He shrugged his shoulders, his face showing his accepted defeat. "You can't blame a guy for trying." August gave his best attempt at keeping his face from taking on a grim tone as he looked over Venus's bruised face. Her mocking, silly face did help him manage a small smile though. "Stunning, really." His tone was jokingly sarcastic, but he meant it. In all the years that he had known Venus, he couldn't image a single moment when she didn't manage to take his breath away with how beautiful she was.
There was tension amongst the pack when it came to Venus and Trent. August would never admit it out loud or to himself, but it was due in large part to him. He was the one that gave the final say for what was right and wrong, what would be accepted and what wouldn't, and he had been the one to disapprove of their relationship. It was easy to pass it off as his unwavering opinion that wolves should stick to their own kind, at least when it came to mating, but there was more to it than that. Dating Venus had been one thing, choosing her for a mate had been unforgivable. Any chance he got, August's mind went to places, dark places, where he would rather they didn't. He didn't want to hate his brother, but jealousy made it hard not to. Because of this, because of his adamant disapproval of their relationship, there were those in his pack that would refuse Venus's help on the sheer principle that it was Venus offering it. "Favor, huh?" August smiled warmly. He would never tell her to her face that it was his fault she needed to win favor points in the first place. "I'll be sure to tell them. I'm sure it couldn't hurt to have you come by a meeting soon." It was a hefty invitation. August didn't make it a habit of inviting non-pack members to their meetings; in fact, Venus had been the only person.
He paused a moment. "How's Trent doing? I mean, I know he's fine but..." A long time ago, probably around the time that Trent and Venus started dating, the two brothers stopped talking to each other about anything beyond the superficial. Maybe they had never really been that close to begin with, but that didn't stop him from wondering what was going through his head from time to time. August wasn't sure what made him want to know now; whether it was an earnest desire to make sure he was okay, or a suspicion that Trent would have handled things differently if he had been Alpha.