Chapter 223: Soul Cakes Part 1

There was a collective gasp when August walked into the kitchen where the rest of Sylvia's sacred circle of females was already gathered, preparing to bake soul cakes. She stood there with a shy smile, holding Sage's hand as Sylvia, Greta, and Charlotte followed in behind her.

One by one, the other females slowly started to approach her as if they feared she were an apparition. Agnes advanced on her left, a soft grin on her face as she gently touched August's arm. Liv and Raya were staggered behind her, Raya's expression quickly turning emotional and watery when she drew her trembling hands up to her mouth in surprise. Vera was bouncing up and down excitedly with a high-pitched girly squeal.

"Thank the Goddess," Ethel whispered at August's right. "You carry his heir."

"It is breathtaking to behold. I never imagined…"

"Our true Luna."

"Goddess! This is so exciting!"

So much emotion was pulsating in this space that August's stomach flipped with how overwhelming it all was. She could feel the expectations and excitement and awe—all focused on her, all pressing in to surround her in order to see her closer and touch her glowing skin.

She loved these females, but she did not love this stifling form of attention when it was accompanied by such an intense swell of emotions. Their expectation and hope was now thick and palpable in the air, and it pulled on her as if each of them had a small, invisible string that attached to her chest.

How would she be able to handle the expectations of the whole pack tomorrow if she was feeling overwhelmed by her friends?

Little Sage squeezed her hand. 'Usually Alpha would help balance this energy, Luna. But Luna needs to to do it instead. Be both Alpha and Luna.'

'How do I do that?' she thought, and somehow Sage seemed to hear her.

'Become larger.'

August almost giggled with the suggestion from him, because becoming larger physically is what it sounded like he was suggesting. But he meant that her own energy needed to balance that which was overwhelming her.

"It's so nice to finally see all of you again," she exclaimed, tugging back on those little invisible strings that it felt like they had been pulling on. "Graeme and I are very excited, too. It was a huge surprise. No one told me that I would have all of this going on, though," she chuckled, gesturing down the length of herself to her glowing form.

They all went quiet as she spoke, the silent happiness still visible on each of their faces, but they were holding it closer to themselves, tucking that joy and hope into their hearts and letting it illuminate them from the inside rather than flooding her as it had.

"This kitchen is breathtaking," August changed the subject and admired their surroundings. She had been in here only briefly before, and it was dark. Now there was waning daylight shining in, making it clear how huge the kitchen truly was.

"Oh, thank you, dear. Agnes loves to bake, and I love to cook, so the kitchen really became the focal point of our home," Ethel explained, backing up as she did to let August walk further in and appreciate it.

Rich wood floors ran the length of the kitchen toward a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors that let in the brilliant greens from the backyard. Light grey walls were offset by white cabinets with open shelves that displayed beautiful stacks of dishes and baking supplies—glass containers labeled with flour; white, brown, and powdered sugars; different pastas; baking powder; and pretty much anything you could think of needing.

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The kitchen island that August approached was extraordinarily long, which reminded her of the picnic table in the backyard that had seated them all just a few weeks ago. There were black countertops and stools, and the island had a sink in the center where whomever was cooking or baking at the time could visit with guests seated at the island.

"You love to entertain," August noted. That is what this space said. These females cherished being surrounded by friends and family.

"Entertain? You mean you are entertained by the design?" Ethel's head tilted to the side as if she didn't understand the meaning.

"Oh, I mean that you love to have people over to visit and prepare dishes for," she explained.

"Oh yes, we sure do," her face brightened, and there were hums and chuckles of agreement.

"This is the party house," Liv giggled, approaching the island to sit as well.

Everyone seemed to relax, their attention no longer solely on the glow of August's skin, although some gazes lingered in silent appreciation.

"We were about to get started," Agnes piped up, walking around to the other side of the island where she could retrieve all the ingredients that they were needing. "Have you ever heard of soul cakes, August?"

"No, I haven't. Are they little individual cakes?" she asked, offering Sage a hand as he climbed up the stool next to her.

"They can really be anything you want, but the traditional recipe is more of a scone or a biscuit than a cake, so you will see a lot of those at the festival tomorrow. But we have made it a custom to make more specific desserts that honor the memories of our loved ones. My brother loved spiced cake when he was alive, so I make a spiced cake with cream cheese frosting. Ethel's mother loved lemon cookies," Agnes explained.

"She sure did," Ethel chuckled.

"So that is what Ethel makes," Agnes smiled affectionately at her partner.

"Dad didn't really like sweets," Greta said as she approached the island, "but mom loved all different kinds of pie. So I usually make a different flavor of miniature pie each year instead of the traditional soul cakes."

All the females began sharing the special desserts that their loved ones enjoyed and that they had chosen to honor them with. Many were strange flavors that August had never heard, which reminded her of Mama May's menu of pizzas (though she was relieved to hear there would be no desserts featuring squirrel). Raya was making asiago lemon thyme shortbread; Liv olive oil, rosemary, and salted dark chocolate chunk cookies; Vera miniature pumpkin cheesecakes; Sylvia caramel apple oatmeal cookies; and Charlotte honey lavender cookies.

"Wow, I see why you need all of this space!" August exclaimed, impressed with the ambitious number of projects that would be all be going on at one time.

"We stay up most of the night," Liv laughed.

"Yeah, the space definitely isn't an issue, but sharing the ovens can be," Sylvia's rolled her eyes and then smiled.

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