Claws (2 page)

She was sent to her room to choose
after a battle left both Jericho and Gideon torn and bloody once
more. Eli forced her to her apartments under armed guard until she
decided. He would not allow any more violence.

She could forgive Eli’s taking of a
mate. He would come back to her.

Her hand trembled uncontrollably. She
frowned as she clenched her fist. This weakness in her limbs was
not wearing off as it should have. Her hunger came swiftly, making
her nostrils flare. She decided to go up top to hunt. A look at her
rival was called for.

~ ~ ~

Vivvie hefted the giant stuffed koala
bear and large bag of souvenirs. Her husband pulled the necessary
leashes bearing their children. The twins growled and spat at one
another. They snarled and fought every step of the way.

Vivvie’s eyes softened to see her
husband glance back at them. He spoke sharply to the pair with his
gift, able to talk to them with his mind. The pair mewled and
purred as they followed their parents through the underground
parking garage now.

Eli’s twin teenage sons arrived. Evan
and Ewan were identical twins, born to the one of the women of the
tribe. They were there to unload their luggage; trying to tackle
each other more like it.

One look from their Father’s piercing
stare and the pair instantly calmed down. After greeting their
Father and petting their new siblings, they made off to the SUV to
get their bags.

Vivvie could see Eli’s patience was
wearing thin. The trip back to the United States aboard the private
jet was inundated with problems. The pilot was one of them and
quite understanding when Devon was rescued from the wing during
midflight.

His sister Elaina gnawed the wiring to
the onboard TV. They faced the twelve hour flight without
entertainment. Their honeymoon in Perth was enjoyable. Eli
practiced deep-sea diving and Vivvie practiced climbing trees to
chase her young. The decision to take their offspring was debatable
when the pair got into mischief.

She and Eli were constantly shifting to
chase their son and daughter down the beach. Dragging them back
within their jaws, they’d eyed one another in obvious
disappointment. They picked the worst times to act up. They were
allowed few opportunities to enjoy one another, much to Eli’s
displeasure.

“Now I know why parents eat their
young,” he muttered on more than one occasion the last month,
repeating it as they made their way to the doors to the
compound.

“After twenty-three kids; you’d think
you’d have more patience for ours,” Vivvie snapped at his unkind
words.

Eli glared at her as he yanked on the
leashes, pulling their snarling children along with him. “Making
them was one thing. I rather enjoyed that part. Dealing with them
at this age is another. Are we going to argue this again? I didn’t
ever have to do all this before.”

“So now you have to raise your own
children? I’m so sorry. Isn’t that what you wanted when you married
me?” Vivvie asked in outrage, green eyes glowing in fury.
“Whatever! You’re being an asshole!”

Eli was furious. His blue eyes glowed
down at her. “I’m not fighting with you today, Vivvie. I’d like to
relax and unwind after that miserable flight. Is that so much to
ask?”

She bit back another comment. Her
husband stalked past her inside the doors and undid the leashes.
They watched as their offspring shot away and chased one another,
skidding down the winding hallway. Where they would end up was
anyone’s guess.

“No one said this would be easy, Eli,”
she told him as he stared after them with a perpetual frown on his
handsome face. “I thought this was what you wanted? You wanted a
normal life. Well, this is it. Fathers help raise their children.
I’m new to all this. I need your help.”

Eli sighed and looked down at his
petite wife with a reluctant smile. “I’d like to help you out of
that sundress. That’s all I’m up for right now, wife.”

Vivvie giggled at his words and rolled
her eyes. “We better not. I feel the heat coming on again. I don’t
feel like repeating this experience in eight weeks. Two is enough
for now.”

Eli looked miserable at her disclosure.
“I suppose a hand job is out of the question then?”

Vivvie glared at him. “Is that all you
ever think about?”

“I think about other things too,
Vivvie,” he replied huskily with a knowing look that took her
breath away as he came near, sniffing her appreciatively. “I just
keep coming back to that.”

Vivvie smiled, a deep purr
lodged in her throat at his heated look.
That
had never been better between
them. Their sex life was an adventurous romp. Her husband had an
unbelievable appetite and stalked her on a daily basis.

They heard a loud crash somewhere down
the hall. They both stiffened to hear the growling of their young.
The spell was broken. That annoyed look once more filled her
husband’s gaze.

“It’s your turn,” he informed her
quickly as he took the stuffed bear and bag from her.

Vivvie stomped away, knowing quite well
whose turn it always was. Eli might be making an attempt at modern
fatherhood, but it was clear she had more ‘turns’ than him. She was
disgusted as she heard his laughing at her back.

When you get them to settle
down, I’ll be in our bedroom waiting for you, my love

She ignored his words in her mind as
she looked for their children. One only had to follow the trail of
debris to find Devon. The boy was constantly getting into things,
destroying things, and eating things she chose to not think
about.

His twin sister Elaina was the exact
opposite. Vivvie saw her former OCD alive and well in her daughter.
Elaina was showing all the signs of it. The little girl wore that
same tight look she had for years. She was impossible at times with
her ritualistic behaviors. Though they were only a few months old,
they were the size of two year-olds now in their human
form.

They preferred their animal form,
staying in full shift now. Eli said it was normal at their age. It
amused the other tourists on their trip as they petted the pair
when they went sightseeing, but annoyed Vivvie to the
extreme.

Vivvie longed to look at them and see
normal children. She wanted babies; she got kittens. She wanted
children; she got unruly young panthers. Motherhood proved to be
more like a zookeeper’s job.

When she thought of all that she wanted
for herself in the past, she quelled the wistful image of normalcy.
That went out the window when she was bitten by Ryken. Her life
before she was bitten would have been construed as miserable by
human standards. She struggled to pay her rent in those days, going
from one roommate to the next. Her car was falling apart and going
to college was getting further and further from her
goals.

