It felt like her vocabulary had been reduced to only soft gasps or screams of, "Shepherd..." That was what he coaxed out. "Shepherd..." Another part of her died... "Shepherd..."
Lying spread on top of him, not knowing the hour or day of the week, Claire felt the anchor of his knot locked inside her and suddenly began to weep as if her heart was breaking.
With his hand stroking her hair, he hummed, half-asleep, "Why are you crying, little one?"
She was crying because he was killing her.
He hushed her and wiped the tears that continued to fall. "What would please you?"
"I want to go outside," she sobbed against his chest, so very tired of those four concrete walls. "I need to see the sky."
There was no answer for a moment, only the sound of his breathing. "Once you have become more settled in your new life it may be allowed on occasion, but only under escort and only if you have a bellyful of my seed to scent you."
So she would be expected to mate with him just to leave the room. The exploitation was not missed. Her tears dried and her usual distracted dejection made the little string buzz out of tune. "I have done nothing wrong, and you have trapped me in prison."
Shepherd felt her resentment through the thinly formed cord, traced the line of her spine as he considered her opinion of prison and how it was far from the actual truth. His little Omega should be grateful; life could be a whole lot worse for her. "It isn't safe for you outside this room."
Half aware of what she was saying, Claire lay lifeless and muttered, "Thólos is unsafe because you made it that way."
Silver eyes focused on the strands of midnight hair running through his fingers. "That is true."
With her cheek pressed to his heart, she said, "You're insane."
She felt a bit of a rumbling chuckle and just ignored him.
Shepherd palmed her rear. "You have not been this conversational in some time."
The knot was slowly beginning to loosen, his seed spilling out as the barrier receded. Feeling the gratuitous amount of fluid drip from her womb, she drummed her fingers on his barrel chest. "If I start talking, you throw me on the bed. What's the point?"
"I only quiet you when you fret."
"Like I said... crazy."
"Resisting is pointless," the male grunted, stroking her back to quietness when she seemed eager to wiggle away.
Resigned, Claire stilled and was rewarded with a purr, certain the man was trying to train her like some dog.
"You will find, in time, that the arrangement will naturally grow on you, little one." Shepherd spoke as if he knew, as if it were absolute. "Exercise patience."
Defiant, she growled against his naked chest, "My name is Claire."
He smacked her backside hard enough to sting.
Her head flew up, green eyes blazing. He chuckled, the sound masculine, and musical, and thoroughly entertained. She hated it.
"Don't spank me like a child!"
Silver eyes playful, he refuted, "If you act like one, I will answer accordingly."
"My name is Claire. Claire O'Donnell. And before you unleashed hell in Thólos, I was an artist. I had a life and friends... my own home... things you must imagine an Omega worked very hard to achieve in a world where we are prized for mates but lowest in the hierarchy. You took all that away, stripped every one of us of what we were, made the masses so feral that I had to go into hiding. You might have me trapped, but I will always be Claire."
Seemingly unconcerned with her rant, Shepherd cupped the curve of her hip, "What sort of art?"
Scowling, she answered bluntly, "Illustrations for children's books."
"Given your previous celibacy it seems a bit ironic, don't you think, Miss O'Donnell?"
"Why, because I didn't breed with the first Alpha who sniffed me? I wanted to find a good mate and the men I've met tend to be..." her eyes held his as she spoke her feelings, "pretty terrible."
Shepherd's expression was not threatening; his silver eyes remained languid, but in a growl he harshly explained, "You chose to enter the Citadel. You exposed yourself at great risk. You must have known you would never be allowed to return once I knew what you were."
"I was hoping a man known as The Shepherd would have honor," Claire grudgingly admitted.
Voice almost lazy, Shepherd replied, "And I did the honorable thing, did I not? I fought a mob and saved you from violent rape. I gave you a choice. You chose me and I claimed you. Since then, you have been protected and cared for while others suffer under the Dome."
"A choice?" She practically choked on the word. "You pair-bonded to me without even courting me first! There was no choice."
"You wish me to court you?" He seemed intrigued.