Cocking a single brow, Shepherd warned. “I caution you. Desperate Thólosens are nothing more than a pack of ravenous dogs. Remember, we are outnumbered and cannot leave until satellite imaging shows a storm free environment over the Drake Passage. Considering the season, our exodus could be months away. Do not stir up trouble.”
Svana threw up her hands, half in defeat, half in exasperation. “I did not come here to argue with you. I came here to warn you.” Reaching into her coat, the woman produced a packet of hand written notes. “You need to protect yourself.”
Shepherd took the offered papers, and found the photograph of a man he despised. Shepherd hesitated, his eyes drawn to the circle of red marker around Corday’s hand.
“Enforcer Corday wears a woman’s gold band on his smallest finger.” Svana’s nonchalance slipped, her voice hinged on desperate. “Every time he hears the name Claire, or talks about her, he touches it, toys with it. When I asked him about the ring, he confessed. Has your Omega told you she’s betrothed to him? Has she told you he promised her he’d end your life? Remember that while you are enraptured by your pair-bond, she has appointed another man to kill you.”
Seeing her china blue eyes looking over him with pity and disappointment burned. Shepherd swallowed, squared his shoulders, pretended he did not feel a knife slice straight through his heart, and lied. “She told me. The confession was... cathartic.”
“I see...” Svana braved placing a hand on Shepherd’s chest, stroking up to touch the bare skin of his neck. “I am begging for you to forgive me, my love. Look through the information I have brought, do what you will with it. Please remember what we are to one another.”
His voice, it came out worn and sad. “I never forgot, Svana.”
“I know you are going to ask me where the virus is, and you expect I have been keeping it from you—that I will continue to keep it from you, as if we are in opposition and not partners looking to build a great future together.” Heartache was open in her voice, in her expression, and falling in liquid testament from her eyes. “In order to reaffirm what we are, I’ve brought it. It’s yours.”
Reaching into the layers of her clothing, Svana produced a biohazard banded cylinder, the thing so small and unassuming, it was hard to believe what that little device was truly capable of. Inside something smaller than Svana’s fist lurked a nightmare, the very disease that almost eradicated the entire human race.
She offered it freely, her one bargaining chip gone. “Take it, my love. I don’t want you to have reason to doubt me.”
The cylinder was placed in his hand. Closing his fist around it, Shepherd sighed. “When you act on your own without talking with me, I fear for you. It was not a question of doubt.”
Voice dropping to a whisper, Svana’s eyes shifted to the man’s scarred lips. “I wish I could kiss you.”
The tension softened in Shepherd’s face; he smirked. “I will kiss you the day you take your throne and free our people.”
“Yes, that will do.” A warm smile on her mouth, Svana slipped away and eased towards the door. “Goodbye, Shepherd.”
The virus now in his power, he let her go. “Goodbye, Svana.”
It was three minutes before Jules dared enter. “She’s gone, spotted above ground moving east.”
Once the door was sealed, Shepherd looked to his second-in-command and saw that the Beta fully understood what had just happened. The Alpha cracked his neck, the man miserable under a stone-faced façade. “Have this analyzed to confirm the virus is inside and the containment untampered with.”
Jules displayed the depth of his feelings in one infinitesimal hitch of his brow. “You lied to her.”
Yes, Shepherd had lied to her, because Svana had lied to him first. “Have this room swept for surveillance equipment you did not plant. The guard stays outside my room, even when I am there.”
“Yes, sir.”Chapter 4While folding laundry, Claire sensed the link chime like soft bells. The sensation was a fair deal calmer than the inferno she’d felt over the last hour. Shepherd had been exceptionally angry, Claire was relieved he’d gone and that the rage was not directed towards her.
And then she’d worried something was terribly wrong. Misgivings came with the manipulation of the pair-bond. Worse was the doubt. Claire never did know just what stirred him up, and they both knew he’d remain mute to her questions. He never told her anything about how his time was spent tormenting Thólos... as if she’d forget what he was.
A warm hand slid down her flank. “You are thinking of me.”
Claire jumped under the unexpected contact, yelping as her heart leapt into her throat. Since she’d bitten him, he had taken to sneaking up on her, lingering in the shadows... watching her. It was always unsettling, Claire unsure if he’d been doing so all along.