STEAMPUNK ROMANCE: An Innovative Clockwork Steampunk World Adventure: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Mystery Suspense Romance Short Stories)

by Haven, Rose

  Cougar Romance: The Prophecy

  Chapter One

  Diana Grant awoke to the sound of her alarm clock blaring at her. Groggily, she rolled over on her bed as the harsh bell on her bedside table continued to clang in her ear.

  Automatically, she reached her hand out and pressed the button that would silence the machine. She blinked her eyes open peacefully for a moment before she remembered.

  The black cougar…

  She sat up straight in her bed, suddenly wide awake and breathing heavily. She looked around her bedroom. Everything was quiet.

  The faint light of the rising sun shone through her window. The sheets, the carpet, the door to her bedroom, none of them showed any signs of anything at all unusual.

  Maybe she had dreamed it.

  That was it. The idea of the cougar was just a dream born from the cougar necklace she had been given.

  She looked down at her chest and smiled to see that the necklace was still there. She reached out to touch it and grimaced in pain.

  Both of her shoulders and the top portions of her arm felt as though they had been nearly clawed off. She attempted to move them again and the sharp, stinging sensation returned.

  Diana looked over at her right shoulder and touched her hand to a large band aid that had been placed there. When she looked to her left shoulder, she saw a similar covering.

  So, perhaps it was not a dream. Maybe it had really happened.

  Still, what would a cougar have been doing on her balcony? And a black cougar none the less. While mountain lions were a fairly common sight in New Mexico, black panthers certainly were not.

  That was when Diana remembered the second creature. This one had been tan, almost yellow. Not as large; and it had certainly looked more in keeping with the mountain lions she was used to seeing in the canyons outside of Albuquerque.

  But even though this cougar was more familiar to Diana, she could not deny that both animal’s behavior had been odd.

  The black panther had looked at her, stalked her not like a hungry animal hunting food, but like a jealous human attacking a rival.

  And the tan mountain lion who had come in after...this cougar had completely ignored Diana and instead, focused its attention on besting the black panther. Indeed, it was almost as though the yellow mountain lion was trying to...protect Diana from the black cougar.

  And clearly someone had bandaged her wounds because she knew she hadn’t been in any sort of state to do it herself. And someone must have put her in her bed beneath her own sheets.

  Diana knew why she thought it was a dream. The whole thing was much too strange to be real. But when she looked down at her clothes underneath the sheets, she saw that she was wearing the same skirt and blouse she had worn to work the day before. When she looked at the chair next to her bed, she saw the jacket she had worn home soaked in blood at the sleeves.

  It had clearly been washed, but she could still see the stains.

  Diana slid gingerly from her bed and looked closely at the red numbers of the digital clock on her table. They blinked back up at her seven O’clock.

  She had to be at work at eight thirty. She wondered if she would even be able to go now.

  Her arms still stung when she moved them and she knew that, after passing out, a trip to the doctor would be a necessity.

  Still, she cringed when she thought how it would look if she called in sick on her second day on a job.

  She hated being thought of as unreliable. Mostly because she had never been anything but consistent and hard working. If she called in that day, it would mark her first sick day since she joined the agency.

  While she was still thinking about her options, she spied a small piece of paper folded neatly, lying next to the clock on her bedside table.

  Still cringing against the stinging in her shoulder, Diana reached for the paper and unfolded it.

  It was a note, printed simply and legibly:

  “Diana,” it read, “do not call in sick from work. Do not go to see a doctor. They won’t know how to heal those wounds you got last night. Go to your job as usual. From there, you will be contacted and taken to a safe place. Until then, if anyone asks, tell them you ran afoul of a mountain lion on your way home.”

  Here there was a break in the note and in place of a signature, a blocked rune in the shape of a cougar had been drawn. Beneath this, the note continued.

  “P.S. Do not trust anyone!”

  Diana stared at the note for several minutes. Reading it over and over again until she had nearly memorized it.

  Clearly, whoever wrote this note had bandaged the scratches on her shoulders, cleaned her jacket and placed her in the bed.

  But she had not remembered anyone else in her apartment that evening.

  She tried to think back. She tried to remember if she had seen anyone wandering around her building before she went in the night before. Anyone nearby who could have heard her screams and come in to help.

  There had been no one. Her apartment block had looked nearly deserted when she pulled her car into her usual space the evening before.

  Not to mention, whoever wrote this note, had mentioned Diana’s job. He, she or they seemed to know where she worked.

  Without thinking, she touched the necklace against her chest. The necklace Cat had given her. The necklace that had burned against her skin as she entered her apartment, as though warning her of the danger.

  Had Catahassa Yazzie followed her home that evening? Did this talisman she now wore around her neck, carry some sort of...psychological connection to him?

  Diana shook her head and nearly laughed out loud at the thought.

  This was exactly the sort of superstitious nonsense she usually found comical. Like people who believed in alien abductions or big foot.

  Inanimate objects, she told herself firmly, could not have actual connections to human beings. Not at least, without some kind of mechanical device being implanted.

  Perhaps that was it. Perhaps the necklace contained some sort of...tracking device.

