Cougar Romance: The Traitor: Secret Shades of the Alpha Blood Series (Paranormal BBW Menage Romance) (3 page)

“
Catahassa,” Grandfather
began, “you are not a priest, you are not a visionary. You are a
warrior. We cannot trust your vision unless it has been thoroughly
vetted by the tribal council.”

“
Grandfather, I know…” Cat
began.

“
I know you think you had
a vision,” Grandfather said, “perhaps you did. But, sending our men
to the salt lake on little more than a whim would be disastrous for
us. We do not know if the Salt Mother is there. And, by entering
the sacred ground before the appointed time, we could anger the
salt lake and lose everything we have worked towards.”

Catahassa felt like
standing up and punching something. He felt like pounding his fists
on the table, he felt like shaking his grandfather, his father, his
sister all of them. Shaking them hard until they understood the
danger Diana was in, the danger they were all in.

“
I know the girl is
special to you,” he heard his grandfather say gently, “as well she
should be. She is your mate. You have been given the duty of
protecting her.”

That was true. He, Cat,
was the protector of the Salt Mother. That meant that they could
not stop him from going to her aid.

“
Grandfather,” he said,
“if a group of us cannot go to the lake. I ask permission to go
alone.”

“
No.”

It was not grandfather but
Cat’s Father who had spoken.

“
It is much too dangerous
for one man. Even a shifter. Father, you absolutely cannot let Cat
go alone.”

To his surprise, Cat’s
Father was not wearing his usual bitter glare or a dismissive
smirk. His face was white. He looked back and forth between Cat and
Grandfather as though he was truly concerned for his son. The son
he had not spoken a civil word to in ten years.

“
Your Father is right,
Catahassa,” Grandfather said, “the rogue would, likely find and
kill you if you were to venture out of the reservation alone now.
You must stay here. We will wait for the tribal
council.”

“
But…”

“
We will wait,”
Grandfather said firmly.

Cat knew there was no use
arguing now. He simply nodded and lowered his head. Though, he had
no intention of waiting for anything.

“
Now, I suggest you go
back to your room, Catahassa, your sister may go with you,”
Grandfather said, “you will be called when the time
comes.”

Cat pursed his lips and
stood from the table. He saw Amanda stand as well. He rushed out of
the elder pueblo and could hear Amanda following along behind
him.

“
I still don’t know what
you were thinking,” Amanda’s deep dark voice called after him as
she rushed to keep up with his long stride. He did not turn back to
her. He was too busy forming a plan in his mind. Grandfather was
right about one thing. He could not go to the lake alone. He would
need help.

“
You know you can’t go to
the salt lake,” she said, “you know there’s a rogue out there not
to mention a load of Navajo shifters who would love to see you
dead.”

When Amanda mentioned the
Navajo, Cat stopped in his tracks. The Zuni could not enter the
salt lake before the appointed time. But, the Navajo legend had no
such provision. If he could get to the Navajo and convince them to
help him find the salt mother...that would work. After all, the
Salt Woman meant as much to the Navajo as she meant to the
Zuni.

He turned around and
headed to the front of the reservation where his car was still
parked.

“
Where are you going?”
Amanda said rushing to follow him, “you heard grandfather, we’re
supposed to stay in your pueblo.”

“
I just need to drive
around,” Cat lied, “get my mind off things.”

Amanda couldn’t come with
him. It was too dangerous. Not to mention, she didn’t trust anyone
who was not Zuni. She would antagonize the Navajo elders and, if
she did that, there was no chance of them helping.

“
Bullshit,” Amanda said
grabbing his arm and forcing him to turn around and face
her.

“
You can’t lie to me Cat,”
she said the sour expression returning to her face, “I know you’re
going to the Salt Lake. I know you’re going after that
girl.”

“
Her name is Diana,” Cat
snapped at her, “and if I don’t go after her, no one else will.
Then, we might as well say goodbye to everything.”

“
What if it’s a trap?”
Amanda asked, “what if...someone...gave you that vision to lure you
out there.”

“
Then it’s a trap and I’ll
fight my way out,” Cat insisted, “I’m a big boy, Amanda, I can take
care of myself.”

“
Sure you can,” Amanda
said with a snort, “that’s why I had to come all the way out here
to get you out of trouble.”

“
And you came too late,”
Cat said, “now, if you really want to help, you’ll come with me. If
not, you can stay here. Either way, I’m going to find
Diana.”

Amanda pursed her lips and
looked at Catahassa for one moment. Cat, not wanting to waste time,
turned away from her and began walking towards his car.

“
Fine!” she called out to
him rushing to keep up, “I’ll go. Someone has to keep an eye on
you.”

Cat rolled his eyes at her
as he opened the door to the car. Amanda, reluctantly, climbed into
the passenger seat.

Cat took a slow breath and
started off for Navajo territory. Praying, to whoever might be
listening, that he was not too late.

“
I
don’t see why we can’t just do it now.”

“
Because, sweetheart, if
we do it now, she’ll die. We need her alive if we want this to
work.”

Diana’s head was spinning
as her eyes blinked open. The first thing she saw was the brown
rock of a canyon cave. She was lying on a simple cot beneath a
tattered blanket in a warm, humid cave. Outside, she could hear
voices arguing insistently.

“
But, the Zuni will lose
the salt lake,” the woman’s voice said, “that’s what we wanted,
wasn’t it?”

“
They’ll lose it slowly,”
the male voice being Charlie’s said, “they’ll die out slowly. We
need them to die all at once. She has to be trained, she has to be
defiled for that to happen.”

“
Does she?” the female
voice asked. More than a hint of skepticism in her voice, “Does she
really have to be defiled?”

