"I'm sorry I had to involve you in this. There is something that came out after the brawl and I need more information."
"How am I supposed to get it? We don't make a cute couple as you might've noticed," Ashley seemed very irritated and didn't want to continue that conversation.
"You don't have to get the information for me - I'll do that myself. I just need you to persuade him to contact me first. I need him to trust me."
"Good luck with that," she smirked and crossed her arms on her chest.
"You were the one who told him about the marks," Augustus continued despite her being clearly unimpressed by his plans. "You could tell him how to get rid of them as well. Please."
"Can't you just send him an article or something? All these teen magazines are now online, you know."
"He should approach me out of his own will. Please, just this one time."
"You said the same thing last time. I don't want to be a part of your "who's the alpha" games. Besides, how would that help you gain his trust? Did you involve his mate in this as well?"
"I did," he answered after a pause.
"How many more people are you going to drag into this?! What do you even want to achieve?"
"Believe me, he is not the right person to lead the wolves of this town."
"What makes you think you're any better?"
Ashley was losing her patience and swang her arms angrily, accidentally knocking down the nearby boxes. The documents fell out and were now scattered on the floor. They both squatted and started collecting the files back into the boxes.
"I'm sorry," Augustus said and looked at Ashley. "I shouldn't have involved you in the first place. I know you still have feelings for him but you've seen how he disregards and manipulates people yourself."
"And so do you. Why should I help you then?"
"Because I'm your family and I actually care for your well-being as well as the future of this community."
"Yet you were the one who convinced me he had something for me and I should go talk to him the night of the mating ceremony. How convenient it was for you to ask him to the alpha brawl immediately after."
"It wasn't like that."
"Then what was that?"
"Since my arguments and attempts to discourage you from seeing him didn't work, I thought he could show you himself."
"That is not how any of this works. You can't just throw people in these situations and hope for the best."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
"Didn't know what? Didn't know what mutual interest is supposed to look like? How would you know it, if you've spent the last fifteen years in a closet?"
They both suddenly went silent and looked at each other. Ashley was shocked she said that aloud and felt immediate guilt. She reached out to Augustus and put her hand over his.
"Hey… I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said this."
"It's fine," he replied briskly without meaning it. "I made you say that."
They collected all the documents from the floor and put the boxes back in their place in silence. Ashley didn't want to leave the room like this and stepped closer to Augustus. She hesitated for a moment and then hugged him.
"I don't know what your plan is but it better be good. I'll talk to Lucas and try to convince him to contact you."
"Thank you," he gave her a weak smile as she stepped away.
"Can you tell me one thing in return? I want to know who his fated mate is."
"Me," Augustus answered at once. If anyone, she deserved to know, he thought.
Ashley smirked as if he told her an anecdote. She glanced at him but he seemed not to be joking.
"Wait, is that true?"
He nodded and looked away. Her face instantly went pale and she leaned on the shelf nearby. A few moments passed, and Augustus could not take the silence any longer.
"Please say something," he asked, making a step toward her.
"I don't think there is anything to say," she finally answered, looking up at him. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I didn't want to make it more complicated than it already is. Besides, we are going to break the connection once we find an astral spellcaster."
"So you don't like him?"
"I don't."
Ashley let out a sigh of relief.
"Good. That would be very awkward. Alright, now that I understand the situation better, I can actually stop crying over both of you. I'll go get something to drink and then talk to Lucas, I guess."
"I'll join you in a moment."
Ashley nodded and left the room, leaving Augustus to sort out the old newspapers and archive documents that they gathered from the floor. Those were probably the ones with unconfirmed dates or missing sources, he thought. The town hall clerks must have put them aside from already processed articles.
He quickly went through the old pages while sorting out the mess. Most of them wrote about minor events such as a discount at the local diner or a school charity fair. However, a few of them caught Augustus's attention - there was a handful of newspaper articles that looked more recent, around fifteen-twenty years old, that talked about seemingly unrelated disappearances of people in the nearby area. It wouldn't normally stick to him - they live in a town at the forest edge, hidden by a magic field, and people get lost in these woods all the time, but eventually find a way back. What made it unusual is one of those articles featuring an unsolved disappearance of a teenage werewolf. There was a picture of the boy printed along with the article and he seemed very familiar to Augustus, yet he couldn't remember ever knowing him. Augustus looked at the photo for a while longer, then took all the similar articles out of the boxes and put them in an empty file holder to bring with him.