Claimed by the Beast Bundle (12 page)

Chapter 7

Crystal stared at the remains of the fire pit in the middle of the ring of trailers. She could smell the burnt wood even though the fire had been out for hours. Hank turned his bike off and shifted in his seat. She stayed still.

“You can get off now,” Hank said.

Crystal moaned and applied more pressure to his sides and hips. “What if I don’t want to?”

“You need to,” he said. “Because you’re not helping me.”

“How can I—” She was stopped by the sight of a trailer door opening and Gwen leading the way out, with Guntar following. She had a flowing skirt and a sash that was wrapped loosely around her neck, chest, and back to provide a measure of modesty. Ember stepped out of her trailer a moment later. The redhead wore black yoga shorts so thin they were almost transparent and a loose-fitting sleeveless t-shirt.

“Get off,” Hank urged her again.

Pouting her lips, Crystal slid off the bike and waited for Hank. She stayed next to him and even reached down to take his hand in hers. She saw all three of the bikers glance at their joined hands as they approached.

“You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?” Guntar looked at Hank and asked.

“No.”

He grunted and turned to her. “Why aren’t you in school?”

Crystal lifted her chin and asked, “What’s the point? I may die in a few weeks. What good is school then?”

“You might not,” he said.

“Oh, in that case, maybe I’ll end up hiding under bridges and eating people who are stupid enough to walk under them. I bet advanced algebra will come in handy there.”

He scowled.

“I know,” she said before he could talk, “there’s a chance I might end up like you guys. But look at how you live! Moving from one place to the next and living off the grid? Yeah, I bet a diploma or even a college degree will come in real handy. What do you guys do for money, anyhow?”

“We pick up small jobs when we need them,” Gwen said with a smile. “Hank writes and we’ve got a lot of money saved away. The benefit of living a long time and not having expensive needs.”

Crystal turned to look at Hank. “You write?”

His cheeks flushed while he nodded. “I use a pen name.”

“This is not debatable,” Guntar said. “You will go to school.”

“Why? I don’t want to waste my last days trapped in a place where nobody can stand me!”

“You have friends,” he said.

“What about Beth?” Ember asked.

Crystal glanced at her and shook her head. “I screwed up.”

The redheaded woman frowned. “What happened?”

Crystal hesitated. She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t even know. I screwed up and tried to make Stephanie leave me alone, but I pissed off Beth and drove her away instead.”

“What did you do?” Gwen wondered.

Crystal glanced at all of them and felt her cheeks burning. Hank squeezed her hand, giving her a surge of strength. “I kissed her.”

Ember barked out a laugh. Crystal looked up at her and caught Gwen pressing her lips together out of the corner of her eye. She turned to face the older woman as Gwen ran her hand down Guntar’s arm. “She’ll go back later,” Gwen said.

“What?” Guntar asked. “Why not now?”

“Because Crystal and I are going to go for a walk in the woods,” Gwen said. She turned to Ember. “Can you help with Stephanie?”

Ember hesitated and then nodded. “Of course.”

“Wait,” Crystal said. “What’s going on? A walk in the woods? That doesn’t sound—”

“Girl talk,” Gwen reassured her. She stepped away from Guntar and gestured with one hand towards the tree line between Ember’s and Guntar’s trailer. “Come along, dear. We’ll be back soon.”

Crystal turned and looked at Hank. He offered a smile and nodded. She bit her lip and turned towards Gwen. Gwen’s fingers beckoned for her again. She took a step and then started walking with the woman towards the edge of the camp.

After Gwen led her down a narrow trail and into the woods, she said, “Are you a lesbian?”

“What!” Crystal blurted out. She stopped and stared at her. “No!”

“So why kiss her?”

Crystal groaned and hugged her arms across her chest. “She teased me about being one. I think it’s because she wants to be popular. Gay kids, especially girls, are the in thing these days. Except she wasn’t—or isn’t—I don’t think. Whatever. I tried to freak her out and make her leave me alone.”