  But even that seemed paranoid and nonsensical. Why after all, would the CEO of a major company be interested in tracking her?

  Head still spinning, Diana looked at the note once more and decided finally to do exactly as it said.

  Gingerly, she put her feet on the ground and padded towards the bathroom.

  Even in the shower, she never took her charmed necklace off. After its warning last night, she felt a strange sort of connection with the talisman. She felt like, as long as she kept it on she would be safe.

  So it stayed near her chest all the way into work.

  When she arrived in the building exactly at nine o’clock, Sandra spied her first and gave her a warning look as she headed towards the break room.

  “I should warn you,” Sandra whispered as Diana passed, “she’s in a really bad mood.”

  Diana didn’t have to ask who Sandra meant. She heard the telltale heels clomping along the tile floor and knew she was in some sort of trouble.

  “We expect our employees to be at their desks working by nine o’clock,” Amanda said looking straight at Diana, her face filled with rage.

  “I’m sorry,” Diana said evenly, “it won’t happen again.”

  There was no use trying to give Amanda some excuse. And Diana knew she would not believe her if she told Amanda the truth. At the thought of the truth, Diana’s fingers absently moved to her shoulder, where her suit jacket covered the large bandages in place there.

  “It had better not happen again,” Amanda said, “if it does, I’m going to have to dock your pay. Is that understood?”

  “Yes,” Diana said. She kept her face calm and expressionless. If there was one thing she had learned from bullies, it was that they fed off emotion. The less you showed them, the less they had to work with.

  “Good,” Amanda snapped back, “now, put your things up and get to work.”

  Diana merely nodded and Amanda stepped aside so that Diana c
ould pass to the break room. As Diana passed, some strange stirring told her to look at Amanda’s right leg.

  It was covered, mostly by the red dress she wore, but she could see distinct, red, angry scars like fresh claw marks making their way down her calf.

  Diana pulled her eyes up quickly before she could be detected and walked as quickly as she could back to the break room.

  She had no idea what those scars on Amanda’s leg meant, if anything at all. Was it silly to think that they might have something to do with what had happened to Diana the night before? After the night she had had, she was willing to accept that almost no explanation she could come up with should be deemed silly.

  What was that old saying? ‘If you don’t rule out the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’ But, what was left? She still didn’t know. She still had no explanation for the cougars, the note or anything else.

  She set her purse down inside her locker and headed out to the desk she shared with Sandra.

  It wasn’t long before Sandra started talking animatedly.

  “Amanda’s been like that all morning,” she said. “I mean she’s always bitchy but now it’s like a whole other level. When she came in, she told me to wipe the stupid smile off my face. And I’m thinking ‘well, smiling’s my job. It’s not like I really want to smile at you.’”

  “Did you actually say that to her?” Diana asked. She thought it would have been amusing to see Sandra stand up to her boss.

  “Oh, hell no!” Sandra replied. Diana was a tad disappointed but not at all surprised.

  “See, despite the bitch boss, I like my job,” Sandra continued, “and if I said that to Amanda I would definitely be fired faster than you can blink.”

  With this statement, Diana started to look at Sandra in a new light.

  Diana knew whatever had happened to her at the apartment the night before had something to do with work. She also knew that there was something very strange going on at this company.

  Sandra knew things about this place that Diana didn’t. And it was clear that Sandra was more than happy to share this knowledge.

  “Does Amanda make all the hiring and firing decisions?” Diana asked in what she hoped was a casual manner as she turned on her computer for the day.

  “As far as I know,” Sandra said. “I mean, technically, they’re supposed to go through Mr. Yazzie first. But he never seems to disagree with Amanda on anything.”

  “How do you know?” Diana asked, “I mean, you said you hardly ever see him.”

  “I know because the people Amanda fires, even in an emotional rage, tend to stay fired,” Sandra said.

  “And does she tend to go into these emotional rages...often?” Diana asked hesitantly.

  Sandra chuckled as she turned to Diana.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, “you’re a temp. She won’t fire you if you’re only here for six months. It wouldn’t be worth the hassle of getting someone else in.”

  “Hmmm…” was all Diana said in reply.

  She wanted to ask more, about Mr. Yazzie, about Amanda, about the company. But she knew that if she said much more, even Sandra would start to get suspicious.

  She turned her attention instead to the emails in her inbox. There were about five general inquiries ready for form answers.

  She moved her mouse to click into the first one and felt her shoulder immediately give a painful jerk. She winced and moved her left hand gingerly to rub at the wound.

  “You Ok?” Sandra asked. Apparently she had seen the motion out of the corner of her eye.

  “Yeah,” Diana answered, “just a little sore. I think I slept on something wrong.”

  “Oh, there’s this great herbal remedy for that. My boyfriend’s mom tried it on her back and it totally…”

  And just like that, Sandra was off on another animated one way conversation. Diana once again allowed the sound to wash over her as she typed in form answers to her inquiries.

  All the while, poking around in the back of her mind were the words of the note left on her dresser. ‘You will be taken somewhere safe.’

