The full moon had been a blessing. Though the pack’s activities had been significantly dampened by Lotti and Kyle’s absence, spending the entire night in his wolf form with his family had done August an astounding amount of good. When he woke up this morning, he felt mentally refreshed in a way that no amount of sleep had ever been able to give him. That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t still anxious about his siblings, or enraged that meddling faeries would have pulled this stunt for entertainment’s sake, but just that he was better able to cope with it all. Had he not been forced to shift, there was no telling how much longer he could have withstood the stress without breaking.
Despite his family’s personal trials, there was still pack business that had to be taken care of. There was still Cat, a new wolf to Scarlet Oak, out there somewhere for him to think about. He could only sit back and be patient, hoping that if she decided to come to a pack, she would choose to return to the Summers’ property. It wasn’t that August had anything against Mason, or any of the others in the Normandin pack. They were an entity in and of themselves, but he had it on good authority that they didn’t cater to outsiders as often as the Summers did. August’s pack was like an Ellis Island to all the wolves out there who were alone or newly bitten and confused, and he liked it that way. That was why he always made it his personal business to meet with wolves who had been recently turned in the area. It wasn’t so easy before the Light of May to find new wolves. Sometimes, they had to wait until something more dire happened (like an accidental death) before they were able to find them. Now, the pack had the Ballard House.
Jo had mentioned a newly turned wolf (as in, he was bitten only a matter of days ago) that had come to the safe haven the night of the full moon. He’d had a lot of questions and, though he knew Jo would have answered them all, August thought that he might could benefit from a visit with an Alpha. After some investigating, which had honestly only consisted of a call to the hospital for any reports of animal attacks that had been ruled as “were”, he’d found his target: Henry Westphal. He even worked in the hospital.
After ten minutes of walking through the maze of corridors, August finally found the man named Henry. He could practically smell the ‘new wolf’ sent on him from yards away. “Hi, Henry?” August stepped forward and extended his hand. “My name’s August. August Summers. I’m the Alpha of the Summers pack.” He stopped himself for a moment, not really wanting to sound like he was revving himself up for a recruitment speech. “You met my sister at Ballard House last night. She said you had a lot of questions and I thought I’d come by and talk to you.” To be fair, August had come at a moderately bad time -- some people weren’t comfortable talking about their turn at work, Light of May or no. However, in his defense, he felt that the hospital offered a nice neutral ground and wouldn’t have made Henry feel as cornered as showing up to his house would have.