Claws (12 page)

Ty tried talking to her, encouraging
her to come back. She remained asleep, unmoving and unhearing.
Weeks passed and he watched her belly grow with disgust, knowing
Eli forced these children on her in his anger. He felt helpless
when she grew bigger each day. She delivered weeks later without
even opening her eyes.

The two girls and boy lay unnamed in
bassinets, a nurse ordered around the clock to feed them and see to
their needs. Still, she remained unchanged. He heard nothing from
Eli and was relieved. He didn’t quite know what he would say to him
right now.

Jericho called once a day to check upon
her. The elder was disturbed the delivery didn’t bring her out of
it. Ty refused to speak to Eli. Jericho got the pleasure of
informing Eli he was a Father for the twenty-sixth time and hoped
the news made him suffer.

~ ~ ~

“Two girls and a boy? That should keep
her out of the mall,” Eli remarked and looked back down at his
paperwork with a pleased smile. He poured over accounts, never
looking up. “What are their names? I hope she didn’t name them
something stupid.”

“They have no names yet,” Jericho
replied tightly. His yellow green gaze was furious. “Their Mother
was in no condition to decide on names this time
around.”

Jericho was gratified to see Eli tense.
“What do you mean she’s in no condition to name them? The birthing
went well didn’t it?”

“She hasn’t woken up since you left,”
Jericho bit out. “It appears you have that effect on the women in
your life. Let us hope it doesn’t last forty years this time.” He
gazed at Eli in contempt and spun on his heel, slamming the door to
his office behind him.

Jericho smiled as he watched his leader
stalk out of the compound within the hour on his way to the
airport. Tania was furious when she learned where he went. She
found him working on his car and slammed the hood down on his
head.

Jericho let loose a growl of annoyance
and glared at her, wiping his hands on a rag. “What was that
for?”

Tania stared at him in fury. “What did
you say to Eli to make him leave?”

“Only the truth; his place is with his
mate right now,” Jericho told her and enjoyed seeing her fume over
it. “See how he runs to her side, even now, after months with you?
I’d say your days in his life number in the single digits,
babe.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tania said with
an audible hiss, golden eyes glowing. “There’s more than one way to
skin a cat, Jericho. Remember that and don’t get in my
way.”

“Baby, where did our love go?” Jericho
mused aloud and rolled his eyes. “You got two choices as I see it.
You can move out of his room and plan a long vacation or my guess
is you’ll be asked to leave when he gets back.”

Tania let loose and growl. “I’m going
nowhere, do you hear? Eli will come back to me.”

“Alright, whatever you say,” he drawled
with a grin. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I hope you have lots of
sunscreen, babe. My guess is you get shipped to Florida. Do you
even own a bathing suit?”

Tania flung him a glance of annoyance.
She stalked from the parking garage in a flurry of rage and
Christian Dior, slamming the hood back down on his head before she
left.

Jericho rubbed his head and grinned.
Things were looking up. His leader had his head halfway out of his
ass and he almost got his new transmission installed. A productive
week, he’d say. His yellow green gaze softened to think of Vivvie,
recalling the weeks she came to him in his dreams.

Jericho was an old cat,
hardly eager to jump into the fray brewing between Ty and Eli over
Vivvie.
Been there, done
that
, he thought with a grimace. He knew
such a battle would yield nothing but her going back to her
mate.

He knew Eli. If he didn’t love Vivvie
still; he wouldn’t have gone to her side. He also knew Vivvie.
Those carnal dreams they shared all these months were not what she
wanted and needed, just a means to ease her pain over Eli casting
her out.

Jericho knew that would all change now.
Eli wouldn’t leave her like that in Florida. He would bring her
back, laws be damned. Eli might anger the council by bringing her
back, but he had the right as the Chief.

