“Aveline?” Charles’s voice cut through the roar of adrenaline just in time. I shoved my rising wolf back into her cage and threw my arms around my stunned friend’s neck. She wrapped in the warmest, tightest hug I’d ever felt, whispering, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
My stomach twisted into a knot remembering my promise to run away with her tonight. She had to have been so worried… and I had just forgotten.
“Me too,” I admitted, burying my face in her damp shoulder. “Me too, Charles.”
Rain pelted 125th Street, turning the asphalt into a shimmering black river I wanted to float away on with my friends. I started to pull away from Charles to greet Arian and Thalia, whose dumbstruck energy I could feel crackling on either side of me, but one of the doors creaked open, and Charles’s
