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“I searched a number of things, but ‘summer fever in werecreatures’ pulled up the answer. Avery is about to go into…” She hesitates, which is unusual considering her normal crisp confidence. “Avery is starting his heat cycle.”

That gets Avery to bolt upright in bed. “I’m what?!”

Petra grimaces. “The werevirus influences the host’s endocrine system to force them into a state of intense, often unbearable arousal. Symptoms include fever, cramps, disorientation, poor impulse control, et cetera. The goal is to enable the spread of the virus, as heat and humidity increase the chances of successfully infecting a victim. There’s no cure, and relief from symptoms can only be achieved by a significant spike in the host’s oxytocin and dopamine levels.” She clears her throat. “This is best achieved through sex. Which is to say, inhibitions are reduced enough to incite behavior with a higher chance of transmitting the werevirus.”

All pleasant sensation flees Avery, leaving him feeling scared and hollow. “Are you sure?” he croaks, pretending his voice is rough due to disuse, not because of the lump forming in his throat.

“Of course I’m sure.” There’s an edge to Petra’s tone. “I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.”

Avery rubs his chest absently, vision going blurry. “I don’t want to… Notthat.”

Because something just clicked.

Melissa’s inhibitions had been lowered at the summer party that would change his life forever. She’d explained it was due to the werevirus, but the full details had slid over Avery like a splash of oily parking lot water. Trying to spread when the infection rate was highest, via direct bodily contact. All that squirming and sweating…

He and Melissa had been careful. No kissing, and they didn’t touch without barriers. Latex gloves for fingering, dental dams for oral, and Avery put condoms on his dildos when using a strap. He hadn’t worried about her being awerecreature because Melissa had been so adamant about safety.

Until she wasn’t.

Melissa shouldn’t have been fucking a human while her inhibitions were lowered, but Avery couldn’t have known that. He had thought she’d taken ecstasy, since he’d turned down his own offer. Fitting a condom over his fingers, Avery had gotten to work, enjoying her moaning beneath him. That’s when things went quickly sideways. Melissa came, clutching Avery’s shoulders, and before he could ease away, a hot, sharp pain exploded in the crook of his neck. Melissa’s teeth. She’d bitten him.

Confirming the werevirus infection at the hospital. Losing his job and being thrown out by his superstitious family. Melissa’s pointless apologies, during which she promised he could join her pack. His first full moon shift, so painful and terrifying he begged any deity capable of listening to remove him from the mortal coil.

For a moment, lying on the pavement covered in his own blood, body huge and unfamiliar, Avery thought they were going to answer him. But he didn’t die. He’d still been there in the morning, naked and sprinkled with dark hair—the only thing left to confirm his shift wasn’t just a drug-induced hallucination.

Sascha murmurs Avery’s name, drawing him out of the memory. He attempts to stroke his shoulder, but Avery flinches away.

“I can’t do this,” he grits out through clenched teeth. “There has to be another reason.”

Petra’s voice remains neutral, professional, but her expression is pained when she says, “I’m sorry, Avery. Maybe future research on the werevirus will reveal ways to manage or suppress the symptoms, but for now, nothing can be done.”

Avery rakes his hands down his face. “So I’ll just lose the ability to use reason for anything but sex? I won’t care about who might be affected?” He’s not going to break down. He’snot. “Seriously, I can’t. I refuse to hurt anyone that way. I’dneverdo what… what she did to…”Me, he can’t finish saying. Just like that, his eyes are brimming with tears.

It takes a beat longer for Sascha to figure it out, realization hitting him just after Petra.

“Avery,” he whispers, painfully gentle. “Is that what happened to you?”

Pawing at his eyes, Avery shakes his head to deny it, but the confirmation comes out anyway, as if he’s being puppeted by a second, stronger will. “Melissa. She… didn’t tell me. We were at a party; I just thought she was rolling. Then we… And she bit me, right at the end.” Fat tears spill down Avery’s cheeks.

“Did you know she was a werecreature?” asks Petra.

Avery nods. “She was adamant about proper prophylactic use, so I trusted her.”

“Why did you risk it, though?”

Even though Sascha probably doesn’t mean harm by the question, angry fire takes up residence in Avery’s throat, burning away the pressure that had been choking him. “Irisked itbecause werecreatures are fuckingpeople, not walking plague-spreaders. I’m not angry at Melissa for being a werecreature. I’m angry because I treated her like a person, and she treated me like an acceptable casualty. And then… My parents kicked me out. Melissa promised her were-pack would take me in, but when that fucking piece of shit were-fox saw I was also an alpha, he ran me out of the goddamn state.”

“Way to give foxes a bad name,” Petra mutters.

Seeing Avery’s briefly confused look, Sascha explains, “Petra’s a fox shifter.”

“I don’t give a single rotten fuck what kind of shifter Petra is. No offense,” he adds, glancing in her direction. “Thisfox was threatened by me, even though I never wanted to take over anyone’s pack. I didn’t even know how to want that back then. I only ever—” A sob breaks through, grief splintering in all directions, and even folding his hands over his face fails to conceal the jagged edges. “I onlyeverwanted to not be alone.”

This time, when Sascha reaches out, Avery leans into his warmth, still trying to smother the mortifying noises he can’t hold back. Sascha nuzzles his cheek and rubs his back, murmuring, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m so sorry.” Lips moving to Avery’s temple, he presses his next words against Avery’s fevered skin. “Being with you isn’t a risk. What happened wasn’t your fault. I know you’d never do something like that to anyone else, and I’ll be here to help you through it. Okay? You won’t be alone.”

Unable to reply, Avery rubs his cheek against Sascha’s more aggressively, smiling through his tears at the sound of Sascha’s laughter.

For the second time tonight, Petra interrupts them by clearing her throat. When Avery blinks his wet lashes and looks at her, halfway worried she’s going to come up with something even worse to tell him, he sees that she’s already packed her duffel and has it slung over her shoulder. “I’ve done all I can for Avery’s injuries,” she announces, then tips her head toward the dresser. “I’ve left more bandages over there, but the wounds were closed when I took the stitches out, and I applied more magic. Since you’re healing at a more appropriate rate, I expect you to feel nothing but tenderness by tomorrow morning. I’ve also left a salve you can rub onto the healing area to reduce the appearance of scarring.”