The journey home took longer than the journey there.

Every evening, Akela waited until most of them were asleep, before shifting into human form and crawling into Zion's sleeping bag. There, she would listen to his steady heartbeat and feel his arms hold her with no need to rush into anything. 

Abel had made it his habit to give Kira a small kiss on her forehead or cheek before shifting into his wolf and curling up to keep her warm. Slowly, as the days passed, Kira relaxed more around him and trusted him to wait for her more, untill the moment they were completely clear of the North tribituary territory.

Kira shifted, and as soon as she was on two legs she grabbed a large rock and threw it as far as she could into the North territory.

"And that's the last thing the north will hever get from me," she muttered and shifted into wolf form again before running after Sam who was in the lead.

On the fourth day, they reached the car. And Kira panicked. There was no coaxing or persuasion that could make her get into a piece of metal that was propelled by exploding gas.

"It's safe, Kira!" Akela assured and met Kira's stony stare with a smile.

"Would you feel safer if I drive?" She continued and watched a look of disbelief flash over her sister's face.

"You... can drive this thing?" Kira whispered.

Akela proudly nodded.

"But... it's unsafe... Akela... You can get killed!" Kira said, her voice shaking and her wide eyes filling.

Abel looked at his mate with a warm smile, amused by her fear while looking like a couple more weeks in the wild with her was just what he wanted.

"I guess we'll be hiking for a few weeks..." he grinned and got a gentle whack on the arm. Carefully he rested his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"I just want you home, safe and healed," he said just quietly enough to only be heard by Akela.

Over by the car, Ezekiel was scratching his head.

"Well... There aren't enough seats anyway, and we don't have a kiddie seat. What if you lot head out to the Estuary pack to rest up and I'll send Ameer out to get you..." he suggested.

"Nope! Not going near the estuary!" Zion objected, his head shaking and his eyes looking stony.  

Akela studied him and felt the resentment he had struggled against last time when he had to be hidden.

"And let Solomon get a look at Kira? No way!" Abel shook his head.

"Solomon?" Kira asked.

Akela grinned and flashed her sister a mental image of the handsome Estuary heir. Her sister lifted an approving brow at the idea of this handsome male.

"He's looking for his future Luna. Wealthy pack, beyond belief, they live as humans and run several large businesses," Akela grinned. 

"Let me guess. No bond required?" Kira asked, ignoring the growl from Abel.

Akela nodded.

"And he flirted with Akela!" Zion muttered.

Kira chuckled.

"I've already got a black mark. I think I'll pass," She smiled and leaned a bit closer to Abel. 

"Good," he replied and tucked her even closer.

"Just promise me a white mark?" she said quietly.

Abel turned her in his embrace so she was facing him, before rubbing his nose on hers.

"It certainly feels like it will be," he grinned with his flirt up to a solid level.

Kira's smile melted into the soft kiss between them and Akela felt her sister's heartbeat pick up.

Over by the car, Sam and Ezekiel unloaded their packs and dug out wallets and other human paperwork from various panels in the car where they had hidden them.

"Right then. I guess you'll need to reevaluate the luggage," Ezekiel grinned and emptied the car of all useful gear.

It took a while, but the next morning, Zion, Akela, Abel and Kira watched the Alpha with the golden eyes drive off with his Delta Prime in the passenger seat.

Helios was safely strapped to his mother, leaving Abel to carry a backpack fashioned from an altered dog-pack. Zion carried the hiking backpack and Akela had been given another, smaller backpack that Ezekiel had in the car for emergencies. 

The journey took them over hills and through valleys in a much straighter path than the one Akela had taken in winter. She now realised how much time she had wasted by avoiding human settlements. 

Each night they camped in a secluded spot, sometimes with a view over a human settlement, and every night Akela fell asleep with Zion's heartbeat in her ear. It felt like a long holiday. Just the four of them in no hurry to get home.

Gradually Kira got stronger too. Zion checked her for long term concussion symptoms every morning, but Kira seemed to draw strength from Abel, who would occasionally wake up with odd aches and headaches as if he was the concussed one. And even those episodes became fewer as they came closer to the Shadow mountain.

