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“If they find us, you’ll fight theave him confidence, and he touched the weapon beside him

I can do this I can

As she shifted to pull a blanket out of her pack, her bad foot turned beneath her, and she cried out Without thinking, he reached for her like he would one of the brats Her shoes were simple, likely crafted by her own hands, and she wore a brace on her ht, her expression showed uncertainty

“Can I look at it?” Though he hadn’t been the enclave medicine man, he’d often treated s theiven Bonesaw’s lack of skill, his own efforts usually yielded better results anyway

She ducked her head “It’s ugly”

Stone glanced at her in surprise “Nothing about you could be”

Her sht For aHe unfastened the straps and then slid her shoe off This ankle didn’t look like a normal one, and her foot turned inward She was also swollen fro He didn’t ask permission; he just took her foot into his lap and went to ith his fingers Every now and then she whimpered, but he didn’t think it was because of the pain When they had to ain, it would be terrible, but maybe this would help a little It was all he could do Her little led inside hi he’d ever felt while doing his duty for the enclave It was all he could do not to pounce and cover her in kisses

Eventually, she pulled back “Thank you It’s the first time anybody’s ever seen—” Her expression filled in the cruel words others had used “Well, since I was born anyway I kept it covered up in the dorm”

“I remember,” he said quietly

“It always meant a lot

when you stood up for me”

“It did?”

He’d always tried to do it so she didn’t hear what the other brats said Most often a threat worked, but sometimes he’d smacked the others in the head when he had to, so they’d shut up There had been one boy in particular who delighted in tor her; he was dead now, like ht

“Yeah I’ether”

Her words warmed him, and he reached for her hand “Me too”

Delicate, callused fingers laced through his He marveled at what she could do with this hand that looked so dainty These clever fingers had built the traps that saved their lives To his delight, Thimble didn’t pull back, and the waruished the torch with a handful of white powder They could have used two hands to get ready for bed, but instead they ed, one-handed, to spread their blankets and lie down

They fell asleep that way

Chapter 9

Thirowls and muffled thu how many Freaks were out there, but they knew they’d trapped their prey She felt sure she could outs as well She leaned over to wake Stone, but he was already alert

So was Boy23 Judging by the food set some mushroom paste into him She’d worried about what the brat would eat, as he didn’t even have all his teeth They could chew meat for him, of course, but he needed milk, too, and she wasn’t a Breeder

But they hadworries at the moment

“We need a plan,” she whispered in his ear

He didn’t y After a curt nod, he leaned over and brushed his lips against her cheek as he had once before Because this rets later, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his face to hers It was a blind kiss, born of silent, hopeless longing

His breath caught, and then he kissed her back, properly, because he kne—of course he did—and she would’ve hated the why of it, except that his mouth was hot and fierce and sweet as clean water She touched her ers as he pushed to his feet In accordance with the ed herself at the back of the ss, out of range of his weapon, even on the backswing

His breathing sounded unnaturally loud in the confined space; she could hear his fear as clearly as the claws scrabbling against theincreased; they ood noses as well

You can do it, she told Stone silently, and as if in response to her urging, he took his position, then unlocked and flung open the door She couldn’t see how many there were, but he killed one cleanly, as if he had been practicing the ht before: pierce, pull, pierce His motions were economical, and he went for eyes and throats Not fancy, as he’d said, but effective Once Stone blinded the sideways across their faces, they frenzied, turning on one another in howling rage—and because they couldn’t see what they were attacking Then he killed thee in his motions, but instead with an awful tenderness, as if these were creatures worthy of his pity At the back of the pack, one Freak turned and ran, as if it sensed there was so different about its prey

That behavior puzzled her Thimble had never heard of self-preservation in a Freak before Stone took a step