Corrupted (Alpha's Claim Book 5) by Addison Cain (read more books txt) 📕

Together, they watched an Omega with a fork and knife pry open an access panel and suck in outside air. Unlike Maryanne, she didn’t waste time. Brenya ripped open her shirt, stripped fully naked, and stuffed the dirty thing behind her. Climbing out, one foot on the winged shoulder of the Omega Goddess, the other notched into a bit of filigree, she closed the panel and hastened to screw it shut.

Panting from the effort, favoring her right arm, she slid down the wall. There was no way for her to see at that speed where she might land her weight, what handholds might become available, but instinct drove her to find a path before she fell a greater distance than she might survive unscathed.

Shepherd and Maryanne watched as the final foothold was missed.

Dangling from one arm, the Omega took the utensils out of her teeth and let go.

The landing was hard; there would be further bruising. But her Alpha didn’t seem the type who would notice the changing landscape of her skin.

Fork and knife were back on the empty table just as Jacques entered the room. Finding his mate missing from the nest, he raced toward the open door to the balcony.

Shepherd issued another order. “Give me volume.”

“What are you doing out here?” The Commodore looked at the breathless woman, turning his glare next to the forgotten dinner table. “Did you eat all that food while I was gone?”

She didn’t answer, sitting down in the nearest chair with her hands folded in her lap.

“I asked you a question, mon chou.”

Brenya Perin stared down at her fingers, struggling to keep her breath even. “I’m very hungry.”

A lie. For on the screen pulled up beside the five angles of Jacques Bernard’s rooms, Jules had just finished devouring the food he’d been given.

Not that the people of Bernard Dome would ever know. As per protocol while incarcerated, the Beta had sat still for so many days that playing his actions on a loop would go unnoticed. Had gone unnoticed by the remote guards monitoring his cell.

Tearing at blond hair, the Commodore turned into his room to snarl into a COM where his Omega might not hear. “Feed him clean food. Whatever he wants. NOW!”

Then the Alpha was again outside, snatching up the female to return her to the nest. Her back hit the pillows, her hair splayed, and her body laid out like a sacrifice. Standing over her, the male took his time undressing, staring down at the woman as if unsure where to begin the feast. From the feral look of him, it would not be the gentle touch she clearly needed at the moment.

It wasn’t until the Alpha crept over her body that Shepherd commanded, “As soon as Jacques Bernard falls asleep, summon him for an emergency meeting with the Chancellor of Greth Dome. Should he refuse, release the footage of the infected gentlemen’s club.”

At that, Shepherd turned away from the screens. There was no need to watch another man rape Jules’ mate… again.

The door to their bedchamber possessed no lock, but that didn’t mean his little one might not have shifted furnishings to keep him from the room. They had not spoken since their argument in the garden, each choosing to coexist in strained silence as he plotted his next move and she belligerently dug in her heels.

It was an easy thing to do when a pair-bond was as strong as theirs, but it was also unacceptable.

Shepherd loved his Claire in a way he’d never fully understand. She was the best kind of addiction, the constant vibration of her being always with him, taking up the space in his chest where most men might have a soul.

She had improved him from the moment he had seen her in those filthy, reeking clothes. There would be no existing without her. If that meant he could only have her in this pretty cage she’d contained herself within, then he would take whatever scraps she might offer.

Not that he would ever cease working to give her everything she ever desired.

Swinging the door easily open, Shepherd found her awake in her nest. Knees under her chin as she stared off into the sunrise. Green eyes that had the power to undo him with a glance rested on her view of their garden. Following her gaze, he realized he had not had the time to tend to her plants before she might wake.

Maybe she was disappointed. Perhaps she thought him petty enough to abandon the project out of anger.

“You didn’t come to bed last night.”

It would have been a fine evening indeed to have lain next to her, even if she had denied his attentions. “I was called away.”

And he was suddenly very weary. With an uncharacteristic sigh, he walked forward and took a seat on the edge of their mattress. Elbows to his knees, he leaned the weight of his upper body forward and stared out at the sunrise.

A little hand came to rest on his spine. “Shepherd, I’m sorry.”

“As am I.”

Stroking where his back knotted with tension, she teased, “No, you’re not. But I appreciate the sentiment.”

Cutting a glance over his shoulder, the man found his wife’s smirk and loved her all the more for it. “I am sorry, perfect Claire. I am sorry that none of this worked out as it should have. I am sorry that I have given you sound reason to assume the worst of me in all situations. You are not wrong. I would do the things you say should circumstance require.”

Black hair fell around her as she scooted closer, her second hand coming to tend to his back with her first. “Honey, I’m listening. Tell me what’s going on.”

How she could be so sweet, he’d never know. And this moment, a moment that came out of love despite the recent stings, would be ruined. Because he was going to ask her something that both of them would