Claimed by the Beast Bundle (31 page)

“Why?”

“Fear,” Adrian answered. “Would you sleep at night knowing there might be a real monster under your bed?”

Stephanie gasped.

“Knock it off,” Ember snapped at him. She shook her head and turned back to Stephanie. “You want to see?”

“See?” Stephanie asked. She glanced at Crystal and then back to the redhead. “See what?”

“See me shift.”

“Holy—” Stephanie lost her breath when Ember pulled her skirt off with one hand and her vest with the other. By the time her clothes fluttered to the ground, she leapt forward and landed on all fours. Four paws, that is. She padded up to Stephanie and paused, sniffing as she near her. She stood up on her hind legs and rested her paws on Stephanie’s shoulders. The gray and red furred wolf leaned her head in closer and licked Stephanie’s cheek.

“—shit,” Stephanie finished in a whisper.

Ember dropped back to the ground and looked up, her jowls lifted in a toothy smile. Stephanie shook her head and took a half step back. Her leg trembled and her eyes rolled up until only the whites showed. She collapsed onto the ground with a soft thump.

Chapter 13

“Lucky for me you’re the only one with a computer,” Crystal said as she used Hank’s laptop.

“Adrian and Guntar don’t have a use for them. Gwen uses a couple of e-readers and a tablet, though,” Hank explained. He hovered behind her, bent low so he could look over her shoulder.

“Mmm,” Crystal moaned, thrilled at the sound of his deep voice in her ear. She forced her eyes to focus on the screen. It was hard; she wanted to turn and crawl all over Hank. He smelled so damn good it was worse than when she was a kid and her mom was baking cookies! “Ember?”

“Ember games.”

“Games? You mean, like, she plays video games?”

He chuckled and the vibrations went down her spine and made her shiver. She’d read about it before but thought it was crazy. Now she knew that she was going to have soaked panties from spending time with him.

“Oh my God,” she hissed.

Hank stiffened. “What?”

She clamped her lips shut and blushed. She shook her head. She couldn’t tell him she’d just remembered that she wasn’t wearing any underwear! The wet spot was going to be on her sundress and his chair! She fought back a groan. She had to focus hard to keep from letting the irresistible man behind her get her too turned on. That or excuse herself to the bathroom.

“I, uh, I’m not sure what to look for,” she said as she stared at the search engine on his desktop. “And I’ve really got to pee. Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“Use anything you like,” he said. She turned and offered him a thankful smile. The twinkle in his eye stole her breath. “You’re welcome to anything and everything.”

Crystal forced herself to her feet and saw his nostrils flare. He could smell her. Of course he could; she could smell herself. She slipped past him and hurried to the bathroom before shutting the door and locking it. She leaned her forehead against it and let out a soft groan. She stiffened and stared up at the door. Had she just heard him chuckle?

She shook her head. “This is insane,” she mumbled before moving to the stool and grabbing some toilet paper to dry herself with. It wasn’t as bad as she thought, but she still felt hot and slippery whenever she moved her lips.

“So, uh, what do you think you’re going to find?” Hank called through the bathroom door.

Crystal jerked her head up. She gawked at the door a moment and then realized he was talking about Stephanie, not what Crystal was doing in the bathroom. “Hang on,” she said before flushing the toilet and washing her hands in the small sink.

She opened the door and saw him sitting at his desk. He stood up and smiled as he gestured for her to take the seat. Crystal stood instead and crossed her arms to help her try to keep her focus.

“So Stephanie’s in love with me,” she said. “My fault, and I feel terrible about it. I didn’t mean fo—”

“Crys, it’s okay. We all know that. Stephanie too,” Hank said in a soft tone that made her want to melt to the floor.

She sighed and said, “Well, Clover says if she can’t be near me she’ll melt down.” She stumbled over her own words. Stephanie’s potential meltdown was entirely different than the one Hank made her want to do.

“So let her spend time with you?” Hank offered. “You like her, right?”

Crystal stared at him until her eyes started to blur. “Like her? Hank, I—she—I’m not like that! I thought—”

“Whoa!” he said and stepped up to her. He reached out and put his meaty hands on each shoulder, holding her steady and then pulling her in. Without realizing it, Crystal slipped her arms around his sides and hugged herself to him. “I didn’t mean that kind of time. I meant listening to music or going shopping or something. That’s what high school girls do, isn’t it?”

