A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson

Author:Alice Henderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2020-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Alex stood her ground, trying to look bigger than she was. The cougar’s eyes met hers and it growled, lashing a paw out at her. She noticed then how unhealthy it was, starving, skin stretched tight over sharp bones, the eyes watery, mucousy crust around its nose. She took a step back and it prowled toward her. She shouted, raising her arms, trying all the things a person was supposed to do to deter a mountain lion attack. But this mountain lion was clearly sick and emaciated, and that meant it was dangerously unpredictable.

Its eyes locked on her and it went back on its haunches, preparing to spring. She took off to the side, trying to get the couch between her and the cougar. It pivoted, watching her go, and stalked around the other side of the sofa. Ears slicked back on its skull, it hissed.

How did it even get in? She remembered Brad saying that the window in the kitchen had been unlocked. She’d put a heavy cinder block in front of it and had meant to get a new lock when she was in Bitterroot.

She weighed her options. She couldn’t very well hide somewhere in the inn. Her cell was unusable here, and no one was due to check on her. The landline was too out in the open. She’d never have time to make the call.

She had to get either herself or the cat out of the lodge. She thought of where her keys were, then realized with chagrin that they were upstairs in her room, in the pocket of her jeans.

Her mind raced. Should she get a weapon? She’d have to make it to the kitchen. Her mind flew to the contents of the cabinets and the old firecrackers she’d seen up there. If she could somehow herd the cat toward the front door with them, startle it into taking flight . . .

The cougar padded around the side of the couch, and Alex walked backward, moving toward the kitchen. She picked up a lamp from a table, yanking the cord out of the wall. Raising it above her head, she tried to look huge and menacing, but knew she just looked like a person in her pj’s holding a lamp.

The cougar continued to creep forward, and Alex felt the swinging doors to the kitchen at her back. She pushed through them, then, when she was briefly out of the cat’s sight, turned and raced to the cabinets. She wrenched open the door to the first cabinet, not quite remembering behind which of the long line of doors the fireworks were. As she opened the third cabinet door, the kitchen entrance swung open. The mountain lion stole into the room, pinpointing her location. The fourth cabinet held the firecrackers. She drew down the package, realizing she didn’t have matches. She had to get to the stove.

She glanced toward the window with the broken lock, seeing that the cinder block had been shoved aside, pushed across the counter.

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