Slowly the trickle of visitors dwindled and spring turned into summer. Akela and Aimee were sat outside in the sunshine when a large grey wolf burst into the garden from the south side of the property.

"Dad!" Aimee cheered and Sam shifted to human form and got dressed before coming over to give his daughter a hug.

A wide grin at Akela made her feel as if he had big news. Ezekiel's poor delta had been running around to every known pack for a couple of months and every time he returned, Akela's nerves became a bit more frayed. 

"You found something?" Aimee asked.

Sam simply nodded.

Akela looked at him, seeing the tinge of something mar his otherwise optimistic grin.

"No more travelling?" Aimee asked, oblivious to Akela's fidgeting fingers.

Sam squeezed his daughter's shoulder.

"No more travelling, sweetheart. Your mum will have me messing up her tidy house again..." Sam chuckled.

Aimee shook her head with a laugh.

"She's going crazy without you," She told her dad.

"And I've missed my girls!" Sam winked.

He turned to Akela with a bit more serious look in his eyes.

"I  think a pack meeting is in order. I'll talk to Zeke first, but I think you need to be there with him when I tell him what I found out," Sam said.

Akela simply nodded. The pack link told her Sam was carefully guarding whatever information he had come across.

Obediently, with her nerves tingling with something explosive radiating off Sam every time he looked at her.

In the kitchen, Ezekiel was sat at the table with a cup of coffee. As soon as Sam entered he stood up with a tight facial expression.

"And?" he asked his Delta.

Sam shot a look around at Allie who was clearly there to support her mate and Hunter who was looking suspiciously between the adults.

"I think we all need to sit for this," Sam nodded.

Ezekiel nodded and sat.

"You mindlinked that you had big news," the Alpha said with a firm authority hiding his nerves.

Sam flitted his eyes between Ezekiel and Akela.

"I think... No. I am fairly sure... that Akela is a Cizinec," Sam said.

Three faces stared at him with varying degrees of surprise.

"Erberus? I didn't think he had children..." Ezekiel asked.

Sam shook his head, a tinge of amusement flicked across his face. His mindlink was on tight lockdown and he was obviously enjoying the fact that he knew more than the rest of them.

"He didn't have any known children," Sam smirked.

"I'm not a fighter. How can I be a Cizinec?" Akela asked, horrified that she might be a descendant form the one lycan she had always been told was the most evil lycan in existence. How could she be related to someone like him? her eyes started to burn as she looked at her Alpha who's face was set in a frown.

She felt her breath hitch and was enclosed in a sideways, comforting hug by Sam.

"You're a Cizinec, sweetheart. I'm sure of it!" Sam grinned.

Ezekiel sent him a stern look.

"Just tell us. I hate when you draw things out!" the Alpha huffed.

Sam gave a slow grin, hardly holding in how much he was enjoying being the only one with the important information.

"You are worse than Maddox!" Allie sighed.

Sam's eyes lit up as his smile widened.

"Did you find out where my mother came from?" Akela asked in a timid voice. 

Her heart was pounding in her throat. Whatever Sam knew was important.

Sam sent a smile between Ezekiel and Akela.

"Akela, you are a Cizinec by blood because your grandmother was Raksha Cizinec," Sam said. His voice was warm, caring and very happy.

On the other side of the table, Ezekiel's face went pale and his eyes wide while he stared at Akela. Slowly he turned his eyes to Sam.

"Raksha? My mother? How?" Ezekiel asked in a near whisper.

His eyes found Akela again. She felt very self-conscious under his gaze while he looked for something he hadn't seen before.

"Well... After going to all the friendly packs, I started thinking. If Lexi and Link disappeared from the North, they would have disappeared from the south too, and Preston would probably blame Lexi's birth pack for them disappearing," Sam explained.

Ezekiel nodded slowly to show he heard.

"Around 20 years ago, the South Forest - who do not require bonds by the way - fell out with the North," Sam continued.

"South forest? Is that a pack?" AKela asked.

Sam nodded with a questioning look.

"I just thought it was a forest... in the south... that my mum didn't want to go to..." She shrugged.

