"Is there someone you would like to bake for?" Agnes asked the glowing Luna seated at her ind.


    "My mother," August nodded.


    She had been thinking about it as everyone took turns sharing their memories, and while her mom was still living, she was lost to her in a way akin to death. It was upsetting to think of it that way, but she didn''t know if her mother would ever remember her or if she would ever see her again.


    "We have so many ingredients here prepared for this night, so whatever you wish to make, I''m sure we have it," a soft smile spread over Ethel''s face. Like Sylvia, Ethel was another whose eyes always seemed to be smiling.


    "How about just chocte chip?" Augustughed. It was so simplepared to the rest, but she wouldn''t be surprised if they didn''t have just chocte chips as an ingredient here with how sophisticated all the others'' tastes seemed to be.


    "Absolutely," Agnes beamed, walking to arge pantry and disappearing only toe back a few momentster with yet another ss container. This one wasbeled ''choc chips.'' "I am a baker, dear. I collect ingredients," the older female responded proudly to August''s visible surprise.


    "And how about you, little one?" Ethel turned her attention to Sage, who had been listening quietly to each of them tell stories about their loved ones. He shook his head quickly. "Are you sure?" she pressed, and he nodded emphatically to the question.


    "Then maybe you can help us all, Sage. What do you think of that?" Sylvia asked from the far side of the ind.


    "And we always need a taste-tester," Agnes winked at him.


    Sage brightened, nodding with his glittering emerald eyes.


    August wondered what the pup''s story was. He was a stray who had been taken in along with his older sister. But he had never opened up about it, and he seemed ufortable being asked if he wanted to bake for anyone. Maybe one day he would confide in August about his own past. Or maybe he had been too young to even remember much.


    "August, Sylvia and I were impressed by your sketch," Charlotte pulled August from her thoughts. "The pack would benefit greatly from a designated space for females, pups, and strays."


    "Yes, August, it is so beautiful," Sylvia agreed. "I wish there had been something simr much earlier. It will bring those together who desperately need to be surrounded and supported." Sylvia''s voice started to waiver, and she looked back down into the dough she was mixing.


    "It will also be a good ce to receive reiki or other alternative forms of wellness," Greta added. "Did Graeme say when they would start on it?"


    "There is a lot happening at the moment, but it is a priority when things settle," Charlotte replied.


    "I thought it was a great idea, too. I went through some things in my teen years that were… traumatic," August started to exin, "and it would have been such a huge help to have a ce like that to go to be with others. With humans at least, it seems like everyone avoids the subject of what you are going through if it makes them feel ufortable. But then it makes you feel that much more lonely."


    "It is like that here, as well," Charlotte spoke those wise, measured words of hers that were always so aware and weing and calm. "Particrly when it has to do with the loss of our alyko."


    August and Greta''s eyes met, and they both seemed to wonder if Charlotte would reveal the information about the fae, the elders, and the possibility of the alyko still being alive. It was an unspoken agreement that they would wait for Graeme''s n to unfold tomorrow. But Charlotte moved on.


    "What has our Luna had to deal with alone?" Charlotte asked.


    August felt all of the blood drain from her face in an instant. "Uh… my step father. He was abusive to my mother and just cruel in general," she said quickly, avoiding the event that she had truly been referring to. It wasn''t a lie, but it wasn''t the extent of her truth either.


    She felt their eyes on her as she added more chocte chips to her bowl. They knew she wasn''t telling them something. Even Sage''s attention hade to rest on her in curiosity. But that wasn''t something she would ever tell them. They would certainly think less of her, their Luna, if they knew.


    "Did Graeme pay him a visit while he was offnd?" Greta chuckled as she pressed the pie crusts into miniature pans.


    August raised her eyes to stare nkly at Greta. She had never asked him if he saw n. She just assumed that he would have mentioned it, because that would have been a big deal. But the conversation with Penelope had so many huge revtions, it overshadowed everything else he might have ryed to her otherwise. Hopefully he didn''t meet n.


    Then again, Graeme did say he was shot… August''s face paled even more. Why hadn''t she gotten the details of that? With everything else that happened in such quick session after he returned, she never thought toe back to the subject to ask him how it had urred. He was fine, and she was fine after the bear attack, and they just kind of left it at that. She didn''t want him fussing over her, so at the time she had given him the same consideration—somehow believing the injury to be rted to his wolf form. But now she wondered about it, and the worry began to carve itself deeper into her stomach. What had happened? Why was he hurt?


    When there was no answer to Greta''s question, she looked up and met August''s confused expression. "It just seems like something he would do. I can''t imagine him letting anyone off the hook who hurt you."


    August''s mouth fell open as the realization hit her—the truth of Greta''s words. What had likely happened. She was suddenly so sure of it.. He had gone after those two guys who had raped her.