Her Father and her stepmother thought
she was dead now. She resisted the urge to reach out to them; even
knowing it was forbidden. Her face joined many missing person
posters now. Agent Whitlow of the FBI seemed determined to stay on
the case; even if she was suspected dead. Ty said the agent was
relentless.

Those days were best forgotten. She was
a Newbreed and the mate to the compounds leader. She still didn’t
command the respect as the mate of a Chief. The tribe’s women still
refused her presence, going silent when she walked into a room.
Some still hissed when she walked by.

The males kept a respectful distance
but she felt their hungry gazes, knowing they would think nothing
of mating with their leader’s wife if she gave them any sign. Eli
was convinced they could control their natures. He was giving
monogamy a chance. She knew his nature was tested, seeing and
smelling the temptation around him daily.

Vivvie walked through the large TV room
where dozens of leather couches sat and multiple flat screens were
placed strategically throughout. Movie night wasn’t what it used to
be with so many gone. They lost nearly one hundred and fifty
members of the tribe when Eli allowed them to leave. Jericho
informed Eli of it on their way in to prepare him. They also had
six Newbreeds now, a fact that outraged her husband.

The young within the tribe had turned
over twenty humans in their quest to blend into the population of
Denver. Some they turned went feral and were put down. The
remaining four young women and two men were brought here. Jericho
handled their training in Eli’s absence. Vivvie’s eyes glowed to
recall how scared she was when she arrived.

Jericho seemed to enjoy having four new
females to play with. Two were breeding as a result. Eli was
furious over his friend’s irresponsible behavior but the breeding
of an elder within the tribe wasn’t regulated as the others were.
Jericho being Jericho took it upon himself to horde the four with
no other Alpha in residence. The young women doted on the elder.
She giggled to know they followed him around and worshiped him. Eli
knew many of the tribe would be back when they realized they needed
the tribe to shoulder the secret of what they were. For that, he
read his friend the riot act on his cell phone from the airport for
his adding to their numbers.

Living in suburbia for one of their
kind was laughable. Many trickled back already, mumbling about
human barbeques driving them berserk. They complained about the
noise, the shallow pettiness of humans. Most of all they complained
of seeing domestic housecats in windows or abandoned on the
streets. They knew where they stood in the world, seeing their kind
in cages at zoos.

Vivvie knew many swallowed their pride
to return, unwilling to acknowledge their leader knew best. Eli
always warned them to be careful for what they wished for. The
younger ones wanted out from under the control of the Alphas to
live their own lives. They would find out the hard way there was
safety in numbers. Their numbers would always concern her husband;
even if that regulation wasn’t adhered to by him or the other
Alphas.

He believed they should practice by
example. She rolled her eyes, knowing how much he wanted more
children with her. She consented to have more, but later on down
the road. Two was definitely enough right now.

She spied her daughter then, chewing on
TV cords, her backside and tail sticking out behind the stand of a
large flat screen. Elaina had a thing about them none could
understand until she got zapped. It seemed like the prize she
waited for even if it drove her into fits.

Devon was chasing down his own tail,
batting at it with his paws in ferocious zeal. They saw her and had
the sense to stop what they were doing. They ran to her then,
purring loudly and walking in between her legs, sniffing at her.
Sucking up was more like it.

“Come on, you two, it’s time for your
naps,” she told them firmly. Her son’s blue eyes glowed defiantly
up at her. Her daughter clawed at her knees to get up. She bent and
picked up the forty pound panther and cuddled her close, knowing
Elaina was ready even if Devon wasn’t.

Devon followed with his tail down as
she walked out of the TV room. Her son was much like his Father and
pouted when he didn’t get his own way. She returned to their suite
and went to the nursery.

Don’t want a nap!
Her son growled up at her.

Vivvie glared down at
him
. Lay down, young man! Don’t make me
call your Father in here!

Devon lay down then; his ears back in
an adorable pouting stance; his eyes glowing with cobalt
fire.

She smiled to see Elaina lie down and
curl into a ball at once among the frilly pink blanket. Devon
hissed up at her with a swishing tail. His glowing eyes told her
volumes. He didn’t want a nap; that much was clear.

“Lay down or I’ll get your Father in
here,” she verbally warned him, glad to see her son hastily
complied.

Both had a healthy fear of Eli. She
wondered what she would have done had he not been there to help
her. They were exhausting. Her steps were quick as she shut the
door and locked it, knowing Devon would push the matter of a nap.
She had other plans and didn’t want any interruptions.

Her eyes glowed bright green as she
entered their bedroom. Eli lay nude upon the bed, eyes glowing with
cobalt blue fire. His huge erection made her pulses dance. Her eyes
slid over his muscular perfection with obvious lust.

“You have to control yourself this
time, Eli,” she informed him as she fairly ripped off her sundress,
making him chuckle to see her haste to undress. “I don’t want to
get pregnant again this soon.”

Eli rolled his eyes as he watched his
wife ripping off her bra and panties now to join him in their bed,
knowing her actions defied her words. His mate was just as hungry
for him as he was for her. They hadn’t a moment alone in
days.

Vivvie pounced and landed atop of him,
making him laugh softly as he twined his hands in her long brown
hair, bringing her lips to his. He kissed her savagely, hungrily,
his hands urging her onto him. She eased down on him with a soft
satisfied sigh of pleasure.

Eli arched under her, groaning in
delight. Their lovemaking was more savage now, her nails raking his
shoulders and chest. The bloody marks healed quickly and
disappeared as she bit and scratched at him.