CHAPTER 220: _ POST DISASTER

Mrs. Castell’s voice is already halfway to the moon and clawing for the stars by the time Heidi quietly backs away from the wreckage of the dining room. She swears the woman’s shrieks could peel wallpaper off the walls if she kept going another five minutes.

Mrs. Castell paces in a wild loop between the table and the doorway, her heels clicking like a countdown to destruction. "Ungrateful! Absolutely ungrateful! Both of them! I should have left them for a better family when I had the chance! I give Lucan everything, everything, and that’s how he repays me? Walking out? Running after that— that... Eli boy like a lovesick mutt?"

Sierra, who is still blotchy from crying, nods aggressively. "Mom, he’s delusional. They both are. Dad and Lucan. Let them go. They’ll regret it. Just wait and watch how they’ll come crawling back to us."

"Regret?" Mrs. Castell scoffs, throwing her arms in the air like the ceiling offended her. "They’ll crawl back. Those bastards—yes, I said bastards... don’t know loyalty if it bit them on the ankles. I uphold this family. Me! Everything this house is, is because of me."

Heidi stands toward the hallway, half in shadow, watching this little duet of delusion play out.

The wolf in her chest huffs. "They are... spiraling."

No kidding.

Mrs. Castell continues, spiraling harder than a broken fan. "This pack knows the Castell name because of me! Me! I kept this lineage noble. I held it up like a banner. And they treat me like this! Leaving? Walking out? Tch! Men are weak creatures."

"Exactly," Sierra echoes, clinging to her mother’s sleeve like a sad sidekick. "Dad doesn’t even know what he’s saying. Another family? Like he has the guts."

"He won’t last two hours out there," her mother mutters. "Lucan will come back hungry and apologize. And then we’ll see who has the real power in this house."

Sierra sniffs. "Yeah. And Heidi better pray she doesn’t come out of this with broken bones. The Moon Blessed act won’t save her."

Heidi’s wolf growls quietly. Heidi forces one foot forward, then another, slipping up the stairs before Sierra’s puffy eyes can land on her.

The house feels too big and too quiet as she goes up. Every step makes her chest heavier. Everything is breaking apart, she thinks. And somehow, I’m in the middle of all of it. She reaches her room and sits at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall like it owes her answers.

Lucan’s gone. Mr. Castell’s gone. Mrs. Castell has snapped like a carrot stick under a truck tire. Sierra is out here planning world domination with tears still drying on her face. And Heidi... Heidi feels like the rope in a tug-of-war she didn’t sign up for.

She takes a long breath and pulls out her phone.

Her message to Andre still sits at the top of her chat list. She sends him another.

Add me to your group chat so I can finally be amongst the people who actually have sense.

Heidi snorts softly. "Finally, I can speak with someone normal."

She scrolls to the group chat after Andre adds her and finds that Val, Helena, and Jia are already in it.

It’s named: ROUGH PACK SURVIVAL UNIT

The moment Heidi’s name pops up in the chat, the screen lights up like a malfunctioning carnival ride.

HELENA:HEIDI OMG YOU’RE ALIVE??

VAL:Girl how’s the nuclear fallout zone you call home?

JIA:Blink twice if Sierra spat in your food again. Blink three times if you need us to commit crimes.

ANDRE:Ladies, please. Let the newest member breathe.

Heidi shakes her head as a tiny laugh pushes through the exhaustion. The sound feels strange in her dry throat, like she hasn’t laughed in months. Her heart unclenches a bit.

Her fingers fly across the screen.

HEIDI:It’s... been a day.

That is an understatement so big it deserves its own parking lot. The group chat erupts again.

VAL:What happened NOW? Did Mrs. Castell try to sacrifice you to the Moon for better luck?

HELENA:Did Sierra attempt arson? It feels like she would.

JIA:Drop the tea. I have popcorn.

Heidi exhales. She should’ve known they would drag it out of her.

So she types. And types. And keeps typing.

By the time she finishes explaining everything from how Lucan storms out to Eli following him, Mr. Castell dropping the "other family" bomb, the divorce declaration, the meltdown, the actual emotional demolition site... the chat goes silent.

Completely silent until...

HELENA:Holy biscuits from the Moon’s oven.

VAL:This is insane.

JIA:Girl your life is a drama series and we’re not even paying subscription.

ANDRE:...Heidi. I’m stunned. Even for this pack, that’s wild.

Heidi bites her lip.

HEIDI:I don’t even know how to feel. It’s awful. Everything’s awful.

ANDRE:Yeah, but strangely... things are shifting. Sierra’s losing her safety net. The odds might actually be leaning toward you now.

Heidi frowns at her screen.

HEIDI:I didn’t want this. I didn’t wish for any of it. I just wanted peace.

JIA:

We know. You didn’t choose this mess. They self-destructed.

HELENA:Facts. If your presence exposes their cracks, that’s on them. Let’s just celebrate your freedom!

VAL:Anyway—trauma aside, we still have a bigger issue. Junie.

Heidi sits up straighter. Her heart aches at the name. Junie is still trapped somewhere in the labyrinth, alone, scared, and maybe starving as she tries to keep alive, hiding away from demons.

Her wolf’s voice is faint. "She’s strong. But she can’t survive in there forever."

Heidi nods.

ANDRE:Since Val and I are the top boy and top girl, we might have some leverage. We can talk to the headmaster tomorrow.

VAL:Yeah. He can’t ignore both of us. Maybe he’ll give us a pass or a clue to get Junie out.

HELENA:Do it. Before the labyrinth decides it likes Junie too much and keeps her.

Heidi presses a hand to her forehead.

HEIDI:...thank you. Seriously. All of you.

JIA:We’re a team. Even if some of us are part-time disasters. Looking at Andre.

ANDRE:I bring charisma, thank you.

The chat devolves into jokes, teasing, updates on who might find their mates next since Heidi is fated to an Alpha. Val roasted Helena so hard she rage-quit the chat for twelve seconds before shifting to minor life problems.

It lasts almost an hour, and each message feels like a tiny anchor tethering Heidi back to sanity. A small, warm bubble forms in her chest; friendship. Safety. People who aren’t planning her downfall.

Eventually, the conversation slows. Everyone signs off one by one, promising to update tomorrow. Heidi sets her phone down and stares at the ceiling. Where the day left cracks, the group chat filled them with something gentler.

Still... her stomach twists. The house is too quiet. It feels like a sleeping monster with one eye open.