Talons (16 page)

Once showered and dressed in only her
robe, she logged onto the computer and Googled everything she could
ever want to know about cats in her spare time. She suffered bouts
of vomiting and became accustomed to it.

Vivvie stared at the hair on her arms,
once fine and sparing, now was getting darker and thicker every
moment that passed. She was also noticing her eye teeth were
getting more elongated, making closing her mouth more
difficult.

These changes were never told to her.
She resented Ty or some other not taking the time to explain it,
but she only just arrived. None knew where she was in her
transformation process. The temptation to seek out Jericho was
strong then. The elder might be a man-whore, but he would tell her
all she needed to know.

Vivvie ran to the bathroom and heaved
once more. She made to get up and crumpled to the tiles, eyes wide
and dilated, and glowing as the seizures hit her. Holding the base
of the commode, she cried out. They continued and left her writhing
there. Pain exploded down every nerve ending then. She went rigid,
feeling her spinal cord ripping through her back.

Sobs emanated through her clenched
lips. It was all happening very quickly, her vision was now
distorted, seeing three dimensional before her eyes. Her hands
clenched, and felt riddled with cramps as the talons forced their
way through her fingertips.

Vivvie stared at them in disbelief as
they grew longer before her eyes, and doubled over anew, her bones
feeling disjointed as they ripped from their paper-like sockets
finally. Screams were bit back as she felt her jaw distend,
snapping her neck back to allow for the growing mandible. Her lips
curled back as her teeth forced their way out of gums already
filling with bigger teeth. She spit the smaller, human ones out,
coughing and sputtering, her head hurting.

Vivvie gasped as the pain began anew,
making her thrash upon the tiles as it went on and on, until her
former shape was unrecognizable to her three dimensional vision
anymore. Hair began to sprout rapidly in front of her dazed eyes.
The same that happened to her hands now befell her feet, making her
gasp and tense as the change took hold.

Vivvie panted as her tail bone forced
its way through the skin, biting back cries of agony as the tail
grew longer. Pain kept her prone upon the bathroom floor, her
talons scraping against the ceramic tile as another bout of
terrible seizures came upon her.

Vivvie felt tears in her eyes as the
world grew brighter, became more vivid and her primitive thought
processes took over. Low growls escaped her lips.

