Dani threw an elbow back, hoping to catch whoever had tackled her. She focused all of her strength on not being forced down on her face, occasionally making contact with a warm body with her feet and elbows. Her attacker groaned, but never stopped trying to grapple Dani to the floor. Dani gagged at some sickly sweet smell that seemed to be wafting off of her attacker.

Dani rolled out onto her back and shoved her assailant aside, throwing them into a nearby shelf. She pushed to her feet and ran toward a door marked with a neon “exit” sign. She ran past the checkout desk, so close she could see the red neon’s glow on her hands as she reached for the push bar. Hands shoved at her shoulders, knocking Dani down on her knees on the carpet. Strong fingers closed around her throat, squeezing tight. Dani screamed for all she was worth, kicking and fighting against the person pinning her to the floor.

The hands at her throat were tightening and her strength was fading fast. Something was sucking away her very will to draw in her next breath, and it wasn’t strangulation. She was being drained.

She was going to die in a library, drained of all of her energy, with some psycho’s hands around her neck. She’d always assumed that she would die in a tragic balcony sex accident. This was going to be a short, shitty obituary.

Her poor Grandad. He’d always worried so much about her safety when she traveled overseas. He’d assumed she would be safe on American soil. She was so sorry she was leaving him. She hoped maybe Jillian could persuade the League to pay him some part of Dani’s contract fee. Poor Trudy, being left holding the bag on all that debt. And Zed . . .

Suddenly, the stained-glass window exploded in shards of color as a huge brown bear leaped through the casing. The break allowed light from a nearby streetlight, just enough for Dani to see the bear knocking over the “Reading is FunDamental ” book display and the audiobook racks. The weight against her back instantly relented. The bear roared, its fangs gleaming even in the low light of the room. Dani would have covered her ears with her hands if she’d had the muscle control to do so. After a few ragged breaths, sound rushed back into her ears like the returning tide.

The bear cantered past her, nudging her lightly with its nose before giving chase to the person running across the library. The bear knocked several bookshelves down in its pursuit, growling and snarling for all he was worth. Struggling to sit up, Dani heard a door slam and—if she wasn’t mistaken—smack into a bear skull. The bear howled in frustration . . . and pain, probably.