Talons (20 page)

“
I won’t lie to you about
these things, Vivian,” he said and patted the horse’s nose fondly.
“I think the tribe has come a long way, but we’re not ready to live
among humanity. If I can’t do it, no other could.”

Vivian saw his sad expression, knowing
it was true. Ty had more control than all the elders combined. For
him to have failed at living among humans told Vivian there was no
going back for her.

“
Thank you for telling me
all this,” she said softly. “It was hard to hear, but
necessary.”

“
I wanted this transition to
be easy for you, Vivian, but it’s not,” he said and gazed at her
apologetically. “It’s because you were human that you will struggle
the most.”

“
Knowing I can’t ever go
back actually relieves the stress, believe it or not,” Vivvie said
with forced cheerfulness. “I had to hear that. I miss my family, my
friends, my awful car, everything.”

“
Vivian, I don’t know what
to say to make it up to you,” he replied. “Just know Ryken will pay
for what he has done to you, and your friends. This is not
over.”

“
What do they plan for
him?”

“
Ryken and his men will be
executed. The offspring will get a choice to come here or stay
there under new leadership. Those infected will be guarded. The
breeders are to be put down. I tried to sway Eli, but he won’t
relent.”

“
What if Dina or Rachel is
still alive?” she asked in horror.

“
Vivian, Ryken would never
have let them live to make the change. Your friends are gone,” he
said sadly and looked away from her stark gaze. “I’m sorry, but
know they will be avenged.”

Vivvie walked away, her mood
considerably altered. She wanted to be angry, but there was no one
to blame except Ryken, and he would be dealt with.

Ty caught up with her and pulled her
arm, forcing her to stop. His golden eyes were filled with regret.
“I’ll take you back to your room. I’m sorry if I have upset you.
That wasn’t my plan tonight.”

Vivvie walked out of the glass
enclosure with him, dying to ask what his plan was. She knew at
once Ty felt the same as she. He hesitated for some reason. Vivvie
was determined the evening wouldn’t end this way. She was almost
twenty-four years old and her bases were loaded. Ty was coming back
to her room tonight.

Vivvie watched Ty out the corner of her
eye as they made their way to her room. He seemed to be brooding,
feeling responsible for the somber mood that seemed to hang over
them.

They arrived at her door and she was
about to invite him in when several girls walked by, eyes filled
with open hostility. Ty only pretended not to notice for her
benefit. He smiled down at her, his golden eyes filled with
regret.

“
I’ll come get you on my
lunch hour tomorrow and take you outside,” he said. “I have to get
back to work.”

Vivvie felt disappointment as she
nodded and watched him leave her, without as much as a goodnight
kiss. She was about to open her door when she heard a very nasty
laugh at the end of the hall. A young-looking dark haired woman
eyed her in disgust.

“
Don’t think his attention
will last, Newbreed,” she said with a sneer, her glowing orange
eyes cutting Vivvie to ribbons.

“
Thanks for the advice, but
I don’t think I asked for it,” Vivvie replied tightly, her own eyes
glowing.

“
You might want to think
twice about getting involved with Ty,” the girl said
coldly.

“
Is that so? Not that it’s
any of your business, but what’s it to you?” Vivvie snapped, done
with all pretense of being nice anymore. These women made no secret
of their dislike. She wouldn’t back down.

“
He has never taken a mate,
Newbreed,” the girl went on. “It’s not for lack of better choices
than you. Look around you. You’re the only one here who hasn’t gone
to him yet. That is the only reason he pays any attention to you at
all.”

“
I’ll keep that in mind,”
Vivvie said through clenched teeth and opened her door and went
inside, leaning against the door as she absorbed the girl’s words.
Whether spiteful or not, she couldn’t ignore the truth in
them.

Ty had a harem here. Vivvie was unique
in only one way to him. Tears of fury filled her eyes at what she
considered tonight. She deserved better than that, even if she
turned into a cat. Best to forget about Ty and these feelings he
made her feel.

