June stopped her furious pace just over half a mile from the lab, head cocked, ears pivoting, listening to the night. She thought she heard noises ahead, and after a minute or so of untangling the sounds, confirmed that two people were outside the lab. She guessed one was more or less directly ahead, and one was off to the left of the lab, to the northeast.


    “We aren’t alone,” June whispered, “there are two people outside the lab.”


    She crouched so Brendan could disembark, and then she started forward again. He rushed after her. The moon cast silvery-white light around them that shrank and expanded as the forest canopy overhead swayed in the wind.


    Brendan kept staring at her like he was waiting for something, and eventually spoke up. “June, what’s the plan here? I know you’re upset, but—”


    “We have a giant snake demon, and two maybe-demons to worry about, and Cordelia might already be in deep trouble. There are two people outside the lab right now, and I doubt they’re on our side. We’re going in quick and doing whatever it takes to stop Dr. Langley, find Mr. Moseley, and get the vial.”


    June shoved through some mountain laurel shrubs, parting them with ease and holding the path open for Brendan. “But…” he paused, choosing his next words with care, “what exactly are you going to do with your aunt?”


    June stayed silent, mostly because she didn’t quite know herself. She’d found that her thoughts regarding what to do with Aunt—no, Dr. Langley—changed by the minute. And for most of those minutes, June had felt a deep loss, and couldn’t envision doing anything to harm Dr. Langley. Only when her anger flared did June believe herself capable of bloodshed, and staying angry required more and more effort.


    But whoever Dr. Langley had pretended to be around June, if she was, in fact, a man-eating demon, that was her real identity, and she had to be stopped. How can she not be a demon? a part of her questioned. The size of the snakeskin…


    “Heroes don’t kill, June,” Brendan broke in, after it became apparent June wasn’t answering his question.


    “Right,” June said, and kept walking.


    “You could just knock her out, like you did with the Europeans,” Brendan offered. “Just get to her before she fully transforms or turns demon or whatever, like you did with the Rudolph-bear.”


    “Right.”


    The trees ahead began to thin out, and through the wider gaps, the moonlight illuminated a field of tall grass ahead. That meant they were just over a quarter mile from the lab now.


    June paused. “Wait here for me,” she said softly. “Whoever is outside the lab is standing guard—I haven’t heard them moving much. I doubt they can see us or hear us from here, so I’m going closer. Once I figure out exactly who—or what—they are, I’ll take them out and come back for you.”If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Brendan shivered. “You mean knock them out right?” he asked.


    “Of course.” A hint of irritation crept into her voice. “What else would I do?”


    Brendan studied her for a long moment before nodding. “Are you sure I shouldn’t come with you?”


    Did he not trust her?


    “I can move a lot more freely without you on my back. You can come right up to the tree line with me if you want to watch.”


    Together, they approached the edge of the woods, slowly and—mostly—silent. She turned back and held up a paw to Brendan, about five yards behind her, when two rapid booms! shattered the silence. June instinctively leaped to her left behind a large hickory. She spun in time to see wood chunks fly from the tree she’d just been standing by.


    They’re shooting at me, she realized. Heat flashed through her body. She noticed the tree that had been hit had only one gash from a bullet. Where did the other go? There were two shots…


    June looked to Brendan and her stomach fell to her feet. He was lying on his back. All the heat she’d felt turned to ice and the world around her ceased to exist—there was only Brendan.


    June closed the distance to him in less than a second. He took quick, rapid breaths, and his wide eyes looked up at the sky. The color had drained from his face.


    “June! They shot me,” he managed to say before his eyes rolled back.


    June scooped Brendan up as quickly and tenderly as she could, then hurtled deeper into the forest where he would be safe.


    She found a small clearing surrounded by clusters of spruce trees. Their draping, needle covered branches would make Brendan invisible to the shooters, and they were much farther away from the lab now. June laid him down against a barren trunk so he could sit upright.


    “Brendan, focus on me, Brendan!” she growled. Blood spurted out in pulses from a gash at the edge of his left shoulder. She’d never really appreciated that until now, the way blood came out in squirts, not a constant stream. June gently removed his pea-cloak and ripped the hoodie away from his shoulder. She could tell the bullet had gone clean through. She assumed this meant he would be okay if they could stop the bleeding.


    Brendan’s eyes swam, sometimes focusing on her, sometimes staring through her as if she was miles away, and then he went limp. She pulled open the backpack and, with some difficulty, removed a sweater that Dr. Chase had given them at Dr. Langley’s house. As delicately as her giant paws would allow, she wadded up the garment and pressed it on his wound.


    ***


    Hot, rapid breathing on his face, strong enough to move his hair each time it came, aroused Brendan from a cold, dreamless sleep. He opened his eyes. June’s monstrous head hovered above his. It was her breath. It smelled human, like when she leaned in to tell him a secret. Giant werecat face or not, this was June.


    “Can you move your left arm?” she asked, her deep, rumbling voice edged with panic. The moon was high and clear above her enormous head.


    He tried and winced immediately, but the arm did move.


    “You need to use your right arm to apply pressure, okay? Just push as much as you can. Once the bleeding stops, drink the rest of the water bottles. Force yourself. Get as much water as you can.”


    He nodded, and even managed a weak grin.


    She exhaled deeply and her entire body sagged with relief. “Two people,” she said, and from the look in her eyes he recognized she was talking to herself. “And two shots. But we were yards apart. Only one shot came close to me. That means—” She stopped talking.


    Brendan watched her face grow tight and her eyes shrink to slits. Her massive frame tensed, and muscles rippled and bulged under the thick black fur. A growl started in the back of her throat, and built up force until the vibration rattled his skull.


    She said two words to him, and they hit him almost as hard as the bullet. Before he could even start to open his mouth to protest, she was gone, the force of her departure rustling the branches all around him like a windstorm. He knew she was heading toward the lab. The two words she said echoed in his mind, and he forgot about his injury. “They die.”