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

/"What do we do?/" I asked quietly, glancing over at Jonathan to make sure that he was seeing the same thing I was.

His face was a picture of shock; jaw slack and eyes bugging, he could only stare down at the boy in stunned silence.

Lumen, the little shit, was lying on his back on the living room floor making 'twinklies'.

The light above him flickered, becoming so bright that it was almost blinding every time he flicked his clenched fist open, fingers wiggling, and then dimming once more every time they closed back into a fist. He was using his Winnie the Pooh as a pillow and he wore only a pair of joggers, his torso coated in pink squiggles from where he had been left unattended with a felt tip.

/"He's... a wizard?/" Jonathan said after watching Lumen act out his newfound trick a few more times.

Chapter33