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It was no worse than that leach.

Correction, it was a lot less worse. That leach was horrific. What was not

horrific? The feel of June’s capable hands—her fingers cool from being

submerged in the cold water as they swam—against her skin. They had

ignited an undeniable fire in her belly. She was almost more worried about

how she would react to that touch than she had been about the leach.

Then again, she couldn’t actually see her offender, which was somehow

easier. She’d managed not to freak out and June had, after a few tugs, sent

the little beast back into the lake. It didn’t actually hurt at all, but the feeling

of June’s fingertips on her behind lingered long after it should. At least she

attributed the tingles in that spot to June, and not the leach. It could have

been the leach.

Summer took great delight in the whole leach thing, but June had treated

the incident passively. She’d been entirely impersonal the whole trip. It was

like Arabella was a stranger to her, but treated like any other stranger, with

deference and enough kindness. Though she’d caught June staring a few

times, she was professionally nice. Distant, but not aloof.

She hadn’t been delighted at the leach. There was no glee or distaste in

June’s face when she’d pulled away. The times she was looking at Arabella

could probably be credited to the fact that she was trying to figure out if

Arabella was still horrible or if she really had changed.

She’d wanted to return that look, but she wasn’t brave enough.

She was musing on that when a great black shadow leapt out of the tree

and landed on the ground in front of her. Arabella screamed. She backed up

against the tree so fast that the bark ground into her skin painfully, sending

burning twinges down her back. Her scream echoed through the night, and

she clamped a hand over her mouth as she wobbled to her feet. Whatever

the shadowy animal was, it was probably best to be as quiet as possible. Her

mind ran through scenarios in an instant. Bat? Bear? Racoon? No, too big

for those. Wasn’t it? Her erratic breaths escaped the hand pressed over her