by Paula Knight
THE END
Cougar Romance
The Secret
Secret Shades of the Alpha Blood Series Book Three
Paula Knight
Cougar Romance: The Secret
Chapter One
Diana stared at what looked like more than a dozen cougars staring straight at the little Mercedes where she sat. She could feel every ounce of blood in her body rushing to her pounding heart. Cougars on all sides of her it seemed, paced back and forth, keeping their eyes locked menacingly on the car; on her. It was as though they desperately wanted to jump, to attack, but some invisible source was holding them back.
“Get down,” she heard Charlie growl at her from the back seat. Diana gasped again as he grabbed the back of her neck and forcefully pushed her below the dashboard and out of sight. Diana turned to glare at him but to her surprise, he wasn’t looking at her.
His eyes instead, were fixed on a point right in front of them. She knew he was watching Cat.
Cat who, for some unknowable reason, had wandered out to face this animal army alone. Without asking for help from Charlie, without even consulting her.
He had made himself perfectly clear, and now it was clearer to her that no one intended to consult her on anything. She was feeling more and more like a pawn in a larger game. Like she had absolutely no control of her own destiny. The one thing Diana hated most.
Now, she felt her skin begin to itch with a need to act. To do something constructive. To help herself.
She tried, as hard as she could to think of what she could possibly do. She came up empty and she nearly felt tears of frustration beginning to form in her eyes, as they always did when she couldn’t think her way out of a situation.
Eventually, she couldn’t take the suspense anymore. She had to know what was happening out there, if only for her own sanity.
When she peeked her head over the dash, she could see Cat speaking with another tall, middle aged man. Clearly Native American with long, braided black hair and small dark eyes.
Diana could swear that the man had not been there before. However, knowing now what she did about what Cat and Charlie could both do, she reasoned this should have come as no surprise.
She looked sideways to Charlie, ready either to duck or to fight him if he tried to push her down again. He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her. His eyes remained locked on the group in front of them.
Diana looked down and noticed that he had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the gear shift. Clearly, willing to take off at a moment’s notice.
It was less than a moment before Cat came back to the car.
“What’s going on?” Charlie asked eagerly.
“They want to see her,” Cat responded without as much as a glance at Diana. That was the last straw. She was sick and tired of being treated like an inanimate object.
“Well if they want to see me,” Diana said loudly and pointedly to Cat, “then they can all sure as hell change back and come over here.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to make demands of them,” Cat said, finally turning to Diana.
“If it’s me they want to see,” Diana said fiercely, “I think I should be the one to make that decision.”
“Either way,” Charlie said. He hadn’t taken his hand off the steering wheel or the gear shaft, “it looks like we’re going to have to give them some kind of answer.”
Diana looked out the front window and saw the tall man walking, menacingly towards them.
Well, she decided, if Cat and Charlie weren’t going to give her control, she was just going to have to take it.
She sat up straight, opened the passenger side door, still shaking like a leaf at the sight of the various colored mountain lions, and stepped out, walking slowly towards the man in the front of the group.
It was not a moment before Cat, speedily moved to her side.
“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered harshly to her as they continued moving towards the man.
“They wanted to see me,” Diana said without looking at him, “it only seems right that I should face them.”
“Diana, you don’t understand,” Cat began.
“Only because you won’t explain,” Diana spat back.
“You don’t realize,” Cat continued as though he had not heard Diana, “they only want you so they can…”
“I’m Diana Grant,” Diana said loudly, cutting Cat off as she reached the Navajo man, “I understand you wanted to see me.”
The old man looked her up and down with an almost amused smile on his lips.
“So,” He said in a deep, menacing voice, “you think this is your great Salt Mother?”
“I know this is the Salt Mother,” Cat said almost defiantly.
“And how do you know that?” Diana nearly jumped and turned around at the sound of the new voice.
A young man, who looked several years younger than her and much younger than the man in front of them, though otherwise very similar, now stood directly behind her. Only a moment earlier where this boy now stood, a brown mountain lion had stood in his place.
“I know because of the prophecy,” Cat said. Diana opened her mouth to ask which part of the prophecy he was referring to. She still hadn’t heard the whole thing.
“Your prophecy you mean,” the older man said, “our Navajo legend says something different.”
“She’s supposed to have white hair,” the boy behind Diana said, “and she’s supposed to be much older.”
“Yeah, well, that’s why you weren’t entrusted with the true prophecy,” Diana heard Charlie say. She turned and saw him walking towards them from the Mercedes.
As he did, several cougars, gave small growls and moved menacingly towards him. This did not seem to faze Charlie who strolled casually to Cat and Diana.
Cat turned to him and held out a hand to stop him.
“Charlie, please,” he said, “let me handle this.”
“Your friend has a big mouth,” the older man said staring beyond Diana and Cat and looking directly at Charlie, “if he’s not careful, he could lose it.”
