BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The Unforgettable Southern Billionaires: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Young Adult Rich Alpha Male Billionaire Romance)

by Walker, Violet

  Cat was waiting for her, she knew that. Though, how long he would wait, she had no idea. She felt as though the talisman would be able to tell her. It always glowed with a warmth that filled her from head to foot when he was near. But, there was no hope of getting to that either.

  Manaba was keeping it in a satchel that she always wore around her neck.

  Still, she had connected with Cat before without the aid of the necklace...but, that was in a training session. That was with Manaba chanting softly behind her and Charlie...doing things to her body.

  Diana gave a sharp shiver when she thought about that now. Even if it had helped her reach Cat, even if she would not have been able to stop it if she wanted to, it still felt like some kind of betrayal.

  She pushed the memory of her training out of her mind and focused on her plight. She calmed her breathing, stilled her mind and told herself to focus on where she was. This was something her father, a police officer, had taught her to do when she was young.

  ‘If you get lost,’ he said, ‘stop, take deep breaths, and look around you. Look for familiar landmarks, trees, street signs, anything that can tell you where you are. If you know where you are, you can find your way back.’

  They’d moved her away from the training spot. It was too near the exit. And, in the dark, it had been nearly impossible to tell exactly where she had been moved to.

  She looked around her for any strange out cropping of the cave walls, any marker that might point the way back towards the opening.

  When she moved her head from side to side, however, she was disappointed to realize that all the croppings, the rocks, the dirt all looked the same.

  The dirt…

  This was still part of the Salt Lake. Zuni had lived here, perhaps, in caves like this thousands of years ago. Pottery shards, tools, spears had been found in caves very similar to this one. And, since this cave appeared to be hidden, it most likely would not have been scavenged.

  The shards, if they were there, may not have been buried as deeply as they had been in other more populated areas.

  A sharp object could cut her ropes, could free her, could take her to Cat. She moved her legs against the dirt looking for something, anything. Eventually, she felt her skin land on something hard and sharp.

  As soon as it did, she heard footsteps echo against the stone walls of the cave. Either Charlie or Manaba was coming for her. She dropped her thigh over the sharp object hiding it from sight.

  Charlie stepped into view.

  “Sorry about this,” Charlie said as he knelt down beside her. Diana turned away from him.

  “Are you?” she asked.

  “I know you don’t believe me,” he said gently, “I wouldn’t either if I were you. But, I really, truly am sorry. I wish there was another way…”

  “Another way to do what, exactly?” Diana asked still refusing to look at him. She moved her leg to better cover the shard of pottery she had found in the loose dirt.

  She heard Charlie heave a sigh.

  “Well,” he said heavily,” in essence, I’ve already told you.”

  “I think I would remember that,” Diana quipped.

  “You don’t remember when I brought you here?” Charlie asked

  “You mean when you lied to get me here?”

  “Not all of it was a lie,” Charlie said, “the part about the oil being underneath the salt lake was true. If a private contractor could take that land, it would be the best thing, economically speaking, for everyone.”

  Diana, for the first time since he’d kneeled down beside her, turned her head and stared at Charlie.

  “You’re telling me, the reason you’re doing all of this. The reason I’ve been tied up here for...for hours, is...oil?” she asked, her jaw nearly dropping. It was much, much too simple. She’d expected his answer, like everything else around her to be fraught with complications and long explanations.

  “Well,” he said with a charming but slightly embarrassed grin, “it’s more about the money from the oil.”

  “So...money. The reason you’re doing this, the reason you’re going to kill me is greed?”

  Charlie’s face fell, he suddenly looked at Diana with a concern that seemed almost genuine.

  “Who said anything about killing you?” he asked.

  “I heard you and your little girlfriend talking when you brought me here,” Diana said bitterly, “didn’t she tell you it was better to kill me immediately?”

