Chapter 323: _ The End: The Bellamys Who Remain

~Heidi’s Point Of View~

The terrace of the Alpha’s estate is cold, the stone leaching the warmth from Heidi’s palms as she stares out over the Duskwind valley. It has been three months and two weeks. For one hundred and five days, the silence in the master suite has been louder than any howl.

Heidi’s reign remains undisputed, but it feels hollow. The estate is a shell of its former self. Daphne had sought refuge in Andre’s arms, staying at his quarters more often than her own, unable to handle the mourning air of the main house.

Ines, driven by a desperate narcissist’s grief, had packed her things two months ago, vowing never to return until she found her son.

The war with the Forgotten was won, but at a cost that Heidi pays every second she draws breath. She had led the final charge herself, neutralizing the last of Junie’s cells, but Darien... Darien had never returned since he left.

Junie sat in a silver-lined cell in the bowels of the mountain. She always had a bitter smile every time she was being interrogated with her only response to Heidi’s pleas.

"You only came back for me when it was too late, Heidi," Junie had hissed during their last encounter. "So I want you to feel the sting of knowing your husband might be somewhere, waiting for you to save him but never seeing you. You deserve to rule in the same cold silence I lived in for years."

"Mama!"

The sound of small, heavy boots hitting the stone floor breaks Heidi’s trance. She turns as Jarek skids onto the terrace, his face flushed from the afternoon sun. Behind him, walking with a humble grace is Mrs. Castell.

Heidi’s foster mother had spent the last three years repenting in the only way she knew how—by being the grandmother Heidi never had. It was she and Sierra who drove Jarek to his lessons, the one who baked the cookies and ensured her son remained fine.

"Is Papa home?" Jarek asks, his wide, blue eyes—so much like Darien’s—searching the terrace. "Grandma said maybe he’d be home for dinner."

Heidi feels a sharp, jagged pain in her chest. She kneels, smoothing Jarek’s hair. "Not yet, my love. But the scouts are still looking. He’s... he’s just making sure the woods are safe for you."

Mrs. Castell steps forward, placing a gentle hand on Heidi’s shoulder. She sees the lie. She sees the crumbling facade.

"Come now, Jarek. Let’s go see if the kitchen has any of those honey cakes left. Your mother needs a moment with the wind."

As they disappear back into the house, the silence returns, and Heidi finally breaks. She collapses against the balustrade, her shoulders heaving as she sobs into her hands. The loneliness is a physical weight, a suffocating shroud. She misses Darien’s growl, his heat, his stubbornness. She fears she is ruling a graveyard.

Then, the wind whispers.

An impossible scent suddenly hits her. It is the smell of rain-washed cedar and ancient mountain air. It is a scent that has been missing for three long years.

Heidi freezes. She nearly trips over her own hem as she spins around, her heart hammering against her ribs so hard it hurts.

Standing at the far end of the terrace, bathed in the dying light of the sunset, is Amias.

He looks different. The haunted, hollowed-out look of the era when he left is gone. His shoulders are broader, his hair is neatly trimmed, and the light in his eyes is steady. He is no longer a ghost; he is a man returned from the dead.

"Heidi," he breathes.

Heidi can’t believe her eyes. She doesn’t think. She doesn’t weigh the three years of silence or the broken promises of letters that never came. She runs.

She slams into his chest, her arms winding around his neck with a desperate, bruising strength. Amias catches her, lifting her off her feet as he buries his face in the crook of her neck, his breath hitching in a way that betrays his composure. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"You jerk!" she sobs, hitting his shoulder before clinging tighter. "You absolute jerk! Three years, Amias! Not a word! Isolde wouldn’t tell me anything—she said you forbade her! I thought you’d forgotten us. I thought you’d found a new life and left me to drown in this one!"

Amias sets her down, his hands cupping her face with a reverence that makes her breath hitch. "I never forgot, Heidi. I breathed you every single day. I didn’t keep in touch because I knew if I heard your voice or heard your voice, I’d come back before I was whole. I had to become the man who could actually help you."