Crystal’s giggle was muffled by his chest. She inhaled through her nose, breathing in his scent and finding herself caring less and less about what became of Stephanie. “Something like that,” she said.

“But didn’t you guys say outside that after awhile that wouldn’t be enough?”

Crystal groaned and forced herself to step back. The desire to throw herself on him wasn’t as strong but she wasn’t sure how much willpower she had left. “Right,” she said. “She’d still go off the deep end.”

“What if you guys moved in together? Roommates, not anything else,” he added when Crystal’s eyes narrowed.

“How?” she asked. “I’m part of the pack, right? Shouldn’t I be with you?”

Hank stared at her for several seconds and then licked his lips. “Yes, you should be.”

Crystal bit her lip. She meant to ask if she should be with the pack, not with him. Did his answer mean what she thought it did, or what she hoped? “Um, yeah. So, like, Stephanie isn’t one of us. How could she live with us? And don’t you guys move around from time to time too?”

“Live with us?” he repeated.

Crystal’s eyes widened. “All of us. The pack,” she scrambled. “Not, um, you and me us. Right?”

“Oh,” he said. She saw his shoulders sink a little bit. He dropped his gaze from her eyes and said, “You could, you know?”

His soft question stole her breath. It wasn’t just the rich timber of his voice; it was the gentle way he asked it. He was vulnerable. This giant mountain of a shapeshifter was baring his soul to her and it made her want to leap on him and shower him with kisses. Well, that and other things. But she couldn’t let him off the hook that easy. “That’s silly,” Crystal said. “I can’t do that.”

His eyes flashed and narrowed for a split second. He stiffened and gave her a short nod. “Of course.” He grunted and started to back away.

Crystal realized she was playing a dangerous game. Hank was hurt when she’d meant to be playful. She moved after him and said, “This place is too small for both of us. We need a bigger bathroom and a bed big enough for two people.”

His breath hissed through his nose as he stared down at her grinning face. His lips twitched and crept upwards. “You were screwing with me?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

He laughed and grabbed her up in his massive arms. Crystal yelped as he spun her around and kissed her. She kissed him back, luxuriating in how his lips crushed hers and his stubble tickled her skin. He was all man and she was all his.

The spinning slowed as the kiss deepened. She traced his teeth with her tongue and then felt his slide against hers. They moved against each other in a perfect harmony, slipping and sliding until she managed to coax him into her mouth. She trapped him between her teeth playfully and then wrapped her lips tight around his tongue, sucking on it suggestively.

Hank growled and stumbled back. Crystal let him go and squealed when they fell on the couch. She landed tight against him and paused, breathless, and stared into his brilliant blue eyes. She was burning up and unable to think. All she knew was that his eyes promised relief from the red fog around her. She leaned forward and kissed him again, giving in to the passion that made her stomach tremble and her legs weak.

After a few minutes or a few hours passed—she’d lost track of everything except the smell and feel of Hank—she noticed a hardness that was grinding up against her. She sat on his lap, her legs spread over his. The skirt of her dress was trapped between them, the only thing separating her from the thick ridge in his jeans that tormented her.

Hank’s hands moved up and down her side, teasing and rubbing but never touching her where she ached to be touched. She broke the kiss out of necessity, not want, and leaned back so they could see each other clearly. She panted and grabbed his hands where they rested on her hips. “I. Need. You.”

Hank’s nostrils flared and he growled deep in his throat. She whimpered and started to lean back into him. He caught her. “Wait,” he said, his voice husky and even deeper than normal. “Are you sure? Is this safe? For you, I mean. I don’t care about me.”

She grinned and nodded. She wasn’t in heat anymore. At least not a supernatural kind that promised nightmare offspring and death. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and bit him, like she had when they’d ridden together. He stiffened beneath her—both his body and the hardness that was grinding between her legs. Crystal pulled his hands up to her breasts and used her hands to encourage him to squeeze her. He took to her instructions like a moth to a flame.

Crystal groaned and writhed against him. She shifted her hips, rubbing herself against him and whimpering all the while. She bit and sucked at his neck, changing locations but needing to taste him. She shuddered in his lap. Sweat was pouring from her but she wanted more. She needed more. She grabbed her dress and lifted herself a fraction of a second to yank it out from between them.

