Akiba

Akiba is a very protective, though socially awkward wolf. Almost since the day he joined the pack, he's been hopelessly in love with Haven, Elm's granddaughter. Even if Haven were to love him back, though, she almost always has a ring of siblings around her, purple and pink and yellow flames that roar up to stop him from getting anywhere near their precious sister. Eventually, because they were the same age and both carried the albinism gene, Akiba and Haven were paired up to breed albinistic pups, but that was almost worse. In almost any other pack, your pair bond was a declaration of love, a promise of commitment to your partner forever. But no. Here, the word "mate" only meant what Akiba desperately wanted it to mean some of the time. And his own partnership wasn't one of those times.

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Akiba let his paws slide through the tough grass into a laying position, watching his pack go about their daily lives. His job wasn't as hard as some of the others, though it was arguably one of the most important. If pups didn't get taught young how to hunt and fight, it would be much harder for their mentors later on. Still, especially during the moons where the pack didn't have many pups --or at least, didn't train many pups, since many would be handed off to Lillemore when they were old enough to survive without their parents-- Akiba's job was laughably easy. The little pups sometimes took a while to understand things, but they tired quickly, so his role boiled down to spending maybe two hours a day teaching, then helping out with various other jobs wherever he could.
"Hey, Akiba!" His thoughts immediately scrambled. What was it with this wolf? Whenever she was around, his ability to form coherent sentences sprinted out of his brain at full speed. He'd gotten used to it by now and thought he could mostly suppress it, but it still happened every time without fail. He'd had a mate before, in his old pack, but his feelings for her seemed... duller than his feelings for Haven. Maybe that was just the time they'd spent apart, considering he hadn't seen her in many moons, but the life he could've had raising their pups with her seemed as far away as a dream in the Lunar Lands.
Akiba felt himself stiffen as Haven trotted up to lie beside him, her tail wagging cheerfully. She smelled of grass and blood, though not her own. It was some kind of prey; pronghorn? Akiba had never been the best at discerning different scents, though his nose had definitely gotten sharper since he joined the mountain-dwelling pack.
"Hi- Hello, Haven." Akiba shifted his weight awkwardly, the spiky mountain grass suddenly uncomfortable under his paws. Haven tilted her head curiously, the bright, cold light of sunhigh bringing out the vibrant colors in her fur. Daffodil yellow and rose streaked with cool lavender, much brighter than his own dull purples and maroons. Even their eyes were polar opposites, hers warm and summer green, like the first leaves in spring, while he was sure his dark red irises looked cold and stoic, though he couldn't help it.
"Are you all right?" Haven nudged his paw with her nose, sending an electric shock down Akiba's spine. The hundred rabid butterflies that seemed to be trying to brute-force their way out of his chest tripled. Akiba tried to fix his expression, though he thought the emotionless resting face he'd inherited from his late father must be stuck on his snout permanently.
"Yeah- I'm fine. Um, why do you ask?" Akiba cringed at his own awkwardness. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hyacinth padding out of the main sleeping cave, immediately catching his eye and glaring at him before starting towards them with a determined expression. Akiba had no idea how five wolves could be siblings, yet so different. Hyacinth, the biggest, intensely overprotective. Akiba was a little scared of her, given her brawny build that matched Io's and fiery personality to go with it. She reminded Akiba a bit of Aspen, though much quicker to anger. Then there was Pandora. She was confusing to Akiba, to say the least. She seemed to put up a cold, confident mask, with something else underneath. She avoided most wolves and talked mostly to the trees and the wind, from what Akiba could tell. Next came Frey and Solstice. The two were inseparable, sort of. If Pandora was strange, Solstice was straight up alien. While their antisocial sister spent most of her time talking to the wildlife, Solstice just sat and stared at it. For hours. With a really philosophical expression. They didn't avoid conversations, but when asked something, they would speak very softly and mysteriously. You'd think all that not moving would make them weak, but Akiba had seen them hunt, and they were terrifying, for lack of a better word. While the litter's grandmother, Io, was broad-shouldered and strong, she didn't know how to use it very well. Hyacinth was the same way. Solstice, on the other paw, took their muscular build and weight and used it to pin down prey, snapping the neck of pretty much anything with a scarily calm expression. In all honesty, Akiba was more cautious of Solstice than he was of Hyacinth. Frey, meanwhile, was an ordinary runt of the litter. He was smaller than Akiba, and scrawnier, too, with narrow shoulders and a small chest. He spent most of his free time padding after Solstice, staring at the wildlife with an expression that suggested he was trying very hard to look as philosophical as Solstice did. Akiba thought he was likely trying to get wolves to be as wary of him as they were of Solstice, but it wasn't working very well.
