Claire pounded her fist against the mattress and looked up with furious, half-dilated eyes. There was a snarl, her own version of the growl, and she launched herself at him to take back the only thing she had left to ease the pain. The sound of her demand inspired the man manipulating the situation to his liking. Shepherd took her in his arms, plunging his cock slow and deep where she ached, and watched Claire's silent pleas for more.
Kept just at the border of the insensibility she craved, like he knew her game, Shepherd moved with decided cunning in the dissection of her avoidance of what they were and why he mated her—forcing Claire to recognize who offered her carnal satisfaction, what he felt like against her, and how much she loved it.
Without the frenzy there was no void, there was no loss of self. Claire knew in her bones that he was knowingly denying her the only escape she had left by making love when she only wanted to fuck.
Shepherd smiled like a man standing in the bliss of heaven, whispered to her so she had to recognize his voice, and controlled every thrust no matter how she squirmed or rocked her hips. There was no escaping him or the pleasure.
Her mind grasped the irony with each tender stroke that the one thing she'd fought to preserve when Shepherd first took her had been her sense of self… until he broke her. Now all she wanted, now that her world was so dark, was to forget that identity and waste away.
"Faster," she breathed on a lengthy moan.
There was such pleasure in his voice, Shepherd gently rocking his hips to fill her cunt in slow measure. "No, little one."
It went on for hours, until she was shuddering and cooing small sounds of pleasure. This was how it had been in those first weeks, but the underlying distress was different. She was no longer afraid of what he could do to her; she was far more afraid of her mutilated sense of self and what she very much wanted from him.
A warm hand stroked from hip to breast, over and over, leaving a trail of soft tingles and ending with a little squeeze of her tight nipple until she whimpered for more and spread wider in invitation.
"Open your eyes."
How many times had he already commanded her to do so? Why did he have to make her look? Complying, her green eyes met beautiful silver. She saw her palm cradle his cheek, she saw him kiss the tip of her thumb.
A catch of breath and a long shuddering sigh came from the Omega. "I can't… I need…"
The purr built from deep within Shepherd's chest, the Alpha observing each minute reaction of pleasure on her face. "Soften, little one. Let it happen this way. There is no more need to fight what we are."
He wove his fingers into hers, his sweat slicked muscles moving over her entire body. Each time he had her stuffed full, he'd grind his groin in a tight circle to tease at her clit, drawing sounds from the Omega that made his balls tighten.
Shepherd's name came to her lips when she felt that first fluttering of the hours long building climax, a name she never wanted to call out in passion again.
There was not even a hint of a veiling fog in her mind when she felt tears leak from her eyes and her cunt squeezed like a fist around his swelling knot. Claire orgasmed completely, powerfully aware of Shepherd, her insides vigorously milking his cock, drawing out every last drop of his come as the man groaned in his own ecstasy.
Boneless, vibrating from the humming thread, Claire didn't know what to do. The feeling of his cheek slipped past her palm, the Omega wilting against the mattress.
"That was perfect." He kissed her slack lips, nuzzled her cheek. "You, Claire, are superior to any sky."
Her contentment shattered. With a growl guttural and vicious, Claire threatened the man still deeply knotted. "Do not ever call me that name!"Chapter 11The knot was fresh, the male's cock still filling her with a steady trickle of semen, his fingers still warmly enfolded with hers. Yet whatever tenderness the Omega had displayed as he led her down the path to orgasm had evaporated. Her small body was stiff, Claire's hips moving just enough to communicate her desire to reject his knot, even if trapped by it.
If Shepherd was angry, he hid it well. Looking at her with deceptive calm he spoke her name again. "Claire."
Her building rage blended with disgust, yet she mirrored his move on the board. In a tone so calm it was chilling, she explained, "Every time I hear you speak that name, I feel your Alpha beloved's hand crushing my throat. I feel her fingers scratching my insides. I see you, a monster who has the audacity to call himself my mate, stand by and watch. I hear you order me into the bathroom saying Claire… a name you refused to acknowledge up until that enlightening moment."