~Heidi’s Point Of View~
The air in the dormitory feels different and softer now. Like some invisible weight has been lifted from Heidi’s chest, if only a little.
She’s lying back on her narrow mattress, the wool blanket scratchy against her bare arms, while Val shifts on the other bed across from her. For hours, Val hadn’t wanted to speak before they slept. What Heidi gets are only cold silences and the occasional sniffle, her body curled up tight as though she could still hear Junie’s screams. Heidi had thought maybe their friendship was done, burned away by the flames of guilt and betrayal left behind in the labyrinth.
But then she spoke. Just a few sentences. Enough to let Heidi breathe again.
It wasn’t forgiveness yet, but it was something. And when Heidi confessed her nightmares, confessed that Junie’s face haunted her too, that she felt just as guilty, just as hollow, Val had listened. Really listened.
For a moment, it was like they were back to being just two girls again. Not survivors or Moon Blessed. Not bearers of heavy scars that the rest of the school would never understand. Just Heidi and Val, whispering in the dark.
That small mercy nearly makes Heidi cry.
But of course, Val can’t just let things stay soft for long. She had to bring up the marks. The ones Heidi has tried desperately to hide. The ones burning on her skin every time she presses her fingers around it.
Morgan.
The lie slips out of her mouth before she can stop it. "It’s Morgan."
It’s not technically a lie... more like a half-truth.
Now, as Val sits up straighter, hugging her pillow to her chest with an expression from sorrow to... disbelief and then, shock. Then something like a giddy squeal she’s trying very hard to swallow let out.
"You—you mean you’re mated to him?" Val’s voice climbs so high it almost cracks. "To Morgan Bellamy? As in the Alpha heir? As in that Morgan?"
Heidi winces. "Could you maybe keep your voice down before the whole building knows?"
But Val isn’t listening. She clutches her pillow tighter, her face glowing for the first time since they left the labyrinth. "Oh my Goddess. Heidi. Do you know what this means?"
"Yes," Heidi mutters, dragging the blanket over her head. "It means my life is over."
Val ignores the sarcasm entirely. "It means you’re set! You’ll be protected at all costs now. Do you even realize how rare it is for someone like us to get tied to one of them? You’re basically royalty now. Nobody will dare touch you."
Heidi groans into her pillow. If only Val knew the truth. If only she knew it wasn’t just Morgan. Or Grayson. Or Amias. Or even Darien. It was all of them. Four Alpha heirs bound to her by the same cruel twist of fate.
It isn’t protection. It’s a noose tightening around her throat.
She peeks out from under the blanket to see Val still wide-eyed, still glowing like this is the best gossip she’s ever received. "Val, it’s not... It’s complicated."
"Complicated?" Val flops onto her stomach, chin resting on her arms as she grins across the room. "Heidi, you literally just survived the labyrinth, and now you tell me you’ve got an Alpha mate. That’s not complicated. That’s a miracle."
Miracle. Heidi wants to laugh and cry all at once. It’s far from it. It’s an abomination. She’s an abomination.
"Do you know what people would give for that?" Val continues, completely undeterred. "Do you know how many girls daydream about one of them glancing their way? And you... You’ve got Morgan Bellamy marking you like you’re his. Goddess, Heidi, you’re the luckiest person in this academy."
Heidi flinches at the word his. Because that’s exactly the problem. She isn’t just Morgan’s. She isn’t even just Grayson’s. Or Darien’s. Or Amias’s.
She’s theirs. All of theirs.
And if anyone knew, if the wrong ears caught even a whisper of it... she wouldn’t be "lucky." She’d be damned.
Her chest tightens, the weight of her secret pressing harder than ever. She forces a smile anyway. It feels brittle on her lips. "Yeah," she says faintly. "Lucky."
Val doesn’t notice the crack in her voice. She just keeps gushing, listing all the ways Heidi’s life is supposedly about to get easier. That Morgan will shield her from rivals. That nobody will bully her now. That she won’t have to fight for scraps of safety because she has an Alpha heir who’ll do it for her.
Heidi lets her talk, nodding at the right moments, but inside her thoughts are a storm. Because Val’s right about one thing, Heidi isn’t going to be left alone anymore. But not because of protection.
Because she’s prey caught in four hunters’ jaws. And the worst part is that a small, secret, traitorous piece of her doesn’t even want to escape.
She wants them all.
Heidi rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling beams. Val has finally fallen quiet, her earlier burst of excitement spent, but Heidi can still feel the energy buzzing in the air like static.
Her hand drifts up to her neck, fingertips brushing the mark. She hisses softly at the sting. It still feels raw.
She thinks about the way Morgan had leaned in, all arrogance and wicked grins, like biting her had been the punchline of some private joke. She thinks about Grayson, too, the softness that somehow balanced his twin’s cruelty, the way his eyes had darkened when he pressed his teeth to her skin.
And then she thinks about Darien. His anger. His possessiveness. The storm is always lurking behind his gaze. And Amias. Silent Amias, who watches her like she’s both a blessing and a curse carved into flesh. The one who has anchored aided her not just like a mate, but like a brother.
Four of them. Four pieces of her soul tangled up in theirs.
Her stomach twists. Lucky? No. This isn’t luck. This is a war brewing inside her own chest. With a heavy heart, she falls asleep.
After all, she still has that interview with the school and a clip to get rid of on Sierra’s phone tomorrow.