Chapter 6: Early Heat

Emmett crossed the yard and stopped ten feet away.

He was breathing through his mouth.

"Don't come closer," I said. "I don't know what this is."

"I do." His voice was rough. "Hold on. Hey! Both of you, behind the shed. Now."

The broad man and the lanky woman went, fast, without arguing.

Emmett turned his back on me and put his hands on his head.

"That's a mate fever," he said to the cedar trees. "My mother had it with my father. It doesn't come on a wolf unless the bond is waking."

"I don't have a bond."

"Then someone's got one with you, and it's calling you from the south."

My knees gave a little.

I sat down on the porch step, and the wood was cool, and I pressed my hot cheek to the post.

"Who is it?" I said.

"Not my business." He still hadn't turned around. "But I can guess who stood on my border with his hand on his chest."

I shut my eyes.

"The nearest wolf doctor is at the Ashmoor clinic," he said. "I can drive you."

"No."

"Ada."

"I am not walking into that pack house like this. Not to him."

"Then it's a cold creek and a locked door," he said. "It breaks in a day or two, or it doesn't. I'll keep the others off the porch."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." He glanced over his shoulder, once, and looked away so fast it was almost funny. "Just try not to scent the whole mountain."

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