“Did it work?”

“I don’t know.” Crystal moaned. “I don’t think so. I think she liked it.”

Gwen nodded. “And your friend, Beth?”

“I pissed her off,” Crystal said. “She can’t stand Stephanie. She—Stephanie—tricked me earlier this year into thinking she wanted to be my friend. She used me to help her get her grades up and then made fun of me in front of everyone. She made me—”

“Crystal, stop,” Gwen interrupted. “What about Beth?”

Crystal frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand. She was mad at me; she thought I liked her so she stormed off. She blocked my number and won’t take my calls or texts. It’s the same thing she showed me how to do to block Stephanie after she screwed me over.”

Gwen sighed and smiled. “So you and Beth aren’t a couple?”

“What!” Crystal sputtered and stared at Gwen. When she could speak again, she asked, “What are you talking about? No, we’re not a couple! She’s my best friend! Or was, I guess.”

“Okay,” the matron of the pack said. “You might find that she’s not upset at you for the same reasons you think she is. Think about that before you try to get back in her good graces.”

Crystal’s eyes widened. Was Gwen suggesting that Beth liked her? As in, liked her, liked her? “Oh my God,” she breathed.

“Later,” Gwen said, distracting her. “First, tell me how you feel.”

“About what—Beth?”

Gwen laughed. “No, this is about you and me. How are you feeling right now?”

Crystal bit her lip and blurted out before she could stop herself, “Horny! Oh my God! I didn’t—oh crap.”

Gwen’s laughter echoed through the woods without mocking her. “I understand,” she said.

“You do? Have you ever—I mean, is this something that happens?”

She shook her head. “No, not like it’s happening to you. But when I first met Guntar, I owned a small diner at a truck stop. Guntar walked in and there was something about him. Something manly. It swept me off my feet before he even looked at me or said anything.”

Crystal thought back to when Hank had saved her from the Beast and nodded. She’d felt that way too. And then when she looked at his face. “His eyes,” she whispered.

Gwen grinned. “Yes! It’s not fair. What normal woman could stand a chance against men like ours?”

“Ours?”

“Hank’s smitten with you. More than smitten, I think.”

“What if it’s just this, um, this thing that’s happening to me?”

“Adrian and Guntar aren’t acting like Hank is,” she pointed out. “They can smell and feel it, sure, but for Hank it’s different.”

“Oh,” Crystal said with a grin that she couldn’t hide. “So Hank and I, um, we’re going to be together?”

Gwen shrugged. “That’s up to you two to decide. We’re not animals, even if we may look like them and sometimes feel like them.”

“And I have to not die or turn into a monster,” Crystal added. She sighed heavily. “This is crazy.”

Gwen smiled and glanced away. A light breeze rustled the budding leaves in the upper branches of the trees. “Do you feel anything?”

Crystal followed her eyes into the forest and frowned. “Um, I don’t know.”

Gwen’s hand slipped down to her waist and undid the tie on her skirt. It fluttered to the ground and was joined a moment later by her wrap. Crystal stared at the lean mature woman standing beside her. Standing nude beside her, save for the silver crescent moon necklace on her neck.

“Take off your clothes,” Gwen said.

Crystal clamped her mouth shut and jerked her gaze up to Gwen’s smiling eyes. “Did this just get creepy?”

Gwen laughed. “No, not at all. I want you to feel nature and welcome it into your soul. I believe that if you want to be a part of it, you can influence your fate.”

“Um, okay. It’s just all the talk about being gay and then wanting me alone in the woods naked. If you’ve got any candy with you, I swear I’m gone!”

Gwen laughed even harder. When she could talk again, she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye and said, “Crystal, we’re all comfortable with our bodies. And other people’s. It’s all part of nature. Part of being an animal, no matter if you walk on two legs or four. Norms have lost touch with that.”

“Great, so you’re all nudists too?”