“I’m sorry,” Cat said, “it’s been a long day…”
“Oh, don’t try to explain yourself to this Navajo asshole, Cat,” Charlie said fiercely, “they know full well this is the Salt Mother. Otherwise they wouldn’t have sent their cronies to try and kidnap her.”
“We did no such thing,” the older man said to Cat, now refusing to look at Charlie, “in fact, we came to warn you and offer our assistance.”
“As if we’d take any from you,” Charlie called out to them.
“Charlie,” Cat said sharply turning to his friend, “take Diana and go wait in the car. I’ll handle this.”
“Oh no,” this time it was not Charlie but Diana who spoke, “no one is taking me anywhere. This is about me and I have a right to know about it.”
“Diana,” Cat said gently, “really it’s best if you…”
“No,” Diana told him sharply, “don’t tell me what’s best for me. If I’m the Salt Mother, I need to know what that means. You can’t expect me to get through this if you insist on treating me like a child.”
Cat looked at her, frustration lining his face. He opened his mouth as though to give her a sharp reply but before he could, the older man in front of them let out a sharp laugh.
“The girl has a point,” the older man said, “if she is the Salt Mother as you claim that she is, she deserves your respect.”
The older man’s tone didn’t convey respect. It was as though he was mocking both Cat and Diana at the same time.
Diana stared the man down and opened her mouth to give him a snarky answer. Cat touched her hand to stop her. She looked towards him and intended to give him another lecture but he turned to the older man and spoke before she could.
“Clearly,” he said, “we’re not the only one who thinks she is the woman of the prophecy. Someone was following us. Even if it wasn’t your peo
ple.”
“That is one thing we can agree on,” the man said, “we happen to know who it was who chased you. We know who attacked your Salt Mother.”
He looked at Diana and gave her a sneer that made her ball her hands into fists so tightly that her fingernails cut into her palms.
“Who was it?” Cat asked.
“She is a member of the tribe. But I promise you she stood apart from us this time,” the man said. “She found out about your...Salt Mother…” here the man looked at Diana with another sneer, “long before we did.”
“How could she have known about me before even I knew?” Diana asked.
“I think your handlers can answer that better than I can,” the man said looking straight at Cat, “our rogue member had to have a connection in the Zuni tribe to know about the girl and her connection to the prophecy.”
“What are you suggesting?” Cat asked with a hint of confrontation in his voice. She heard Charlie move forward towards them from behind. When she looked around, she felt the other cougars in the group tense. A few even hunched low to the ground as though preparing to attack.
“I’m saying,” the man said, “that the Zuni nation is not as united as you think.”
“An inside source,” Cat said quietly. More to himself than to anyone else.
“What do you mean an inside source?” Diana asked.
“He means it’s not us you should be worried about,” the boy behind Diana said with an ironic smile.
As she turned to look at the young man Diana felt a warm hand on her arm guiding her attention from the boy behind her to the man in front of her. As her attention turned, she felt Cat’s hand move from her arm to intertwine with her hand. Warm comfort spread through her body. She suddenly felt at peace.
She looked at Cat briefly before she turned to the older man in front of her. He looked down at Diana and Cat’s entwined hands and the sneer changed, for almost the first time since Diana had stepped out of the car. He looked pensive, almost surprised, as his gaze caught Cat’s hand mixed with Diana’s.
The moment passed however, and his sneer returned in full force.
“Are you ready to hear our offer of assistance now?” he asked.
Cat looked at Diana for one moment. He gave her a significant look for the first time, as though he was asking her advice. As though he was asking her permission to hear this man’s offer.
From where Diana stood, surrounded by at least a dozen shape shifting Navajo’s, she thought that hearing what they had to say could not hurt.
So imperceptibly, she nodded to Cat. He in turn, gave her a half smile and turned back to the Navajo man in front of them.
“Ok,” Cat said, “what is your offer?”
“You know, I’m sure that the Navajo nation wants what you want,” the man said, “to get the Salt Mother to the great Salt Lake.”
“If you say so,” Cat said amiably as he could.
The man cringed for one moment before brushing this slight off and continuing.
“We will provide you protection in order to get her there,” the man said.
“That’s not where we’re going,” Charlie said sullenly staring down the man as though he was eager to do battle with him on the spot.
“She needs to be trained first,” Cat said evenly to the man, as though trying to apologize to the Navajo man for Charlie.
“You mean trained in the Zuni way,” the boy said from behind them.
“I mean trained to do what she needs to do,” Cat said. He did not look at the boy, but kept his eyes on the man.
“You’re taking her to the reservation,” the man said.
“Yes,” Cat answered.
The man paused. Then he looked over Cat and Diana to the boy behind them. Diana watched his eyes and looked back to the boy. The man and boy seemed to carry on a silent conversation that the rest of them were not privy to.
Eventually, the boy gave the man a small nod. The man, in turn, looked to Cat.
“We can escort you to the reservation,” the man said.
