The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Zayn

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I hadn’t slept the whole fucking night. Not even for a minute. Every time I closed my eyes, my mind replayed yesterday on a loop–the house, my father’s words, the girls locked away upstairs, and Aurora’s face when I opened the door find her with Zade. None of it made sense, and the more I tried to push it down, the harder it clawed back up.

By the time the first streaks of gray light touched the sky, I was still staring at the ceiling, my chest tight, my thoughts a mess. I couldn’t wait for morning to come. I needed answers. I needed to hear his voice and finally ask him what the fuck was going on.

At six, I gave up pretending I could lie still any longer. I dragged myself into the bathroom and stood under the shower until the water turned cold, letting it sting my skin and drag me fully awake. It didn’t clear my head, but at least it numbed me for a little while.

I toweled off slowly, every movement heavy, like I was carrying bricks in my chest Wrapping the towel around my waist, I padded back into the room. My bed was a mess of tangled sheets and pillows, proof of the night I’d spent tossing and turning. I sat down on the edge, elbows on my knees, and picked up my phone.

For a long time, I just stared at the screen, at Zade’s name glowing back at me. My thumb hovered over the call button, my stomach twisting. What would I even say? Would he actually tell me the truth?

I dragged a hand down my face and exhaled shakily. Enough waiting. Enough silence. My thumb pressed the button before I could second–guess myself again.

The line rang once, twice, three times. My grip on the phone tightened as if I could force him to answer faster.

Finally, I heard the click, and his voice.

“Zayn? What the fuck do you want at seven in the morning? I was… sleeping.” Zale’s deep voice came through the line, groggy, rough with irritation.

I swallowed hard, trying to prepare myself for this conversation, though nothing would really prepare me. My throat tightened as I shut my eyes, grounding myself for what I was about to say.

“Did you know?” My voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper.

There was a pause. “Know what?” Zade asked, and for once, there was genuine confusion in his tone.

My chest burned, my hand trembling where it gripped the phone. The words tore out of me before I could stop them. “Know about the fucking house. The one where they sell girls!” My voice cracked into a shout, sharp and desperate–the first time I had ever snapped at him. I had never had the courage before, not with Zade. But the image of those locked doors, those terrified faces, pushed he over the edge.

On the other end of the line, silence fell. Heavy, suffocating silence.

I pressed the phone tighter to my ear, my heart pounding like it wanted to break free from my chest. The quiet stretched on, each second heavier than the last. My mind spun wildly–was he shocked? Was he angry? Or worse… was he no surprised at all?

“Zade,” I whispered again, my voice trembling, raw. “Tell me you didn’t know.”

“First of all,” he started, his voice no longer groggy but cold, sharp enough to cu Every syllable was laced with authority, the kind that had always made me tread carefully around him. “Watch your mouth when you talk to me. Don’t forget who the fuck you’re speaking to.”

I flinched, gripping the phone tighter, but I didn’t interrupt. My pulse hammered in my ears.

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Chapter 53

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“Second of all,” Zade continued, his tone hardening, “I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about. What house? What girls?”

For a moment, the silence after his words was deafening. My lungs felt like they were locked up, refusing to let me breathe. I waited, desperate for some tell

in his voice, some crack that would reveal he was lying.

But there wasn’t one. He sounded sharp and annoyed but not guilty. Not like someone hiding a secret.

Slowly, I exhaled, my shoulders slumping under the invisible weight I’d been carrying since last night. Relief flooded through me, shaky and uneven, but it

was there all the same. At least in this–at least in this nightmare–Zade’s hands were clean.

“The Father… he…” My voice cracked, the words catching in my throat. My hand shook around the phone, and I pressed my palm into my thigh, trying to

steady myself, but it was useless.

Zade was silent on the other end, waiting. I could almost picture him, jaw tight, yes narrowed, that calculating stillness of his that had always made me

feel small.

I forced myself to breathe, though every inhale felt like glass scraping my lungs. He took me somewhere last night. Some… house.” My words tumbled out unevenly, jagged. “From the outside it looked normal, like any other mansion, but it wasn’t. Inside-” My voice broke, and I had to swallow before I could

continue. “There were… girls. Dozens of them. Humans, vampires, werewolves. Locked away. Starved. And he–he said they’re kept there to be sold. At

auction. Like fucking property.”

My chest burned, bile rising in my throat. I dug my nails into the edge of the mattress, gripping so hard my knuckles ached. “He looked at me like it was

nothing. Like showing me that place was the same as teaching me how to ride a horse or giving me another lecture about responsibility.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, my voice dropping to a whisper. “He told me it’ll be mine one day. That when he’s gone, this… this nightmare is going to be my

job. My inheritance.”

The words clung to my tongue like poison. I couldn’t finish. My throat locked up my stomach twisting violently as the memory of the terrified faces in

those locked rooms surged back, refusing to let me escape.

“I” My voice cracked, and I cut myself off, unable to force the rest out. The sickness in my gut made me feel like I might actually throw up.

I sat there in silence, breathing hard, waiting for Zade to say something, anything–because the weight of it all was crushing me.

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence on the line. I pressed the phone tighter to my ear, waiting for the usual bite in his tone, the sharp

mockery, the dismissal. That was Zade. He always had something clever, something cold, to throw back at me.

But this time… nothing.

When he finally spoke, his voice was lower than before, rough in a way I hadn’t heard from him in

years. “Are you serious?”

I blinked, startled by the edge in his tone. It wasn’t disbelief–it was something else. He sounded… shaken.

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