Kira and Akela went out of the cabin. Not far from the door Ezekiel had set up camp and lit a fire.

"Kira. Meet Alpha Ezekiel Zeke Connor of the Shadow Valley pack... I am his humble delta," Akela said seriously, leading her sister gently by the hand.

Ezekiel held his hand out with a warm smile, ready for a human greeting.

Kira gasped and stared at her sister in awe.

"Shadow Valley..." she whispered.

"Yup. And Sam... over there is his Delta prime," Akela replied with a proud smile.

Kira sent her an accusatory look and slapped her shoulder.

"You're an actual delta of the Cizinec heir pack! And you don't tell me? How about starting with the important stuff?" Kira huffed.

Akela frowned.

"He came to check up on you! With his Luna Allie and heir!" Akela said with a telling hand gesture.

"Well... yeah! But you didn't say you were his delta," Kira muttered sheepishly.

Akela laughed softly.

"And why do I feel like there's more?" Kira frowned.

Akela grinned and relished in the way Ezekiel rested his hand on her shoulder before reaching his hand out to Kira again.

"Welcome to the pack," he smiled.

This time Kira grabbed the hand in a polite handshake for a few seconds before her eyes widened in shock.

"Lexi was my sister. The least I can do is give my nieces a pack," he said as Kira saw the connection with his pack and he transmitted the family connection to her.

"Mum's brother?" Kira whispered in awe.

"Mama was a Cizinec, Ki," Akela said with clear pride in her voice.

Kira looked between her sister and her newfound uncle, assessing the connection and implications.

Slowly she let go of his hand, nodding, almost as if there was another concern holding her back.

She looked into the woods, looking for someone.

"Have you got room for one more in your pack?" She asked.

"Of course," Ezekiel smiled as if he was waiting for her to ask.

"It's okay. They are good!" She said.

A few moments later a large malamute looking wolf strode into the clearing with a suspicious look towards Abel, Zion and Sam, who were busy over by the bonfire.

Akela's heart pounded and her jaw dropped. The stranger bowed politely towards Sam before focusing on Akela again with eyes full of some kind of lament Akela could not place. Her heart pounded in fear and grief.

Her eyes flew to Kira and the burning sensation of tears felt hot behind them.

"Uncanny isn't it..." Kira smirked.

Akela stared at the wolf.

"Dad?" She asked.

She saw this wolf was younger.
He didn't have the split nick of the left ear that her dad used to say came from a fight to save a young pup. Akela suddenly realised the pup had been Gerry, and swallowed back another heavy lump in her throat.

This wasn't Link.
But he was identical.

"Nope," Kira smiled.

"But...He looks just like dad!" Akela whispered.

"I know," Kira grinned smugly.

Akela looked between Kira and the wolf. His eyes were guarded and sceptical to all the unfamiliar people.

"How?" Akela frowned.

The light grey and white wolf had her own patterns, her father's exact colours and fur. But he was young. And she had felt her dad die.

"Akela... meet Felix. Our half-brother," Kira smiled.

Akela gasped.

"Felix?" She whispered.

In front of her, the wolf shifted into the blonde, grey-eyed man she knew from her captivity.
He caught a pair of shorts that Ezekiel threw his way and dressed before he dared look at her. His chest was marred by two sets of four parallel scars.

Akela's eyes lifted to his, only to see a careful, friendly smile.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Brother?" She whispered.

Felix nodded.

"That's why I had to get you away..." he nodded.

Akela stared at him.

"Aki. He was made our jailer on purpose," Kira said quietly.

Akela looked between them.

"I didn't know. I knew I felt protective of the two of you... but not like mates," Felix shrugged.

"But then Preston let it slip that he hoped that Link's heir was treating me well," Kira huffed.

"I was made your guard because he knew I wouldn't take advantage of you," Felix muttered.

Akela stared with large eyes.

Kira sat down on a log by the fire while studying Akela's crestfallen face with a tired, yet smug, smirk. To the side the Connor pack men were busy gathering firewood, staying back from a private moment.

"But how?" Akela asked.

"He knew Felix would feel the family bond," Kira said.

Akela looked at Felix again. All the things she had noticed about him. The grey eyes under the blonde hair. The cows lick at the left side of his forehead. The subtle smile.
They were all features that reminded her of her dad.

"Delta prime Link James was my dad," Felix said seriously.

"Delta prime?" Akela asked.

Kira nodded.

"He was given the strongest female Delta fighter in arranged mating. My mum. The idea was to breed some kind of super-fighter... aka me," Felix said with an ironic gesture to himself.

Akela felt confused.

"But, Female delta? There were no females there?" she asked.

"There used to be," Felix said with a half smile.

"But. Why? What happened?" Akela asked.

Kira shot her a deadpan look.

"Dad met mum!" she said in a duh tone of voice.

Akela whipped her head around to look at Felix again.

"I don't know the details. All I know is that Link was sent to get a Luna for Alpha Preston from a different pack but never returned," Felix shrugged.

Akela still felt confused.

"Link was sent to get her because he was already mated. My mum was pregnant, but I'm not entirely sure he knew that when he left. Alpha Preston never believed in true mates and apparently threw a fit when Link broke his allegiance and claimed your mum," Felix smiled dryly.

Akela was slowly piecing the puzzle together in her head.

"And Alpha Preston decided females were a distraction if one could turn the head of his delta prime, which is why he had these weirdly arranged mating rituals twice a year," Felix shrugged.

"So. You're our brother?" Akela asked.

Felix nodded.

"My mum died when I was five. Her new mate beat her to death for comparing him to Link," Felix said with a distasteful frown.

