Akela left Archer's office with a heavy heart.

The conversation with the Alphas had ended without a solution. She had hoped they knew what to do, but ended up with a lot of new questions.

She considered shifting for a run to clear her head, but her scent and allegiance was to the valley pack. The lycans on the mountain might not approve of her roaming their territory.
So she walked around the village following the pull of someone she felt the pull towards.

She rounded a corner of the village workshop area. In a building on its own, away from the rest of the houses, one stocky delta was working on some blacksmith craft.
The scent of hot metal was strangely safe and dangerous at the same time.
He looked up and gave her a simple smile as she passed. She nodded back to the wide smile on his face. She recognised him as delta Pete, or bulbous Pete as Diana had decided to call hm because of his broken nose. All the villagers up here had a job, a purpose and a undivided loyalty to not just the Alpha family, but to the pack. Pete was the blacksmith in addition to his role on the defense squad. With another bright smile, he turned his attention back to his work. He continued working on what looked like a doorhinge, his cheerfully whistled tune showing how he appreciated the work.

She couldn't get used to how everybody was so... friendly.
Both up here and in the valley, the packs seemed so open and unlycan. If she hadn't known, she would never have guessed that her two mates were Alpha blood. All the packs they hav visited when she was growng up, had only grudgingly allowed them to stay. But this pack had just accepted her from the first moment.

She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes. The two bonds were stretched in opposite directions.
Zion was in the infirmary.
Somehow she knew he had a child in there. She could feel his empathy for the child's pain. She knew he was smiling, laughing, but she also felt a sore spot in his heart from earlier.

Closer to her she felt Abel's focus on some complicated work. He had calmed down and focused his earlier upset on his work. She decided to go look at what he was doing. His seemed the most urgent upset.

A few minutes later she had located the woodshop. At a table, Abel was stood hunched over a large piece of wood. He was dressed in a pair of workman's jeans and not much more. His bare feet were dusted with wood shavings and sawdust. The bare muscles of his back moved as his hands worked with some kind of carving tool. A hammer and chisel made gentle tapping noises and small shavings were blown to the floor with his breath.

"Hey. I know you're there... I just need... this... bit..." Abel muttered without stopping his work. Akela walked over to see what he was doing and her breath caught.
The whole length of the plank was carved in patterns and stylised figures. She could see humans and wolves.
Abel's hands finished a curved flourish before he straightened his back with a nasty crack and a wince.

"This is beautiful!"  Akela breathed in awe of the complex pattern in front of her.

"Ummm. Yeah. It was meant to be a surprise..." Abel said sheepishly.

"What do you mean?" Akela asked.

Abel stood back and guided Akela to stand at the middle of the plank. And her eyes filled with tears.
The motif was roughly symmetrical. In the middle was a stylised female wolf, made to look like herself, facing an identical wolf, their paws touching. Behind them were other wolves, people and symbols spread out across the plank.

"That's you and Kira. And Zion and me..." he said pointing to two male wolves wrapped around the two females.

"See... Zion is the dude with the hands..." he grinned and pointed to the difference between the two.

Further out he had included wolves in defence mode, most facing away from the central four.

Akela looked back to the depicted females to see something resembling a vague furry heart shape. Her eyes filled with tears. The heart shape was a tiny curled up pup.

"I figured... Kira won't leave without her pup. And I know Zion would love to be a dad...." he shrugged.

Akela laughed through tears. His voice held none of his earlier contempt, just a simple insecurity and an unexpected tenderness.

"You are so much softer than you'd like to admit..." she teased.

Abel smiled at her.

"You know... I wish you didn't have to choose between Zion and me," he said quietly. His hands twisted a long strip of a woodshaving between his fingers.

"Yeah... me too," Akela replied.

"And I know that I have been... a bit... uncritical... with girls before, but just looking at you I feel weirdly complete," he continued.

Akela smiled and nodded.

"And it hurts like hell knowing Zion feels the same way," Abel shook his head.