Then there was Haven herself. So different from all her siblings, but alike to all of them in a perfect mix. Hyacinth's fierce loyalty, Pandora's independence, Solstice's quiet mystery, Frey's need to be accepted; but most of all, she was herself, Haven, and Akiba just wanted to stay by her side forever. He just wanted to hunt with her and bring her pretty flowers and do silly things to make her laugh. He just wanted to have her love him back, that was all.
"You looked almost scared for a minute there." Haven's voice jolted Akiba out of his thoughts. She was looking at him with an expression that was somehow curious and warm and concerned all at the same time. Akiba felt like his fur was suddenly four times thicker, uncomfortably hot in the chilly mountain air.
"Yeah, no, I'm fine, I was just thinking. Uh, how was your hunting?" He changed the subject quickly. Haven looked at him for another long moment, making the butterflies in his chest rattle throughout his entire body until he felt like he might explode. After what seemed like an eternity, she turned away and fixed her gaze on the far end of the pack's den, beginning a story about how Solstice had appeared out of nowhere and cut off an elk that they were sure had gotten away. Akiba studied her expression. Was she hurt? Had he done something wrong? His heart thumped once, twice, unreasonably scared.
"And then Solstice was like, 'No, it was nothing, don't mention it'- Oh, hi, Hyacinth!" Akiba jumped as the broad-shouldered she-wolf glared down at him. Her fur was the darkest out of all her siblings', vibrant purple and reddish-brown. Her eyes were red, like Akiba's, but much brighter, and at the moment, reflecting barely veiled hostility.
"Hello." She turned her gaze to Haven, and just for a moment, Akiba could see how much she cared about her, in a completely different way, but just as fiercely as Akiba did. "What are you two doing?" Her tone was just even enough to sound vaguely polite, but Akiba didn't miss the suspicion in her eyes when she looked at him again.
Haven laughed, making Akiba's heart rate triple. "I was just telling Akiba about that amazing kill Sol made, remember? I'm not sure if this big goof is listening, though. Totally unfair. My stories are fascinating!" She grinned at him, letting him know she was teasing. Akiba couldn't have said anything if he'd wanted to.
"Hmph. Fine. But I don't want you and him alone together." Hyacinth huffed after a moment. Haven chuckled, nudging her sister with her nose.
"Really, Hy, what do you think we're going to do? Akiba's just as much a brother to me as Frey is, and it's not like we're not allowed to have puppies. That's what this entire pairing is for, you fluff-brain!" Neither of them seemed to notice the crushed expression that Akiba quickly wiped off his face. It didn't seem to matter how many times it happened, it was always a sharp eagle's beak to the heart when Haven said, time and time again, how she loved him like a brother. Sure, they were technically mates, but everyone made it very clear that it was only to produce albino puppies.
In almost any other pack, "mate" was almost a title, a declaration of love and never ending commitment to another wolf, a promise to never be apart for the rest of your days. But not here. Here, it was common for pups to be raised by pupsitters instead of their biological parents, the entire pack pitching in to help. Wolves still came together as mates in a romantic relationship, but almost as often, having pups meant next to nothing. Akiba's dreams of laying beside Haven in the nursery, watching their white-furred little puppies scamper around with hearts full of love, would never happen, no matter how many times it felt like his own heart would shatter thinking about it.
"I just worry." Hyacinth frowned at her sister.
"I understand why you're worried, and caring so much makes you a great sister." Haven's tone was gentle now. "But we're not pups anymore, Hy. I can take care of myself." For a moment, it looked like Hyacinth might argue, but instead, she just touched her nose to Haven's muzzle and left without a word. Haven looked after her, something like concern.
"You're a great sister, too." Akiba blurted, then immediately wanted to disappear as Haven turned her gaze back to him with an unreadable expression.
"Thanks." She said simply after a moment, then arched her back in a long stretch and stood up. "Want to go scout out scent trails for Aspen's group? They're hunting next." She pointed with her muzzle in the direction of Whitetail Rock.
"Oh- ah, sure." Akiba got to his paws and shook out his fur, letting Haven take the lead out of the pack's hollow. They trotted along in silence, Akiba struggling to keep his thoughts on the path ahead instead of protective siblings and hopeless crushes and whether Haven would ever feel the same way about him as he did about her.