“Yeah, well… she ain’t exactly committed to her mate, either. He made that easy enough by allowing some psycho female to unhinge the pair-bond.” Corday scoffed at the irony. “Well, now it seems he woke the beast. The Alpha monster and his lover unleashed a storm.”

Leslie’s voice grew lower. “What are you talking about?”

“Claire broke Shepherd’s Omega prisoners out of Undercroft two nights ago.” Corday grinned, proud to the bone. “I’m starting to think the bastard doesn’t stand a chance.”

“What of the woman? Shepherd’s lover?”

Corday cut a glance at his guest, frowning deeply. “I didn’t say it was Shepherd.”

Leslie blinked, the picture of naiveté. “Not in so many words…”

“All I know is that the woman behaved like your run-of-the-mill sex offender.” Reaching for his COMscreen, Corday grit his teeth and growled. “Sounds to me like Shepherd and the Alpha bitch are a match made in heaven—or maybe hell is more appropriate.”

Even with the popped collar of the leather jacket Claire had stolen from Maryanne, it felt as if the cold constantly cut right through her.

Cold was the only thing she could feel.

The Omegas were beginning to stir, the shuffling sound of movements soothing. Claire was glad to observe the group adjusting to freedom, even if it was in a reeking dump, even if she was not a welcome part of it. The women had maintained a respectful verbal distance, had asked very few questions, and had been as comforting as they were able.

That did not stop the troubled glances, though. To them, she was contaminated.

They could not have been more correct.

It was unsurprising that wariness should come from the knowledge that she had been claimed by the biggest monster of them all.

There was only one there who kept to Claire’s side.

“Did they discover who you really are, Nona?”

The old woman wrinkled her brow. “I don’t think so. Even if they did, they had little interest in me. Interrogations were only about you.”

“That seems rather pointless.” From the sound of it, Followers had compiled a file packed with random inaccurate information. Most of these women hardly knew her, and would have probably said anything they thought Shepherd wanted to hear. Staring dull-eyed at the fire, Claire murmured, “You need to make sure Corday doesn’t find out.”

“It’s not exactly like he can put me in prison, dearest,” the woman whispered, pulling Claire to rest her head in her lap.

“But when the city is free…”

“We have other things to worry about now.”

Claire sighed. “I wonder what happened to the others, the Omegas who were bonded?” Were they locked underground as she had been? Were they frightened? “I never saw anyone else. I don’t know where they are. I can’t help them.”