Diana, through her still
foggy memory, remembered. This was Sandra. The large black panther.
The one Cat had called the rouge.

“
Of course,” Charlie
answered, “you think I don’t want to get this over with as soon as
possible?”

“
I don’t know,” Sandra
answered, “I don’t know what you want. I do know that I haven’t
liked the way you’ve looked at that girl since you first saw
her.”

“
Honey, that was just an
act,” Charlie said reassuringly, “you know that.”

Charlie had lied to her.
That much was becoming clear. Cat was not the mole, Cat posed no
danger to her, Charlie did. Diana clenched her eyes closed and
cursed herself for being so stupid.

“
How do I know that?”
Sandra asked.

There was silence for
several moments. It seemed like Charlie couldn’t come up with an
answer to that.

“
We should check on her,”
Charlie said finally, “it’s been a few hours.”

Diana nearly gasped. She
could hear Charlie’s footsteps coming to the cave. There was no way
she could run from him. There was no way to escape Charlie and
Sandra, she knew that. And, if they knew that she had heard what
they were planning, they might very well kill her.

There was nothing else to
do, Diana decided, she had to play along with them. Pretend she
still believed everything Charlie told her.

Quickly, she closed her
eyes again just as she heard Charlie make his way into the cave and
walk next to her bed.

“
Diana,” he called
gently.

Diana opened her eyes
slowly and pretended, as best she could, to look around her with
confusion.

“
Where am I? What’s
happened?” she asked.

“
You’re still at the Salt
Lake,” Charlie said gently, “not right next to it but, close
enough.”

“
The black cougar…” she
said blearily.

“
You were wrong about the
cougar, Diana,” Charlie told her, “we all were. She was trying to
protect you from Cat the whole time. She didn’t want to attack you,
she wanted to bring you here. Where you would be safe.”

Charlie sounded so genuine
that, if Diana had not known that he was lying, she might have
believed him. Still, Charlie had spent enough time with Diana to
know how curious she was. He would expect her to ask questions. So,
she did.

“
How do you know that she
didn’t want to attack me?” Diana asked.

“
Because of the email I
saw. The one Cat sent to Amanda,” Charlie said, “Yazzie properties
represents Zuni land to the outside world. There’s an oil drilling
company that’s been trying to get a contract to drill in the salt
lake for years. Cat finally agreed to help them. The only thing
standing in the way is the Zuni tribe and you.”

“
Me?” I asked.

“
When the Salt Mother
bathes in the salt lake, the lake and all the lands surrounding it
will belong to the Zuni,” Charlie said, “Cat can’t let that
happen.”

“
And, how does Sandra
figure into this?” Diana asked.

“
She found out before I
did,” Charlie said gently, “she knows you still don’t trust her.
She doesn’t blame you. That’s why she’s waiting
outside.”

Diana instinctively looked
to the mouth of the cave. She could see the shadow of a tall woman
standing near the mouth.

“
Her real name is Manaba,”
Charlie said, “she’s Navajo. But, she realized early on that the
Zuni had the true prophecy.”

“
And you’re sure we can
trust her?” Diana asked.

“
I’m positive, Diana,”
Charlie said eagerly taking her hands in his. He gave her that
charming cocky smile. Despite that, Diana felt a chill crawl up her
spine and she had an urge to pull her hands away. She forced
herself to keep them where they were. Charlie was, very handsome,
after all. If she rejected him so suddenly, he would suspect that
she knew what he truly was.

“
And, as you said before
we got here,” Charlie continued, “I can’t train you on my own.
Manaba is a priestess in the Navajo order. She can assist in your
training where I can’t.”

“
You need a priestess for
my training?” Diana asked.

“
A priest or a priestess,”
Charlie said, “there are chants. Meditations, if you like. They
have to be said by someone in tune with the spirits.”

Diana must not have been
able to hide the skepticism in her face, no matter how hard she
tried because Charlie increased the pressure on her
hands.

“
Diana, please,” he said,
“you have to trust me.”

Once again, his expression
and voice were so sincere, it was very hard not to take him at his
word. She had to force herself to remember what he had heard
Charlie and Sandra (now Manaba) talking about before they realized
she was awake.

They had talked about
killing her.

Charlie reached his hand
to Diana’s cheek and stroked her skin with the back of his
fingertips. Diana, against her better judgment, felt her heart leap
at the touch. She looked into his light brown eyes and found it
very difficult not to get pulled in.

Forcing herself to think,
she closed her eyes and thought of Cat. She remembered the way Cat
had looked at her the night before, the way he had touched her, the
tender kiss he’d placed on her neck when he gave her the
talisman…

The talisman! Her eyes
flew open and she felt for the place on her chest. The talisman was
not there.

“
Where is my necklace?”
Diana asked.

“
I told you, Cat’s placed
a curse on it. It’s not safe for you to wear it here,” Charlie
said, “don’t worry. We’re keeping it safe until we can find a way
to disconnect it from him.”

Diana’s heart began
beating wildly, instinctively, she turned away from Charlie and
began looking wildly around her.

Somehow, she felt
vulnerable without the marble cougar pressed against her skin, she
felt exposed…

“
Diana,” Charlie said
moving his hand to her cheek again and forcing her to look into his
eyes, “do you trust me?”

She wanted to scream out
that she did not trust him. That she never would. She wanted to
demand that he take her back to the reservation; she wanted to run
from the cave and find Cat on her own.

But, she knew, any of
these ideas would be suicide. And, besides, the elders had said she
would need to be trained. Apparently, Charlie realized that too.
Training would take a long time. During that time, she could think
of a plan. She could find a way to get back to Cat.