Unwilling to leave her, he sent out an order for medical supplies, and covered Claire from sight. Holding her in a grip of iron, he allowed Jules to set what was required on the small table beside the bed. When the door was locked, he found her still refusing to look at him. It didn’t matter.

Shepherd had seen her reaction to food, was certain that she would hold nothing down as upset as she was, and took her arm. When the needle pierced a vein, she remained unresisting. Intravenous fluids were administered. While the IV emptied, he bathed her with soft towels, each wound treated and bandaged, the stitches grunted at, and her feet, a thing that made the beast openly angry, were wrapped in soft strips of cloth.

When the process was finished he gathered her again in his arms.

“I will build you a new world, little one—a kingdom worthy of you and our son.” He whispered his distorted ideals, raking his fingers through her tangles. On and on Shepherd elocuted, articulating all he would accomplish, how he would be a legend, how he would do this for her.

In Claire’s hazy understanding, Shepherd had never spoken so much and said so little.

On her belly, with her back to him, she found herself listening to the pipedreams of a madman until she could not stand it another instant. Rolling over, interrupting his game with her hair, she argued with that same passionate defiance, that same misplaced goodness that had yet to vanish no matter what had happened to the rest of her. “Do not use me as an excuse for the horrible things you do. I will have no part of it!”

He grinned, smiling darkly at her hoarse complaints. Hand molded to the shape of her belly, Shepherd patted where their child grew. “The very fact that I have you back proves the Gods side with me.”

Claire had cried herself dry, her chest was rotten mush. “You have me because I would rather save the lives of forty-three people than kill myself.”

“Shhh.” His hush was brushed over her chest. He kissed where their bond thrived. “Everything is mending and your sadness will fade in time.”

It was not mending, it was scarring.

There was a gleam in his eyes, confidence. “We will begin again.”

Lip curling, Claire laid out his sins. “You forced a pair-bond, drugged and impregnated me, fucked your crazy Alpha beloved in my nest…” She did not finish. Instead her pain surged again and Claire found her eyes could indeed leak more tears. “I recognize, Shepherd, that I am only here to be your toy. I’m a slave, a kept thing. I sold myself for them.”