His worry over Vivvie prompted him to
call Florida. He warned Ty that Eli was on his way. He could almost
bet the two would scuffle over his treatment of his wife. Ty
hesitated in the past to claim Vivvie as his mate, fearing his one
soul would doom them both. He gave her up to Eli and went on his
way, thinking Eli could make her happy. His true feelings for Eli’s
mate came out loud and clear now.

He was prepared to challenge Eli for
her.

Should he win; Ty would be able to take
Vivvie from her mate. It was another of their laws. It was an old
and primitive custom. An Alpha had the right to take the mate of
another by right of challenge. The ramifications were obvious. Both
compounds would be on opposite sides. The conflict would be sure to
split the whole tribe in two.

Eli was unbeatable in battle. Ty was
past caring anymore. He would challenge him for Vivvie. He was
feeling responsible for leaving her to Eli.

As Jericho once predicted; the fur
would fly.

~ ~ ~

Ty met the limousine at the locked
gate. Eli got out and snarled at him from behind the fence. “Let me
in Ty,” he snapped. His eyes filled with anguish. “She’s my mate!
You have no right to keep her from me!”

“You did this to her,” Ty stated coldly
and remained unmoved. “You want in here to take her; you better go
get your army, Eli! I’m not letting you hurt her again!”

“You go against me in this and you’ll
lose everything, Ty,” Eli warned with a growl. “Think very
carefully. I have rights to my mate and children. You can’t keep me
out.”

“I should have never let you in!” Ty
snarled and his golden eyes filled with rage. “I should have never
left her to you!”

“I’m not going to argue with you over
my mate, Ty,” Eli replied in a warning tone. “I know you care for
her. I need to see her. Open up and let me in.”

“I’m challenging you for Vivvie, Eli,”
Ty informed him with a scowl. “When she is free of you; she can
live her own life again.”

Eli raised a dark eyebrow. “I see, and
you’ve thought this whole thing through, have you?”

Ty glared at him through the fence. “I
have. It’s what I owe her for leaving her to you! Had I done what I
wanted; Vivvie wouldn’t by laying up there like a corpse right
now!”

“Do you think my wife doesn’t have some
say in this, Ty?” Eli asked with little patience now. “Do you think
she feels the same for you? Even if you won; she’s mine. We waste
time. Open the gate. I want to see her.”

“I challenge you for your mate, Eli,”
Ty informed him with a scowl. “Under tribal law it’s my
right.”

Eli glared at him and turned to the
limo driver. “Can you back up the car? I’m going to need a little
more room, George.”

George the limo driver nodded worriedly
and moved the car away from the gate. Eli never took his eyes off
Ty. A crowd gathered around the hacienda now, all watching the
scene at the gate with wide-eyes, all hearing the issued challenge
between the Chiefs.

Eli stripped down to his underwear and
shifted into the huge bristling panther, growling through the
fence. Ty followed suit, his eyes turning a molten gold. The huge
panthers were only separated by the gate. They paced and hissed at
one another.

I’ve wanted to kick your ass
a long time, Ty
Eli growled at him as he
ran along the fence line.

Bring it on, Chief
Ty showed his teeth, roaring in obvious
answer.

My mate will never be yours
Ty
Eli slapped the fence with his
tail.

She already was or have you
forgotten?
Ty hissed and flew at the fence,
baring his teeth.

Don’t think Vivvie compares
what we had to those couple of rolls in the hay with you,
Ty

It was more than a
couple!

Eli roared and leapt over the
twelve-foot fence at that. They flew at one another, paws slashing
and flying, jaws snapping and snarling. Ty held his own and gave
back every bit of Eli’s brutal punishing bites and slashes.
Bleeding and breathing heavily, they fought on.

Eli looked hardly winded as they broke
apart and circled Ty, hissing and spitting

Walk away Ty. She’s mine. I
won’t let anyone take what is mine

You don’t have any jobs left
to offer me to get me to go away now, Eli

Ungrateful little
shit!
Eli roared then, and flew at
Ty.