Gwen smiled. “Try it—you might like it. You haven’t lived until you’ve been trapped somewhere on a cold night and had a puppy pile to rely on.”

“Puppy pile?”

“Think about it. What do puppies do when they’re cold and tired?”

“I don’t know, snuggle with their momma?”

“And each other.”

“Oh,” Crystal said. A vision of Guntar, Gwen, Adrian, Ember, and Hank all lying nude in the same bed wrapped up together made her gasp. “Oh!”

“It’s not about sex,” Gwen said. “It’s about being a pack. About trusting and loving one another, even when we bicker and fight.”

Crystal stared into the forest and considered Gwen’s words. It sounded like a family. A real family, not just her and her mom trying to be friends and helping each other out since they never spent any time together. “Okay,” she said.

“Now take your clothes off.”

Crystal’s hands trembled as she lifted them up to the waist of her shirt. She took a deep breath and pulled it up and over her head. She hung it on the crook of a small branch and then added her skirt to it. Her boots and socks she set against the trunk of the tree. She forced herself to breathe evenly and kept her mind clear as she slipped her arms out of her bra straps and twisted her bra around. It slid easily, barely even rubbing her skin, even though she’d used the tightest hooks she had. She undid it and hung it up and then pushed her underwear down her legs and added them to the hanging pile.

“Freaked out?” Gwen asked with a smile.

Crystal hugged her arms to herself and nodded.

“Good. Now run with me.”

Crystal gasped as Gwen turned and started running barefoot through the forest. She stood paralyzed a moment longer and realized she’d be alone in a matter of seconds. Alone and naked. With a growl, she lunged forward and started running.

Her first concern had been about needing a sports bra. After half a dozen steps, she realized the real threat was the lack of shoes. Sticks and stones jabbed the bottom of her feet and made her stumble. She bounced off a tree and spun around, losing her balance and falling into a bush.

She climbed out of it, sputtering and scowling, only to find Gwen standing there and grinning at her. She had a light in her eyes that made Crystal forget about her aches and pains for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Gwen asked.

“My feet hurt,” Crystal complained.

“They do?”

Crystal opened and closed her mouth. She picked up one foot and bent her knee to look at the bottom of it while balancing on the other. They were dirty, but she wasn’t cut or bleeding. “No,” she realized. “They don’t.”

“Good. Then we can run. I see why Hank likes you. You’re a good match for him.”

Crystal had to push herself to keep up with Gwen. “What?” She panted as they ran. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re a strong girl. Athletic. A good match for him.”

Crystal slowed as she considered Gwen’s words. Her, athletic? She’d never been athletic! Not since she quit playing volleyball and basketball in junior high because she’d been teased about being so big and strong because she developed before the other girls on the team did. That was when she started putting on weight, too. The food never teased her; it just tasted good and made her feel like she was in control.

Crystal pushed herself when she saw Gwen glance over her shoulder at her. She was amazed that her boobs weren’t flying all over the place and hurting like they did in gym class. The platinum-haired wild woman was grinning. “Keep up with me!” she called to her.

Crystal nodded and then nearly stumbled again when Gwen leapt forward and shifted in mid-air to a silver-streaked wolf. She landed on all fours and kept running. Crystal slowed to regain her balance and then pushed herself forward. Her lungs were aching and her legs were starting to feel numb. The numbness turned into a tingling that felt like tiny sparks were striking her thighs.

She forced her thoughts on the wolf jogging ahead of her and looking back every few steps. Gwen had challenged her to keep up and she was going to do it, no matter how much it hurt! Gwen acted like she knew something Crystal didn’t. A lot of things, probably. Was one of them how to turn into a wolf?

Crystal bit her lip and thought about what it would feel like to have fur and run on four legs. She imagined herself, a dark brown wolf with gold-speckled brown eyes, and felt herself wanting it so badly she believed it could happen. She threw herself forward, jumping and reaching with her arms to catch herself and keep running.