  Charlie heaved another sigh. He bit his lip, hesitating before speaking. Diana steeled herself to reject anything he had to say; to ignore any explanation he might give. No matter how sincere he sounded, no matter how charming he was.

  “We don’t need to kill you,” Charlie said.

  “Then why does Manaba want to?” Diana asked.

  Charlie gave her another slightly embarrassed grin.

  “Manaba has always had a sort of...fascination with me,” he said carefully, “I’ll admit I took advantage of it. I needed her help. But, now, I’m afraid, she sees you as a kind of threat.”

  “Why would she see me as a threat?” Diana asked. After all, Manaba was a powerful shifter. Diana could barely control her feelings enough to enter a trance.

  Suddenly, Charlie looked her in the eye and raised his hand to her cheek.

  “Do you have to ask?” he whispered gently to her. Diana felt a shiver run down her spine as he moved his lips closer to hers. She felt her body respond to this handsome man though she told it not to.

  Luckily, she recovered her good sense enough to turn her head at the last moment. Charlie’s lips barely graced her cheek.

  When Diana looked back at him, she was surprised that he did not look at all upset by her rejection. His smile still appeared flirty and charming. Even though Diana knew now what he was; knew that she should not trust a word he said, she could not deny that the man had a kind of magnetism. She could not at all blame Sandra...Manaba for being taken in by him.

  “We’ll start training again this afternoon,” Charlie said, “you should get some more rest before then. Remember, if you’re too busy thinking, the trance doesn’t work.”

  Diana did not answer but, instead, gave him a suspicious glare. He merely laughed and patted her cheek so harshly that it was nearly a slap.

  As Diana heard him laugh gently and watched him walk away, she was suddenly struck by a thought. It seemed odd that it had taken Charlie’s visit for her to remember...when she had gone into the trance, she saw Cat.

  Of course, that could simply have been a dream, consequence of her thinking too much. But, she was sure that it was not. She had seen him and, more than that, she had felt him. What’s more, Manaba had known about her vision. Hadn’t Manaba stopped the training when she realized what Diana was seeing?

  That meant that her vision could not have been just a consequence of her overthinking, a fragment of her frightened dream. It meant that her talisman was not the only connection she had to Catahassa Yazzie.

  As that thought came to her, she had a sudden idea. Perhaps she wouldn’t need to find a way to use the shard beneath her thigh. Perhaps, if she could enter the trance once again, she could show Cat where to find her. She knew about the opening now, she was sure she could remember where it was, if she showed him where to find her from there…

  But, would it work without Manaba’s chanting? Would it work without Charlie....doing what he did to her? She thought again about Cat, about how she had imagined him there with her. How her thoughts had...called to him somehow.

  Maybe she could do that again. She closed her eyes and thought about Cat. About the way he had touched her in their room, the way he had kissed her. She imagined him here now, she imagined that she wasn’t tied up in a lonely cave in the middle of the desert.

  Instead, she was tied up, yes but on a comfortable bed. An incredibly soft pillow supported her head and above her...above her was Cat.

  His naked, tanned torso glittered by a soft light in the room as he
bent down to her.

  He kissed her lips gently, almost chastely before moving his lips to her neck. As he did, one hand moved up along her body to cup her breast.

  Diana emitted a heavy sigh as she imagined Cat massaging that breast with his hands, one thumb moving over her nipple causing it to stand erect.

  His lips moved to her shoulders, then to the hollow of her throat, then to suckle on the breast that was not being softly massaged by his hand.

  Unconsciously, Diana arched her back, trying as best she could to focus on the imagined sensations of Cat’s mouth, his hands.

  Her imagination caused Cat to remove his lips from her breast and look up at her. Diana chastised herself for missing the imagined contact of his lips with her breasts. She told herself that her pleasure was merely a means to an end. She had to form a connection with him, she had to let him know where she was.

  When she looked into his eyes, she felt something stir inside her. She knew now, instinctively that this was no longer her imagination. He could see her. Cat, wherever he was, could see her here.

