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

/"Would take too long,/" I murmured. The closer we had gotten, the larger the city had seemed. To the left and right, it created a solid wall, past the edges of our vision, making it so the only way through was via the sunken city itself. /"Wasn't it only a few hours ago that we were worried about water?/"

/"How ironic,/" Cyrus muttered. /"But that shit don't look right. I ain't drinking that./"

We had only taken a few steps into the burnt down empire, the buildings still seeming to smoke and smoulder, and whilst the ones that were closest to the dessert we had spent the day walking through seemed relatively untouched, the deeper in, the worse the damage.

/"This one here,/" I muttered, pointing to a dome-shaped building, roof caved-in and door ripped from its hindges. The outside looked as though it had been left in the oven for eight-hours past its cook by time. /"We'll use it./"

Chapter120