Claws (9 page)

When she grew tired of spending Eli’s
money, she spent more. She realized with everything she bought,
none of it took the place of him. She felt miserable to know it,
even if she seethed to think of the woman he was with.

His beverage company had their annual
formal gala recently. The pictures on the website made her burn and
seethe with jealousy. Eli looked sickeningly handsome in a tuxedo
as he gave his speech before the crowd. She couldn’t ignore the
elegant and gorgeous Tania at his side during the
festivities.

She studied her rival’s flawless face.
Anyone with eyes could see she was out of her league trying to win
Eli back from this woman. The dark-haired vision on his arm in all
the photos had her claws in too deep; three centuries deep to be
exact.

Tania must have seen her as a threat if
she pushed her from the cliff that night. Her rival wanted her out
of the way; that much was certain. Eli refused to see the obvious
and it cut her heart in two to know he could shut her out of his
life.

Each night, she lay awake, thinking
about all the mistakes she made. She wished she could go back and
undo the past now. Even when she consoled herself she wasn’t out on
the streets; she felt alone here.

Ty did his best to keep her company. He
was busy running the compound. Over two hundred people lived here;
all needing his attention daily. Days sometimes went by and she
wouldn’t see him. Each night they hunted together though, but for
the most part, she was alone to dwell upon her misery.

Vivvie clicked off the computer,
tortured by the pictures of Eli kissing his gorgeous companion in
some of the photos. A part of her seemed to snap inside; realizing
she lost him. She closed her eyes and found sleep, finding her way
to her children first, hearing about their day.

She chuckled as she saw her son. He was
dressed as an Indian and Elaina was his squaw. They made a teepee
with their crib blankets and the room was trashed. She got angry to
think they weren’t being supervised as they should be.

Obviously the Mother of the tribe
wasn’t so perfect. The litter box hadn’t been changed since her
last visit and their laundry was piled up in the corner, undone and
starting to smell.

“Mother, you came!” Elaina said
excitedly, jumping up and down and urging her to sit. “We were just
about to make a campfire but Devon can’t figure out Father’s
lighter.”

Vivvie’s eyes flew wide with alarm. She
snatched the lighter from her son and glared at him. “No, that’s
very bad, Devon. You can’t light a fire in here. You’ll burn the
place down.”

Her son grinned in response, making her
cringe at the obvious deviance in his expression. Obviously the
thought of burning down the suite intrigued her son.

“No more campfires, Chief Firebug!” she
warned sharply. “What were you thinking?”

Devon had the grace to look chastised.
Still, she knew the little boy was getting into all sorts of
mischief in her absence. Both had her rolling with how they
tormented Eli’s new woman, satisfying Vivvie to a certain
extent.

Elaina made short work of Tania’s
wardrobe, ripping everything she could find to shreds before the
pair gnawed on her expensive shoes. After being punished by their
Father the pair did their business on her fifteen hundred dollar
Chanel handbag.

Eli saw that their litter box was
unchanged and spared them a spanking, asking his current woman to
do the honors for him. Tania never lifted a finger and the pair
enjoyed tormenting her any way they could.

“I appreciate you thinking of me but
don’t get into trouble with your Father over it,” she advised as
she held her daughter. “Stay out of Tania’s way. She is not a very
nice person.”

“Mommy she hurts us,” Elaina whispered
then and Devon gave her a furious look.

Vivvie froze. “What do you mean? What
does she do to you?”

Her heart stopped for a moment. Anguish
filled her to know this woman who took her place abused her
offspring. Anger surged within her, making her eyes light up the
room.

Devon glared his sister into silence.
He looked up at her with a look she’d seen in Eli’s eyes before.
The violence in her son’s expression assured her that whatever
Tania had done would be avenged.

“We’re planning on killing her in her
sleep, Mother,” he informed her in a conspiratorial whisper. “We
just need to figure out how to do it without Dad finding
out.”

“No, you will do no such thing!” she
said harshly, keeping her voice down.

Devon looked disappointed. “She
scratches and bites us all the time when Father isn’t around. We
heal before he sees the proof.”

Vivvie was outraged and pulled her son
in her arms, livid and helpless as she held them both.

“Say nothing. I will handle this,” she
assured them, stroking their curly dark heads and cursing Eli
silently. “Now let’s get this mess cleaned up.”

They helped her put their toys away and
Vivvie made short work of cleaning their litter box out; fuming to
know her children were being neglected and abused in her absence.
The desire to rip the woman apart was overwhelming.

The desire to neuter her husband became
overwhelming when they told her how much time the pair spent in the
bedroom. Jealousy licked at her innards to think of Eli lavishing
his attentions on his exquisite companion.

She put them back in their cribs and
kissed them goodnight. She tiptoed out of their room and set aside
the bag of litter at the door. Her eyes filled with fury. She went
to the door of the bedroom and peered inside.

She saw Tania slept on one side with a
silk mask over her eyes. Eli slept with his back to her. A devious
light filled her gaze as she went back to the door and picked up
the bag of dirty litter.

Vivvie stood over them satisfied after
she emptied the contents into their bed, leaving as quietly as she
came. She felt little hesitation in finding Jericho.

He woke up and turned back the covers
for her. He took her into his strong arms without a word. She gave
herself up to the exquisite sensations, unable to resist the
pleasure found within his arms.

Jericho was tireless, patient, and
nurturing. As a lover, he brought her to feverish ecstasy. As a
friend, he tried to council her on her crumbled marriage. She
refused to discuss Eli anymore.

“He is your mate,” Jericho pointed out
as he handed her the water bong and lit it for her
later.

