Claws (19 page)

No, Kevin was a pretty predictable guy.
He worked at Home Depot and went to school. His skanky girlfriend
aside; Kevin would never just take off. She felt sick to think Dina
or Rachel might have hurt them.

“So you think Dina or Rachel is back in
Sebastian targeting people I know?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Vivvie didn’t, and wondered why either
of the girls would hide out. Then she paled to know why, recalling
Derek’s mission there in the first place. They knew the troops
arrived to kill them. If either of them got away; they would stay
hidden.

“I have my kids in school right now,
Ty,” she told him and worried her lower lip. “Eli wouldn’t like
it.”

“I already talked to him. He agreed you
were the best one to draw Dina out.”

Vivvie got angry knowing Ty and Eli
worked this out before even asking her. How typically Alpha of
them? What did she expect?

“
I’ll be on the next flight
down there.”

“One up on you; already booked your
flight,” was Ty’s response, annoying her further. “You leave on
Friday morning and come back on Sunday night. That gives you two
days to track her down.”

Vivvie wasn’t surprised all the plans
were made for her and hung up with Ty in a sour mood. Thoughts of
Dina being alive made her feel relieved and guilty. Dina had no
reason to hold what happened against her. Still, she was a bit
jumpy about returning to Sebastian.

What if someone recognized her? She
hoped Ty had some kind of plan to keep her identity hidden while
she searched for Dina or Rachel. She was excited too; part of her
dying to spy on her former friends at the diner and see what was
going on with them.

When Eli returned home that night with
their kids in tow, one look at her face and he made the kids all go
out and play.

“You talked to Ty?” he asked and his
blue eyes were without guilt.

Vivvie glared at him. “Nothing ever
changes! When am I ever the first to know anything?”

“If Dina or Rachel live they could be
turning people at random, Vivvie. You do realize that you going
might be our best chance to catch her?”

“What if someone recognizes
me?”

Eli grinned and went to his den and
returned with a bag and tossed it to her. She removed a short
blonde wig and raised an eyebrow.

“What’s all this?”

“A disguise while you’re there,” he
informed her with a grin. “Wear it when you come back. I’d like to
explore that.”

Vivvie made a face as she stuffed the
wig back into the bag. “What if she doesn’t approach
me?”

“It’s the chance we take but you’re all
we have,” her husband fumed. “Trust me I don’t want you back in
Florida.”

“Jealous?” she asked with a feline
smile, seeing his scowl.

Eli glared at her. “You’re staying at a
hotel off I-95 in Sebastian. I want a phone call every night before
you go to bed.”

“You’re really jealous,” Vivvie said in
amusement and laughed, seeing his face darken at her words. “That
makes me feel good. Every day you go into the office and hang out
with Miss Kitty Flea Pants; I feel the same way.”

Eli grinned and scratched his head.
“She works in marketing now, Vivvie. I never see her; I
swear.”

“Save it, pal,” she countered and
grinned. “Just checking. Looks like you’re on kiddie patrol this
weekend?”

Eli looked miserable to know he kept
four out of five of their kids. It showed. She knew if there was
any other way to draw Dina out they wouldn’t have asked her. She
tensed suddenly, wondering what they planned for Dina if they found
her.

“What will Ty and Derek do if I find
her, Eli?”

He looked grim and looked away. “If
it’s her; she’s killing people, Vivvie. What do you think we’re
going to do? She will be put down, as she should have been when
Derek went there last year.”

Vivvie recoiled to think of Dina being
put down, but if she went feral after the compound was raided, it
was necessary. Once one of them went feral; there was no turning
back. It saddened her to think of Dina going out like
that.

“There’s no other way for her to be
rehabilitated?”

“She’s not on crack, Vivvie,” Eli said
coolly. “She has a taste for human blood. I’m sorry, but we have no
choice. She puts us all at risk.”

“We managed to get the other Newbreeds
in line,” she argued, speaking of the half dozen that remained on
within the tribe, victims of his tribe’s indiscretions when they
left the compound.

“Yeah, and the other half had to be put
down because they went feral,” he argued and shook his head. “It’s
too late for her.”

Vivvie said nothing, knowing if Dina
lived she was doomed. They knew how to bypass immortality and she
felt sick to know how. Gideon determined once the head and limbs
were removed and separated, they couldn’t find their way back to
their host to regenerate.

Thinking of Dina being hacked up and
her limbs scattered made her cringe. Gideon even went on to say the
limbs still moved. The head and eyes still functioned.
Gross!

“Vivvie, try to think of it as being
humane,” Eli said as he came to her, reading her disgusted
expression. “Ty said she’s eating people. She has to be
stopped.”

Vivvie was too sick to make a comment
and nodded. “I’ll do it only I don’t want to know anything
more.”

He held her and looked down at her in
concern. “Did Jericho make a place for Justice?”

“Yeah, he’s bunking with his grandpa,”
she managed and smiled in a forced manner. “He perked up as soon as
he saw Jericho.”

Eli smiled and held his wife. “When
Devon takes over things will be easier.”

Vivvie pushed away and looked up at
him. “When will that be?”

Eli grimaced. “You can expect my son
will challenge me when he’s ready to take over. Within a couple
years.”

“Is that all necessary, Eli?” she asked
worriedly. “Why not just give it to him?”

“It’s a tribal thing and our nature,
Vivvie,” he told her grimly. “Our son will challenge me for it. You
can be sure of it.”

“What about our daughter? Isn’t she of
the same rank?” Vivvie asked in confusion.

“Only a male can lead the tribe,
Vivvie. Elaina will sit the council, as Tania does.”

“Great, not even a year old and they’re
already into politics,” Vivvie complained.

Eli chuckled and smiled down at her.
“You might like me not being Chief anymore. You said you wanted to
travel more. We get to do all that very soon.”

