The Human Among Wolves Chapter 131

Aurora

I told Kael I needed a moment.

He hesitated, searching my face, but finally nodded. I turned away before he could say anything else, cutting across the courtyard and slipping into the narrow path behind the dorms where the snow lay untouched, soft and pale. The air bit at my cheeks, cold enough to sting, but I welcomed it. At least the cold made sense.

I walked until the muffled quiet of winter wrapped around everything—until the chatter of other students faded and all I could hear was the crunch of my own boots.

Then another sound joined it.

Footsteps.

Steady. Intentional.

Following.

I stopped breathing for half a second.

“Aurora.”

My name, carried on a single exhale.

Just once.

Just enough.

I didn’t turn around. My shoulders locked in place, my hands curling deeper into my pockets as if that could shield me from the voice behind me—the one thing I’d been running from since yesterday.

The footsteps slowed. Then stopped.

“You can’t just run to him,” Zayn said, voice low, strained in a way that pulled at something in my chest I didn’t want to feel.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t owe you anything,” I said quietly, words slipping out colder than the air around us. “And he’s my friend.”

Snow drifted between us, soft flakes landing on my hair, melting down the back of my neck. I still didn’t turn.

Zayn moved closer; I could hear the shift of his weight in the snow.

“You saw something you didn’t understand.” His voice dropped even further, rough edges catching on every word.

My jaw tightened. “I saw enough.”

Silence stretched, tense and thin like a wire pulled too tight.

He exhaled once, sharp. “No, you didn’t,” he said, almost pleading. “Just let me explain. Please.”

Something in the word please cracked through the numbness I’d been clinging to.

Slowly—almost against my will—I turned around.

Zayn stood there, breath fogging in the cold, eyes locked on mine with a kind of desperation that made my chest ache. The wind ruffled his dark hair, snow gathering on his jacket, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m done, Zayn,” I said, and my voice shook—not from the cold. “Done with your half answers. Done with you shutting down the second something matters.”

He didn’t speak. His throat bobbed once.

“I didn’t even get an answer about that day,” I continued, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “That day you ruined everything. And you know exactly which one I mean.”

His face tightened, the smallest flinch I’d ever seen from him.

“So either you tell me everything,” I said, each syllable slow, steady, final, “or I don’t want to see you again.”

Those words froze in the air between us, sharper than the winter wind.

And Zayn stopped moving entirely—like my ultimatum had turned him to stone. His expression didn’t just falter; it completely collapsed, something raw and unguarded flashing across it before he could hide it again.

“You don’t know what you’re asking of me. Please don’t—”

I didn’t let him finish.

“Just fucking stop it.”

The words tore out of me sharper than I intended, my voice breaking the quiet like glass shattering on stone. “Stop treating me like I’m made of fucking glass!”

Zayn actually flinched.

His eyes squeezed shut for a second, jaw tightening before he dragged in a long, shaky breath. The cold air fogged between us, rising and fading like smoke.

“Okay,” he said finally, voice low, surrendering. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything. I will.” He lifted his hands slightly, palms open as if trying to calm a wild animal—except I wasn’t wild, just tired and hurt and done. “But please… not here. You’re freezing. Let’s go to—”

I shook my head before he could even finish, stepping back just enough to make the boundary unmistakable.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said, quieter this time, but firmer. “Not until you tell me the truth.”

My breath came out uneven, hanging in the air between us. Snow settled silently on his shoulders, in his hair, on the dark lashes framing those stormy eyes that suddenly looked… lost.

Zayn stood there, unmoving, the winter quiet pressing in around us.

And for once, he didn’t try to come closer.

He just stared at me like the truth itself was a weight he wasn’t sure he could lift.

“Fine.”

He finally said it after a long, tense beat, his jaw locking so tightly I could see the muscle twitch. “If you’re gonna be so fucking stubborn and freeze your ass off, be my guest.”

I rolled my eyes, more out of habit than anything, but I didn’t interrupt him this time. For once, I just waited. The cold settled into my fingers, my shoulders, but I stayed still.

And eventually, he continued.

“It’s about my father.”

Of course it was. With him, it always was. The shadow behind every choice he made, every wall he built. But I kept my thoughts to myself and stayed quiet.

Zayn’s breath fogged in front of him as he spoke, slow and rough.

“The day we… slept together, I was the happiest man alive.” His gaze flicked up to mine for half a second, raw and unguarded. “I had you, and I didn’t want to lose you. Ever.”

The words hit something in me, something I wasn’t ready for, but I didn’t look away.

“The next morning I woke up before you,” he went on, voice tightening, “and someone called me.”

A pause. Just long enough for my heart to thud, once, hard.

“Zade.”

Zade. His brother. Why would—

Zayn swallowed, shoulders stiffening.

“I don’t know how, but he somehow knew about us. And he told me to end it before he told our father. And…” His mouth twisted slightly, like the words tasted rotten. “And to get back with Charlotte.”

The snow kept falling, quiet, steady—like the world was listening.

“Your father knows about me?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it, sharper than I intended. Zayn shook his head immediately.

“No.” He dragged a hand through his hair, frustrated. “I mean—yes, he knows about Aurenya. He knows about… the version of you you’re supposed to be. But not about Aurora.” His eyes found mine then, serious, bleak. “But that’s not all.”

A cold prickle ran down my spine.

“What else?” I asked, quieter than before.

Zayn hesitated—just for a breath—but it was enough to make my stomach twist. And then he said it, almost like he had to force the words out before he lost the nerve.

“My father has an auction house.”

The world seemed to still around us.

I stared at him, stunned.

Auction house.

The words didn’t even make sense in my head.

“What… what do you mean?” I managed, my voice thin, unsteady.

Zayn swallowed, jaw tightening.

“The day you met Zade,” he said slowly, carefully, “my father took me somewhere. To the auction house.” He exhaled shakily. “In that place, there were… a lot of girls. Vampires, werewolves, witches, fairies—every kind of supernatural being you can imagine.”

My heart hammered painfully.

He kept going anyway.

“And they were being sold off,” he said, voice hollow, “to whoever had the highest bid.”

I felt sick.

“And I—”

“What the fuck do you mean?!” I cut him off, my voice cracking from the force of it. The cold didn’t matter anymore. The snow didn’t matter. Only the horror rising in my chest.