Born to be Broken (Alpha's Claim #2)(31)

The looming male leaned closer. "Shall we discuss the nuances of the agreement between my mate and myself? I only offered to spare your life. There was no mention of what I would do with said life. Technically, I could break every bone in your body, subject you to torture, take what little freedom you have left. So long as you continue breathing I will have fulfilled my end of the bargain." Shepherd's finger lightly tapped the table between them. "And Claire would never know … "

But he wanted something, otherwise she would not be there. He wanted something for Claire.

The terror was there, the slow rising panic that tainted her sweat and signaled to the much stronger Alpha that she was afraid. "You have a use for me."

"You will be coming back into my employ."

"What do you need me to steal?"

His mouth did not move in the slightest, but Maryanne was certain his expression displayed just how stupid he thought she was. "Your duty will be to bring information about the circumstances of the Omegas and the Beta, Enforcer Corday, to Claire. In these conversations, I advise that you make her happy, or you will be very unhappy when they conclude."

The thought of seeing Claire chased away a fraction of the dread. "Sure thing. I know exactly how to make her smile."

"You will not share detailed information, just the general wellbeing of the individuals I send you to photograph. You will not interact with these people or be seen. All images will be checked before Claire views them, and should I find anything unsettling, it would not bode well for you. You will speak of absolutely no one else."

Nodding, Maryanne signaled that she understood.

The last warning held the threat of great pain should she fail him. "And if she tries to pass you a note or does anything subversive, you will tell me privately. She will not be punished."

Claire might try, Maryanne knew it in her bones, and she already hated knowing full well she would hand anything over to Shepherd rather than face the consequences of being the go between in correspondences with Claire's little boyfriend. "She doesn't trust me."

"Let's not play games, Ms. Cauley."

"When do I begin?"



It took a few hours and another breakfast of the horrible green smoothie before her stomach settled from Shepherd's odd adoring behavior in the shower. He was gone again, a thing Claire was supremely grateful for so she could stretch and pace and formulate her next move.

Looking at the nasty bruising on her arm, Claire flexed the limb, certain it would ache for quite some time. It was worth it. Shepherd may have cornered her that morning, made her uncomfortable and bashful, but she'd had him with his back against the wall the night before, just long enough to expose that she had been correct. Pieces of it were coming together, Shepherd's mental need to keep her all to himself, using her to ease the grief Svana caused whether he recognized that fact or not, confirmed.




 

 

That was something; it was a place to start.

Shepherd's initial reaction had been violent, even the sex, but when they woke he was only indulgent. It was as if the rage from the previous night, the force that had compelled him to fuck her so roughly and so long she'd become boneless, was just gone.

The man had exorcised a demon.

Even at his most dangerous, he had never looked from her face, kept much of his skin pressed to hers, ordered her to call out his name, his burning eyes almost rolling back in his skull each time she did. He communicated to her with his driving need, with the force in which he urged her climax; his fiery expressions used to frighten her, the set of his jaw, the glares …  now she was beginning to understand. It was longing.

Shepherd was always watching her reaction, looking for something, some small hint as he coaxed out her sordid urges. He had some need that had been neglected. When coupled she was tender and would stroke him, draw in his scent and smile. Perhaps that was why he mated her so often; he had a base craving for such affection. Shepherd wanted her to love him and was confused as to how to foster such a thing when she did not automatically fall into what he assumed was proper Omega behavior.

Claire did not love him, but she had offered him comfort when his side of the cord displayed the turmoil her words had stirred up. That had been instinctive, and even though she despised Shepherd, it was the right thing to do in the war she was waging. Progress would require her to serve her position as mate if she was to stand even a chance of edifying him, and petty tactics such as seduction or dishonesty would never serve her.

Claire was not foolish enough to believe she could fix him. After all, Shepherd's thinking was warped far beyond anything she could untwist. But she could chip away at the wrongness; she could expose weakness in a man who seemed to have none.

Claire was going to bare him to himself piece by piece if it killed her.

It probably would.

The door opened and the dead-eyed, dangerous Beta entered. He ran a quick appraisal over her and then went to switch the trays. "Your arm," Jules grunted, "do you require pain relief?"

The absolute disinterest in the man's expression made the question completely strange. Edging nearer, circling around to face the male, Claire tucked her hair behind her ear. "That would bely the effects of the punishment."

Aware of what the Omega had done to earn such bruises, Jules mocked, "You believe that to be a punishment? I thought you were supposed to be clever."

Cocking her head, Claire felt something odd in their exchange but could not put her finger on it. "You find Shepherd's actions intriguing?"

"He was gentle with you."

Looking down at her arm, at the black marring blotches, she frowned. "And here I thought you were supposed to be clever, Jules." 

The male was not interested in further communication and gave her his back.

Slipping the straps of her dress off her arms, she asked in a voice devoid of feeling, "Does this look gentle to you?"

Glancing over his shoulder at the woman decorated in the bruises of rough sex, Jules turned quickly to the wall and barked, "Put your dress back on!"

"This is what confuses me about the lot of you." Claire continued, unmoved by his morality. "You won't look because you find my nudity inappropriate, yet you created a city full of rape that you do not even blink an eye at. You are all walking contradictions."

"You are my leader's mate. PUT ON YOUR DRESS."

It was strange to see the man who always appeared unaffected grow agitated. Smirking, Claire pulled the fabric over tender skin. "I think we both made our point."

Once certain she was decent, the man leveled her with a glare that almost held the same power as Shepherd's. "You are playing a very dangerous game."

Standing her ground, Claire said, "Not everyone is playing a game. I am simply trying to communicate, and I do not speak your language."

"You speak it better than you know."

Was that actual praise? "Then speak to me. How old were your sons when you lost them?"

The man was not thrown by her sudden shift in the conversation. "Bertrand was four; Joseph just under a year."

Claire smoothed her skirt, felt sadness. "Why were they killed?"

"My wife was Omega." The sharpness of his gaze was frightening. "An Alpha wanted her. Before I even learned of what had happened, she had been pair-bonded to a friend of Premier Callas. The same Alpha who'd murdered our boys."

"What was her name?"

"Rebecca."

Somehow she just knew, Claire whispering, "And you killed her when Shepherd led you from the Undercroft."

"Yes, almost a decade ago-at her request."

Claire understood. Even after the man had found her and taken her back, his Rebecca would have been gutted by the power of a pair-bond she must have hated more than Claire hated her own. Her lip began to tremble. "I am very sorry for what happened to your family, but I don't understand how it led you here to do what you are doing now."

"Every member of this army is here for the same reason I am."

It felt like Shepherd had told her a thousand times. "Revenge."

"Call it cultural enlightenment."

Her green eyes, wide and eager, sat in a face bearing an urgent expression. "How do you not see the flaws in your own argument? Do you want the human race to end?"

"How do you continue to deny yourself the truth? I overheard your conversation with Enforcer Corday. You admitted freely that Thólos has done this to itself." Jules approached her, unblinking. "Even before the breach, this very degradation infected all life under the Dome …  Do not waste our time by pretending that you did not live a lie just to feel safe."

It wasn't that simple. "Shepherd took me. I had a life before. I had a career. I could have had a future if I'd met the right Alpha."

"Shepherd choosing you as a mate was the best possible outcome for you, though you are incapable of accepting that fact in your ignorance and resentment."

Before she could offer a cutting retort, Jules opened the door and left.

Glaring at the door as if the man were still standing before it, Claire clenched her jaw so hard it hurt. In a few moments and a few carefully selected phrases, the Beta had shared more than Shepherd had in the first five weeks she had known him. Jules was a villain, of that she was certain, but a part of Claire could understand his rage.