The four of them were sat around the fire one evening. Akela assumed they had two or three days left before they entered Ezekiel's territory and were technically home. She missed Hunter and Aimee. And she couldn't wait to give Grange a hug for never losing faith.

Akela's hand was held carefully in Zion's. Her palm was facing upwards letting Zion's index finger trace patterns in it. So far a lot of little heartshapes had kept her heart warm on their journey. 

Abel and Kira were jokingly bickering about something at the side, their laughter and obvious flirting  filtering through Akela's brain like reassuring backgroundnoise. Abel was considerate, patient and more caring with Kira than Akela had ever thought he was capable of. While he was on full-on charm mode, he was constantly considerate and never demanding.

"Okay, let's ask them," Abel pleaded  with an audible grin.

"And break up the cuteness?" Kira asked, making Akela lift her face and look at her twin.

Kira's sisterly grin made Akela childishly poke her tongue out.

Abel grinned between them before fixing his brother  with a grin.

"So we were discussing something..." he said.

"Yeah, we heard," Zion smirked.

"But, okay, hear me out..." Abel started and Akela recognised his eager face from the day he showed her the duplex house.

Kira rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder to get him going.

Abel looked at her with a smile that would have melted Akela's heart if it wasn't already feeling rather mushy from Zion's repeated heart-doodles.

"So," Abel started and sent Zion an apologetic smile. "I was thinking... what had happened if say, you had wanted Kira, Kira  had wanted me - obviously - , I had wanted Akela and Akela had wanted you... or the other way around," he continued with a cheeky grin.

"Because the thought of having just one girl is just ridiculous..." Zion huffed.

"No! Seriously! what if you had kept the sappy crush you have always had on Akela, but your connection had been with Kira and as soon as we found Kira, Akela and I had connected?" Abel continued.

Kira rolled her eyes again, which Abel somehow felt and made him wrap his arm around her.

"I would obviously fall crazy in love with you..." Abel winked at her causing a flash of tenderness to flood through Kira's connection to her sister. Akela chuckled softly at how fast her sister was falling for Abel's charm.

"Obviously, we'd still be sat here on our way home trying to figure stuff out!" Zion chuckled and demonstratively gave Akela's temple a gentle lick.

"Yeah, but you and I would probably be glaring at each other," Abel grinned.

"Or ripping chunks out of each other," Akela smirked.

Abel shook his head energetically.

"Nope. I have promised this one I'll never lose my temper without due cause!" Abel declared with saintly conviction.

An exasperated sigh escaped from Zion as he rubbed his nose. Akela held back a smile at how his hand brushed it as if it was a paw.

"Abe! If our respective connections were all circular, that wouldn't be relevant," Zion huffed.

Abel looked at his brother in thought before a dirty grin emerged.

"So you would have been up for a group mating? All four of us?" Abel grinned, the implications obvious in his grin.

Before anyone could say anything, Kira gave him a sharp pinch.

"Heyy!" he objected and looked at her pout. The disgruntled look on his face melted into a soft, goofy smile.

"Not that I would have..." he grinned.

Kira's face melted into an equally triumphant grin.

Akela chuckled at the other end, picking up on how Kira, despite being infatuated, was still not completely ready to hand her heart to Abel. Abel, on the other hand, was ready to let Kira bite him.

Akela chuckled at the two of them while feeling every bit of emotional security drifting into her through Zion's hand, still holding hers.

"Actually," Kira said with a widening smirk at Abel.

He lifted an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue.

"I have a theory," Kira said, straightening her back before looking at Akela.

"Remember when we were kids? when we imagined our future?" Kira asked.

"Living together, with our twin brother mates,"  Akela nodded.

"In matching houses, next to each other," Kira nodded back.

Akela's eyes found Abel's, signalling him to keep quiet about the house, and watched his grin widen.

"What?" Kira asked suspiciously.

"Not yet, my love. Not yet!" Abel smirked.

Kira shook it off and fixed on her twin again.

"I have a theory. I think that originally, both of these two were destined for both of us," Kira said.

"How so?" Akela asked, wondering if Abel's ideas of a foursome mating had infected her sister.

