stench of sweat and rot wafted across her cheek.
Someone wrenched the spear from her hold. It snapped easily. Unfortunate, but not a disaster. It was always meant to serve as a distraction from the real threat.
With a cry, she slammed her arm upward, the sharp edge of the rock in her hand slicing into the side of her attacker’s neck.
With a choked gasp, the male with the body parts dangling from a chain clutched his throat, stemming the blood.
Freed, she dropped to the ground.
The roar of outrage above her indicated she was far from safe.
“She killed Devers!”
Her first kill. There was no time to focus on that now.
“You’ll pay for that, bitch.”
She threw her rock at a male with a jagged scar through his lip. He ducked.
The giant with the hoop through his nose reached her first.
Rearing upward, she swung out with her right hand, embedding her smaller rock deep into his neck.
“You feral freak!” His backhand sent her sprawling. She hit the ground hard. “She cut me, too.”
Ignoring the ringing in her ears, she scrambled to her knees as the others closed in.
Heart beating fast, she waited.
They were almost on her when it happened. The male with the nose hoop wobbled, his eyelids drooping as the color leached from his face. He banged into the male at his side.
The rest paused.
She backed up, stumbling to her feet, and just avoided getting taken down as the listing male fell.
His body hit the ground hard.
“What the hells?” Fear and rage sharpened the voice of the one-eyed attacker.
“Stay back.” Every time she’d seen a dargulff plant hiding beneath the shadow of the boulders she’d picked its leaves. At night, she’d mixed it with the necessary elements and ground it into a solid paste. Even more potent than the mixture Grif had initially tried to drug her with, this concoction was powerful enough that when it hit the blood stream, the victim never woke up. “Touch me, I kill you, just like other two.”
Her attackers paused. Their narrowed gazes shifted between her and the two of their own unmoving on the ground.
“She talks strange.”
“Look at those ears.”
“The question is, is she telling the truth?”
The savages looked hesitant. For a heartbeat, she had hope—
“I don’t see any more of those rocks, do you?” The new leader’s words ended her gamble. “All I see are those tits and that shiny skin, We’ll fuck her, then skin her. A win-win. Plus, with the others gone, there’ll be less need to share her holes.”
They surged as one.
She kicked out.
They dodged her strike. The one-eyed male grabbed her arm. Another seized her injured ankle. She shrieked in agony.
“Got her.” A brutal vise closed around her throat from behind.
“Hold her tight.” The other men closed in. “She might be tiny, but she’s a wild one.”
The description made her heart sink. Her sudden longing for the male who’d first called her that so strong it pressed on her chest harder than any meaty forearm.
Her makeshift covering was ripped from her body. The skin at her waist stung.
“Grab her hands and ankles. Hold her down.”
Rough hands pinned her wrist to the dirt. Her legs were jerked apart and spread wide. Something tore in her already injured ankle.
She screamed.
“Shut up.” An attacker climbed on top of her, his weight stealing her breath. “Fuck, that’s nice. You just lay there and take it. Be a good slut and maybe you’ll live longer than planned.” His expression hardened. “Make more trouble and you’ll suffer worse than you could ever imagine.”
She’d heard Others tell the chained females in the camps the same thing. It wasn’t too far from what Talg had told her, either.
“Open that fucking mouth of hers,” barked one of the men to the other. “I’ll take that until I can get into her other hole.”
She had always feared death. She still did, but not as much as before. She would no longer be going to the Void untouched or unseen. Her captor had changed that.
He’d also taught her just how strong she was.
Rearing upward, she sank her teeth into the cheek of the Other fumbling to shove himself into her—and clamped on tight.
He howled, a high-pitched wail of terror and pain.
She might not have the same sharp fangs as most of the pack, but hers could still work just fine.
“She’s biting me,” he screamed.
Rough hands tangled in her hair, wrenching her backward.
Her hold broke, but not without a sharp tearing. Warm liquid burst in her mouth. She spat it out. She wanted