Make Me Feel by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online

action.”
    “You mean they won’t try to get in here and attack us?”
    “Nah,” he scoffed.
    Slowly, she lowered her hands from her ears. She jumped when the demon cat growled again, but he saw that increasingly familiar resolve on her pale face. She was straining to hide her anxiety.
    “Tell me about the swim team,” he said impulsively when the mountain lion tore off another screech. It was definitely getting closer, and he was determined to keep Harper occupied. He thought the cat was circling closer toward the entrance at the back of the cave, but he couldn’t be entirely certain. The only thing he could do was distract Harper while they waited, and he figured out which entrance the predator stalked. Once he knew that, he’d move them to the opposite side of the fire from where the cat approached. For now, he kept them cautiously at the side of the flames, both entrances to the right and left of him. “What’s your stroke?” he prodded her.
    “Freestyle and backstroke.”
    “Did you win many races?”
    Their previous talk resumed, and this time they were even more animated, both of them determinedly ignoring the earsplitting screams and growls of the mountain lion as it prowled outside the cave. Jake knew the animal stalked them, so there was no call for being extra hushed. They talked for more than an hour, until a wild shriek resounded so deafeningly through the cavern, even Jake jumped. He crawled over Harper and pulled her along with him, so that their backs were now turned to the front entrance of the cave.
    “Jake, what—”
    But Jake had stood and grabbed more timber, feeding the fire.
    “He’s at the cliff entrance,” he said tensely. “I wasn’t sure if he was at the front or back before.”
    “Oh my God.”
    “Shhh, it’s going to be okay,” Jake said, gathering more wood and moving it closer to the fire, within easy reaching distance. He came down next to her, trying to see in the deep, murky shadows at the back of the first cave. His arms went out without thinking, closing around Harper when she crowded against him. He hugged her close. The mountain lion screamed again, the piercing sound enough to freeze his heart.
    “It’s in the
stalactite
cave,” Harper whimpered the obvious. The mountain lion’s shriek had echoed and rolled like thunder across the cave walls this time, the sound terrifyingly close. He could feel her shaking against him. He pulled her closer, and she smashed her face against his chest.
    “What’d I tell you about the fire. Harper?” he prompted, and she knew she was listening with dread for the approaching cat.
    “That it’s not only for warmth, but for safety. And that mountain lions don’t like it?” she asked in a tiny voice.
    “That’s right,” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head and peering toward the entrance of the second cave. “He’ll lose patience when he sees he can’t get to us. He’ll go hunt somewhere else when his hunger pains get the better of him.”
    “Really?” she asked in a quavering voice, her nose still pressed against his chest.
    “Really.” The bully cat shrieked again, seeming to rattle the whole cave. Harper shuddered.
    “Jake—”
    He stroked her hair, never taking his eyes off the back entrance. “It’s going to be okay. We’ve got the fire. Trust me. Tell me about The Lord of the Rings.”
    “What?” She sounded a little incredulous at his request.
    “Yeah. Like a campfire story. We’ve got a fire. Tell me about it.”
    He sensed some of her terror receding slightly at that. If he was urging her to tell stories around the fire, maybe things couldn’t be that bad. She started talking in a muffled, quavering voice about something called hobbits, which sounded to Jake like these easygoing, fat dwarves who lived in the woods. Just as she mentioned someone named Frodo, Jake saw it: the eyes of the mountain lion glowing at him from the cloaking darkness. The cat was about twenty-five feet away