She let out a soft howl when she sank back and felt his denim against her sensitive flesh. She jerked and bit him again, muffling her cries. He grunted and she tasted a fresh wetness in her mouth. It was salty, metallic, and delicious. She lapped it up and pressed her lips to where her teeth had broken his skin.

Hank growled and dropped his hands to his pants. She lifted herself, knowing what was coming, and let him rip the button and zipper with his great strength before he pushed his pants down. She sat down, her trembling legs unable to keep her way from what she desired, and felt the burning skin of his erection pressed against her slit.

Crystal shuddered and moaned again, collapsing against him as electricity sparked through her body and left her tingling. She mewed against him and ground her hips in tiny circles, making him wetter and wetter with each movement.

He growled again but she couldn’t understand him. No, that wasn’t true. She didn’t know what he said but she knew what he meant. What he needed. She bit her lip and slid forward on his lap, rubbing his length against her and making it impossible to think or even breathe. She felt the spongy head of his manhood bump against her and then slip into the depression that she knew was the doorway to her soul. She moaned into his neck again and rocked her hips, lifting him up and slipping him into her entrance.

“Crys,” he groaned, his voice savage and contorted. He was on the edge; she could sense it. Not the edge of release, but on the edge of control. She’d learned her lesson about teasing him. No more.

Crystal exhaled and moaned as she slid her hips down on him. Her moan was cut short as her breath got stuck in her throat. He spread her and pressed up, driving in with as much force as she’d been driving down. Her body felt full and stretched at first and then the stretching became too much and his progress halted.

Hank was panting beneath her and gripping her hips so tight she expected bruises. She lifted her head up and let a long and low moan escape her throat. The stretching was beyond anything she’d imagined. She ached and she hurt, yet she craved it. She needed more. As soon as the pain began to subside, she pushed herself down and captured more of him, only to renew the process again.

She managed a startled gasp when she felt the pressure against her flesh. She glanced down and saw their bodies were joined and she’d managed to take all of him. She picked her head up and stared into his eyes. They were bright and beautiful, but also had a wild look in them. It excited her, knowing how dangerous he could be and knowing that she made him that way. Yet she was safe. She knew that. Hank would never hurt her, only love her.

She rotated her hips, grinding herself against his pubic bone, and saw the way his nostrils flared. It reeked of sweat and sex in the small trailer and it was incredible. She licked her lips and found the strength to pick herself up a fraction of an inch. She let go and dropped back down on him; their movements were tight and impossible but each twitch multiplied into a thousand flutters inside her. She gasped and repeated the action, gaining an inch of motion before she drove their hips together again.

She fell into his arms and buried her face in his neck again. It was too much; she couldn’t focus on moving and feeling the incredible sensations. Hank shifted under her, trembling and trying to continue pumping against her. When she could do nothing but whimper and suck on his neck, he lurched forward and picked her up off the couch.

Crystal whimpered and locked her legs tight around his butt. She was afraid he was going to pull out and ruin all the work they’d done fitting him inside her. Her worrying was needless. He spun them around and dropped back to the couch. This time she felt the furniture against her back and grunted as Hank’s weight forced him still deeper.

“Yes!” she panted. “Oh. My. God!”

Hank grunted and took over where she’d failed. In moments, they were driving against each other. Crystal ground her head back against the couch. She gasped for breath every time he pulled back, only to have it driven from her when he plunged back in. Her body was so hot and her breasts, pushed up and into Hank’s chest, felt like they were capped with liquid fire.

She tensed, her exhausted muscles contorting beyond endurance. The ceiling faded into a red and then white fog. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself up and tasting the sweat on his neck again so that her cries of pleasure would be stifled.

Hank roared and shifted his arms under hers and around her back. His fingers, each of them strong as steel cables, curled around her shoulders and helped pull her down as he thrust up. Crystal mewed and whimpered and then lost the ability to speak. Her body contorted and she lost herself to the primal force that swept through her. Dimly, on some distant and otherworldly level, she felt him swell and jerk inside her. She sucked and swallowed, losing focus on everything except the need to be there for him. The white fog surrounding her faded into darkness.