The bear had a crazed look in its eye and it was lunging for Danil again when it abruptly stopped.
Danil didn't need to turn to know his brothers had joined him in the clearing. He could feel them, smell them, hear them in his thoughts. He knew that Maxim stood over Dora, protecting her first. That Emin stood just back from Danil, ready to spring, and that Anton watched the other bear with a revolted grief at everything Navuka was capable of.
"No!" Danil heard Anton's voice in his mind as his brother sprang forward, anticipating the altered grizzly's next move. Danil watched in sick fascination as the augmented bear broke off one of his own metallic fangs and, without hesitation, jammed it fully into his own throat.
Anton got there a second too late, pulling it from the throat of the bear himself. But the bear was still, and dead already.
"He knew he couldn't take all of us. He did what they told him to do. Use his own poison," Anton said in all their heads. "They wouldn't let him be captured. Dying by your own hand is better than capture."
Anton held the poisonous fang in his claws before tossing it aside and turning back to his brothers.
"Let's get her to mama," Anton said and had Danil whirling.
Dora was crouched behind Maxim, her eyes wide and her face as white as a sheet. Danil ambled toward her, needing to reassure himself that she was okay.
He sat heavily in front of her and she fell into his meaty bear chest. He carefully encased her in his arms, knowing that it would be easy to accidentally be too rough with her in his bear form.
"I'm okay," she whispered. "I'm not. I'm not. A fainter," she managed, before she went even whiter and collapsed right off her feet.
The brothers chuffed out the bear versions of a small laugh. But they couldn't keep their eyes from the poor, augmented creature that lay dead behind them. That so easily could have been their own brother.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dora felt a warm hand brush the hair away from her forehead as her eyes fluttered open just a little.
"Dad?" she muttered. Where was she?
"No, child. It is Katya. Danil's mama. Though Danil tells me I will be your mama soon, too."
Dora opened her eyes another crack and saw a room with dark blue walls and yellow flowers in a vase. She had a heavy white comforter over her and someone had pulled the curtains so a little bit of gray sun filtered in at the cracks. Her head was killing her.
“Katya?" That's right. It all came back to her in a wave. She wasn't with her dad. Her dad had passed away. She was in Spokane. Danil. The bear. She'd fallen. Danil had come for her.
The brothers must have taken her to their parents' house when she fainted. Dora tried to pull herself up and was happy to have Katya's strong grip on her elbow to help her. She was a little dizzy.
"Here. Drink." Katya tipped a small cup to Dora's mouth and she gladly opened up for it. And then almost coughed up a lung when she realized it was definitely not water. It was closer to whiskey, with a little nail polish remover mixed in.
"What the hell is that?" Dora sputtered.
Katya grinned at her and so did Ilya as he stepped in from the doorway of the bedroom. "Old Belarusian remedy," he said. "It cures what ails you. And puts hair on chest.”
"Oh, good," Dora said wryly. "Just what I've always wanted."
Ilya and Katya grinned again and then sobered as they shared a look.
"Where's Danil?" Dora asked.
"They go to bury body," Ilya responded, looking older than she'd ever seen him. "Danil did not want to leave you, but he needed to be with his brothers. With Anton, especially. And we could see you were okay."
"Yes, I’m fine," Dora said, gamely reaching for the cup of lighter fluid and choking down another sip. In a weird way, it was kind of helping. "I'm a little embarrassed. I mean, not that I've ever fought an animal before, but I would have liked to have handled myself a little better than that."
Ilya and Katya exchanged looks again.
"You fight in different way, no?" Katya asked, smoothing the blankets around Dora.
Dora cocked her head to one side in confusion.
"With your," Katya held one hand up in the air and mimed writing with a pen.
"Oh, with journalism. Yes, of course. That's my main weapon."
Ilya took a breath and Dora's hand in his own. "Danil will not like what I am going to ask you."
Dora looked back and forth between Ilya and Katya's faces. So serious, so sad. "You want me to keep looking into Navuka. Find out what they're doing and write about it."
"Shine a light on the cockroaches," Ilya said, nodding. "But we do not want to put you in danger."
"They almost kill my boy," Katya said. "They stole him from us. And change him. They give him pain. Change his body. Try to change his heart." She broke off and looked away, unable to go on. She took a deep breath. "Danil says they sent that bear for you. They knew you would be there and that you were trying to expose them."