The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67

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The moment I stepped into my dorm room and shut the door behind me, the weight I’d been carrying all afternoon finally broke

1. me.

At first, it was just one tear slipping hot and slow down my cheek. Then another. And then it was like a dam had burst–they came

faster, until I couldn’t stop them if I tried.

The silence of the room made everything louder. The sound of my breathing, sharp and uneven. The wetness of tears sliding down

my skin. The thud of my bag hitting the floor as I let it drop from my shoulder.

I didn’t bother to kick off my shoes or change my clothes. I just collapsed face–first onto my bed, burying my face in the pillow, and

for a long time I just… let it out.

But these weren’t quiet, broken tears of sadness.

They were hot, furious tears–the kind that burned.

I wasn’t just hurt. I was angry.

Angry at my parents for keeping this from me for so long, angry that they thought they knew what was best for me, angry that they could look me in the eye for years and never tell me the truth about who I was.

Angry at myself, too–for trusting them so blindly, for not asking more questions, for wanting so badly to belong that I never once

considered I might not.

I bit down hard on the pillow, a strangled scream tearing out of me. It didn’t help. My chest still felt too tight, like my heart had grown claws and was scraping against my ribs.

I wanted to scream until my throat gave out, until there was nothing left in me but silence. I wanted to shatter something–the lamp on my nightstand, the mirror across the room, the whole damn world if I could.

But instead, I just stayed there, letting the tears soak into the pillow fists clenched at my sides, trembling from the sheer force of

everything boiling inside me.

I don’t know how long I stayed like that–face buried in my pillow, tears soaking through the fabric, body shaking until there was nothing left in me but the hollow ache that always came after.

Eventually, I forced myself to lift my head, my neck stiff and sore. The clock on the wall read 7:13 p.m.

I blinked at it, dazed. Had I really been lying here for hours?

The dorm was still quiet, my roommates still gone, but any minute now they’d be back–laughing, chattering about their shopping spree, comparing what they’d bought. I could already picture them bursting through the door, filling the space with perfume and

noise and questions.

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12:01 Thu, Jan 29 GBB

Chapter 67

The thought made my chest tighten all over again.

I couldn’t deal with that right now.

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I couldn’t sit here and paste on a fake smile and pretend I wasn’t falling apart. I couldn’t let them see me like this, red–eyed and

raw,

So I did something I knew was reckless, maybe even stupid.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood, my body feeling strangely weightless, like I was moving on autopilot. I grabbed

my jacket, pulled it on, and scrubbed at my face with the sleeves un the worst of the tears were gone.

I didn’t bother to fix my hair, didn’t check the mirror to see if I still ooked like a disaster. I didn’t care..

All I knew was that I had to get out.

Before I could second–guess myself, I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, my footsteps echoing in the quiet.

I didn’t know exactly why I was doing it, or what I planned to say when I got there, but my feet carried me anyway–down the

stairs, across the courtyard, toward Zayn’s wing.

Toward the one person who, for reasons I couldn’t explain, felt like the only place I could go right now.