Her answer was to blow bubbles as she
took a long pull on the bong, letting the smoke fill her lungs,
exhaling with satisfaction as the euphoria made her eyes glow. She
handed the bong to him and flopped back onto the
pillows.

“I think he’s made his choice,
Jericho,” she commented after she exhaled and wanted to enjoy the
languorous sensations without thinking about her messed up
life.

Jericho took another hit and held it
in. He set the bong aside, blowing smoke out before he turned and
pulled her to his side, studying her intently.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,
Vivvie,” Jericho whispered and his lips found hers and clung to
them, easing her up across his chest and sighing under her lips.
“I’d take you over her any day. You’re my kinda girl
cat.”

She stared down at him with a raised
eyebrow. “She’s freakishly beautiful, Jericho.” She bit her lip and
looked away from his knowing eyes. “You don’t have to say that to
make me feel better. I know I can’t compete with her.”

Jericho slid his hands up through her
long hair, his eyes intent. “I see much more than just the outer
shell, Vivvie. You’re beautiful in the way it counts. Stop bashing
yourself to me. Is it compliments you want?”

She made a face. “She’s smokin’ hot and
I’m barely lukewarm. Don’t bother.”

Jericho touched her cheek, tracing her
features. “Then you don’t see what I do.”

Vivvie felt those eyes move over her
and felt self-conscious, knowing he was mentally comparing her to
Tania. She knew he had twenty-seven children with the female elder.
He was just saying what any guy would when they were getting laid.
Even here in her dreamscape it never changed.

“Your eyes are your very best feature,”
he concluded with a smile. “I noticed them the first time I met
you. You have an interesting face, not too pretty, but enough to
take a second look. The ones that do look again never stop looking.
I didn’t and haven’t since.”

Vivvie was overwhelmed at his
assessment and felt a bit uncomfortable by the look in his eyes as
he held her on top of him, his hands sliding where they
would.

“Your breasts are small but perfect,”
he said admiringly as his large hands encompassed them, stroking
them slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “That adorable bottom of
yours takes my breath away,” he went on as his hands massaged it
with slow, lingering caresses.

Vivvie was becoming aware of how turned
on she was getting by Jericho’s ministrations by the time he got to
discussing her ankles and feet. Warm liquid filled her center,
simmering at his words.

“Ok, enough. That’s laying it on a bit
thick, isn’t it?” she asked breathlessly.

Jericho rolled her over until he was
lying on top of her. “Now we’re going to talk about what’s
beautiful on the inside, Vivvie.”

She sighed as his lips took hers, his
body pinning hers underneath. When he entered her, she gasped as
the sensations unfurled within her. That was when he began
complimenting her in vivid, glowing detail. He made her blush
furiously as he described the interior of her lady parts as he
moved within them.

“Ok stop! Enough!” she said laughingly
as she stared up at him and shook her head on the pillows. “You’re
impossible!”

Jericho took her lips and kissed her to
quiet her then, his hands and body moving over hers feverishly. She
forgot everything at that moment, lost in the exquisite sensations.
He gave more than he took, making her burn to feel his hands and
lips. She quieted in his arms after a time, sated and feeling
glorious from head to toe.

He raised his head and his eyes burned
brightly in amusement. “I feel pretty; don’t you?”

Vivvie laughed and snuggled against his
chest, burying her nose in the golden mat of hair on his chest. He
held her into his side. She fell asleep listening to the sound of
his heart.

When she woke up in her own bed in
Florida; she was still smiling and felt very pretty. She was
humming as she returned to her new fulltime job; spending her
husband’s money. The days passed in a shopping rage; the nights
lingered with feverish passion in Jericho’s arms. Sometimes he
would just hold her so she wouldn’t have to feel so alone and it
was enough.

They talked sometimes and debated
matters within the tribe. They gossiped like girlfriends over
coffee about their thoughts and feelings. Jericho became more than
just a friend to her. She refused to look at what they did as real;
free to explore a side to herself she was unaware of, even with
Eli.

One thing Jericho wouldn’t discuss was
Eli and Tania. He refused to indulge her questions about Eli and
his lover. He wouldn’t get involved in what was between her and
Eli. He made it clear he was there for her pleasure and nothing
more. He made it a point of taking that to the extreme, keeping her
lips busy to keep from asking questions.

Vivvie woke each morning with more
confidence. She found herself looking forward to bedtime just to
see him and talk to him. She woke with his smell upon her skin and
his taste upon her lips. When the lingering physical feelings for
him started to carry over into her consciousness, she consoled
herself it was only a dream. She had a burning within her to
torture Eli as he did her. She wanted him to feel the ache of this
separation as intensely as she did.

Ty went out on a run with her each
night and they hunted together. He didn’t pressure her to pick up
where they left off. She was relieved but saw the desire in his
golden gaze. Her dream affair with Jericho aside; she wasn’t up for
anything more. The thought of being with anyone in the flesh
besides Eli made her resistant and cold.

Jericho didn’t waste their time
together on talk.

She woke up that morning and sighed as
she rolled over in the big bed. She thought of how much fun Jericho
was to be with, how uncomplicated, unlike her mate. He made her
laugh uncontrollably, encouraged her to explore this new nature of
hers; guided her in all things towards that end.

A smile of guilty pleasure crossed her
face to think of how they mated in animal form the night before,
his savage growling still ringing in her head. The elder reminded
her each night why he was still the most sought after Alpha within
the compound, making her purr in delight under his savage
onslaught.

It couldn’t last forever. Though
satisfying in every way; she needed flesh and blood under her
hands. She felt a wave of loss to wake alone, so poignant it
brought tears to her eyes. She greeted each day knowing it was one
more without Eli, one more without her young.