The night was still and cold, the only sound the steady crunch of leaves beneath their feet as Cass and Jamee walked in silence back to the mansion.
It was beautiful under the moon, silver light and sleepy stars hanging above an otherwise eerie forest. Cass's wolf blood still thrummed beneath her skin from the run, the pull of the full moon singing in her veins, but her thoughts were too tangled in guilt and worry to enjoy it.
She glanced at Jamee from the corner of her eye. He was walking at a normal pace, much slower than they could have been moving if they ran, but Cass didn't question it. She knew, deep down, that he was trying to cling to the remnants of his humanity—trying to hold on to the person he had been before Uriel turned him. So she walked beside him, step for step, even though she wanted to run. It felt... right to stay by his side in this moment.
