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Chapter 413

I leaned back slightly in the chair, folding my arms loosely across my chest.

“Like help me learn how to do it,” I said. “How to shift whenever I want. And how to not lose control.”

Zayn watched me carefully now.

The playful look he’d had earlier faded, replaced by something much more focused.

“You’re serious,”

“Yes.”

A quiet breath left him as he leaned back in his chair, studying my face like he was trying to figure out if I had thought this through or if I had just said the first thing that came to mind.

“Rory…”

“I don’t want what happened in Russia to happen again,” I cut in quietly.

The words hung in the air between us.

My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the table.

“I didn’t even know I could do that,” I continued more quietly. “One minute I was standing there, and the next-

I stopped.

The memory flickered briefly in my mind.

The rage.

The blood.

The way something inside me had taken over completely.

Zayn’s expression softened slightly.

“That was your first shift,” he said carefully.

“I know,”

“And you were under extreme stress.”

“I still killed someone.”

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“He was about to hurt you.”

“That’s not the point.”

I exhaled slowly.

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11:14 am

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Chapter 413

“The point is I had no control.”

Zayn rested his elbows lightly on the table now, his fingers lacing together as he watched me.

“You want to learn how to control it.”

“Yes.”

“And you want me to teach you.”

I nodded.

Another moment of silence stretched between us.

Then he leaned back again, running a hand slowly through his hair.

“That’s… not something you learn overnight.”

“I’m not asking for overnight.”

“It takes practice.”

“I figured.”

“And patience.”

“I can do patience.”

His eyes flicked back to mine.

“Can you?”

I held his gaze.

“I have to.”

For a few seconds he just watched me.

Then a small breath left him.

“…Yeah,” he said finally.

My shoulders relaxed slightly.

“You will?”

“Of course I will.”

He picked his fork back up again, though he didn’t start eating immediately.

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