The Littlest Light

#Chapter15-02

#Chapter15-02

"See moneys ana lelly," Lumen tried to inform me, wiggling forward in his seat until his body was pressed between the two front ones. Gripping his head in my hand, I pushed back until he stumbled backwards, his ass hitting the seat. A loud gasp sounded, and his bottom lip began to wobble, as he turned to Jonathan, as though to make sure that he had seen.

"Don't be mean, Sterling," Jonathan chastised, patting the kid on the back.

"Put your seatbelt on," I instructed the kid, before turning to Jonathan. "What did it even say?"

"Him," my Beta corrected. "He's a him, not an it. And he was trying to tell you that he saw monkeys and elephants."

"Looking at you," I shot back as I razzed up the engine, feeling the car, a blacked-out Land Rover, because the R8 didn't have back seats, purr to life, "I can see the monkey part. Where do the elephants come into it?"

Taking his time answering, fixing Lumen's seatbelt and pulling the blanket that he had bought for him earlier, a white sheet splattered in yellow ducks, over his lap. "In his storybook. I read it to him while you were gone. It's about a zoo."

"How the f**k are you doing this?" I asked. "Playing pretend with that thing?"

"Him," Jonathan corrected firmly. "And like you said, he's just a baby, even if he doesn't look like one. I've got plenty of nieces and nephews, so I'm used to it."

"The nephew of yours, the one that's supposed to be getting information from Asher, has he got anything?"

Shaking his head, Jonathan fixed his own seatbelt, making no move to jump into the shotgun seat. Lumen seemed to appreciate that, letting his head fall onto him as he sucked on the corner of his blanket. "Jacob said that Asher's been quite. Nothing to report."

"Stupid f*****g kid," I grumbled, throwing the big piece of machinery into reverse.

"Hey, he's still my nephew," Jonathan defended. "And he's trying his best."

A snort accompanied my reply. "Well, obviously his best isn't good enough."

Jacob, or whatever the kid's name was, had been meant to infiltrate and gain information. It had been suspected that he had been trying to target cubs, those under eighteen, and still considered minors in every way, in attempts to brainwash them into joining his cause once they came of age. I had taken precautions and sent ordered investigations, but had never gained a slither of proof. Jonathan had sworn by his nephew, and as he had only just turned eighteen himself, he figured Asher would have allowed him to get close so he could act as a spy.

"Where do you want dropping?" I asked him when he didn't respond. "You heading to the bar, or home?"

"The bar," the Beta wolf said. "Everyone is in one place, so it will make it easier to give a run-down report and stuff. Besides, my car is still at yours, so I can get Clarke to drop me off to get it later on."

Heading back in the direction I had came, Jonathan's drop off didn't take too much time. I watched him head up to the place I had just left. I watched as pack members called out greetings. Well-liked, it was not all that surprising. He had been in competition with Peter Lang for place of William Asher's Beta before I had taken over the pack, and because of that, it had gained him popularity and favour. Some, like Asher and Lang, and all the other little sheep that threw their lot in with him, resented Jonathan for staying on as my Beta and pledging his loyalty to me, but most still respected him.

I had asked him why he had been so willing to become my second. I had considered that perhaps it was because of the years in which we had already known himself, but Jonathan had only shrugged and said that it was just the way that it was.

I didn't question it further.

By the time home came into view twenty minutes later, the stone walls that birthed an automatic gate swinging open, providing a long, clear path for me to drive down, Lumen had managed to make a pain of himself. Having wiggled out of his seatbelt, he had lay himself flat against the seat, kicked his shoes and socks off, and had stuck his legs up high enough that he could 'walk' over the ceiling. And the little devil actually had the audacity to laugh at me when I had opened the back doors to get him out.

Shouting had already proved to be an ineffective tool when it came to the boy. It ended in tears and pity parties, and I found myself simply unequipped to deal with that. Instead, gathering the items that he had strewn around my backseats, I jabbed a finger at him, ordering him out of the car. We had only managed a few steps towards the house when the first problem arose.

"Ouchie," Lumen squealed loudly. Brows drawn together, lower lip wobbling as he poked a finger at the gravelled path, he looked up at me, eyes rimmed with tears. "Star, ouchie."

It wasn't hard to see what the problem was. He had lifted his bare foot up, and embedded into the sole were half a dozen tiny bricks. But sympathy for idiots fell in the same category as my need to cure world hunger: it ceased to exist.

"Tough tit," was all I said. "You shouldn't have taken your shoes off."

"Lumen ouchie," the boy protested, a whine riding the back of his tone as he threw his arms up in the air after placing his foot back down. His fingers opened and closed, beckoning me closer. "Star, uppy?"

Perhaps I had been spending too much time with him, because his words seemed a lot easier to understand than they had this morning. But even still, his words were f*****g stupid, and soooo not happening.

"Well, that's not happening."