Dawn came much too soon. Alina, like everyone else, seemed to be lost in thought as she dressed and got ready for the trek to the castle. She wished that she could somehow leap forward in time so they could simply skip all the fighting and killing and finally have a united pack again. And yet she knew not only from her father’s words but also through experience that it was when you were in the valley, with all of life’s difficulties raining down on you, that you experienced change and growth. The mountain top was wonderful, but if the only place she lived was on the mountain top, then how would she ever learn to love through pain, or laugh through heartache, or endure so that she could help someone else who might one day experience what she had? They needed the hard times in order to truly
