Relief hit Juno so hard it almost made her dizzy as Niv’s hands slid beneath her and lifted her out of the cramped, suffocating space of the boot. The sudden openness, the fresh air, the light, it all rushed back in at once, and for a moment she just clung to that feeling, her body trembling as she tried to steady her breathing.
As Niv set her down enough for her to see properly, Juno’s eyes were immediately drawn to the car, and what she saw made her blink in disbelief.
The driver’s door was gone. Not merely damaged, but completely torn off and thrown several metres away onto the driveway. The side of the vehicle was bent and warped around where it had been ripped free, metal peeled back in jagged edges that caught the morning light. The boot itself was no better, the entire back end of the car split open where Niv had forced it apart.
Juno’s gaze shifted, drawn by a shape just beyond the wreckage, and what she saw there made her stomach drop in a completely different way.
Marie lay sprawled on the grass just off the driveway, completely still.
For a brief, terrifying moment Juno thought she might be dead, but then she noticed the faint rise and fall of her chest. Unconscious, then. Her arm, however, was bent at a wrong angle.
Juno stared for a second, the image not quite sinking in, her mind struggling to process everything at once.
Then Niv carried Juno a little further away, putting clear distance between her and Marie before lowering her gently onto the grass. The ground was cool beneath her, and Juno barely had time to adjust before Niv shifted her onto her front with surprising gentleness.
A moment later, Juno felt the tension around her wrists shift.
Niv leaned down and bit into the rope, her teeth making quick work of it as the fibres snapped and loosened under the pressure. It didn’t take long before the bindings gave way completely, and suddenly Juno’s arms were free again, falling forward awkwardly as blood rushed back into them in a painful, tingling wave.
Juno didn’t waste a second.
She scrambled upright, her hands shaking badly as she reached for the gag, fumbling with it in her haste. Her fingers slipped once, twice, her breath hitching as frustration and lingering panic made it harder than it should have been, but after a few frantic attempts she finally managed to pull it free and toss it aside.
The moment her mouth was clear, she didn’t think.
She lunged forward, grabbing Niv where she knelt beside her and pulling her into a deep, desperate kiss, the kind that came from pure relief and adrenaline rather than anything planned or gentle. It was messy and uncoordinated, her hands still shaking as she held on, but she didn’t care.
Niv froze for a split second, clearly not expecting it, and then leaned into it, steadying her without hesitation.
Juno only pulled back when the rush started to fade, when her lungs finally demanded air and her head began to clear just enough for her to think again. She stayed close, her forehead almost resting against Niv’s as she looked at her properly, taking in the frantic edge still in her expression.
“You saved me,” she said, her voice hoarse but steady.
“Yes,” Niv replied simply.
Juno let out a shaky breath. “Thank you.”
Niv’s ears drooped slightly at that, her expression shifting in a way that made something in Juno’s chest tighten.
“No thanks,” she said quietly. “Should have been around. Should have protected you.”
“None of that,” Juno said quickly, her voice still a little shaky as she shook her head, reaching out to steady herself against Niv’s arm for a moment. “I didn’t think she would go this far. I didn’t think anyone would.”
Niv hesitated, her ears still lowered, clearly not fully convinced, but after a moment she gave a small nod.
“Okay.”
Juno took a breath, trying to gather herself properly now that the immediate panic had passed, even if the adrenaline was still buzzing under her skin.
“I need to call the police,” she said, forcing her thoughts into something resembling order. “Could you help me with my feet?”
Niv didn’t need to be told twice. She crouched down and bit through the rope binding Juno’s ankles with the same ease as before, the fibres snapping under her teeth until the last of it fell away and Juno was finally, fully free.
The sudden absence of restraint felt almost surreal. This story is hosted at g.com.
Juno pushed herself up onto unsteady legs, wobbling slightly as the lingering effects of alcohol and everything else caught up with her all at once, but she didn’t stop. She leaned down quickly, pressing a brief, soft peck to Niv’s lips, before turning and hurrying toward the house.
Her head was still pounding as she stumbled inside, the hangover now mixing unpleasantly with the adrenaline, but she forced herself to keep moving. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand with slightly trembling hands and immediately dialled, already turning back toward the door as it began to ring.
By the time she stepped outside again, the call connected, and she split her attention between answering the operator’s questions and what was happening in front of her.
