It was an underhanded tactic, but underhanded was Shepherd’s specialty. The male was making a point he knew she had yet to address: Thólos, or her baby. It was a complicated position for Claire that only led to denial of the issue. Taking her survival day by day, pretending there was no child, was all she could do without going mad.
Thólos had to be free.
And then what?
Shepherd’s reign might fall and she would be without the Alpha who fathered the small thing inside her. Corday’s resistance might fail, and the remainder of her days would be spent underground in a life unworthy of her child while Thólos still suffered.
Either way, she could not endure.
A corner of her mind spoke over the mental chatter, whispering incessantly that her baby could never stay there—that Thólos was not good enough, and it scratched and scratched, infesting, and reminding her that she had a duty to her unborn son, that he was more important than any other life.
It was getting harder to silence that voice every day.
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak. –Sun Tzu
That is exactly what he was doing to her, even if he was holding her comfortably as he jammed in the knife.
Talk of the baby was acutely painful.
As if he knew, warm, reassuring arms wound around her, Shepherd held her with love and murmured that she need not fret, that she need only remain patient.
What she needed was so far beyond patience. She needed to strike back.
“You are the strongest Alpha I have ever seen,” Claire began, compelled to make her point. “You have limitless potential. But, just like this unborn child, you are trapped in the dark. The acts of bad men shaped and distracted you. Serving your mission, even after you climbed from the Undercroft, you were never given a chance to be part of the world, Shepherd. Like me, you have never been free.” Her eyes went to where his hand had frozen in a caress over the life they had created. “So what of him? Will he live a mimic of your life? Will he wield murder and pain against those he’s taught to hate?”
Shepherd began a slow languid stroke that ended at the scruff of her neck. Gripping Claire’s nape as if she were a kitten, he held her immobile. “You do not know of what you speak, and that is no fault of your own. So listen when I tell you that our son will be raised to greatness... nurtured and educated. Loved.” His voice dropped, grew chilling, and he growled, “But far more importantly, how could you imagine I would inflict upon my child what was done to me?”
Face impassive, Claire spread her hands on his chest. She had one weapon, the truth. “Svana was in your company days ago. What have the two of you planned for this baby? Will your schemes, your examples, make him the next Premier Callas?”
It was like watching a storm gather in his eyes. The silver went dark, the rage began to build, and the man’s expression grew almost violent. She wanted a strong response, and she got one... she got even more than she anticipated. At last, she had struck him where he was weak. It was not her accusations that had burned him, it was that forbidden name: Premier Callas.
Leaning on the link, she felt Shepherd’s boiling animosity. But there was more, Shepherd was seething with disgust.
Widening her eyes, she grasped the secret; Claire knew exactly what inspired the hostile feelings buzzing on Shepherd’s end of their bond. There was only one reason to harbor such hatred. She knew it because Shepherd had given her cause to feel the same way.
Claire said it again, just to be sure. “Premier Callas.”
The Alpha’s end of the link turned rancid, old anger crashing down between them like a wave of acid.
It was more than what that monster had done to his mother, it was jealousy.
Jealousy...
Claire could hardly believe it, couldn’t even begin to fathom why, but she knew—It was Premier Callas, Shepherd’s enemy, who Svana had been unfaithful with. It had to be for him to feel such betrayal.
Looking away from the feral mate who was silently raging, Claire fell into her thoughts, shaking her head like it could not be true. Premier Callas was responsible for the torment and death of Shepherd’s mother... why would Svana harm her lover in that way? Resting her head on Shepherd’s chest, she stared at nothing, shared in his pain through the link, and felt as if the floor had fallen from under them both.
Like thoughts of the child growing in her belly, Claire had pushed memories of the exotic beauty away each time they’d cropped up. It had felt essential to maintain her sanity and her composure when faced with the man who had defiled their bond by fucking the Alpha female. But she had to look, had to face the discomfort and sadness that squirmed in her insides when homicidal china blue eyes flashed to the forefront of her mind.