Claws (11 page)

Eli wanted to punish her, make her
sorry she ever wormed her way into his heart at that moment. “As I
said; I have rights. You’re my mate even if we live apart. You
can’t deny me by law. I think it’s time we go back to doing what
you do best, wife. You need another litter to pacify your need to
spend my money. That will keep you from boredom.”

“No, I refuse! You can’t force me!” she
snarled and backed away, seeing his eyes glow and his fangs
elongate before her eyes.

“I can and I will,” he said as he
stalked her with glowing eyes. “In fact, I’m going to keep you so
busy breeding you won’t have time to shop anymore. You’ll be too
busy chasing my children around and pulling that ridiculous color
out of your hair. I think that’s a fitting punishment, don’t
you?”

Vivvie looked horrified and inched
towards the door. “If you think to force this on me; you have
another thing coming! I won’t let you make me into a breeder to
satisfy your anger!”

“Let me show you how much power I have
over you, mate,” he nearly purred, his eyes glowing as he
concentrated on her hard.

Vivvie gasped as she was propelled
through the air to land hard at his feet, struggling to get up
under his unyielding mental tether. She felt like invisible bonds
held her tied there at his feet. He stared down at her without
remorse.

“Now do you see, wife?” he asked her
with a cruel light in his eyes she’d never seen before. “I can do
whatever I want with you. What’s even better; I can make you enjoy
it too. Do you want to see that too, Vivvie?”

She swore at him then, making him
laugh. He concentrated on her once more and she shuddered as
incredible waves of lust filled her middle, making her writhe on
the floor to escape his power.

“Please just stop! Just stop it! You
don’t want me anymore! Just leave me alone. I won’t shop anymore, I
promise.”

“Too late, you woke the beast,
sweetheart,” he replied raggedly as his eyes raked over her, making
her gasp from the pain then, feeling like his talons raked over her
skin, letting her know he could inflict all upon her with his mind
if he chose.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked in
a small voice, sobbing. “Do you get off on making me suffer? Is
that it? Isn’t losing my children enough?”

Eli felt the anger drain out of him. He
came here to rein in his mate, show her his power. Now he felt like
the bully he was by unleashing it upon her. Still, his anger fanned
with insistent flames to know she came here to Ty. Thoughts of them
as lovers tormented him, making him blind to all else.

“I do it because I can, my sweet mate,”
he informed her with a smug expression. “Now get up and go to your
room. Await me like the good little cat you are. With enough luck;
I can bring on your heat while I’m here.” He laughed at her sick
expression. “Did you listen to Jericho at all while he taught you
our ways, Vivvie? I can bring on your heat. It’s not something that
cycles as you always thought. When you’re mated; I have the power
to bring it on. You’ll beg me for it before too long.”

Vivvie got up off the floor and stared
at him. “If you do this; I’ll never forgive you, Eli. You might get
more children but you will earn my hate.”

“I once had your love. Where did it get
us, Vivvie?” Eli asked with fury evident in his eyes. “Get to your
room and wait for me. Obey me in this!” he said as his eyes pushed
her to the door, reminding her he had absolute power over
her.

Vivvie turned and ran, tears pouring
from her eyes. She slammed into her room, looking around for a
place to hide, hysteria in her gaze. The power he had terrified
her. She swore under her breath to know she hardly realized the
extent of her mate’s powerful gift. He could do all he said, showed
her by using it on her downstairs. The pain of his hurting her in
such a way made her cry in earnest.

Eli hadn’t arrived but she sensed him,
smelled him. Her body betrayed her by longing for him, even now.
When they were happy, she never noticed this power, even embraced
his ownership of her. Now she realized he had every intention of
following through on his threats to make her a breeder. The thought
of him bringing her so low filled her with fury.

When he stepped into the room, she
tensed. His eyes were without mercy as he slid off his tie and
tossed it into a chair, removing his coat and rolling up his
sleeves.

