Chapter 7: Fever

On the twelfth night, Hazel was called away to a birth on the far side of the territory.

While she was gone, the fever came back.

It started in my hands, and by midnight it was in my teeth.

My wolf paced inside me and clawed at the bond, begging for the other end of it.

I got out of bed and went down to the lake in my nightgown.

The water was the only cold thing I could find.

I waded in to my waist and stood there shaking.

The moon was a thin crescent over the far shore.

My skin felt too tight.

Behind me on the shore, a branch cracked.

"Ivy."

I didn't turn around.

"Go away, Ronan."

"The cabin door was open." His voice was rough.

"I went in, and you weren't there. I broke the clause. I know I broke it."

"Then call it."

"Call it tomorrow." He was already walking into the water in his boots. "Tonight you're burning."

"I'm fine."

"You're a hundred and four."

"How would you know?"

"Because I can feel it in my own hands."

He reached me and stopped, half an arm's length away, with the lake running down his jeans.

He did not touch me.

"Clause three," he said. "Tell me what to do."

I wanted to say go.

My knees buckled instead, and my wolf howled inside my chest.

What came out of my mouth was a small, ugly sound.

"Cold," I said. "Please. I'm so hot."

His hands came around me before I'd finished the word.

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