Page 33 of Born to be Broken

Doing her best to pretend she wasn’t ill, Claire nodded and kissed his cheek. “I have a great deal of faith in you, Corday. You are a wonder.”

“And you will be free.”

“I will,” she acknowledged, eyes soft.

Slender fingers carefully pulled off her mother’s wedding band. Under their makeshift blanket, she took Corday’s hand and slipped the band on his pinky.

“What are you doing?”

“I want you to keep this for me.” Claire smiled as she gave her token. “A reminder, so that you don’t forget I’m rooting for you.”

She was making him uneasy. “I can’t keep this.”

“I am only lending it,” she corrected, squeezing his hand. “You are to give it back to me when Thólos is free.”

He hugged her, felt his heart soar. “Claire. I have faith in you, too.”

“You are my hero, you know.”

Corday wanted to kiss her, was so very tempted to thread his fingers in her hair and pull her lips to his. But that was not what they were; that was not what she could be…

At least not yet.

“Now,” Claire broke the moment, shy. “You need to get out of here before the sun comes up. If I don’t feel you’re safe, I’ll worry.”

Already untangling herself, she eased out of his embrace. Corday was not allowed to linger, Claire urging him to leave before light might make his journey dangerous. It was obvious he did not want to go, but she seemed so much better, her eyes more alive and a smile on her lips when she spoke.

The Beta retreated. The second he was gone far enough down the causeway not to hear her, Claire doubled over, and quietly lost her stomach all over the frost by the chute.

Corday did not hear her vomiting, nor did he see even a hint of the Followers that had surrounded him so flawlessly when he stepped out of her sight. He popped his collar to warm his neck, and shuffled off with his hands buried deep in his pockets—smiling.

Shepherd left Corday in the hands of Jules’ team, his attention on his ill Omega and the change that came over Claire the instant the boy was gone. The false smile fell, and she moved far from the group and their fires to sit in solitude, as if invisibly drawn nearer to the place where Shepherd hid in the dark.

He could almost reach out and touch her.

Once comfortable, the female pulled a worn book out of her pocket and lay back to read. Shepherd cocked a brow. His little mate was reading a book he knew by heart, The Art of War. It was oddly endearing, the man imagining future conversations about the text.

What was her favorite passage?

Claire read while most of the women still slept; she read the same book she had read every day since she had found it, and let her eyes linger on memorized quotes. Sometimes she fancied that it was like reading a segment of Shepherd’s soul. She could see his mentality in the book, his tactics, and sought vainly to understand—fixated to the point where she did not notice that Nona stirred.

The old woman prepared instant coffee, readying a serving for Claire.

“What wisdom do you have for me today?” Nona asked, pressing a steaming cup of swill into the young woman’s hands.

Claire tossed the book on the ground as she always did when done with it, treating it badly. “According to Sun Tzu, great results can be achieved with small forces… But I choose to interpret that as: pissing off a bunch of women is a really bad idea.”

The old Omega chuckled softly, eyes dancing as she watched Claire sip the coffee and grimace.

Nona stroked back Claire’s dark hair and teased, “You always did love your cappuccinos, but I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.”

Looking down at the shitty watered down beverage, Claire tried to banter. “I have many reasons to hate Shepherd, but reason number one is that I have not had a decent cup of joe since I was run out of my home… the jerk.”

Her friend offered a soft chuckle.

Claire took another sip of the steaming brown water. With Nona at her side, she sat in miserable stillness, her bloodshot eyes growing resolute. She did not know what was causing it, but her ennui was beginning to fade. What was replacing it was acutely painful.

She had altered… crushing indifference warring with an unbearable sense of loss.