In the silvery waterfall of moonlight, Jonathan Aztec, my second in command, holding rank as Beta of the Northridge pack, was something to behold. His powerful shoulders seemed to carry the waning gibbous, and the shadows that devoured the vast grounds of Battleridge manor granted him a wide berth.
He was a superior specimen. He was a male worthy of the ranking he'd been bestowed. But like all creatures, he wasn't born perfect, and his character flaw was a fault that bled out into the night like a severed artery: Concern.
It charged the air between us, a thick blanket that settled against the lungs like a boa-constrictor's loving embrace.
"What did you find?" I asked. The perverse silence that had entombed the dilapidated courtyard, screaming so loud it rang through my ears like a twisted lullaby, was shattered upon his approach. His boots smacked against the waterlogged ground, echoing in a way that spoke of his failures before he'd even opened his mouth. 
"Nothing,"
.......
"Until I can figure out what's going on, nobody finds out about the boy. Understand?"
"Understood."
"You're not going to ..." The pause that followed dragged out. "He's just a baby, Sterling."
"You're dismissed."

The Littlest Light

While I didn't disregard his concern, as the wild scent chase had been driving me nuts for months, I did have concerns. Lumen's scent was . . . peculiar. It was in no way the same as the one we were chasing, but it held a similar element in the fact that it didn't seem to linger. Once he was out of a room for more than half an hour, it was hard to pick up on it. After two hours, it was as good as impossible.

It had made going back to the base site where we had found the kid, and tracking the path he had followed to get there, next to impossible.

It wouldn't have been unreasonable to assume that the two mysterious elements were somehow related to one another as oppose to coincidental.

/"Clarke,/" Jonathan offered. /"He's your Delta. He's loyal to you, Sterling. Give the kid a chance./"

Chapter22