  His eyes widened suddenly and he looked down on her as though not daring to believe that she was real.

  “Diana,” he said in an awe struck voice as he brought his hand up to her cheek as though not daring to believe that she was there.

  Then, he bent his lips towards her and kissed her desperately, passionately. His hands roamed over her body as he pressed his tongue forcefully into her mouth. He bit down on her lip as he pulled away from her. In fact, he bit down so hard that she began to feel a small trickle of blood form on her bottom lip.

  He moved his hands which were caressing her side down to her legs. Then, almost painfully, he shoved two fingers inside of her.

  Diana cried out at this and Cat let out a low growl. He moved his lips to her ear and bit down on her lobe before whispering harshly, “Who did this? Who took you away from me?”

  She looked at him and realized it would be hard for him to hear. Even harder for her to voice. All the same, he had to know who he was facing if he found her…

  “Cha...Charlie,” she said. His eyes widened with shock and disbelief, “He...he said you were the mole. He said I had to go with him.”

  His eyes suddenly hardened and he grasped her shoulders roughly.

  “Why?” he asked her fiercely, “Why did you believe him?”

  He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, Diana felt her heart sink with shame. All the same, it was very difficult to think when his fingers were still moving inside of her bringing her a painful sort of pleasure.

  “Cat, I...I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out between sighs, “it...it happened so fast. I didn’t know what to think, who to trust and…”

  She made a high pitched moan as he moved his fingers upwards and caressed the most sensitive spot on her body. When she looked at him, his eyes slowly began to soften. He was no longer angry with her, she knew that now. Now, he looked concerned, desperate…

  “Where are you?” he asked, “tell me where you are and I’ll come and find you.”

  Diana nodded and told herself to think. She could not become lost in pleasure, she had to remember details. Anything that might tell him how to find her.

  This became more difficult when Cat’s mouth clamped onto her neck once again and his thumb began circling her clit.

  “It’s...it’s a cave,” she said, “near the salt lake but hidden behind it. I...oh god,” he moved his mouth once again to her breast and kissed her now fully erect nipple as his thumb continued to press against her.

  “There...there’s an entrance…” she said finally forcing words out against the building pressure inside her center, “...I’ve...I’ve seen it once.”

  Cat looked up from her breasts and moved his lips once again to her ear, “show me,” he said. With this, the fingers inside of her made a flicking motion and Diana cried out her release, her walls clutching against Cat’s fingers.

  She closed her eyes and the next moment, she was, once again, not herself. The white paws and fur of the cougar had taken her place. The ropes had been removed, the bed had disappeared. They were, once again, in the cold dark cave.

  She looked to Cat, still in human form and, without thinking, without knowing entirely what she was doing, she began to move. She heard Cat following her through the twists and turns of the cave until, finally, she could see the warm sunlight of the secret entrance.

  Chapter Two

  The car stopped suddenly and Cat jolted awake. Sometime during the drive, Amanda had taken the wheel and insisted he get some rest.

  Now...now...he put his hand to his head and tried, as desperately as he could, to understand what he had just seen. It had only been a moment but, he had seen Diana.

  She had come to him from the back of a cave. It was somewhere...somewhere far off the beaten path but, all the same, he knew he had seen it before.

  “They’re here. I can tell,” Cat said hazily, “but they’re not at the lake.”

  “Well, they wouldn’t be,” Amanda said matter of factly, clearly taking no notice of Cat’s hazy state. She pulled up the emergency brake and turning off the engine, “Manaba’s too smart for that. They’re probably in the surrounding canyons.”

  “They’re in a cave,” Cat said trying to remember the dream. Thinking about it caused his head to ache.

  “How do you know?” Amanda said eagerly, finally looking to him. She must have realized that he had a vision. Cat had had enough in her company for her to recognize the signs.

