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

If nowhere was a destination, it was where I was heading.

Around and around, along the gloomy, unlit backstreets, and through thick blankets of silvery fog that blindsided the scenery around us, I drove.

Fast enough to try and outrun the wild cantering of my heart, but slow enough that Lumen remained upright and safe in the back, there was no destination in mind. Anywhere. Everywhere. Nowhere. It didn't matter to me. The same streets had already been passed twice, my route one of pointless little circles.

But so long as the car was in motion and heading nowhere specific, it prevented me from making a choice.

Around and around, and almost half a tank lighter than when we had left the Lavoe manor, I was painfully aware that I couldn't put it off forever. That at some point, fuel would drain to the point that a choice would become necessary, or Jonathan would grow impatient and make the choice for me.

Chapter65