“Don’t tell me you don’t see it. I know you do. There is something wrong with that woman. There would have to be for her to do what she did to her uncle.”

“No...” Corday had never fathomed that Leslie might have done such a thing. “She didn’t.”

Crossing strong arms over her chest, Brigadier Dane asked, “Since when has Shepherd not advertised his exploits? When he infected our brothers and sisters in the Judicial Sector, their deaths were broadcast over every working COMscreen under the Dome. When he hung the Senators, it was done before jeering crowds. Why make a secret of Senator Kantor’s demise? Why take the head off the pike?”

It was too convenient to be conceivable. “One woman would not have been able to accomplish all that was done in that night. The body parts, the missing Omegas, it isn’t possible!”

Dane nodded. “And doesn’t that frighten you all the more?”

5

Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat. –Sun Tzu

Well, she had failed that one. Miserably...

Claire had no idea what had come over her, but the sign of her lapse into madness was a visual Shepherd took much pleasure in displaying. His chest and back were covered in lines of scratches artfully done: her own little pattern that made it clear they were not marks gained in a fight, but adornment of a sort. More so, they were mesmerizing and she had trouble keeping her eyes from them every time he entered the room and removed his shirt for her nest.

And he was doing it on purpose.

Shepherd wanted to show them to her, he wore them proudly. Hell, she would not be surprised if he had made a point of displaying them to his entire army. A situation that was infinitely humiliating for her, was nothing but delightful for him.

Whether it was the pregnancy or the pair-bond, Claire didn’t know. All she knew was that she had not been in her right mind. Maybe the book had been right. She’d been absolutely irrational and could not stop the furious blush that came to her cheeks every time she found him looking at her with those eyes.

It was that same damn expression he’d favored her with after she had painted his portrait.

Catching his eye again, glancing away as she felt the color rise to her face, Claire heard the memory of her voice demanding that he fuck her, explaining in filthy detail the exact position she desired, how fast he was to move…

Shepherd enjoyed calling her coy in the past, and gods if she didn’t feel that way now.