“You don’t wish to make this hard on us
both, do you Vivvie?” he asked as his eyes raked over her once
more, making her stiffen to feel the claws digging into her flesh.
She could see he had every intention of forcing this on
her.

Vivvie bit back a sob as she went to
the bed. She looked away from his glowing stare. She listened to
him remove his clothes and a tear escaped her eye. She wanted to
get his attention and she had it.

Eli came behind her and pushed her onto
the bed, following her down, pinning her to the bed, holding her
still. She cringed to feel the heat steal over her before too long.
She felt it, having no control over her own body
anymore.

He was quick and brutal biting at her
neck and drawing blood, his harsh growls telling her he knew
exactly how much he hurt her. Then he became gentle, forcing her to
accept him and enjoy what he did. He laughed as he made her grovel
for his attentions.

She buried her face into the pillows to
cry when it was over. He got up from the bed and dressed, staring
into her ravaged face with little remorse.

“This is what we are, Vivvie,” he told
her coldly. “We are animals. You will learn that. I brought your
heat on. You’ll be breeding before I leave here. That should keep
you out of Ty’s bed. I’ll be back and keep you filled with my
children until I grow tired of it.”

“Is that all you worry about?” she
asked in a dull voice, unable to move from the soreness in her body
after his brutal onslaught. “I hate you for this!”

~ ~ ~

Eli saw how he hurt her, cringing to
see the scratches on her back, hips and thighs from his use of her,
watching them fade before his eyes hardly diminished his guilt. She
buried her face in the pillows, unable to bear the sight of him
then.

A tightening formed in his chest to
know he might have broken her, but gained little satisfaction. She
curled into a ball and turned away from him, her body trembling and
shaking in revulsion.

He had to get away from the sight of
her, feeling ill to think he’d hurt her so deliberately. She sobbed
quietly as he snatched up his clothes and left her room. He went to
his, sank into a chair, staring moodily at a spot on the
wall.

The trip had not turned out as he
planned. Thoughts of a reunion with his wife backfired to see the
changes in her. She looked tan, sexy, and confidant, not miserable
as he wanted to imagine. Thinking it was due to Ty’s coming to her
bed that she seemed so content made him lash out at her.

He had no room to talk. His lover lived
with him and was redecorating his office at the compound. She was
redecorating his suite next, determined to remove any trace of her
formal rival from his life. It was not lost on him she paid little
attention to his and Vivvie’s children. She ignored them. It made
him question his decision to move her in. The desire to move her
out came to him then and he imagined her rage. No, Ty was right. He
brought this all upon himself.

He never showed Vivvie what he could do
with his mind, able to cripple any of his kind with his thoughts.
To see the result of his rage humbled him and made him feel real
shame. Still, he refused to leave her to Ty. No, his mate would
come around. When they had enough children; she would come running
to him, begging him to take her back.

~ ~ ~

Vivvie fell asleep fitfully, exhausted
by the evening’s trauma. She was hysterical and went to the only
one she thought of at that moment. The elder held her as she cried,
knowing her husband had brought on such grief. Yellow green eyes
filled with fury to know where Eli went when he left the
compound.

When she stopped crying, he held her
until she grew quiet, his hands easing the trembling in her body.
He was furious and powerless to do anything but comfort her and
felt fury over Eli’s treatment of her.

Jericho knew what he was feeling went
far beyond what it should. Vivvie was Eli’s mate, even if he sent
her away. He told himself this nightly entertainment was just what
it was. After four hundred years of being a creeping old cat; he
knew better.

When he woke up she was gone, only the
dampness of her tears on his pillow to remind him she was there at
all. He made love to her before she left until she was weak and
exhausted in his arms. He realized what he was feeling was very
real and altogether too disturbing.