"Oh yes. The South Forest is a very old-fashioned and very isolated pack," Sam smiled before catching Ezekiel's frown.

"They trade only with other traditional packs and avoid humans," Sam explained for Akela's benefit.

She nodded, her heart thundering in her throat, stopping her voice.

"They only take in pureblood new pack members," Sam continued.

Ezekiel gave him a pointed look and sighed deeply. The rest of them could feel his impatience to get the rest of the story.

"So apparently, when a seemingly packless, youngish and pretty female arrived... And she said she was a Cizinec, and her mate had rejected her...  they took her in," Sam smiled.

Akela's breath hitched. The next part of the story seemed to swim just outside her grasp. In the mindlink she felt Ezekiel's presence reach for her. Gratefully she opened her mind to her Alpha. A few flashes of his memories filtered into her mind, flashes of a young lycan Akela quickly understod was his mother. and then a few memories of the same woman, only older, and very ill, with a huge gap of nothing between the two points of memory.

Akela looked at her Alpha, understanding his fierce loyalty to his family-pack and how it was connected to his absent mother. She felt a warm sense of belonging float into her from him, the understanding of the true Connection between them too overwhelming and shocking for her to understand.

"And then?" Allie asked carefully, pushing Sam's narrative on.

"Apparently the Delta Prime, Flint Dannon, a very traditionally minded lycan with high standards and no children, impregnated her and she gave birth to a daughter," Sam said, his voice serious.

Ezekiel nodded to make him continue.

"Flint was quite old when he became a father, and he died a few years ago, but as far as the information goes, the general agreement in the South Forest pack is that he was so disappointed in having a daughter, he refused to acknowledge the child's mother," Sam said quietly.

Ezekiel frowned. His pain for his mother visible on his face.

"He made her leave the pack," Sam said quietly.

"Raksha was rejected... again? For having a daughter?" Allie asked indignantly.

"Raksha was a solitary rouge until she died," Sam nodded.

"And the child?" Akela breathed.

"Lexi was raised by her dad. He resented her for her gender and trained her as he would train a boy," Sam said carefully.

"Mum!" Akala whispered, finally allowing her mind to follow the clues.

Sam nodded.

"So when Preston asked for a strong, pureblood Luna, Flint Dannon saw it as his opportunity to get rid of his daughter," Sam said.

The people around the table were all quiet for a long while. All lost in thought.

"So let me get this straight, " Ezekiel sighed rubbing his forehead.

"My mum left me when I was 10," he said.
Immediately Allie's hand was on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"She went south. Introduced herself as a Cizinec blood heir to the South Forest pack," Sam nodded.

"She then mated their delta prime and had Lexi," Ezekiel said and shook his head before looking up at Akela.

"Not sure if they were formally mated or if there even was a relationship," Sam shrugged in distaste.

Akela's eyes widened as she suddenly realised the implications. Her heart was thundering and her eyes were burning with unshed tears.

"How old was your mum when she had you?" Allie asked.

Akela shrugged.

"Quite young. 18 or 19 I think..." Akela said.

Sam's smile widened. Slowly Ezekiel's face softened into a smile as well.

"So. Raksha was banished. The South Forest pack made a pact with the North and promised the newly victorious Alpha Preston a suitable Luna in return for his "protection"," Sam grinned.

"Preston sends his Delta prime, Link James to get the new Luna," Ezekiel smiled.

"Link picks up Lexi, they realise that they are mates and a few months later the twins are born," Sam nodded.

Both looked at Akela with matching grins.

"You really do belong here!" Sam chuckled.

"You're a Cizinec!" Ezekiel smiled.

Akela looked between the two strong men with an awestruck face.

A few seconds passed before Ezekiel moved to her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
No words were spoken as Akela cried in relief and grief.

"I never knew my sister. I wish I had. You could have grown up here. You should have grown up here!" Ezekiel murmured into the hug.

Akela clutched the strong man in relief, her tears flowing.

"I had a sister," Ezekiel smiled quietly into the hug, comforting his niece the best he could.

"This is why your dad told you to find the Cizineck pack!" Hunter nodded from the side, grinning at his new-found cousin.