AURORA POV
I was just coming back from tea with Lana, my mind still swirling with half-truths, snippets of gossip, and that gnawing ache I carried around every time Stan’s name—or worse, his gaze—crossed my thoughts.
Lana had been sweet, really. After all she said She’d kept the conversation light, but underneath it all, I could feel her hope.
And all the things She told me… had let me see another side of him… the real one… i think.
as I walked down the hall of the pack house, the soft murmur of voices dying away behind me, something else reached me. Not words. Not chatter.
Music.
A melody, fragile and trembling, yet alive in the air like something more than sound. It was sad—achingly sad—and it wrapped around my ribs like invisible fingers, squeezing.
I froze mid-step, breath caug
