Free Talons by Karolyn Cairns Page A

last
Whopper with cheese while I can,” she said sarcastically and saw
him cringe now.
    “ Even McDonald’s is better
than that junk!” he complained and looked offended.
    Vivvie knew he was just mad he had to
eat something cooked. “You can ask for them not to cook
yours.”
    “ That just singles us out,
Vivian,” he said stiffly and glared at her. “You must hide what you
are. Ryken is our enemy, but humans are definitely the
worst!”
    “ How can you say that?” she
said defensively.
    “ The humans would kill us
all if they knew of us. Your family is dead to you, Vivian. Future
contact is forbidden. You will endure Eli’s wrath should you break
that rule.”
    “ That’s not fair!” she
sputtered and looked alarmed. “You never said anything about
this!”
    “ What did you think, Vivian?
Did you think you could go back to visit them at Christmas?” He
laughed scornfully and saw that she did. “You can never see them
again. It’s too much a risk to us all.”
    “ They will think the same
thing that happened to Dina and Rachel happened to me. That’s not
fair!” she cried, eyes filled with pain.
    “ It’s the way it must be.
Once you make the change; you will see why. It will take you years
to learn to control yourself. The shift to your other form can be
unpredictable. Should you get angry or upset; you could change and
expose yourself.”
    Vivvie felt tears in her eyes to think
of never seeing her father, Marsha, Salem, and even old Jim again.
She wrestled with her inner turmoil. The pain she felt to know she
couldn’t go home again was devastating. She wiped away tears and
refused to even look at Ty.
    He got off the interstate and pulled
into a Burger King drive-thru. They sat behind several vehicles
ahead of them. Ty looked at her in concern.
    “ I know you think such a
rule is harsh. What if you injured or hurt one of them, Vivian? You
could take off a human’s head with the swipe of a paw,” Ty said
grimly. “Could you forgive yourself?”
    “ No, you’re probably right,”
she agreed and looked away from his gentle stare. “I feel even more
alone now.”
    Ty said nothing as they arrived at the
speaker to order. He ordered her a Whopper with cheese meal and an
extra large vanilla shake. She accepted the bag gratefully as they
left the lot. Once back on the interstate; she looked at him in
concern.
    “ You’re not going to eat?”
Vivvie said as she stuffed herself with fries.
    Ty smiled, his golden eyes glowing in
the dark. “I prefer to chase my food.”
    Vivvie swallowed hard at that. Just
imagining Ty tackling some poor animal and ripping it to shreds
dampened her pleasure at the meal. She was starved and ate it
anyway.
    Ty drove through the night, and half
the next day. He announced they would stop at nightfall. Vivvie
slept for hours and woke up. She was startled to know they were in
Louisville, Missouri already.

Chapter
Six
    Ty got them a room at a rundown motel
off the interstate. It was old, but clean. There were two queen
beds. Vivvie felt shy as she brought in her overnight bag, suddenly
aware they were alone. She felt the flush coming over her and felt
embarrassed he knew what she went through.
    Ty got a shower and came out wearing
plaid fleece Denver Bronco sleep pants. Her eyes widened at the
sight of his bare muscled chest, swallowing hard to get over the
burst of longing inside of her. He was heavily muscled under his
clothes, not a spare ounce of extra flesh. His skin was smooth and
tanned. He bore wicked scars on his back, she saw, as he turned on
the TV news. The sight of the old scars made her eyes widen. They
looked gruesome.
    Vivvie hurried to use the shower to get
away from the sight of him, unable to not want him. The shower felt
wonderful and she stayed in as long as she could. When she got out,
she heard low, muted growling and stilled. Her eyes widened in
fear.
    Vivvie dried off quickly and changed
into her pajamas with shaking hands, listening to the growls.