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

/"I got dis many of dem,/" Lumen was saying, his bright eyes lost in child-like wonder as he shoved his coins in my face. /"I give daddy one and Jojo one and hammy the hammy-ster./"

And even though he was rattling off a foot-long list of nonsense, and even though I had been forced to listen to every excruciating detail of his stay at the Lavoe manor, the smallest of things turned into the most epic of adventures when he relayed it, I found myself hanging on to his every word. His mouth was going faster than his mind could keep up, and despite having run out of things to tell me, and having shifted his attention to his treasure grove, he showed no inclination of slowing down any time soon.

I think in any other circumstances, it would have irritated the shit out of me.

But then again, these weren't exactly normal circumstances, and as I gazed down at the body that was curled against mine, something dawned on me.

Chapter62