  “I saw her,” he said, “but, she wasn’t herself...she’d transformed…”

  “They’re training her,” Amanda said quietly, almost to herself, “of course. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to let her go in without being trained.”

  “Why would they bother with that? Wouldn’t they just force her in the lake and be done with it?” Ash asked nervously. As brave as he had been about going to the Lake with Cat and Amanda in order to find the girl he, perhaps unwisely still loved, Cat could tell that the boy was beginning to have second thoughts.

  “If they had, trust me, we would know,” Amanda said with a dark smile.

  “What does that mean?” He asked.

  “Well, for one thing,” Amanda said, “Cat and I would be dead. So would everyone else on our reservation. Most likely due to freak “accidents”.”

  “That’s not what our prophecy says,” Ash answered stubbornly.

  “And that’s why your prophecy's wrong,” Amanda shot back.

  “Look,” Cat said irritably, “it doesn’t matter. She’s still alive. We need to find her.”

  “How do you know that?” Ash asked.

  “I know,” Cat said simply.

  He wasn’t quite sure how to explain it, especially not to someone who was so unfamiliar with the true prophecy. But, he knew his connection to Diana did not stop with their talismans. It went much deeper than that. He was positive that, if Diana were killed or placed in any other immediate danger, he would know.

  “We’ll have to go through the canyons on foot,” Amanda said opening the front door, “it's too narrow for the car.”

  All three of them got out and started walking towards the canyons.

  “It’s not in any of the obvious places,” Cat said as they trudged past the vast blue lake, “it’s somewhere hidden, out of the way.”

  “We’ve got to check the obvious spots first,” Amanda said definitely.

  “We’ll just be wasting time,” Cat said, “I’m telling you, I know she’s not there.”

  “And I’m telling you that this is the best thing to do if we want to find them,” Amanda said forcefully. Cat stopped in his tracks both out of frustration and a hazy dizziness that lingered from the dream.

  Amanda and Ash, realizing that their companion had halted turned back. Amanda walked towards him with as sympathetic an expression as he had ever seen his forthright sister muster.

  “Look,” she said, “I know this is frustr
ating for you. I know how much you want to find her. But, dad’s right. You’re not a seer, you’re not a priest. We can’t do things based on your visions.”

  Cat balled his hands into fists at his sister’s words.

  “If you don’t trust my visions,” he said through gritted teeth, “then why are you here?”

  “Because I know you would have come on your own if I didn’t join you,” Amanda said, “and I...I know you have some kind of...connection to this girl.”

  She said that reluctantly as if it wasn’t something she all together wanted to admit.

  “But, you have to admit that...you think with your heart as much as your head,” she said, “there are times when you have trouble distinguishing what you want to be true from what actually is true.”

  “You seriously believe that?” Cat asked. He could feel his anger at his sister increasing. His hands were now balled up so tightly that he could feel his fingernails digging into his palms.

  “I know that, Cat,” Amanda said with an eye roll. Cat huffed and turned away from her. As angry as he was, he knew, in some dark corner of his mind, his sister had a point. It was not the Zuni way to trust the visions of anyone but a priest.

  And, he had to admit, his passion for Diana had somewhat dulled his other senses. Now, he began even to think that perhaps the others were right. Perhaps she had left of her own free will.

  Either way, Cat knew she had left, and there had been nothing to indicate a struggle. For the first time, he began to ask himself why? Why had Diana gone with someone who wasn’t him? How could she have doubted him? How could she have doubted how much he…

  “Now,” Amanda’s voice called to him loudly, taking him away from his thoughts, “we’re going to look for Diana and Manaba in the canyons,” she said, indicating to Ash who had stayed silent but looked extremely impatient throughout their little exchange.

  “You can either come with us and help or stay with the car. It’s up to you.”

  Amanda crossed her arms and stared Cat down. She looked very much like a mother disciplining her disobedient child. Cat could not help but hate her a little bit for it.