Shira Read Online Free PDF Page B

since eleven. Max had left the house soon after their kiss, and he hadn’t come back before she turned in for the night. Maybe she was worried about him, or it could be she wasn’t used to this much country. Even in Maryland, she’d lived with Sam in the suburbs. Not far from their house had been a main thoroughfare, and one could hear traffic in the distance all hours of the night. In this house, one heard nothing except crickets. Not that she didn’t like the peace. In Max’s house, she had a sense of being protected, like she was cocooned from the rest of the world and specifically the danger that Sam represented.
    Giving up on resting for the time being, she rose and went out to the kitchen. She didn’t want to disturb the tranquility of the night, so she didn’t turn on a light. The windows, barren of shades or curtains, let in plenty of moonlight, so she saw fine. A scratching toward the front of the house caught her attention, and she went to investigate. As she approached the front door, she heard it, the mewling of a cat. Shira peered out and gasped. The leopard sat on the front porch facing the house and looking right at her.
    “What the hell?” Didn’t anyone report to animal control around here? Then she recalled how the beast had saved her life. She owed him. The least she could do was feed him if he was hungry. She returned to the kitchen and searched the refrigerator. All the meat was frozen. She wouldn’t take any out to defrost until morning. Tuna came to mind. That was cheap enough. Giving a wild animal too much of Max’s food wouldn’t be right. She took a can from the cabinet and opened it, and then she went back to the front door. The leopard was nowhere in sight.
    Shira stood there wondering what to do. She was too scared to approach it straight out, but if it had wandered off, maybe she could leave the can out where it could find it, that would be okay. Again, she checked the window and saw that the coast was clear. She strained her ears for any sounds. None reached her except the damn crickets. Having opened the door a crack, she peeked out. She crept onto the porch and walked to the steps. She bent to put the can down and froze when she heard a sound behind her. Shira twisted in degrees to find the leopard between her and the door.
    “Oh no,” she squeaked. “Okay, boy, don’t eat me. I have some nice tuna for you.”
    She slid the tuna toward the animal and waited. He sat down and watched her. Somehow he didn’t appear to be threatening despite his big body and the corded muscles. After a while, the leopard lay down and actually crawled toward her. “I think I’ve seen it all. Did someone train you?”
    He looked at her as if he was insulted. Shira covered her mouth on a chuckle. The animal ignored the tuna and lay down at her side. After a long while hesitating, she stroked his back. A muscle twitched, but he didn’t move. She’d seen the same thing in a housecat she’d had once and didn’t let it scare her.
    “Thank you for saving me,” she whispered. His ears perked each time she spoke. “I didn’t think I’d get away, but you were right there. Maybe you don’t remember, but Sam… He would have definitely…” Even though she spoke to an animal with no way of knowing what she was talking about, she couldn’t voice the words. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about how he had treated her except her mother, and that had gotten her nowhere.
    “Are we going to be friends?” she asked the cat. The animal made a muffling noise and laid his head in Shira’s lap. She froze in place until she realized he wasn’t about to attack, and then she stroked his head. “I guess that means yes. Anyway, you better get going before Max comes back. I wouldn’t want him to call animal control on you.”
    On impulse, she dropped a kiss on the furry head and stood. The leopard headed down the steps and walked off into the night. Shira shrugged, picked up the uneaten can of tuna, and