When Isolde steps forward, Darien tenses instinctively as he’s used to Isolde siding with Daphne and walking in her shadow. Instead, she shoots Heidi a small, warm smile.
"I’m in support," Isolde nods softly. "Of whatever decision you boys make." She turns to Heidi. "Welcome to the family. And... good luck surviving the chaos." She leans closer and winks. "Daphne’s actually sweet. Once she stops screaming. So pardon her?"
Heidi finally speaks since they arrived here. "Thank you. And... I don’t take any offense. I promise."
Darien’s heart expands and squeezes all at once. He didn’t realize how desperately he needed one of his people to speak to Heidi kindly. Watching her shrink under everyone’s rage was ripping him apart. Isolde’s acceptance feels like a rope thrown to a drowning man.
Isolde kisses each of their cheeks before heading inside.
The space quiets again until...
"Both my boys? Mated to the most powerful girl to grace our pack in centuries? This is incredible. This is historic. This is..."
Clarissa hisses like a cornered cat. Even Lira stiffens, her fingers digging into Amias’s arm. But Rayne doesn’t care. She’s glowing with unbothered pride.
Rayne steps toward Heidi next with a bright and curious expression. "Sweetheart," she says gently, "welcome home."
Heidi flinches, but it’s not necessarily from Rayne. It’s from everything. From the eyes. The pressure. The shattering reality is catching up to her. From the pain Amias just dealt her like a blade to the ribs.
Grayson and Morgan inch closer instinctively, their wolves rising like they want to circle around her. Rayne notes it. Of course, she notes it, because while the other Lunas see a threat, Rayne sees pure magic unfolding.
She lifts a hand, stopping close enough for Heidi to choose.
"May I?" she asks.
Heidi, who is shaken, exhausted, and has her heart in tatters, nods. Rayne pulls her in slowly like she’s hugging a frightened child, not a girl accused of nearly killing someone.
"Whatever story they told you about this family," She whispers, just loud enough for the twins and Darien to hear, "not all of us bite."
Morgan scoffs. Grayson grins from ear to ear.
Darien mutters "She bites emotionally."
But it’s the first kindness Heidi’s gotten since they left the cell, and her shoulders tremble just barely in Rayne’s embrace.
After breaking the embrace, Rayne brushes a gentle hand against Heidi’s cheek, inspecting her like she’s a rare artifact. "I always knew you were powerful. Ever since I first saw you with Daphne, I could feel it. My abilities don’t lie. I could sense your powerful aura." She taps Heidi’s temple with a playful wink. "You’re extraordinary. Don’t let anyone scare you out of that."
Heidi blinks rapidly, the closest she gets to tearing up in public.
"Seriously, Rayne? That’s what you’re preaching as a Luna? Pushing forward a forbidden topic?!" Clarissa shouts at her co-wife who swivels her way with enraged eyes.
She eyes Amias’s mother cynically. "At least, her wolf is on a level yours can never dare to reach." She sniffs the air dramatically. "Are you sure you still have one? I can literally smell the weakness reeking off of you."
This is the first time Darien would witness Rayne talking back at either Ines or Clarissa. He doesn’t understand why she’s so fond of Heidi, but she is making some valid points. Perhaps, she sees some of her younger self in her.
Also, it feels good to hear someone put Clarissa in her place. She was beginning to do too much with the whole Amias and Lira thing. Desperation is literally plastered on her forehead.
And now that Darien looks closely at her, Rayne does seem to be right—Clarissa has been looking frail. Her attempts to hide that weakness under the makeup and fancy clothing are beginning to fade.
Rayne beams at the boys. "Congratulations, you disasters. She’s perfect. Don’t give up on her. And if anyone complains about the odds, tell them their Luna was once a rogue too, and your father married me anyway. Destiny has a way of ignoring the rules."
Morgan literally beams. Grayson pretends he isn’t beaming. Amias slowly exhales. Darien tries to breathe, but his chest still feels tight from the slap, from the fear, and from the way everything just exploded at once.
Rayne squeezes Heidi’s shoulder once more, gives the boys a knowing look, and walks into the house. Leaving the four of them alone with Clarissa and Lira now watching by the sidelines.
Heidi stands very still, eyes darting between them, cheeks warm, fingers playing with the hem of her sleeve. She looks like she’s bracing for something. Maybe a fight or a meltdown.
Darien steps a little closer, just enough for her to feel him. He wants to tell her she’s safe. He wants to tell her he’s not going anywhere. He wants to tell her he’s not letting his mother dictate this part of his life, not anymore. But for now, he settles for the one thing he can manage without breaking apart.
"We’ve got you," he says quietly.
Heidi finally breathes. And the storm — their storm — officially begins.
Darien’s nerves are still buzzing like someone had hit a tuning fork against his spine when Clarissa suddenly snatches Lira by the wrist, catches Amias by the sleeve, and announces, "This is not your battle. My son will choose the right path. We are going inside."
Lira practically stumbled after her, still looking dazed, like she hadn’t fully reloaded after Heidi’s reveal. Clarissa didn’t slow down for her. She didn’t even glance back. She was too busy corralling her people like a strategist pulling pieces off a board she didn’t want anyone else touching.
Amias hesitates for half a second—long enough to flick his eyes to Darien who in turn, reads them. It is that silent question between siblings who’d been through enough nonsense to have their own entire language.
’You good if I step away? Can you hold the fort?’
Darien catches the look and gives him the smallest nod. He doesn’t need to speak; his face said it all. We’ve got this. Go make sure your mother doesn’t implode the house or Lira doesn’t faint in a shrub.
Amias let out the quietest breath of relief, the kind only another Alpha-blood would notice, and dips his head in that unspoken brotherly "I’m trusting you."
Then he turns and follows Clarissa and Lira inside, the doors shutting behind them like a Chapter being forcibly closed. The space they left behind feels louder in the silence, the tension reshuffling itself, realigning, readying for the next emotional earthquake on the horizon.