He looks around the quiet terrace, his expression darkening. "I heard about the Labyrinth wolves. I heard about the disappearance. I’m back now, Heidi. And together, we will find Darien. I won’t rest until the Bellamy line is complete again."

Heidi wipes her eyes, a bitter laugh escaping her. "Of course. You came back for your brother. To save the King."

Amias steps closer, his thumb stroking her cheekbone. "I came back for the Queen. I’ve been meaning to return since last year, but I was a coward, Heidi. I was afraid that after everything, there wouldn’t be a place for me in your heart. But seeing you like this... I can’t stay away. I love you. Not as a broken son, husband, brother, or mate, but as a man who wants to stand beside you."

He takes her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm. "I want to be your second husband, Heidi. To rule this pack with you and Darien. To be the strength you need when he is the shield. I want to be home."

The cheesiness of the moment, the raw, unabashed Bellamy devotion, brings a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. She leans her head against his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart. For the first time in months, the air feels breathable.

"What about Isolde?" Heidi asks softly. "Nash has been running himself into the ground for years. He’s been a maniac, trying to track her down, begging the scouts for any crumb of information."

Amias scoffs, his lip curling. "Nash is a jerk. He had his chance to be her shield and he chose a graveyard instead. Isolde is happy, Heidi. She’s free. She can never get back with a man who let her walk away in the rain."

Heidi looks up at him, a small, knowing smirk playing on her lips. "Isn’t that for Isolde to decide? You Bellamys and your protective streaks..."

They walk into the house together, arm in arm. The atmosphere in the estate shifts instantly. Servants stop in their tracks, their eyes widening before they bow deeply, a chorus of

"Welcome home, Lord Amias" echoing through the halls.

They find Mrs. Castell and Jarek in the small dining room. The boy looks up, squinting at the newcomer.

"Jarek," Heidi says, her voice filled with hope. "This is your Uncle Amias. He’s... he’s come to help us bring your father home."

Amias kneels, and for a moment, the resemblance between the man and the boy is striking. Jarek tilts his head, then reaches out to touch the silver sigil on Amias’s jacket.

Amias gives a genuine, warm smile—and ruffles the boy’s hair. As they begin to talk, Jarek’s eyes lighting up at stories of the "outer world," Heidi watches from the doorway.

Her heart feels full. The void that Darien left hasn’t closed, but it’s no longer a black hole; it’s a space waiting to be filled.

The front doors burst open, and Daphne storms in, followed by Andre and Val. Daphne is mid-sentence, complaining about a ruined designer bag, when she sees the tall figure sitting with Jarek.

"Amias?" she whispers.

Then lets out a scream of pure joy. She lunges across the room, nearly taking Andre down in the process, and flings herself at her big brother. The embrace is chaotic and loud, filled with Daphne’s playful insults and Amias’s low chuckles.

Val walks over to Heidi, leaning against the doorframe. She gives Heidi a sharp, knowing wink, noticing the way Heidi’s eyes linger on Amias’s profile.

Heidi blushes, turning a warm crimson. She thinks of Darien—her marked mate, her King, the father of her child—and she knows she will never stop searching for him.

But as she looks at Amias, the brother who stayed away to heal so he could return as her rock, she realizes something she had been too afraid to admit.

Amias was the only one who hadn’t marked her, the only one who hadn’t claimed her with the animalistic force of the wolf-bond, and the only one who hadn’t known her body yet.

And yet, in the quiet spaces of her soul, he might be the one she loves the most—the love of choice, rather than just destiny or a mate bond.

As the sun sets over the Duskwind pack, the "Alpha Curse" begins to lift. The Bellamys are no longer a tragedy; they are a constellation, scattered for a time, but finally pulling back together.

Heidi looks out the window one last time. The woods are still dark, and the mystery of Darien remains, but for the first time in three months, she isn’t afraid of the unknown.

"We’re coming for you, Darien," she whispers to the night.

And with Amias at her side, she knows the moon will lead the way home.