"I know..." she replied.

He brushed a few shavings off the plank. Akela felt his trouble through the bond and reached a hand out to touch him.

He lifted his eyes to hers.

"You love us both," he stated.

There were no questions. He felt her conflict.
This was what she liked about Abel. He was direct.
He spoke his mind and was honest.
Just like Kira, she thought with a smile.
Short fuse, hot head, charming, but completely honest.
Akela suspected that all his previous conquests had all fallen for the honesty. He wasn't the kind to lie.

"What else have you made?" She asked and saw him light up in pride.

"Here... this is for Uncle Zeke and Allie's 20th anniversary," he grinned and lifted another wood panel.
The same stylised figures were visible, but it looked more linear.

"It shows their story. Allie was blind. Uncle Zeke was her seeing eye dog," he said pointing to the first part showing a human and wolf intertwined.

"These are braille letters. It reads 'destiny'," he continued, leading Akela's hand to the raised bumps.

"Then he showed himself as human and they fell in love," Abel pointed to the next part where two stylised humans were sat on a picnic blanket.

"And then he claimed her?" She asked, confused about the length of the story.

"No... they broke up and got back together," he said pointing to a third panel where he had carved them as humans, closely entwined.

His hand pointed to the next part.

"And he had told her he was lycan the same day Erberus took her. This is where she was imprisoned with Zion. And Zeke had to kill Erberus,"

Akela looked at how the wolf figure and the human were separated by a solid barrier and a small half wolf was with Allie. The lovingly made portrait of Zion made her smile.

"And then they were mated. A year later they married," Abel smiled at the middle part of the story showing Allie in a long dress and Ezekiel holding her hand. Trailing away from that was a series of scenes involving humans, dogs, children and lycans, all in a mix.

All the pictures were stylised. Long bodied wolves and humans twisted and turned in Celtic knots along the board. But in the middle bit, the two faces were clearly recognisable.

"It's beautiful!" Akela whispered.

"It's made to fit above the new front door," Abel smiled and nodded to a brand new solid oak door with a custom made frame.

"And this?" She asked, pointing to the unfinished one.

Abel smiled.

"Once we get Kira back to you, you won't want to be from her again. So... I'm building a duplex. One house. Two homes," he said with a sheepish smile.

"Right?" She asked, not quite sure what that meant.

"You and me... in one end... and Kira... with Zion... in the other," he smirked.

"You sure it's you and me? You could be Kira's?" She teased.

Abel was serious as he shook his head.

"I don't see it... the way I feel like you are mine. Like I was made for you," he said quietly. The regret from earlier surfaced in his voice.

"You're a good one, Abel," she sighed, trying to signalise that she understood his anger earlier.

"Good enough for you?" He flirted back with a cheeky wink.

"I wish I knew..." Akela shook her head.

Zion's never ending kindness would be perfect to balance out Kira's impulsive personality. But Abel's cheekiness and easy charm reminded her of Kira too.

"You think I'm for Kira?" Abel asked.

"I think you both are..." she admitted.

Abel nodded.

"You love your sister like I love Zion... we want the best for them," Abel nodded.

Akela nodded.

"So... the question is... who is best for you... and me?" He asked.

Akela swallowed hard and looked up at him. She knew what he was asking. She just didn't have an answer.

"Can I kiss you? Just once?" He asked.

She knew he asked to test the connection or solidify it if it was meant to be.
Memories of another man's kiss made her shudder.

"You don't have to," Abel smiled.

Carefully Akela flattened her lips before nodding.

"It's driving me crazy not knowing," she whispered.

Abel placed a hand on her cheek.

"Push me off if you want me to stop," he smiled before moving his lips to hers.

Gently, carefully he gave her a soft kiss. It was sweet but no sparks bound them.
Still, Akela found herself enjoying the touch. It wasn't demanding or controlling like Preston's kisses had been. It reminded her of that very first kiss she had shared with a young lycan boy behind their community building when she was 14. It was pure, innocent and full of hope.
He smelled of wood shavings and fresh sweat. She smiled into the kiss and let him pull her body closer.
A moment later, he pulled away, his eyes sparkling.

