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

It didn't matter that the sky was a backdrop of doom and despair, barren of colour and bleeding tempests of blackened ash.

It didn't matter that the air was virulent and malevolent, so dry that every inhale seemed to strip the flesh from the inside of my nose and the back of my throat, burning as though transforming to bleach once inhaled.

It didn't matter that the sounds that resonated through the air, the kind that withered a soul and instilled fear into even the bravest of warriors, surrounded us like a wild orchestra.

It didn't matter. None of it. Not the powder-piled ground, nor the violent cold.

There was one thing that mattered. One. Only one.

Chapter115