Kira and Akela both stared at him in surprise.

"It's my earliest memory... Her fear of him on the weekends he was allowed to visit her," Felix admitted, looking angry and upset.

"I'm sorry!" Akela whispered.

"For what? It's not your fault that your parents were true mates. And it's not your fault that my mum didn't fight back," Felix smiled.

"So, the long and the short of it is that Felix's dad is our dad, but he never knew dad," Kira said.

Akela looked at Kira in sudden understanding.

"That's why he kept us there? Because Mum was supposed to be his Luna," Akela reasoned.

"And to punish us for Dad claiming Mum," Kira nodded.

Akela saw a hint of something in Kira's eyes.

"After Alpha Ezekiel visited, he made sure to remind me every chance he got that it was my duty to make up for the years Mum hadn't given him..." Kira scoffed.

Over by the fire two men tensed up, ready to come to Kira's rescue.

Kira smiled at them, sensing their concern before sending Akela a reassuring nod.

"Right. Dad was already mated to someone when he claimed Mum," Akela said carefully.

Kira nodded.

"Someone who was pregnant with his pup, and he just left her!?" Akela asked again, trying to keep her pristine mental image of her dad intact while feeling the cracks widen.

"Dad was no angel, Aki. He helped Preston set up his reign of terror. The tributary system and elite trained fighters were Dad's doing," Kira said quietly.

"He was the reason Alpha Preston didn't have a Beta. His Delta Prime did all the Beta duties, and then disappeared," Felix said with a raised eyebrow.

Akela felt her heart fall, as the perfect image of her dad shattered.

"But he was so kind... so loving! He loved us! He loved Mum!" Akela argued.

"And he would have loved Felix, had he known about him," Kira sighed and nodded.

"I think. From what Kira told me on our way here. That Lexi changed him. She made him better. And she was the reason he never returned, because he couldn't go back to being a feared commander," Felix smiled.

Akela tilted her head to look at him.

"I know my heart changed when you were brough in. And when I was told you were my sisters. Because Preston couldn't resist shoving that in my face. I couldn't go back to just being a fighter. I wanted to be a brother you could be proud of," Felix sauid quietly.

"That's why you told me to run?" Akela asked.

Felix straightened and touched the scars on his chest.

"These are the only scars I'm proud of. They are evience that I made the right choice that day," he grinned.

"And if I hadn't run?" Akela asked.

Felix shook his head.

"You would have been raped by some of the other deltas, I wouldn't have been able to get Kira out and all three of us would probably have been dead by now..." Felix frowned.

"Dead?" Akela asked.

"Yeah. Preston told me to kill you. And that I'd be killing Kira once Helios was big enough. And I'd have been killed for trying to help you," Felix smiled sadly.

He looked so lost that Akela couldn't resist. She moved over and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you!" She whispered into the hug and felt something tie them together.

She reached into it and felt him reach back. His arms wrapped around her too, as if he wasn't quite sure how to give a hug, but as soon as he did, Akela knew she would never let him go.

"I have a brother," She whispered.

In her soul she felt Felix trying to hold back the same relief and happiness. Another pair of arms wound around Felix from behind as Kira joined their hug and the family bond grew to include her, and by extension Helios.

Somewhere in the back of Akela's mind something shattered as Felix broke the ties of allegiance to Alpha Preston.

"I'll need a new Alpha," He chuckled as the hug broke and his fingers self consciously wiped a few tears.

Akela looked over at Ezekiel with a  wide smile.

"I think you both do," she smiled.

Ezekiel came over to them with a friendly smile.

"I guess I could do with a trained fighter. What do you say Sammy?" he grinned.

Sam looked Felix over.

"You're the youngster that was ordered to fight six at the time?" Sam asked.

Felix shrugged listlessly.

"I'd spoken about the Luna out of turn," he shrugged with a thumb towards Kira.

"Well. You've proven your loyalty to family," Ezekiel smiled and held a hand out.

Felix kneeled and took his hand

"For as long as you need me, Alpha," He said quietly.

Ezekiel chuckled and pulled him to his feet.

"No one kneels for me," he smiled and turned to Kira.

"How about you? Happy being a rogue?" he grinned.

Kira shot a look full of what Aklea could only interpret as longing towards where Abel and Zion were stood.

"Until you find your true home," Ezekiel said with a knowing smirk.

Kira looked at him.

"Helios needs the protection of a pack," she nodded and took his hand.

Akela saw the same realisation wash over her as what she had felt herself a few months earlier.

"The Cizinec heir... Human pack... it's true?" Kira gasped.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"It's not that weird!" he huffed.

Kira looked at Akela in awe.

"You actually found the Cizinec heir?" she laughed.

"I told you I would..." Akela smiled and wrapped her arms around Felix in another hug. Just because it felt safe, and he was family, and it felt like he needed as many hugs as he could get.

Felix hugged her tightly back. His whole body shivering with all the new emotions that he didn't know how to process.

In their family link, Akela felt more than anything the overwhelming rush of love between them.
And she knew that her brother would have willingly died for the love of his sisters, just to get them free from Preston.

She pulled out of the hug to look at him.

"Family!" She smiled.

Felix nodded back with tears filling his eyes.

"I'm sorry I couldn’t get you out of the cage sooner," he whispered back.

Akela shook her head. Felix turned to look at Kira.

"And I tried to get you out before you had to... you know..." he said.

Kira shrugged.

"Not the best sex I've had but he gave me Helios. Don't worry Felix. You did what you could and got us both out," Kira frowned.

Felix's face gave one of those uncanny smiles that made him look like Link.

"The two of you are amazing!" He grinned and gave them both another hug.