The other women obviously frowned upon
her because of his attention since she arrived. While he had
freedom to come and go, she had to live here. She might be the new
cat in town, but she wasn’t a pushover.

~~~~

Ty arrived back the next afternoon and
knocked on the door, waiting for Vivvie to answer. He frowned when
he realized she was either not in her room, or wasn’t answering. He
tried the door and found it open. Calling to her, he
entered.

As soon as he closed the door, his
senses told him she wasn’t here. Confused and mildly irritated, he
shut her door and backtracked to the dining room. Vivvie sat with
Jericho eating lunch, and seemed to ignore him when he approached.
The dining hall was nearly empty, but ears perked up to hear as he
spoke.

“
I thought you wanted to go
up top today?” he asked her, all traces of the annoyance he felt
subdued. “I have a couple hours free for you this
morning.”

She looked up at him and smiled
pleasantly, the kind of smile she reserved for customers at the
diner. Ty could see something changed since last night, but knew
not what. The fact that she'd not bothered to wait on him that day
wasn’t lost on him.

“
I’ll take a rain check on
it ok, Ty?” she said quietly, her green eyes meeting his with a
glimmer of something hidden in them. “Jericho is teaching me about
history today. I’m finding it fascinating.”

Jericho grinned up at him innocently,
his yellow green gaze filled with amusement. The elder reclined
negligently back in his chair with his arm slung onto the back of
Vivian’s. It was an innocent gesture, but Ty wanted to rip his arm
off.

“
No problem,” Ty replied
tightly, dismayed to feel a sense of hurt she blew him off to
listen to Jericho’s tales. “Some other time then. Let me
know.”

Vivian seemed to dismiss him then,
looking at Jericho with a better smile than she gave him. “Ok, so
where were we?”

Ty turned and walked out of the dining
hall, gnashing his teeth and trying to figure out why Vivian was
distancing herself from him. The conversation they had the night
before had not been pleasant, but it needed to be said. He wanted
her to know all of it before things went any further with
them.

Now he felt like an idiot for leaving
her at her door at all. He’d not even tried to kiss her goodnight,
when it was all he thought about. Vivian did an about face since
last night, and he couldn’t for the life of him know what he’d done
to offend her.

Eli was sending him to the Florida
compound to organize it. He questioned whether Eli offered it to
him in such a way to put a wedge between him and Vivian, but
dismissed it. Derek was also being sent. Still, the thought nagged
at him Eli was undermining whatever intentions he had towards
Vivian, using his own vows against him.

Ty took the news without showing a bit
of the disappointment he felt. Vivian would never be allowed to go
because of her ties there. Eli wouldn’t risk her trying to contact
her family or friends, or risk her being recognized from the
locals.

Ty had only a few weeks to show her the
ropes and he would be sent away. Golden eyes flared slightly,
feeling manipulated despite the trust he had for Eli. It was
assumed Jericho would go to Florida to clean up after Ryken. Now it
appeared he would join Derek for both of their obvious sympathies
for the Newbreeds.

Ty questioned his feelings of
frustration to know wherever he thought to take this thing with
Vivian was derailed swiftly by Eli’s edict. He allowed himself to
let her get under his skin, no easy feat for a newborn and a former
human. Now he would have to be driven insane thinking of Eli or
Jericho moving in on her while he was gone.

Ty returned to his primary job in the
computer lab, wishing to be a fly on the wall during Jericho’s
history lesson today. He swore softly as he logged back onto the
computer and navigated back to his day job, his thoughts churning
over Vivian in Jericho’s company.

~~~~

“
You know, as much as I
enjoy this, I don’t think using me to get back at Ty will go over
very well,” Jericho said thoughtfully as he watched Vivvie’s face
fall after Ty left them. “It might work on the humans but down here
it just causes deadly fights, Vivvie.”

“
I’m enjoying my history
lesson and your company,” she protested and looked miserable to
know the elder saw through her. “The other women give me problems
for being in his company so much.”

Jericho chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“They will give you trouble if you don’t, trust me.”

“
He doesn’t want anything
more than a casual thing,” Vivvie said and shrugged. “He’s made it
pretty clear. His track record speaks for itself. It’s just as well
we don’t spend a lot of time together.”

“
You don’t strike me as the
type that does anything to please other people,” Jericho remarked
knowingly.

“
I need to find my way here,
Jericho, and being linked to Ty isn’t making me any
friends.”

“
Ah, so you think if you
pass on whatever signals you’re getting from Ty, these women will
just rush right out to be friends with you, right?”

Vivvie glared at him. “No, I’m pretty
sure everyone will still hate me, but for the right
reasons.”

“
I bet you were a weird
human too, Vivvie.”

“
Why do you say that?” she
snapped, instantly defensive.

“
We don’t think that way at
all,” Jericho said with a smile and folded his arms across his wide
chest. “We go after what we want, Vivvie. We don’t care who has a
problem with it. That is our nature. You letting these women get to
you, well, that is human nature. They play you against yourself.
The only problem they have with Ty spending time with you is that
he is not spending time with them.”

“
He doesn’t want what I
want!”

“
You don’t even know what
you want anymore, Vivvie,” Jericho said and his yellow green eyes
were sympathetic. “You need to complete the change and go from
there.”

Vivvie knew Jericho spoke the truth.
She felt miserable for making him repeat the complete history of
the tribe that day to avoid Ty. Jericho didn’t mind. Vivvie more
than sensed if she gave the elder any signals at all he would have
pounced on her.

“
I still think like a human;
that’s the problem,” Vivvie said reluctantly.

“
Some things are universal,”
Jericho countered. “Act on what you feel. We’re very primitive in
that way. Ty can’t process this game you play with him. He sees me
as a rival now.”

“
I’m sorry,” Vivvie replied,
burning under his intense yellow green gaze.

“
I am a rival, Vivvie,” he
whispered low enough so the others in the dining room couldn’t hear
him. “Unfortunately we’re primitive in that way too.”

“
I didn’t mean for you to-”
she began and he chuckled and leaned forward and shook his
head.

“
Vivvie, you have much to
learn. The fact you singled me out at all gave me that idea and Ty
as well.”

“
If I told you I just wanted
to make him jealous, what would you have said?” she asked with a
cocked eyebrow.

“
Well, that’s different, but
you go about it the wrong way,” Jericho said with a smug smile. “If
we wish to attract a mate, we do things very
differently.”

Vivvie knew she had to tread carefully.
She knew Jericho was dangerous. He might look like a California
hippie but he was also the oldest and most renowned for baiting
females.

“
What do you do?” she asked,
her voice a bit breathless, pulled into the powerful yellow green
stare.

“
We go up top,” he replied
and stood, eyeing her challengingly. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite
anymore.”

~~~~

Ty spent the day twisting over Vivian’s
obvious brush off and fuming until he could take it no more. He
went looking for her, and was told by several well-meaning
instigators she went outside with Jericho. A growl slid past his
lips before he stalked to the elevators, not seeing the smiles of
those who gave him the news at his back.

Eli arrived in time to see the elevator
doors shut, eyeing the young woman and her companions sharply, his
blue eyes filled with displeasure.

“
Do you have nothing better
to do than cause trouble?” he complained when they told him where
Ty went tearing off too and why.

“
The Newbreed tempts them
both without a thought,” the woman replied defensively. “She is
nothing but trouble, Eli. You shouldn’t have let her come
here.”