Niv had moved Marie further away from the car and now had her pinned firmly against the ground, one hand holding her down with ease despite Marie now being conscious and very much aware of the situation she was in.
“Don’t eat me, please!” Marie cried, her voice high and panicked in a way Juno had never heard before.
It was almost pathetic.
Juno couldn’t help the bitter thought that surfaced as she watched her, the contrast between this and the woman who had been so confident, so controlling just minutes ago. Marie had always thrived when she held the power in a situation, always so certain of herself, and now that it had been ripped away, she folded instantly.
Juno said nothing to her.
She just relayed the situation to the operator, keeping her voice as steady as she could while explaining that the person who had tried to abduct her was still on the property, restrained, and that she needed officers immediately.
Niv didn’t move from her position, and when the police car finally arrived not long after, the scene they stepped into was… not exactly normal.
Both officers got out and immediately locked onto Niv, who was very visibly holding a human down against the ground.
“Let go of her!” the woman officer shouted, her hand already hovering near her belt.
“Stop!” Juno called out quickly, ending the call and rushing toward them, putting herself as close as she could without getting in the way. “She isn’t a threat.”
“It doesn’t look like that from where we’re standing,” the male officer replied, his tone stern as his eyes flicked between Niv and Marie.
“That’s Niv,” Juno said quickly, gesturing toward her. “She saved me. The one she has pinned down just tried to kidnap me. She would have succeeded if it wasn’t for Niv. Please.”
The officer held her gaze for a few long seconds, clearly weighing the situation, before letting out a low grunt.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ll be taking things from here. You, get off her.”
Juno glanced back at Niv and immediately saw the problem.
Niv wasn’t backing off.
She was staring at the officers with a low, warning intensity, her body still tense, her hand firm on Marie as if she fully expected them to try and take her away and fail again.
“Last time you people take mean female away,” Niv said, her voice low but firm. “She just return. Hurt Juno. She will never hurt Juno again.”
She bared her teeth slightly, not in a full threat, but enough.
Both officers reacted instantly, their hands moving to their tasers.
Juno’s heart jumped into her throat.
“No, no, no,” she said quickly, stepping forward and putting herself between them and Niv without hesitation. “Let me talk her down. I can get Marie into your custody. There are laws against attacking native cryptids.”
“Okay,” she said, still tense. “But we want to de-escalate here, not make things worse.”
“I know, I know,” Juno said, turning immediately back to Niv, her voice softening as she approached her carefully. “Niv, please let her go. They’ll take her away.”
“She just come back,” Niv insisted, her grip not loosening. “Hurt you again. Take you away.”
Juno swallowed, then tried a different approach, something she knew Niv would understand.
“What she did today… you know the Big Rock?” she asked.
Niv’s ears flicked slightly. “Yes?”
“She’ll probably go to the human version of that,” Juno continued. “For a few years, at least.”
Niv blinked, clearly processing that. “Humans have a Big Rock?”
“Yeah,” Juno said, nodding. “Except it’s more like a small den they can’t leave.”
“She will go to Big Rock?”
Juno nodded again. “She probably will. Please, we need to hand her over to the police.”
Niv hesitated for a few long seconds, her gaze flicking between Juno, the officers, and Marie beneath her, before finally letting out a small, reluctant breath.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Just want you to be safe, Juno.”
Then she shifted her weight and stepped back.
Marie didn’t move, still lying where she was, wide-eyed and rigid, clearly not willing to risk doing anything that might change her situation again.
“Okay,” Juno said, letting out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. “Can you wait by my den? I’ll sort out all this human bullshit as fast as I can.”
Niv nodded and moved without argument this time, padding back toward the house, though she kept glancing over her shoulder like she didn’t fully trust what was happening.
Juno turned back to the officers, who both looked… slightly stunned.
“She isn’t that well versed in human rules,” Juno said, rubbing at her temples. “She really was just trying to protect me.”
“Understood,” the male officer replied eveninly.
They approached Marie cautiously, and it didn’t take long for them to notice the state of her arm.
“That’s… not good,” the woman officer muttered.
Which meant an ambulance.
So they called it in, and for a while, everything slowed down into that strange, quiet aftermath where the adrenaline had nowhere to go.
Juno made her way back to the house, where Niv was waiting, and the two of them sat down on the porch together. Without thinking too much about it, Juno leaned into her, resting against her side, letting the solid warmth of her presence ground her in a way nothing else could right now.