“What do you want in exchange?” Charlie called. Diana now almost rolled her eyes at Charlie’s confrontational tone. Mouthing off, at the moment, was not a smart option.
“Nothing,” the man said with a raised eyebrow to Charlie, “all we ask is that you let us know when she will make the journey to the Great Salt Lake.”
“And why would we tell you that?” Charlie said.
“Because, if you go down this road without protection,” the Navajo man said, “you will not make it the next two miles before the rouge finds you.”
She could hear Charlie taking two more steps towards them. Cat looked back at him as though trying to warn him.
Through all this, Diana thought about taking control of her own destiny for once and she realized that it was about time she did.
“We accept,” Diana said before either Cat or Charlie could say anything more.
Cat looked at her with wide eyes.
“Diana…” Cat began.
“Cat,” she said firmly, “how else are we going to get to the reservation? You said yourself this is the only other road.”
Cat hesitated and bit his lip.
Eventually, he looked back at her, “Don’t you think we should…”
“...I’m making an executive decision,” she said, “and since this entire thing is about me, I feel like I can do that.”
Diana turned her attention back to the Navajo man.
“Can you take us now?” she asked him.
The man seemed to look at her with a newfound respect.
“Consider us your security detail,” he said gesturing to the cougars who surrounded him.
“All right then,” she said, “we’ll follow you to the reservation.”
“Diana…” Cat began again, “we don’t even know if…”
“We should get back in the car, Cat,” she said as gently and firmly as she could, “I think you said we needed to make it to the reservation before sundown.”
Cat looked, for a moment, as though he wanted to argue. But in the end, he simply shook his head said, “Whatever you say.”
She turned back and looked at the Navajo man who gave her half a nod before moving to the truck that had, just several minutes before, tried to run them off the road.
The older man looked over Diana and Cat and said something in a language Diana couldn’t make out to the boy standing near Charlie.
The boy nodded and ran to follow the man into the truck. The rest of the animal army remained where they were.
Cat meanwhile, caught Diana’s hand once again as they headed back to his Car. When they reached Charlie, he rushed to follow them.
“You realize this is insane, right?” Charlie said urgently to Cat, “You know we can’t trust Navajo! We’ve never been able to trust them!”
“It’s Diana’s decision,” Cat told him, “and she’s got a point. We need to get to the reservation as quickly as we can.”
All though Cat said it was her choice, his tone made it seem as though he was not fully on board with this either. Still Diana was pleased that he at least seemed to trust her enough to let her decision stand.
The three of them reached the car and Cat opened the door for her.
“I’m not getting in,” Charlie said with his arms crossed, “if they’re going to run alongside you, so will I. That way, if they try anything, I’ll be there to rip their throats out.”
As Charlie was out numbered, even if he were in cougar form, Diana could not see how he could make good on this particular threat.
None the less Cat rolled his eyes in an appeasing manner and said, “Suit yourself.”
With that, he ushered Diana into the passenger seat of the small car and started the engine.
“What did Charlie mean when he said they’re going to run alongside us?” Diana asked.
“You’ll see,” Cat said.
As soon as the car began to drive, Diana stared out her window at
an amazing sight. The dozen or so cougars who had surrounded them at their unexpected stop were now running at an amazingly fast rate alongside the tiny car.
She tried to see Charlie in the mass of multi colored fur, but their pace was so amazingly fast that all the cougars began to blur together.
The sight entranced her for several moments before she realized that there were more questions she needed to ask. Especially now that she and Cat were once again alone.
“Who was that man we talked to?” she asked first. Of all the questions swirling around in her mind, this was by far the easiest. It was also, by far, the least personal.
“His name is Tse. He’s a Navajo tribe elder,” Cat said. “That brash boy is named Ashkii. He’s his son.”
Diana looked curiously at Cat when she heard that name. Ashkii. It sounded familiar but, for the life of her, Diana could not decide where she had heard it before.
“His son wasn’t a big fan of you,” Diana said.
“He doesn’t like any Pueblo,” Cat said, “especially Zuni’s.”
“Why is that?” Diana asked. She was interested, truly, she was. But she also couldn’t deny that she was trying to put off asking Cat other questions. Questions about the kiss he had given her, about why he held her hand, why he asked her advice, even silently. Questions that made her blush just to think about them.
“The Navajo and the Zuni have been fighting for years over the land,” Cat answered. “The Navajo think that, just because their ancestral lands surround our pueblo, they have the right to take our land and our culture as well.”
“So they have the same prophecy?” Diana asked. “The one about the Salt Mother?”
“No,” Cat said so sharply that it made Diana flinch, “they have a bastardized version of a prophecy they stole from us.”
“Ok,” Diana said slowly, “but they know about the salt woman...I mean...me?” she added uncertainly. Speaking about herself as some creation spirit still sounded much too strange, no matter how hard she tried to accept it.
“They know about the salt woman,” he said, “they take her return more literally than we do.”