The Human Among Wolves Chapter 15

Aurora

The dorm was quiet when I got back.

Too quiet.

The beds were made, the windows cracked open to let in the late afternoon air, and the soft rustle of leaves outside was the only thing keeping my thoughts from spiraling.

My roommates were probably in class right now and I was grateful for that. I didn't have a strength to deal with anyone right now. 

I dropped my bag by the door and sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my phone like it might burn a hole in my palm.

I hadn’t called them since I got here. Barely even texted. They’d sent a message the first day—something about 'so proud of you' and 'can’t wait to hear all about it.' I didn’t reply.

But now?

Now I needed answers.

Or the truth, whatever it was.

My fingers hovered for a second. Then I tapped the contact and hit Call before I could talk myself out of it.

It rang. Once. Twice.

Then a voice picked up—warm, bright, familiar.

“Sweetheart! Oh, thank God, we were starting to worry—”

“Mom, I need to ask you something. And I need you to tell me the truth.” there was a pause—long enough to make my chest constrict.

“Aurora… what’s going on?”

“Just answer me,” I cut in. “Did you adopt me?”

A sharp inhale crackled through the speaker. “What? Where is this coming from?”

“Please,” I whispered, closing my eyes. “I’m not mad. I just… I need to know.”

Another pause. Then a voice in the background—Dad’s, low and concerned. „Who is it?“

Mom must’ve covered the receiver, because her answer was muffled and hurried.

“Mom.”

The line shifted again, and now Dad’s voice came through, heavy. “Aurora. What happened? Did someone say something to you?”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “Just tell me the truth. Did you find me? Somewhere? Did you—”

“Yes.”

The word was soft. Broken.

I froze.

“Yes,” Mom repeated, her voice trembling now. “We… we found you.”

My knees gave out, and I sat on the edge of my bed, gripping the blanket like a lifeline. “Where?”

Dad exhaled slowly, like this was costing him something. “On the old stone bridge outside of town. You were… standing there. Alone. So small. You couldn’t have been more than ten.”

A shiver ran down my spine. The bridge. The same one in my dreams.

“You didn’t have anything with you,” Mom added quietly. “No bag, no note, nothing. Just… your name. You told us your name and age, and that was it. You didn’t remember where you came from or who your parents were. We thought you were in shock. We took you in until someone came looking, but… no one ever did.”

I pressed a hand over my mouth, trying to hold in the sob that wanted out.

“So you just—kept me?”

“We loved you,” Mom said fiercely, as if that alone could stitch up the hole she’d just ripped open. “From the moment we found you, you were ours. That’s never changed.”

I stared at the far wall, where sunlight cut across the posters my roommates had hung, bright and normal and safe. Everything I wasn’t.

“So,” I said finally, my voice so thin it barely sounded like me, “I just… appeared out of nowhere. And you never found out why.”

Dad’s silence was answer enough.

Something in me snapped tight. Not anger, not sadness—just clarity.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said, even though it hurt to hear. “I have to go.”

“Aurora—”

I ended the call.

My phone slipped from my fingers and landed on the bed. I stared at it for a long, hollow moment, my heartbeat loud in my ears.

Someone had hidden me. Someone powerful enough to erase everything before that bridge.

And now, the spell—or whatever it was—was unraveling.

I wasn’t just lost.

I’d been placed.

And I had no idea why.

*** * ***

I didn’t know how long I lay there. The ceiling stared back at me, the sharp corners of the dorm room suddenly too clean, too neat. My body was heavy, like the truth had pressed itself into every inch of me.

I didn’t cry.

I was just... in shock.

The door creaked open sometime after the last bell would’ve rung. I didn’t move. I didn’t have to look to know who it was—Riven’s clipped footsteps, Selene’s quieter ones, and Mira’s usual soft hum cutting short when she saw me. Lira’s voice broke the silence.

“Rory?” she asked, cautious, like she was approaching a wounded animal.

I blinked up at the ceiling. “Hey.”

“You weren't in classes?” Mira asked, not unkindly—more worried than anything.

I could feel them getting closer, the air shifting as they gathered near my bed.

“Stomachache,” I said, and winced at how unconvincing it sounded even to me.

None of them bought it. Of course they didn’t.

“Okay,” Selene said slowly. “But did you eat anything today?”

I didn’t answer.

The silence stretched.

“You didn’t,” Riven said flatly, already moving. “Up. Cafeteria. Now.”

I let out a groan. “Guys, I’m not in the mood—”

“Too bad,” Mira interrupted. “You’re pale and probably running on fumes. You’re coming. Even if we have to drag you.”

Lira offered her hand. I didn’t take it—but I sat up.

The cafeteria was still buzzing with the late lunch crowd when we walked in. The smell of roasted meat and spices hit me first, then the soft hum of dozens of conversations weaving through each other. Too many sounds. Too much movement.

I kept my head low as we slid into a table near the corner. Mira dumped a plate in front of me before I could argue. Rice, stew, and something buttery and warm-smelling. My stomach growled in betrayal.

I sighed and picked up a fork.

“Progress,” Selene said with a faint smile.

I tried to smile back, but it didn’t quite land.

“Guys, I have to tell you something,” I said, my voice quieter than I meant.

Mira leaned in a little. “Okay,” she said. “What is it?”

I looked up at them. At the girls I didn't know a week ago, who now felt like the only solid ground under my feet. And I made the decision then and there—I trusted them.

So I told them.

About the professor who stopped me after class and told me to pack my things and that I don't belong here. About the warden who brought me into some room where they stored some creepy old book with an ancient spell and my name in it and told me someone had wiped my memories before I was ten. About how my parents—the ones who raised me—weren’t really my parents at all. Just kind people who’d found me standing alone on a bridge. I skipped the part about Zayn. He wasn't important right now.

Selene’s brows drew together, and Mira’s eyes went wide. Lira didn’t blink once. Riven sat completely still, absorbing every word like it was law.

“They said I didn’t remember anything,” I said, my throat dry. “No family, no history. Just… my name and my age. Ten years old. That’s all I had.”

Silence settled around us, heavy and careful.

“And now,” I added, staring down at my hands, “I’m starting to have dreams. About the bridge. About people I’ve never met. I don’t know who I am. Or why I’m even here.”

Lira was the first to speak. “Aurora,” she said softly, “that’s… a lot.”

“But you’re not alone in this,” she said, reaching over to touch my hand. “Not anymore.”

“I don’t care if your memories were erased or if you came from another planet,” Mira said, nudging her tray aside. “You’re one of us now.”