"Mine," he whispered, obviously having felt something she hadn't.

Akela simply shook her head again.

"I won't push you," he sighed before giving her another quick, modest kiss.

Akela rested her forehead on his sculpted chest. He was beyond doubt the better looking, stronger brother. And he smelled like home, even in his sweaty, dusty work clothes.
She wanted to belong. She wanted her heart to twin with someone.
But then the mental image of Zion's weird smile emerged.
And she felt her soul tug towards him too.

And she felt his ache. He knew she had kissed Abel, and it hurt him. She looked at the wooden panel next to her. The first figure she noticed was the tiny, flawless, rendition of Zion. He had suffered enough pain and rejection. And Akela wanted to take his pain away. She didn't want to add to his struggles, when all he ever did was treat people with love.

"I don't know, Abel... I really don't know..." she mumbled.

"It's okay, Akela. You're worth waiting for..." Abel said before his face cracked into a wide grin.

"And that's the first time I've ever told a girl that..." he laughed.

"I don't know if I want to be flattered..." Akela chuckled back, laughing off the dark tears of sadness.

He pouted back making her laugh out loud.

"Wanna see the house?" he asked and Akela nodded.

Holding her hand, Abel practically dragged her across the village to a new log cabin with two front doors. He led her into the still roofless structure to show her the mirrored layout with matching stairs running up along the joining wall in the middle. 

"The staircase is one bit. The wall just goes in the middle," Abel explained, pointing to the top rung, reaching across the separating wall.

"And this," Abel grinned and dragged her to see under the staircase where he had made space for a cupboard. He opened it to reveal a small, child size opening into the other half of the house.

"If our kids want to visit their aunt and uncle, there's a secret door!" Abel chuckled at his own cleverness. 

Akela followed him around, taking in the still unfurnished, kitchen and living space. The house was an open, airy and light structure with lots of windows. The kitchen was divided form the living room by a breakfast bar and a half wall, making it both open and shielded. And to Akela's utter astonishment he had included a study area with built in shelves.

"Your library..." he said, offering a shy smile.

Akela's eyes felt like thyy had lost all ability to blink. Somehow, he had designed and built her dream home.

"I've designed it with three bedrooms each," Abel grinned proudly, once they had ascended the stairs up to the open space.

Abel quickly pointed at the unfinished walls, showing her where the dividing walls were to be placed and asking her opinion about everything from bathroom fittings to paint colours.

Akela was awestruck. She had never seen such a beautiful house before. At the back was a private garden, shared between the two homes but shielded from the village and backing onto the forest beyond. The view to the top of Shadow Mountain was breathtaking.

"You built all of this?" Akela asked with tears in her eyes.

Abel nodded.

"It's what I've been doing since you left," he admitted sheepishly.

"For me?" Akela asked again, feeling overwhelmed tears fall down her face.

"I want you to have a home, Akela. You said you've never had one," Abel smiled warmly.

"Oh, Goddess! I wish Kira could see this. Abel... She would be so happy!" Akela sniffed, missing her sister more than ever now that she saw the home built for both of them.

The proudly embarrassed smile on Abel's face revealed how many hours of hope he had put into this house.

"We'll get your sister back, I promise," he murmured into her hair as he hugged her tight.

Akela couldn't stop the tears from wetting his chest as the gratitude mixed with longing for Kira and worry that she would never see her again. This house just reminded her of everything the two sisters had talked about doing together when they were growing up.
Her arms wound around Abel's middle in gratitude. His energy was no longer demanding, but rassuring, and she suddenly understood. All the hours of hope he had placed into the house had this morning seemed so pointless.

Her thoughts drifted to Zion. In her mind, she placed a brother each side of the still open space. The only question was, which side was hers.