The visit in the north came to an end.

Ezekiel, Allie and Hunter went for a perfunctory visit to the university, but only to appease the supervision from a team of wolves constantly staying within a suspiciously close distance.

The second audience with Alpha Preston was denied at the gate.

"Alpha Preston sends his apologies, but will not accept guests!" The gruff delta at the gate barked. Behind him, a  team of deltas in wolf form started raising their heckles, ready to fight these weird strangers to the death if required.
Ezekiel backed slowly off towards the car, Sam at his side, pushing Allie and Hunter behind them.

"What the hell!" Sam muttered quietly.

Calm as a summers day,  Ezekiel smiled at the young delta at the gate.

"Please tell your alpha that we are grateful for his courtesy," he said with a respectful bow and a tight smile.

Before leaving, Ezekiel opened the boot of the rental car and brought out a wrapped and ribboned box which he placed on the ground in front of the suspicious looking delta.

"My Luna was hoping to present this gift to the Alpha Heir herself, but if you would be so kind as to deliver this to the Luna, we would appreciate it," he said, barely keeping the disdain out of his voice.

Straight-backed and with clenching and stretching fists, he turned and sat in the car with his mate and Heir.

"Drive, Sam... Just fucking go!" he growled at Sam's questioning look in the mirror.

The car peeled off the small courtyard, sending gravel in the direction of the snapping delta wolves surrounding the car.

In the car, Sam sent his Alpha a series of worried glances while navigating the narrow road. Allie and Hunter both stared at Ezekiel with a mixture of worry and fear. The rage in him was like nothing she had seen before.

"Kira is in the basement. Behind silver," Ezekiel muttered.

Three sets of eyes still stared at him.

"I mind linked Preston to announce our arrival. He didn't acknowledge it, but sent me an image of Kira behind bars..." Ezekiel grumbled.

"Oh, poor girl!" Allie whispered while Hunter's mouth tightened into a thin line.

"Wanna turn around?" Sam asked but Ezekiel only shook his head. There were too many fighters. And only four of them. Allie's hand carefully holding his was a reminder to be careful. Going back would mean risking everything he valued in life.

"Let's go home," he mumbled.

***

Back home the pack sensed more than knew that their Alpha was upset. He would walk the dogs and work his shifts as a fireman but somehow the joy had gone.

Akela watched the sullen Alpha from a distance. Hunter had told her what had happened, and somehow she felt she was to blame.

Early one spring morning following a few days just sunny enough to bring on the green in the grass and allow Allie's vegetable garden to turn from a black mud-bed to showing a few tentative sprigs, Ezekiel was out feeding the dogs before his and Allie's morning jog. His introverted petting of Kiron's head was interrupted by a timid "Alpha?"

He turned to see Akela, dressed in just a loose hoodie over her pyjamas. She was looking at him with a determined, yet respectful look in her eyes. She would not speak without permission.

Ezekiel nodded, adding a halfhearted smile as an afterthought.

"Hunter told me what happened. It's not your fault he locked her in the basement..." Akela started.

Ezekiel snorted a quick breath in response. Slowly he walked over to the patio stairs where he sat down in the early morning sunshine. Looking up at her he patted the step next to him, and Akela obediently walked over to sit next to the Alpha she had learned to care about.

"I didn't tell them everything Akela. Your sister was placed down there as punishment for talking to us," he said quietly.

"Oh, I knew that bit!" Akela shrugged.

Ezekiel turned his head to look at her with a frown.

"Oh. Come on! It's Preston! He would have put her there even without you. She's probably there at least a few days a week," Akela laughed bitterly.

The Alpha's eyebrows rose.

"Don't get me wrong. I am more than grateful for you trying to get her out in a civilised manner, but Alpha Preston doesn't do sympathy. To him, keeping Kira locked up is his way of punishing my dad... and my mum... for not following his orders. Mama died in his castle and he killed Dad. I don't think he will allow Kira her freedom just because you ask nicely," Akela said, her voice dripping with resentment and sadness.

Sighing deeply, Ezekiel lay an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"You have no idea how strong you are!" he said quietly.

"I'm not. I miss Kira every day. There's a hole in my heart where she should be, but Preston won't let her go just because another Alpha asks nicely," Akela mumbled.

Ezekiel laughed quietly into his most recent pack member's hair.

"I guess you're right. We need fighting power," he grinned.

"Yeah, but who's going to want to fight with us? Your pack is friendly and kinda small... Besides... humans.." Akela shrugged listlessly.

Ezekiel nodded thoughtfully.

"And Gerry's pack isn't exactly a fighter pack either..." Akela sighed.

Ezekiel let his hand slowly rub comforting circles on her back. Akela sensed him craving the comfort as much as he was giving it.

