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

They stared back at me through the mirror, dark and unblinking; they held the same unnerving coldness that his had, but now they seemed to bear something more.

It was an emotion of which was a stranger to me. I had always been sure that I was making the right choice, even if it had turned out to be the wrong one. My father had raised me to believe that I only had one goal; there had never been anything else. Once I had achieved that goal, there had never been any time for doubt.

/"Tell me I'm being an idiot, Jon,/" I muttered, my dark eyes rolling in the mirror to where he stood behind me, his large form leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom door.

Chapter29