Claws by Karolyn Cairns

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