"NASH! Look at us! We are right here! We are leaving!" Auro howls internally with pure agony.
But he remains still as stone.
The High Priestess steps forward, offering a formal opening, but Isolde hears none of it. Her world is narrowed down to the man ten feet away who won’t even acknowledge her existence.
Then, Heidi steps to the podium.
The silence that falls over the pack is absolute. Heidi doesn’t use a microphone as her voice is amplified by her Alpha spirit, rings out across the valley like a bell.
"For too long," Heidi begins, her gaze sweeping across the thousands of faces, "the Duskwind pack has been a house built on secrets and blood. Previous administrations drowned us in corruption, using power as a whip to lash the weak and a shield to protect the cruel. We were told that only gold and lineage determined a wolf’s worth."
She pauses, her silver crown catching the light. "The Moon Goddess did not choose because of my gold. She chose because of my heart and scars. From this day forward, order will be restored—not through fear, but through love and strength. Status will be earned by the content of your soul and the power of your spirit. The Oga is no longer the poorest mber of this pack; they are simply the least powerful, and it is our duty to protect them, not tread upon them!"
A ripple of shock and tentative hope moves through the crowd. Isolde finds her own sorrow montarily suspended, srized by the sheer authority radiating from the girl Daphne used to call a "human interloper."
"But my first act as your Alpha," Heidi’s voice drops, becoming thick with emotion, "is to address the tragedy we have ignored for too long. For years, our brothers and sisters—those who were cast into the Labyrinth to be hunted by demons either for training or under the guise of ’serving the pack’ were treated like refuse."
Heidi grips the edge of the podium. "I am ordering the imdiate retrieval of every single pack mber abandoned in the Labyrinth. We are bringing them ho."
The amphitheater erupts. Not in cheers, but in a cacophony of fear and protest.
"They’re monsters now!" soone shouts from the crowd. "The demons would have broken them!" another cries.
Isolde feels a cold dread pool in her stomach.
"She is mad," Auro whispers. "The Labyrinth is a place of rot. Even Morgan, with only a fragnt of a demon core, was a nightmare. Those who have been there for months... years... they will be hollow shells of madness."
Isolde trusts in Heidi’s judgnt, but can’t ignore how right Auro is about that. Yes, the pack thrusting the moon blessed and others into the labyrinth under such strict timing was cruel, but bringing them back now that they’ve spent so much ti in there?
That’s a very bad idea. Isolde still can’t forgive Morgan for causing Lira’s death, thereby causing pain for Amias, and ruining her chances with Nash, and now, Heidi wants to bring those who must have been hollowed out inside and out by demons?
"Not so wise, is it?" Auro scoffs.
Heidi raises a hand, and the crowd falls into an uneasy hush.
"I understand your fear," she says, a single tear tracking down her cheek. "I know the Labyrinth breaks the mind. I know that many of them may never be the sa. But they are ours. They were daughters who were loved. They were friends who were cherished."
Her voice breaks as she looks toward Valentina. "I lost soone I loved to that darkness. And even if they are corrupted, they deserve the peace and rcy of their own ho, not the cold stones of a demon’s den. We will set a plan in motion to heal those who can be healed, and to give dignity to those who cannot. No one—no one—is left behind in my pack."
As Heidi finishes, a slow, thunderous wave of applause begins. It starts with the Ogas and the young warriors, then spreads until the mountains themselves seem to vibrate with the pack’s acceptance.
"Long live Alpha Heidi!"
"Power to the God-wolf!"
The Council Elders look murderous, but they are powerless against the tide of the people’s love.
Heidi had won. She was truly their Alpha
...
As the crowd begins to disperse, Isolde sees her chance. Nash is turning to leave, following his father, the Beta.
"Nash!" Isolde calls out with a shaky voice.
The Beta stops and his face contorts with rage as he turns to look at the daughter of the man who destroyed his family.
"Stay away from him, Isolde Bellamy!" the Beta bellows, voice vibrating with hatred. "Your blood has taken enough from my house. Do not speak to my son again."
"Father, please," Nash urges in a low and weary tone. He places a hand on his father’s arm. "Let have a word with her. For the sake of the years I served the family."
The Beta snarls, but after a mont, he stomps away, leaving the two of them in a small pocket of silence amidst the departing crowd.
Isolde reaches for him, but stops when he flinches. "Nash... why didn’t you reply to my text? Why have you been avoiding like I’m a plague?"
Nash looks at her then, and the sheer weight of his grief is almost enough to knock her over. "I’m sorry, Isolde. I was... I am grieving. Lira was my only sister. My only sibling. I needed space to breathe without the scent of a Bellamy reminding of how she died."
"Ouch." Auro recoils in pain as his words sting Isolde’s fragile heart.
"I know," Isolde whispers, her own tears falling freely now. "I am so, so sorry, Nash. I know Morgan was... I know what he did was unforgivable. I apologize on his behalf every day I breathe."
"It wasn’t your fault," Nash shakes his head. "But he was your brother. And every ti I look at you, I see the face of the family that let my sister be butchered."
Isolde feels her heart shatter into a million jagged pieces.
"He is choosing the past over us," Auro wails. "He is letting the dead bury the living."
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