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