“I didn’t expect to see my son kick his
Father’s ass to do it,” Vivvie said with a scowl. “I don’t want to
see it, much less think of it.”

Eli grinned and hugged his wife.
“Vivvie, I look forward to it. We’ve talked about this since he was
born. I’ve ruled over them three hundred years. I’m more than ready
to give this job to my son.”

“I know, but who do I root for?” she
asked and giggled and shook her head.

Eli raised an eyebrow. “You root for
your mate, wife. A son takes second, remember that.”

Vivvie smiled. “Gee, you’re lucky I
love you or I might give Devon some pointers on taking you
down.”

Eli growled and slung her up into his
arms. “He won’t need any pointers. He’s my son. You can expect a
good fight.”

Vivvie glared at him. “Can we just talk
about something else?”

“You want to talk?” he asked and his
eyes darkened as he walked towards the bedroom. “I’ll be without my
mate all weekend. I need my fix before you go hang out with
Ty.”

“You don’t need to worry about Ty
anymore. We’re just friends,” she assured him; silently thinking he
might want to concern himself with his old buddy Jericho with a
pang of guilt.

“The thought of you and him together
drives me crazy, Vivvie,” he complained as he kicked the bedroom
door shut.

“The thought of you with every woman at
the compound drives me crazy,” she pointed out and laughed at his
grimace to know she was right.

Eli soon drove every rational thought
away as he made love to her until she was unaware of anything but
him. She nestled against his side and stroked his muscled chest,
her chin on his bicep.

“Still worried about Ty?” she asked
with a dreamy expression.

“No, but do me a favor and don’t
encourage the guy and go looking all cute,” Eli nearly whined.
“Just be low key and don’t wear those jeans I like.”

Vivvie laughed and bit his arm before
she bounded off the bed and redressed. She had to hunt if they were
going to eat that night. She gazed at her husband with a predatory
smile.

“Do you want to help me
hunt?”

Eli stretched and grinned lazily. “It’s
your turn to go get dinner.”

“You’re a chauvinistic pig; do you know
that?” she complained with a good natured shake of her head. “Since
when is it the woman’s job to do all the hunting?”

“Try to get an elk this time,” he
offered with a happy grin as she made a face and left their
room.

Vivvie would never understand why the
females always got stuck doing the shit work. She made sure the
kids were all playing nicely and disrobed in the backyard, leaping
over the fence in a dead run for the mountain.

Within two hours she was back; dragging
a small elk in her jaws. She shifted and peered over the fence and
got her daughter’s attention.

“Honey, go get Mommy’s clothes ok?” she
asked Elaina. She smiled as her daughter scampered away to get them
on the back deck. She was still shy of shifting in the nude, not
wanting her kids to see her in the buff. That was just too
weird.

Elaina returned and threw them over the
side. Vivvie dressed and hefted the elk over the fence, warning her
kids to wait until their Father skinned it. She climbed the fence
and grabbed the animal’s antlers and dragged it to the
deck.

Eli stepped out on the deck and grinned
at her, blue eyes twinkling. “Almost like take-out, babe. That was
fast.”

Vivvie rolled her eyes as she left the
elk at the foot of the deck stairs and gestured to it. “Tear it up,
oh-mighty-Chief.”

Eli pinched her backside as she passed
him to go and get cleaned up. He carried his hunting knives as he
approached the elk, grinning at the four salivating
panthers.

“Ok, who wants a leg?”

Friday came quickly and Jericho wound
up taking her to the airport. He told her Justice was settling in
and was coming out of his shell. She was still sad to be separated
from her baby son.

“How’s the demon thing going?” she
asked. “This whole thing creeps me out.”

Jericho smiled as he pulled onto the
main mountain road, heading to the airport at a high rate of speed,
showing off his new transmission.

“Well, one thing’s for sure; she used
witchcraft to do this. I found several possible methods. We’ll get
‘er done when you get back. Are you ready for this?”

“Sure, I conjure up demons every day,”
Vivvie snapped in annoyance. “Can’t wait for this.”

Jericho smiled in amusement. “Is Eli ok
about you going to Florida?”

“Apparently; our fearless leader chose
me for this assignment.”

“He’s right to send you in, Vivvie,”
the elder told her. “If it’s your old roommate; she’ll come to you.
You are all that’s left of her human life. She won’t be able to
stay away.”

“Yeah and I hand her over to Derek and
Gideon,” Vivvie argued resentfully. “Some friend I turned out to
be.”

“She’s feral now, Vivvie,” Jericho
pointed out. “A couple cows go missing and nobody thinks much of
it. A couple of people go bye-bye and we got Feds all over the
place. It’s necessary. Just look at it like you’re doing her a
favor.”

“They seem sure it’s her,” Vivvie said
and eyed Jericho worriedly. “What if it’s not her?”

“Whoever it is knows you or they
wouldn’t have targeted your ex-boyfriend.”

“Some sicko could have got them.
Florida is loaded with freaks.”

“Ty smelled one of our kind at the
crime scene. One scent, lone female, and she used way too much
Juicy Couture perfume. Ring any bells?” Jericho asked with a
chuckle.

Vivvie’s face fell. Sounded like Dina.
Her friend bathed in the stuff. How Dina was getting along when
everyone thought her dead made her wonder. She shivered; eager to
put this whole thing behind her.

Jericho reached over and his hand
covered hers in her lap. “It’ll be ok. You got the guys there with
you. Gideon’s so bored he’s probably itching to kill
something.”

“That ‘something’ was my roommate
once,” she said stiffly and looked out the window. “I don’t look
forward to this at all.”

“If there was any other way; Eli
wouldn’t consider sending you in,” Jericho informed her. “Obviously
they haven’t been able to catch her.”