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 were often silly bad dreams, like Jon was being mean and told him that he couldn't have another cookie, or Clarke wasn't going to let him see the rabbit that he had been promising to bring over for the last few weeks.

Sometimes, however, they were the real deal. Sometimes, he would wake up with tears streaming down his face, and either cry until I went to check on him, or clamber into my bed with the grace of an uncoordinated elephant. Those dreams were the real scary ones. The kind with monsters and beasts . . . and me.

His last bad dream, which had been the same night I had experienced my own horrific nightmare, had been about me. I had left him, alone and scared, even while he cried and said 'come back', apparently, and said that the monsters could have him.

Chapter51