Defender Cave Bear by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

She needs you.

The rumbling voice of the cave bear awoke Pete as instantly as if a gun had gone off next to his head. He sat up before he could decide to do so. His half-healed cuts screamed in protest, but he ignored them, searching for the source of the alert.

His room was dark, but he could make out the glitter of metal beside his bed. As his eyes adjusted, he realized that it was Tirzah’s wheelchair. Empty. What in the world…?

Then he heard the sound of breathing from beside his bed. He leaned over, adrenaline coursing through his veins, and saw Tirzah curled up on the floor.

For a terrible moment, he thought she’d somehow fallen from her chair and was unconscious. Then he realized that she was asleep and dreaming. Sweat gleamed on her face, her muscles were tensed, and she was breathing in ragged gasps. Pete had seen enough people having nightmares, from Caro when she was a little girl who’d seen a poster for a horror movie to Marines dreaming of combat, to recognize the signs.

He also knew that waking up from a nightmare could be almost as terrifying and disorienting as being in one. He had to make the transition as gentle as possible.

Pete turned on the reading lamp by his bed, casting a golden light across the room. He hoped that would wake her, but if it penetrated into her nightmare, all it did was make it worse. She gave a stifled moan that made his heart twist with sympathy—and guilt. She had to be dreaming about the gargoyle.

Or, worse, his cave bear.

Pete sat down on the floor beside her, praying that she wouldn’t recoil in fear from him, as she had from his bear. Much as he longed to touch her, to hold her safe in his arms, he held himself back. He’d nearly gotten his nose broken by a Marine whom he’d tried to shake awake once. And though he didn’t care if she hit him, he didn’t want to scare her even more.

“Tirzah?”

She woke with a strangled gasp, her eyes flying open and her hands flailing at nothing.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Pete said. “You’re safe. Everything’s all right. You were just dreaming.”

She stared at him, wild-eyed, breathing so fast that he was afraid she was going to hyperventilate and pass out. He could tell that she was having a panic attack and wasn’t taking in a word he was saying.

You need to touch her, rumbled his cave bear.

Pete wanted to touch her, but it was 50-50 whether doing so would just scare her more. The terror in her eyes made his heart hurt. Hoping he was doing the right thing, he leaned over and gathered her into his arms.

The touch of her skin to his came as a staggering shock, as intense as when they’d touched for the very first time. He’d seen and heard and understood that she was terrified and confused and overwhelmed, but now he felt it. Her

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