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

/"Star?/" Sleep glazed the boy's eyes, refusing to be blinked away, clinging to his expression even as Lumen balled his hands into fists and pawed at his eyes.

/"Lumen,/" I said quietly, shifting so that my own body lifted into a sitting position. /"Are you okay, rat?/"

Lumen had been sick for the last three days. Between burning up and vomiting, as well as releasing other bodily fluids in which I had wanted no part in cleaning, he had seemed to decline greatly, almost to the point that I had let Jonathan persuade me to call in a doctor. I hadn't; the boy, as I predicted, got better on his own.

It wasn't cruel. Nature just weeded out the weak, and though those had been my father's words spilling from my mouth, I hadn't been able to bring myself to oppose them until I was faced with no other choice.

Chapter41