They grappled and fell to the gravel,
rolling and kicking at each other with their hind legs. It went on
another fifteen minutes until they broke apart, both breathing
heavily. Ty circled the area, panting hard, his tongue hanging
out.

Eli lunged and sent a brutal slash
across his face, gouging at his left eye. Ty was taken unaware and
blinded in the one eye, lashing out. Eli took Ty down with a deep,
bone-cracking bite to the throat, his forepaws pinning him, fury
glowing in his eyes.

Ty fought valiantly but Eli’s greater
strength held him down. His severed neck artery spewed blood onto
the gravel drive now, but still he refused to be cowed.

You’re beat, Ty. Back down
or I’ll rip your goddamn throat out.

Fuck you, Eli

Eli ripped Ty’s throat open with his
teeth and spit the fur and tissue onto the stones, glaring down
into his opponent’s pain-filled golden eyes. He walked away
breathing heavily, his wide shoulders squared as he entered the
hacienda.

He took the stairs two at a time,
running to Vivvie’s room. He nudged the door open with his nose and
entered, sniffing the air for her scent. His mate lay on her back
against the pillows, her eyes closed. Eli let out a mournful growl
as he went to her side and pushed at her hand with his
nose.

His blue gaze glowed fiercely to see
her stark white face blend in with the pillows. Her lips were
colorless, her eyelids purple. Humbled by the sight of his mate, he
let out a mournful roar that echoed throughout the
compound.

Ty lifted his head from the stones
where he lay bleeding, panting as he shifted. The members of his
tribe rushed forward to tend to him. A bandage stemmed the flow of
blood. The seemingly lethal wound bled heavily.

Ty knew it would take weeks for it to
heal. He cursed Eli as he heard his mournful cries from Vivvie’s
room, knowing the sight of her probably wounded him more. There was
some satisfaction in that.

“Let me out of here!” Vivvie shouted,
grabbing the bars and glaring into the darkness. “What do you want
from me? Let me go!”

The dreamscape changed before she could
return. She was just leaving Jericho’s room when the hallway she
walked down changed before her eyes. A hard push sent her sprawling
into this.

It was of a cell in a dungeon-like
underground cavern. She shivered as she looked around, getting the
creeps from the echoing of her own voice, gone raw from screaming
these many weeks to get out.

She was trapped now by something that
lived within the mountain; something evil. She heard low laughter
then and the hair stood up on the back of her neck. She peered
through the gloom, trying to see who it was that
approached.

Vivvie gasped when she saw Tania. She
wore a flowing lavender robe and nightgown. Her long brown hair
flowed to her waist. Her lovely face was curved into a pleased
smile as she approached the bars, her long fingers sliding across
as she eyed her rival in triumph.

“If you haven’t figured it out yet, no
one can hear you,” Tania said in amusement as she stood in front of
the cell.

“What do you want?” Vivvie demanded,
seeing the female elder smirk in response.

Tania smiled and her golden eyes
glowed. “That’s pretty obvious, don’t you think? I want everything,
Vivvie.”

“What are you talking about? Let me out
of here, you nutjob!”

Tania’s eyes narrowed at her words.
“Not quite yet. You see, I had a bit of negotiating to do when I
was trapped here years ago. The demon allowed me to leave here with
certain conditions. He wanted one like us. I waited forty years to
see one like me born. Now it appears it wants more.”

“Don’t tell me it tricked you?” Vivvie
asked sarcastically.

Tania fumed. “I waited for years for
one like me to be born. It wasn’t until my grandson made you that I
was released.”

“So that’s why you woke up?”

“Yes, so you see, you were to be given
in my place,” Tania went on. “Only now it wants something
else.”

“Don’t figure,” Vivvie
snapped.

“Well, what can you expect from a
demon? They never keep their word.”

“What does it want now?” Vivvie was
almost too afraid to ask, seeing Tania’s pleased
expression.