"Well... From the info we have, your dad was a North wolf so getting help from his kin is a no-go," Ezekiel thought out loud.

Akela nodded and wished she had paid more attention to her lineage as a youngster.

"So our best bet, as far as I see it, is to try to find out where your mother was from and see if there is any help to be had form her birth-pack," the alpha mused as if it was a thought that had been weighing on his mind.

Akela stared at him with wide-open eyes.

"Don't worry, kiddo. You will see Kira again. Hopefully as a member of my pack," Ezekiel smiled.

Akela spontaneously wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging her Alpha tight.

"And once she's here, you can do more than just wear his clothes," Ezekiel grinned, tugging on her much too large hoodie.

With a bright, burning blush spreading across her cheeks, Akela gave Ezekiel's arm a soft slap.

The alpha's laughter sounded like a rainbow after a thunderstorm, bright and light.

"You should give them both a chance to get to know you," he smiled and stood up with a warm smile towards Allie who stood at the patio doors waiting for him. 

"Happiness isn't all fate, Akela. A soulmate does not automatically mean sunshine and roses. You have to want it, and work for it. It's a constant choice," Ezekiel smiled towards Akela.

"As if I would have chosen a different seeing eye dog..." Allie chuckled and made a motion for her mate to hurry up.

"If you had chosen a different dog, I would have been everywhere you went until you chose me..." he grinned.

Allie rolled her eyes with a wide smile.

"Come on you stalker! Let's do this run before Ameer wakes and decides to make it a competition!" Allie chuckled.

"Did I hear my name?" a voice sounded from Emily and Ameer's house on the other side of the garden.

Allie and Ezekiel exchanged a playfully panicked look.

"Quick! GO!" Ezekiel hollered and the two of them left Akela standing there staring after her Alpha and Luna as they sprinted off along the jogging path into the forest.

"As if they can outrun me..." Ameer grinned and started at a far more leisurely pace in the opposite direction.

That afternoon, Akela walked into the kitchen to see her Alpha in quiet conversation with Ameer, Sam, Archer and Gerry. Careful not to disturb, she grabbed her drink and turned to leave, when she suddenly had five grown men looking at her.

"Akela," Ezekiel ordered in a friendly but firm voice. She looked at the free seat and made her way over. As soon as she was sat down, Ezekiel looked at her seriously.

"I thought you should know. We have decided to send out ambassadors to all the nearby packs. We are asking for help in identifying your mother. If anybody asks we will tell them about Kira, but the main purpose is finding out who your kin is," he explained.

"Do you have any idea, any idea at all, where your mother may have come from?" Archer asked.

Akela shook her head timidly.

"She was dark, small and said she hailed from an old bloodline that everybody hated," Akela shrugged.

"Do you remember her last name? Her family name?" Ameer asked.

Akela looked at the hopeful faces.

"Something beginning with D... I think? Dunelm. Dannon. Dannov, Denisov, Dan..." she trailed off, trying to remember the sounds.

"Dunbar would be a Black forest name," Sam shook his head, dismissing their closest neighbour.

"Denver is south of the great mountains... Across the ocean," Ameer tried, using his human knowledge.

"Not that far..." Ezekiel chuckled.

"Do you know what status she had before leaving her home pack?" Archer asked.

"No idea, but I think she was high status, simply because she always reminded us to use our manners. She used to say that high status is only worth as much as you make it," Akela frowned.

"Okay, so we can rule out our allies. Because we would have known about it. I suggest starting with Southern Isles, where Grange and Archer's mother came from," Sam sighed.

Ezekiel nodded and pointed to the map on the table. 

"Right. Sam, I want you to go to Black Forest," Ezekiel said.

Archer nodded.

"I'm sending Dad to the South Isles," Gervais said, shooting a look towards Archer for his approval.

"Which means Carter, Pete and Eden go to Silver Moon, Grand Oaks and Estuary," Archer smiled.

Akela stared at the visiting Alpha and his father.

"If you're destined for my son, I want to know your bloodline," Archer grinned in a mock-threatening way.

Akela couldn't help the faint smile that flew across her face.

"Diana volunteered our deltas," Gerry smiled, a bit more friendly than his dad.

"Thank you," Akela nodded, her gratitude barely contained in such a small word.

"But... What about what Grange said? Southern Mountains?" Sam mused.

"True. They do have the arranged mating practice..." Archer scratched his head.

"I'll see if Duncan wants to go..." Gerry nodded.

Again, Akela found Ezekiel pulling her into a hug.

"See. No need to be worried. You have no less than two packs looking out for you," the Alpha grinned.

****

My sincere apologies for my rather sporadic updates. I am writing, I promise. It's just that my job as a teacher and a full-time mother takes a fair bit of my time.

The next part is sketched up. Look forward to some Akela-cuteness as she interacts with two blockheaded brothers.