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

My mother had been pregnant with me when it had happened. The story as to why changed with each re-telling my father told, but one fact remained clear: to survive, I had to do whatever necessary.

Every scar that coated my body, every time I bled or screamed beneath the force of a lesson, it wasn't my father's fault. It had been the Northridge pack's Alpha's. He was the reason I had to become who I was.

So if Jonathan was looking for somebody to blame, he could follow the stream where I had dumped the man whose place I had taken, a curse so his soul could never rest, and take it up with him.

I waited for him to snap out of his silly little game. To grow a shred of reason within that thick head of his. Instead, he only smiled. It was tight and forced, and completely without humour, but it was a smile nevertheless.

Chapter58