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

Oliver Branch did not look happy. Then again, Lumen had just decided to turn his entire stock into a seemingly never-ending supply of 'pink shake-shake'.

And whilst my little terror was happy, his legs swinging as he sat on the sticky surface, messily chugging back a pint glass of the pink stuff, the barman glared at my boy, ignoring the way that I glowered at him in return.

/"I only just had a shipment in,/" Oliver grumbled angrily, wise enough to keep from directly scolding Lumen, but dumb enough to think that whining would get him anywhere but on my nerves. His shrewd gaze flicked over to where the bottles of liquor lined the dusty back shelf behind him, the contents replaced by the same pink shit that Lumen was tipping all down himself. /"Just yesterday. And now I'm about to have a bar full, and all I have to serve them is this?/"

Chapter72