AURORA POV
Fourteen years.
Sometimes I wonder how so much time could pass in what feels like the blink of an eye, yet here I was, standing in the kitchen of the Hopeland packhouse, tracing lazy patterns on the rim of my favorite mug while autumn leaves painted the outside world in fire.
Hopeland.
The name had been a promise back then, just an idea. Now it was a reality — no, more than reality. It was a phoenix that had risen out of the ashes of despair.
Fourteen years ago, we were broken. I was broken. Wolves scattered, women silenced, survivors carrying scars deeper than skin. But today… today our pack thrived.
I’d watched bonds form between souls who thought they’d never love again. I’d seen smiles return to lips that once knew only trembling. I’d seen young women, girls who once h