Kira shot her a quick dirty grin before straightening again.

"No. Seriously. I think you have felt equally bound to them... because you were equally connected to both before you found me," Kira said.

Both men jolted and stared at her.

"I mean. If both of us had run, and gotten to Shadow Mountain at the same time, it might have been different. But as Aki was on her own,  both of you bonded to her," Kira continued.

Akela nodded quietly, seeing the logic.

"And I met Zion first and instantly felt a very strong bond," Kira smiled at the wolf faced man.

He was facing the embers quietly. Akela felt his emotions muddle slightly.

Kira leaned forward slightly.

"But the thing is...." Kira grinned.

Abel was looking worried as he gently twirled a strand of Kira's hair between his fingers.

"...I was weak and hadn't eaten in three days, and Zion was kind and caring, brining me food and stuff.  I had never felt a bond like that and if it wasn't for the whole fucked up Preston situation, I would have cheered at finding my mate," Kira smiled.

Zion lifted just his gaze to meet Kira's.

"Yeah... I felt that too..." he muttered with a small smile.

"But... You were focused on Akela. The whole time! You were more concerned about her reactions than on me, Kira grinned, pointing a finger at Zion.
He just grinned back

"I'm not complaining though, because you were such a flawless gentleman and if it hadn't been for the very obvious way you felt about my sister, it would have been a perfect fairytale way of finding my prince charming," Kira teased, her face reflecting a happiness Akela hadn't seen before.

"Akela, he looks at you the same way Dad used to look at Mama," Kira said carefully. 

Akela turned to look at Zion, who wore an apologetically cute look in his eyes. 

Akela felt Kira's unhindered joy for her.

Kira slowly turned to Abel.

"And I worried that you would feel the same way about her too," she told him.

Abel simply shrugged.

"I thought I did..." he said with a twisted lip.

Kira shook her head.

"No... Because with you, I saw someone who was flawed, damaged... like me. You have a past you're not proud of. And you didn't love Akela as he did. You obviously cared for her, you still do! And I really appreciate that because Akela deserves all the love in the world! But you saw me! You saw through two weeks of dirt and hunger. You saw past Preston's black mark, and you saw me!" Kira said.

Abel frowned but Kira reached up and straightened his forehead with her thumb.

"Both your bonds with me were as strong as the other's," Kira explained carefully and looked at each of them in turn before drawing a breath.

"And I believe that if it hadn't been for these two fools already being in love," she continued with a childishly gleeful smirk at her sister who was blushing under Zion's studious gaze.

"... it wouldn't have mattered who we had ended up with. I think either of these two originally had the power to erase this black mark and give you a white mark," Kira finished off with a proud grin.

Abel looked between the sisters before sending Zion a suspicious glare.

"Are you saying you want Zi?" he asked, with a fearful tremble in his voice.

Kira giggled and grabbed his face between her hands.

"No! I want you! The same moment Akela picked up on Zion's heartbeat in those flames, I sensed yours! Only yours! I need you to hold my nightmares off at night and to tell me I'm safe!" she told him.

Abel carefully rested his forehead on hers, breathing out a deep sigh of relief.

"Thank the goddess!" he whispered.

Akela turned to Zion who was grinning widely back at her.

"Nope! I'm yours! Without a doubt!" he said with a cute wink.

"Are you sure?" Akela tesed back, feeling his emotional certainty.

"From the moment I found you at the border and brought you back home," he whispered.

Akela felt her eyes widen in surprise.

"It was you? You found me?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I was out running off some self-pity because someone had said something I didn't want to hear, and I felt this presence of someone who needed me... not just as a medic but needed me," he smiled.

Akela just stared at him in awe.

"I thought you were dead, that I had been too late to save the life of my own mate," he admitted.

She threew her arms around his neck, running her hands through the fur and feeling the certainty of their connection in her blood.

Behind her she heard laughter.

"See!" Abel said and grabbed Kira into a tight embrace.

"I don't believe in your theory at all... because look at them!" he laughed.

"Well... he's not marked her yet..." Kira teased before Abel's kiss could silence her.