~ ~ ~

Ty went about his day knowing what the
night brought. He heard the bitter arguments through the walls. He
heard the growls and hisses, the sound of furniture hitting the
walls and cringed to know there was nothing he could do. He saw the
stark pain in Vivvie’s face during Eli’s stay. She said nothing and
avoided him, if only to cover the cuts and bruises she received
from her mate. She stayed in her room and took no interest in
hunting.

By the second week of Eli’s stay, he
realized Vivvie wasn’t eating at all. It was not his place to
interfere. Vivvie was Eli’s mate. He had much time to realize
Vivvie didn’t feel the same for him as she had once; before Eli
stepped in and became her whole world.

Ty hoped Eli would see the error in his
ways while he was here and take his mate back. He seemed to enjoy
torturing her daily and nightly. That no doubt began to wane when
he saw Eli’s luggage brought down that morning.

Eli waited for the limo and said
nothing to him. He got up from his desk and stared at him, his
golden gaze devoid of the rage he was feeling.

“You’re just leaving her here
then?”

“I have a compound to run, Ty,” Eli
said wearily and his blue eyes appeared sad.

“What about your mate? You would just
leave her?” Ty inquired tightly under his breath. “Did you just
come here to throw your power around, Eli? Is that what this was
all about?”

“Vivvie is exactly where she needs to
be; far from me!” Eli snarled and glared at his friend. “I don’t
think I’ll need to impress my mate in the future. That should keep
her out of your bed.”

“What have you done, Eli?” Ty asked and
looked sickened.

Eli avoided his gaze. “She is not your
concern, Ty. Stay out of my issues with my mate and find one of
your own!”

The limo arrived. Eli stalked out ahead
of the guards. The guards loaded his bags and he was gone. Ty
looked upwards and wondered if he should look in on her.

That night, Vivvie still didn’t come
down. He arrived to her room and found she was sleeping. He was
relieved and left. The next morning, he was told she still slept.
By the middle of the day; he demanded she be woken up.

The maid arrived downstairs to tell him
his house guest couldn’t be woken. Ty crashed into her room and
shook her, staring down at her in dismay, slapping her cheek. She
was in the same strange sleep his sister had once fallen
into.

Ty stared down at her with an anguished
look, knowing why she retreated into herself. Eli pushed her too
far. He had a doctor brought it immediately. The compound physician
put her on an IV drip and confirmed she was impregnated.

Ty’s rage knew no outlet until finally
he could take it no longer and called Denver. Jericho
answered.

“Where’s Eli?” Ty snapped into the
phone.

Jericho sensed Ty’s rage and paused on
the other end. “What’s going on, Ty? Is Vivvie ok? I haven’t heard
from her in days.”

“No, she’s not ok! She’s fallen into
that sleep Tania once did,” Ty raged and fought for control. “You
can tell him his children are on the way too. When she delivers;
I’ll have them sent to him.”

“Calm down, Ty,” Jericho said quietly.
“How long has she been like this?”

“Three days,” Ty said and sighed. The
other end went silent. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Eli and Tania left today on a business
trip for the company,” Jericho revealed with a grimace, hearing the
low growl on the other end. “He has a new product line opening in
Vegas. I can call the hotel and track him down.”

“Forget it! I should have known his
wife is the last thing he cares about,” Ty fumed. “He’s the reason
she’s in this condition! She was fine until he got
here!”

Jericho sighed on the other end. “I’ll
call him. Calm down, Ty.”

“Don’t bother. In fact; forget I even
called Jericho. I’ve stayed out of it long enough. He comes down
here and torments her for weeks and there’s nothing I can do. He
better have an army the next time he visits his wife!” Ty nearly
shouted and slammed down the phone, white-faced in his
rage.

Ty hovered and sat with her for hours.
There was no change in her. By the end of the second week, he
called in the big guns. A human sleep therapist arrived, looking
around in interest until she met Ty’s glowing gaze. The therapist
looked in on Vivvie and couldn’t help to bring her out of it. It
was like Tania all over again.