A very large black cat walked out of
the bathroom, the skin of its former occupant left behind in a
bloody pile. Large, glowing green eyes looked around and a purring
sound emanated from the cat’s flaring nostrils. Long spiky whiskers
bristled, and a long tail swished as the animal lumbered to the
other room.

~~~~

“
How is she?” Eli asked as
he stepped out of his bedroom in a black robe, shutting the door
behind him.

Ty grinned as he picked up the scent of
at least three females on Eli. Their leader had the stamina of a
goat. He sobered at his words. Vivian was refusing to come out of
her room and looked miserable when he left her the night before.
The desire to hold her and comfort her took him by
surprise.

“
She’s scared as hell,” Ty
replied and his golden eyes narrowed. “She could have died, Eli.
Did I not tell you it was risky? Dean would have killed
her.”

Eli looked annoyed. “She’s alive isn’t
she?”

“
Don’t tell me the thought
didn’t cross your mind to let Ryken have her,” Ty accused with a
grim look. “I might not be able to read minds, but you sending me
the farthest away was pretty obvious.”

Eli smiled tightly. “Your possessive
side shows again. When are you going to get up the nerve to get
with her and put the rest of us out of our misery?”

Ty gritted his teeth at his words.
“When I’m damn good and ready and none will touch her!”

“
You act like a mate now;
careful Ty.”

Ty looked furious. “I feel responsible
for her. She was human, if you have forgotten. She doesn’t
understand what’s happening to her.”

Eli’s laughter interrupted him. “It’s
me you talk to, Ty,” he said and his blue eyes glowed. “You never
stop thinking about her. Your thoughts are of her day and night.
Maybe you need to rethink Florida.”

Ty looked uncomfortable. “No I said
I’ll go, and that’s it. Vivian will be able to find her own way by
then.”

Eli shrugged. His blue eyes met his
with understanding. “She will come to no harm, Ty. Jericho and I’ll
look out for her.”

Ty looked tense. “She won’t be happy to
know I’m leaving. Don’t say anything.”

Eli raised an eyebrow. “Ty, she will
hear it from someone else eventually. Why all the
secrecy?”

Ty didn’t answer, not sure himself. He
knew what he did was wrong, leading Vivian on when he would leave
at the end of the month. Even if he knew they had no future, he was
here now. He saw the knowing look in Eli’s eyes and avoided his
gaze.

“
This isn’t like you, Ty,”
Eli noted wryly. “It’s more like me, or Jericho, but not you. Why
do you play with the girl’s feelings?”

Ty looked at him with little
expression. “Maybe it’s because I feel something for her as well.
It isn’t her fault I have nothing to offer her.”

Eli said nothing to that, his blue eyes
filled with compassion. “Let me know if you change your mind about
Florida.”

“
I won’t,” Ty said tightly.
“It’s for the best.”

“
She must be close to the
change. Her heat has passed,” Eli said with a pleased grin. “I
didn’t smell her when I woke up this morning. I did enjoy waking up
to that smell, Ty.”

Ty looked furious at his words and
Eli’s grin deepened. “Why do you torture yourself, my friend? She
is one of us now. Take her; she will doubtless allow
it.”

Ty looked away from his leader’s smirk,
wanting to hit him, but knew it was true. If he didn’t claim
Vivian, one of them would. Eli and Jericho were both very aware of
her, much to his dismay. She intrigued them all, being Newbreed,
and also being new to the tribe. Variety was very much lacking
these days. If he didn’t make her his soon, the other males would
begin to stalk her.

Thinking of her being cornered and
perhaps forced, if it came to that, made him cringe slightly. She
would discover only too soon how much power these males had over
the female population. Eli as leader, could force her to him and
there was little Ty could do. His leader gave him a heads up,
nothing more. They wanted her too, and he had no choice.

“
How does Derek feel about
going with me?” Ty asked, wanting to change the subject quickly. He
wouldn’t discuss Vivian with Eli.

“
You can imagine he is
thrilled to play Fairy God Kitty to a bunch of human females, but
we have no choice.”

Ty grinned, thinking of how Derek
reacted, knowing him as he did. “Yes, well, there is much to be
done down there. Protecting the human females is the least of
it.”

“
He should be happy I let
them live opposed to our alternative. I can tell you Gideon fought
me all the way on this,” Eli said in disgust. “Most of them will
likely make the change now. Then we have to worry about them
breeding or trying to flee the compound. That can’t happen, Ty. You
must educate them all in this.”

Ty knew Eli hadn’t slept at all after
he left him the night before debating their options. Thinking of
the half-dozen young women in Florida who would pay the highest
price for Ryken’s ambitions made him grow quiet.

~~~~

Vivvie was lolling around on the floor
swatting her own tail when she shifted back into human form. She
was sprawled naked upon the carpet, looking bemused to see what
became of her living room.

She ripped the stuffing from the couch,
broke her lamp, and gnawed the cord to the lamp. Sitting up, she
wiped the pieces of stuffing from her hair and got up.

“
Wow,” was all she could say
as she saw the destruction in her room. She became one very bored
kitty the last three hours. Hurriedly she dressed, and went about
to clean her domicile, disgusted to realize she could hardly
remember what she was doing. It was as if she was a silent,
unknowing partner to it all.

This wasn’t the worst of it as she
followed the trail of stuffing to the bathroom, seeing that she
nearly drained the toilet of water in her thirst. Oh God, she drank
toilet water! She felt sick at the thought, glad she couldn’t
remember it.