  But where was somewhere? Did that mean that she was not safe, even in a public office building with dozens of people walking in and out all day?

  Then she remembered the end of the note: ‘Don’t trust anyone’.

  That implied that the attack at her apartment had been no accident. That she had been deliberately targeted. But targeted by who? For what?

  She could not think of a single thing she had done in her entire life that would warrant someone sending a trained black cougar after her.

  She had always been anonymous. Blended into the crowd. She had no skills or physical traits that would call attention to her. She had never made any great enemies. What could anyone possibly want with her?

  She was so caught up in the mystery of it all that she didn’t notice when a young man with short dark hair and tan skin stopped at her desk.

  “Hi,” he said. Diana jumped and looked at him startled.

  “Didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said with a smirk before holding out his hand. “I’m Charles Gomez. You can call me Charlie. I take it you’re my new assistant.”

  Diana took a deep breath and chastised herself for being so jumpy.

  “Yes, sorry,” she answered taking Gomez’s hand, “I’m Diana.”

  Gomez shook her hand and just like Cat had, he held it a second longer than was absolutely necessary.

  “The agency send you over?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said as Gomez finally let go of her hand, “I’ll be here for six months.”

  Charlie looked her up and down and smirked once again. Unlike Cat, he didn’t seem to be unsettled or mystified by her. Indeed, he was looking at her the way Diana had seen a lot of frat boys look at her prettier roommates.

  “The agency did a good job,” he said, eyes finally returning to her face. Diana felt her face go red. She didn’t know how to respond. Luckily, she didn’t have to.

  “I’ll be in a meeting with Cat for about half an hour,” Charlie said, “but after that I’d like to see you in my office.”

  With one last exaggerated glance at her, a smirk and a wink, he made to leave.

  “Good to see you Charlie,” Diana heard Sandra call desperately as Charlie headed to his office.

  He turned back only slightly and gave a disinterested wave.

  “You too Sandra,” he called before entering his office. As soon as he was out of sight, Sandra turned excitedly towards Diana.

  “Oh my gosh!” she said. “What is it with you and the guys in this office?”

  “What do you mean?” Diana asked only slightly confused. Sandra rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, don’t pretend like you don’t know,” Sandra said, “first Mr. Yazzie calls you into his office for a ‘private conversation’,” she said making quotes in the air, “and then Charlie comes in and totally hits on you! I’ve been waiting for him to do that to me since the first time he came into the office!”

  “But...you have a boyfriend,” Diana said, remembering Sandra’s constant complaints about Ash the previous day.

  “I know,” Sandra said, “but I’d dump Ash in a heartbeat if I had a chance at Charlie Gomez. I mean, he’s rich and totally hot!”

  “I guess,” Diana said. The truth was that Charlie was conventionally attractive. He had the bright white smile, styled hair and tanned skin of a Hollywood star.

  Still, Diana couldn’t help but compare him to Cat Yazzie and decide that he just didn’t stack up.

  True, Cat’s teeth were not quite as white and his dark hair was wilder than perfect, but Diana could not help but feel that there was something much more real about him. Something more genuine.

  “You guess?” Sandra asked with a good natured chuckle. “Well I suppose when you have the pick of two millionaires, you've got the right to choose which one you like best.”

  Sandra headed back to her side of the desk and
Diana thought that would be the end of the conversation. As soon as Diana settled back into her work, Sandra turned back to her.

  “When you do decide which rich, handsome guy you want,” she said with a teasing smile, “just promise to put in a good word for me with the other one.”

  “Will do,” Diana said with a chuckle. She shook her head thinking that she never, in a million years, would have guessed that a girl as beautiful as Sandra would be asking for Diana’s left over dates.

  This job was certainly turning out to be much stranger than she had anticipated.

  Chapter Two

  Half an hour passed and the page beeped on Diana’s handset.

  “Hi Diana,” Charlie Gomez’s voice sounded from the other end of the line, “we’re ready for you. Just swing by when you get a minute.”

  “Ok,” Diana answered, “just give me a couple minutes to finish this post.”

  “No problem.”

  The light on the pager blinked once again indicating that the call had ended.

  Diana hurriedly typed up the paragraph summarizing the latest housing article, hit post on the Yazzie Properties facebook page and headed down the hall towards the office marked Charles Gomez.

  As soon as she reached the door, she could hear voices issuing from the other side. One of them, most definitely, belonged to Cat.

  “...they’ve already come for her once. They’ll do it again,” Cat said. Despite her better judgement, Diana leaned down and listened at the door.

  “Cat, do you really know who was behind that? Really?” This voice belonged to Charlie, “It could have been someone with a personal score. It could have been someone…”

  “Right after I’d given her the necklace Charlie?” Cat asked. “I don’t think so.”

  It was now clear that they were talking about her. About what happened the night before. But how could they have known…

  The note.

  She had been right about the note. It must have been Cat who patched her up and wrote that note telling her to go to work.

  “Ok,” Charlie said, “so...that’s suspicious but it doesn’t mean…”

  He stopped mid-sentence and the room on the other side of the door went deathly quiet.