Her bare feet padded silently to the dresser, green eyes sneaking a glance at the Alpha working at his COMscreen. Dressing, oblivious she lacked an urge to wash his semen away, Claire began to do what she usually did in her waking hours underground; she paced. Her joints were stiff from so much sleeping, and the walking did little to ease her black mood.

Shepherd seemed content to ignore her. She was trying to ignore him, but as the hour progressed, she began unconsciously edging a little bit nearer.

Staring, Claire found his COMscreen bizarre and unreadable. Sighing, bored, she popped her lips and yipped when a great arm swooped out and snatched her out of the blue. Once she was tucked across his lap, Shepherd went right back to whatever he had been doing, trapping her in a cage of overly muscled limbs.

She had been so quiet and he had seemed so focused. It had not been her intention to invite interaction. She squirmed against his chest. "I'm hungry."

An answer came. "No you're not. You're restless and desire attention."

What she was, was irritated. "Why aren't you purring?" The jerk could at least do that. For fuck's sake, it was the only thing he was good for.

Claire could not prove it, but she was fairly certain he was laughing at her, despite his silence. "If I purred, you would not have been coaxed nearer."

Rubbing at the soreness in her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes.

Smirking, he went on, "Your mood swings are mildly amusing, little one."

"What is this?" She gestured toward the screen, unwilling to be baited, and far more willing to be aggravating.

His attention went back to his work. "If you were meant to read it, it would be in your language."

Claire simply rolled her eyes. Lesson learned. She would pointedly keep her distance to avoid this situation in the future.

"No, you won't."

When he responded to private thoughts that were none of his business, she snapped, "Stop doing that!"

Ignoring her, Shepherd's finger went to the screen and tapped until something new flashed, bright and pretty. Leaning forward, she eagerly reached out to take hold without thinking. He began to purr and she to smile as she looked at an image of her family.

"Your father was an Alpha." It was clear that that was who had all her attention in the photograph, that it was his face her finger ghosted over. "Your mother was an Omega."

Obviously...

Claire was trying to ignore the distracting man, to focus on something worthy, seeing the patch of blue sky in the background, as they all stood together in the orange grove.

"My mother didn't like my father," she taunted, pointing out the parallel to their situation.

Shepherd mocked her right back. "And to avoid her fate, you sequestered yourself away, became something unnatural."