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

The inside of my skull felt as though a marching band had stomped a number on it, and the thin flames that picked apart the darkness, offering a scarce but trickle-fed glow to the room, stabbed at my eyes with the force of daggers.

/"Little wolf king,/" a familiar voice husked, the sound beating away at the ringing that reverberated throughout my eardrums. /"I can feel your despair from here. It would drown villages./"

Breathing hurt. Moving hurt. Everything hurt.

Blinking hard, squinting and struggling, my surroundings slowly began to bleed back into focus. It was a recognisable scenery, a place that tugged at the banks of my memory; I knew I had been here before, but like a dream after waking from a deep slumber, the closer I came to obtaining the information, the faster it seemed to slip away.

Chapter107