A few days had passed since Aurora's meeting with the expecting mothers and Dr. Thorn. The sunlit days in the pack town moved with a gentle hum of progress, and her evenings were spent deep in thought, often in conversation with Mia or one of the town advisors, shaping the ideas they’d gathered into something real.
It was Jason who called the next meeting a formal gathering with the town planner, the pack’s accountant, Luna Aurora, and a few senior advisors. Held in the community hall’s strategy room, the long wooden table was covered with maps, ledgers, and steaming mugs of tea.
“As we all know,” Jason began, standing at the head of the table, “our town is growing fast. It’s time we stop thinking of ourselves as a small country town. We’ve become something more.”
The town planner, a tall man with sandy grey hair and a notebook full of scrawled diagrams, cleared his throat. “That’s true. From a pl
The Pack House’s council chamber sat cool in the morning light, its wide windows overlooking the cobbled square below. A polished timber table filled the center, surrounded by high-backed chairs carved with ancestral wolf motifs. Jason and Nathan stood at one end, flanked by Lucas, the town planner and the accountant, Mrs.. Crawford, whose leather satchel bulged with papers.Aurora, newly returned from the Kindy meeting, slipped into her chair beside Nathan, Angel curled against her. Mia sat opposite, Malcolm on her lap. The steady hum of the pack gathering for business drifted in through the open door.Jason tapped the table. “All right, everyone. We’re here to discuss the purchase of a small bus for school runs and community transport, and to finalise funding solutions for the road project. Lucas, would you start us off?”Lucas cleared his throat. “Thank you, Alpha. After scouting options in Adelaide and Melbourne, I’ve iden
The sun rode high in the sky by the time Aurora, Malcolm tucked against her hip, and Angel cradled in her shawl, stepped out onto the dusty shoulder of the main road. The survey stakes bright orange flags fluttering in the breeze stretched in neat lines for as far as she could see. Heavy machinery rumbled back and forth behind a row of volunteers, shaving the earth into level banks for the future bitumen.Aurora inhaled the warm, red-tinged air and let Sam’s aura ripple gently around her just enough to keep both babies soothed, without disturbing the workers. She offered quiet smiles and nods as she passed the first group of pack scouts, their sweat-darkened shirts sticking to their backs but their faces bright with purpose.“Hello, Luna!” one of them called, setting down his grader to bow.Aurora inclined her head. “How goes the prep?”“Drainage trenches almost finished,” he reported. “We’ll have culv
The morning sun warmed the verandah of the Kindy, where a dozen toddlers tumbled over bright rugs and soft toy blocks. Mia stood at the edge of the play area, clipboard in hand, guiding a circle of young pups through a song about the moon and the river. “Round and round the river we go, under the moon’s soft silver glow…” Their little voices rose in ragged harmony, and Mia beamed with pride.Aurora arrived moments later, Malcolm wiggling against her hip. Angel rode in Mia’s arms, already settled among the toddlers. Aurora paused to watch Mia’s gentle hands clap time, then eased forward so Malcolm could see his auntie at work.“Come on in,” Mia whispered, settling Angel down on a small cushion. Angel’s wide eyes lit up as she joined the others in clapping.Aurora set Malcolm on the verandah floor beside her, kneeling to help him copy the clap and turn motions. He watched Mia closely, then managed a few clumsy claps of his own. A freckled cheeked girl toddled over
The previous evening, Angel had spent the night at Aurora’s house, Mia and Nathan sharing grateful kisses and tearful goodbyes as they slipped out for a much-needed evening alone.Aurora stirred before dawn, the soft whisper of the full moon lingering in the sky’s last violet shadows. She lay still in the darkened nursery, listening to Malcolm’s gentle coos and Angel’s quiet snuffles. Their small bodies curled against each other in the crook of her arm, warm and familiar. With a careful breath, Aurora eased out of bed, the floor cool beneath her bare feet.She padded across the hall to the window, brushing aside the gauzy curtain. The riverbend glimmered pale and peaceful in the tacit light, the gum trees whispering their morning song. A new day. A day to prove herself both as Luna and as a mother.Behind her, the soft pad of footsteps heralded Mia’s arrival. Mia carried a steaming mug of chamomile tea and wore trouser
The first light of dawn crept across the riverbend, painting the water in silver streaks. Aurora sat cross-legged on her favorite flat stone, the ancient scroll spread open before her. She closed her eyes, inhaled the eucalyptus-tinted air, and willed her aura to gather into a perfect, invisible sphere around her no larger than a birdcage. For a heartbeat, the bubble held steady: crisp, defined. Then, as sunlight shifted through the gum trees, the edge shivered like a wavering flame. Aurora’s breath caught. She drew it back in, forced herself to steady her heart and wolf alike, and the sphere collapsed without incident.Progress, Sam purred softly in her mind.Aurora opened her eyes and made a careful note in her leather-bound journal: Attempt #7: bubble stable 3.7 seconds. Need a steadier anchor. Then she rolled the scroll closed, tucked it into her satchel, and stood as the sun climbed higher.By midmorning, the historic cobblestone square bustled with b
Three days after the Gathering, the Midnight Pack had returned to its calm rhythms, though a quiet awe still hung over the village. Aurora had become something more than daughter and Luna she was now a living legend, whispered about with both reverence and caution.In her parents’ small sitting room, she held Malcolm on her hip while her mother fussed, packing up little containers of dried herbs and woven talismans for the journey home. Jason was outside, loading bags into the SUV, and Aurora felt a shiver of anticipation for their return to the Moon Swept Pack, to their pack.Her father entered carrying a small wooden chest, polished but worn, etched with faded runes. His expression was grave, weighted.“Aurora,” he said gently, “I want you to take these with you.”She set Malcolm down and reached for the box. Its surface pulsed faintly, as if charged by old power.“What is it?”