It was predictable, the storm of fury in his eyes. What was surprising was the small dash of regret. Where he had been rubbing her chest, his hand moved to a breast and began to roll and pinch the nipple until the soft pink darkened and the bud elongated under his fingers.
Of course he would fuck her again no matter how unappealing Claire found the idea. That was always his recourse for her mouth. That was his answer every time she was resistant or unhappy.
Lying still, too tired after hours of struggling to put up a fuss, she remained limp… ready to get it over with.
The other nipple received the same treatment; all the while Shepherd watched her with that calculating gaze. A thumb traced over her lips and dipped just a bit between them to play against the flat of her tongue. The growl was made, the aroma of her slick scented the air, and his free hand began to play with her pussy.
Shepherd pressed his chest to hers, growled low and deep once more, watching so very carefully.
She closed her eyes and chose to ignore him.
With his fingers coated in her slippery fluid, he began to speak. "In the Undercroft, I had my mother for so short a time, I hardly can remember her face. She died from the harsh use of many men." A slippery finger slid to her puckered anus and Claire started. Shepherd slowly added pressure against her rectum, her breath catching at the uncomfortable cramp of that place being stretched. Wide eyes showed her distress; Claire reached down to grip the wrist of the offending limb, her complaint lost around the thumb still teasing her tongue.
When she had stilled, realizing he was not moving, not penetrating further, Claire watched him with absolute attention.
"As women never lasted long, prisoners took their pleasure from men in this way." The probing finger slipped past Claire's clenched ring. "Or by using the mouth of another. The beasts in that hole would howl in the dark as they gratified their bodies on the small and weak. The sounds of screams, of tortured begging—even the moans of those who took pleasure in such things—that's the lullaby that lulled me to sleep every single night."
The sensation he was creating was unpleasant, the tip of his finger wriggling. Claire tried to squirm but his weight was on her, and Shepherd growled again until more slick dripped down to coat what penetrated her rectum.
She whimpered.
"I was smaller than you are now the first time I was cornered. My back was to the wall, a man with sores on his face pulled out his member and reached for my throat. What he didn't know, what nobody knew, was that my mother had whored herself for a knife. I shanked my attacker. During the struggle I earned the scar across my lips that you in your estrous called beautiful."
Had she?
There was a purr, a short offer of soothing as he pressed his digit further up her ass, knowing the stretch was unwelcome, but using it to make sure she listened to every damn word he said.
"I left his corpse strung outside my cell, his cock hanging from his mouth as warning to others. He was only the first, and I was surrounded by dark-hearted monsters. As I grew bigger, grew stronger, the small and feeble would come to me; offering their mouths or their bodies for protection from those same men who hounded them. I found them repugnant; weak, and beneath me. I killed several just to make my feelings on the topic clear."
The thumb in Claire's mouth stroked her tongue in little circles as he spoke. "One day, something from the light found me in the dark, a young woman with a knife of her own. It was already bloody."
Svana.
"She'd heard of me, had crawled into hell to seek me out. She gave me the means to rule and asked for nothing. Her visits were often, her affection splendid. Like me, her mother had been killed before her. Like me, her future had been stripped away.
"Her mind, the things she knew, were beyond anything I had been taught. She offered to share such wisdom, brought me books, found worth in the monster whom inmates feared. The angel even brought me the file with my mother's name on top." Shepherd nuzzled her cheek. "In that missing person's dossier was a photograph. My Beta mother, before the Undercroft rotted her teeth, had been very beautiful, like you. I hated hearing her screams."
Claire put her hand to his flank, she felt his pain break against her.
The Alpha continued. "I could not save her, and to this day could not tell you which one of the demons underground was my father."
Claire did not want to let his history touch her, but it was so pathetic she could not help but feel pity.