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

Salvation came in the form of strawberry milkshake.

Hours compiled into what had become a tedious journey, seemingly no closer to our goal than when we had first set out, Lumen's patience had worn to a close. Bitching and moaning, whining with every breath he had taken, the boy had eventually thrown himself onto the powdered ground, weeping tears of anguish, shouts of frustration bubbling past his cracked, parched lips.

It was whilst I stood at an internal dilemma, conflicted between scolding him or comforting, that everything changed. Not slowly. Not subtlety, but all at once.

The tart air, pungent and acidic, halted its attack, wind ceasing and the relentless, plummeting temperature evening out. The distant screams and howls that cursed the air like psychotic choirboys diminished, creating a wall of silence, as though the world had caught in-between one breath and the next.

Chapter118