At least an hour was spent cleaning up
after her, for a change. The couch was an easy fix by flipping the
cushions over. The lamp was toast. She bagged it up and was
carrying it to the door when she heard the knock.

She opened the door, grateful to see Ty
there. His handsome face was tense.

“
You have to be hungry by
now,” he said as he walked in. “The women said you didn’t come to
breakfast.”

“
No, I wasn’t hungry,” she
said, thinking she’d eaten her couch and drank her toilet water.
What could be more satisfying than that?

“
If you want to go into town
with me, I have to make a run,” he offered, smiling to see her face
light up.

“
Give me five minutes,” she
asked as she dumped the garbage bag in the trash can by the door.
She fussed with her appearance, knowing she did it for her growing
attraction to her hulking hero in the next room.

“
What happened there?” he
called while she changed her shirt and jeans. He obviously referred
to the lampshade sitting on the table, minus the lamp.

“
I tripped over it,” she
lied, unsure about telling Ty she’d made her change. She didn’t
know why, but she wanted to keep it to herself for now.

“
Remind me to grab you
another from a vacant room when we get back.”

Vivvie hurriedly grabbed a warm hoodie.
It was getting colder in the mountains and the change she was going
through made her body temp pretty wacked out.

She returned to his side and saw his
expression when he saw the couch stuffing popping out of the trash
bag. She stuffed it back down and gazed at him
innocently.

“
Ready to go,” she said
brightly and locked her door, following him out.

Vivvie followed Ty to the underground
garage, impressed with the collection of vehicles there. Her gaze
settled on a brand new red Corvette longingly. Ty smiled, following
her gaze.

“
That’s Eli’s baby, sorry,
he doesn’t let anyone drive it,” Ty explained as he clicked the
doors open to the Yukon. “Everyone else would loan you a vehicle if
you wanted to go into town, Vivvie. You need only ask.”

Vivvie got into the vehicle and
clutched her purse in her lap, surprised she felt no different from
the morning’s experience. She felt like her, only better. It was
hard to explain.

She could feel her other self, there
now, as if it slumbered. Her sense of sight, hearing, and smell was
acute now. The desire to tell Ty she made the change was strong,
but she held back. For some reason she wanted to keep it to herself
for now.

Ty drove the SUV to an underground
service elevator that could fit up to two vehicles at a time. He
got out and pressed the button and the doors closed. He got back in
the driver’s seat and smiled at her, about to comment on how rosy
her cheeks were and how bright her eyes were.

Vivian looked radiant, now that he
thought of it. Her dark brown hair shone with a rich sable luster.
She was even cuter than he remembered. It was getting hard to keep
her at arm’s length. Right now all he wanted to do was pull her
into his lap.

Vivvie would have been surprised to
know the train of Ty’s thoughts. Her sex-o-meter dropped off the
charts. The knowledge she was no longer a raving sex fiend was a
relief. She was tired of checking out everything with a male gender
attached to it. She felt more in control now.

“
Where did Ryken and his
buddies go?” she asked finally as she adjusted the radio off the
oldies station Ty seemed to stick too. She found a rock station and
saw him grimace. Strains of Metallica made him roll his
eyes.

“
They left in the night,” Ty
replied sourly, his golden eyes noticed her hand at once. The cut
that never healed was gone. His smile grew as he noticed it. “He
got away, but we all know he will come back.”

“
So what’s the plan?” Vivvie
said unaware Ty was on to her. The doors to the elevator opened and
he pulled out, following the two-track to the main road.

“
Eli is sending Derek down
there to deal with it for now,” Ty said, the slight smile still
playing about his lips. “He will report back everything Ryken’s
doing. For now, we just wait.”

Vivvie was starting to feel a bit
unnerved by the way Ty was looking at her now, feeling those golden
eyes moving over her. The attraction to him was still there, much
to her dismay. She hoped it was the kitty cat thing. Unfortunately,
she was still homing in on him. He immediately switched off her
heavy metal to a compromise of easy listening music. She rolled her
eyes.