The Human Among Wolves Chapter 33

Aurora

I looked up at him, my stomach knotting tighter with every second. This conversation had already taken a sharp left turn into dangerous territory, and the silence between us was making it unbearable. I found myself praying—begging—for Zayn to walk through that door, to rescue me from his brother’s piercing stare. But deep down, I knew he wouldn’t. Not anytime soon. Not with the King involved.

The weight of it all pressed on my chest. I sighed, pushing myself off the bed, needing to put some space between us before I drowned under Zade’s presence. “I should get going,” I said quickly, fumbling for the first excuse that came to mind. “Zayn won’t be back until later, and I need to… study.”

The word fell flat, thin and unconvincing. A lie, and we both knew it.

Zade’s dark gaze followed me as I moved, slow and deliberate, like a predator keeping its eyes on prey. Then he stepped closer, closing the space I’d just tried to create, towering over me with the kind of calm that was more terrifying than anger.

“Wait,” he said, voice low, almost curious. But there was an edge beneath it, sharp enough to cut. “Zayn rejected Charlotte because of you?”

I froze. My body locked up, every nerve ending sparking with alarm. My eyes snapped to his, wide and unblinking, my mouth opening but no sound coming out at first. “What? What do you—”

He didn’t let me finish. His smirk returned, curling his lips, though his eyes stayed hard. “I mean, I can understand it. You are, without question, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on. But…” His voice dipped, colder now. “He’s in trouble because of that. Because of rejecting the Lycan Princess… for some *wolf?*”

The word dripped with disdain, venomous and heavy, as if simply saying it left a foul taste in his mouth.

My chest tightened. I stumbled over my words, scrambling for air, for denial, for anything that would undo what he thought he knew. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I stammered, hating the shake in my voice. My pulse thundered in my ears. “Zayn and I aren’t like that. We aren’t even friends, let alone—” I cut myself off, throat dry. “There’s nothing between us.”

But even as the words left me, I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks, betraying me. And Zade’s eyes—dark, unrelenting—searched my face like he already knew the truth, like he could read every secret I was desperately trying to hide.

Zade didn’t look convinced. If anything, my stammering only seemed to amuse him more. He tilted his head slightly, studying me the way someone might study a puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit.

“Nothing between you?” he echoed, as if tasting the words, rolling them on his tongue like he didn’t believe a single syllable. Slowly, he began to circle me, the sound of his footsteps heavy in the quiet room. “Strange. Because I’ve never seen my little brother so reckless, so willing to spit in the King’s face. And all this right after he meets you, I assume. He never hangs out with girls. not ever, and all of a sudden you come here knocking at his doors looking all beautiful and shit.”

My throat tightened. “That’s not—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off, his voice sharp, commanding. “Don’t insult my intelligence, little wolf.”

The word *wolf* snapped out of him like a whip, sharper than before.

I flinched, even though I tried not to.

“You expect me to believe this is coincidence?” His smirk was gone now, replaced by something harder, sharper, as he stepped closer. “That Zayn threw away the Lycan Princess—the most valuable mate in the Moordusk Kingdom—because of nothing?” He leaned down just enough that I could feel his breath brush my cheek. “I don’t buy it. And neither will anyone else.”

My hands curled into fists at my sides, nails digging into my palms. “I told you, it’s not like that. I had nothing to do with his decision.”

Zade chuckled darkly, the sound low and humorless. “Please. Don’t flatter yourself into thinking you’re innocent. Whether you realize it or not, you’re the reason my brother is one step away from being torn apart by our father.”

His words cut deep, slicing into me sharper than claws.

“You’re just… a distraction,” he went on, his voice softening to something more dangerous, like silk laced with venom. “A weak little wolf playing at a game you don’t understand. And do you know what happens to weak things in this world?”

I swallowed hard, my heart hammering against my ribs, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Zade leaned back slightly, his dark eyes glinting with cruel amusement. “They get crushed.”

“Why are you acting like being a werewolf is such a bad fucking thing?”

The words ripped out of me before I could stop them, sharp and reckless, my voice trembling but loud enough to cut through the tension. I hadn’t meant to snap, hadn’t meant to let him see the fire that kept clawing up inside me, but once it was out, it wouldn’t stop. My chest heaved as the words tumbled forward on their own.

“You say it like it’s… disgusting, like it makes me less than you, less than him.” I jabbed a finger toward the door, toward the world beyond it where Zayn and his father still lingered in my mind. “But you don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve survived to even be standing here. So don’t you dare act like being a werewolf makes me weak.”

My voice cracked on the last word, but I refused to look away. My hands were shaking, and my heart was battering against my ribs so violently it hurt, but I forced myself to hold his gaze.

For a heartbeat, silence fell heavy in the room. Zade’s expression didn’t shift—not right away. He just stared at me, dark eyes fixed on mine, his lips curled into something caught between a smirk and a snarl.

Then, slow as ever, he tilted his head and let out a low chuckle. “There it is,” he murmured, almost to himself. “The bite beneath the pretty face.” He took a step closer, and though every instinct screamed at me to step back, I held my ground.

“You think snapping at me makes you strong?” He asked, his voice dropping into something smooth and dangerous. “No, little wolf. All it does is show how easy you are to provoke. How sloppy. How… vulnerable.”