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I felt Bastien’s breath against my neck as he looked over our shoulder at our hands pressed together His fingers curved upward and closed around the tips of hened froh the trees

I twinedit back on his knee from where I had taken it

Bastien cleared his throat "The packs were not planning to stay here for long," he said "Theyready to leave now I think we should head back down"

I shuffled forward a little on the branch as he raised hi ht enough, he began to carry raceful leaps He dropped about six feet at a tiround, we returned to the lake where we had left the other wolves All the wolves within my view still appeared to be asleep

"They will rise soon," Bastien inforood use of this ti wolves, in a diagonal line toward the lake We entered a thick cluster of trees that lined its border Snaking his way through therassland The trees formed a natural shield frole wolf from where we stood

He walked to the bank and put , he drank pal that I was thirsty myself, I scooped up some water too and drank It wasn’t quite as crystal clear as the river water had been, but it still tasted pure and clean

Once I had fully rehydratedhis shirt He discarded it, revealing theinto the lake

Water splashed aroundon my face and hands The water was cold, and I shivered just at the thought of going in there But as I watched hie to join hiet the chance for a wash So told me that on this crazy journey, I needed to take opportunities as they ca it carefully on a tree branch Then I paused, wondering about the rest of h I had worn a bikini plenty of ti so ed in my satchel for one of the loose, oversized shirts Brucella had provided All the gary--uessed that had been on purpose I ducked behind a tree and pulled on a shirt that reached just beneathfroed asp before kickingto warm up With a few broad strokes of his arms, Bastien reached me A faint smile was on his lips Apparently he was a

"I don’t plan on staying in here long," I muttered

Bastien’s eyes flickered to ht as well have been wearing no shirt At least I’d had the sense to keepout and touching my cheek

So I was I hadn’t noticed I was about to turn around and head back to the bank i, when he took hold of my hands and drew ainst ainst his bare chest His arainst him, I could feel every contour of the front of his body, as he could ht tomato red by now

"Do you feel warmer now?" Bastien asked

I felt "wared

We were so close, I couldn’t look at his face without our noses touching My cheek rested against his rough one, and the feel of his stubble against les down my spine, as it had done back in his aresture was innocent He had seen that I was cold, and this was his solution to war me I wondered if he even realized the effect his touch had on me

His head lowered to the base ofoing to have to ree turn in my assuainst my neck Of course not, Victoria! Why would you think he’d do that? He just breathed in deeply He was taking inthat wolves do

When he raised his head again, I leaned my own backward so that our faces would not be quite so close together as I looked at hi

"I like you, Victoria," he said softly

I smiled It would have been a lie to say that I didn’t like hirown on ether

"I hope we can be friends even after… all this," I replied

Bastien said nothing, though he continued to gaze atme like I was a curious specimen of some kind His eyes trailed fro, onself-conscious beneath his attention I didn’t think a boy had ever looked atabout the warmth in his eyes in this ray irises--that rendered aze, even as I wondered what he found so interesting about me