Claimed by the Beast Bundle (34 page)

Chapter 4

“Pull over here.”

Stephanie pulled her Camaro onto the side of the road and checked her mirror. She turned the car off and looked at Crystal. “Now what?”

“Now you stay here.”

“Crys—”

“No!” Crystal snapped. “Beth’s in a lot of danger, more than you know. I’m not going to risk you getting hurt too.”

Stephanie’s eyes widened and then glistened. “Oh. Wow.” She smiled and then bit her lip to try to erase the smile from her face. It failed.

Crystal did a double take at her expression. “What?”

“Nothing,” Stephanie said. “It just means you like me.”

“Duh,” Crystal snapped. “Just not that kind of like.”

Stephanie’s eyes rounded. “Oh, I know. I can be happy with that, though.”

Crystal rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car. “Stay!” she demanded before turning to her friends approaching from behind the car.

Hank moved to stand beside her, making her feel small and protected. She was taller than almost every girl in school and most guys, but Hank still dwarfed her. She clenched her jaw to fight off a smile when she had the thought,
Size matters
.

“Stay behind us,” Guntar said as he walked past her without slowing. It wasn’t a suggestion.

She nodded and leaned into Hank’s side when he put his arm around her shoulders. They turned together and followed Guntar and Adrian. After a few steps and a final squeeze, Hank released her and began to slip his leather vest off.

“You’re lucky,” Hank grumbled as they walked. “Pull the dress off and kick off your shoes and you’re good to go. I’ve got to deal with jeans, shirt, and shoes.”

“You can strut around naked any time you like,” she teased him.

Hank turned and glanced at her, a smile spreading across his cheeks. Guntar growled from ahead, jerking his attention back to the bridge they were approaching. Adrian turned to walk backwards and glanced at her. “Can you shift yet?”

Crystal’s mouth was dry and she had to force herself to swallow while shaking her head. “I don’t know how. I tried but I don’t get it.”

“Stay back then,” he said before turning and pulling his shirt off.

Guntar stopped and pushed his pants down. He lunged forward and shifted before his pants came to a rest on the ground, his bones and muscles twisting and popping as they rearranged themselves beneath his skin.

Crystal winced. She’d never noticed someone shifting making noise before. She’d been told it was painful, and now that she heard Guntar’s body, she started to fear what her first time would be like.

Adrian prowled forward on four feet, leaving his bundle of clothes behind. Crystal grabbed the piles from both men and, by the time she’d straightened, she saw Hank drop down from his impressive height to an even more impressive wolf the size of a pony. She cocked her head and stared at him. He hadn’t made any noises when he’d shifted, unlike Guntar and Adrian.

Crystal added her boyfriend’s clothes to the bundle she carried and tried to hurry after them. Hank held back with her, his back as high as her waist, until Guntar turned and regarded him with his steely gaze. The big wolf at her side hung his head and trotted forward. She followed him as he joined the others and then looked beyond them.

Crystal stumbled to a halt. The bridge was ahead. It was just like she remembered it from the first night. Dark and chilly, in spite of the late spring night. A breeze moved through the trees surrounding it, rattling branches and rustling the growing leaves. The smell of new life tickled her nose. Growing grass and leaves as well as flowers blooming with sweet nectar. Mixed with it was the scent of lavender, tainted chemicals, and—

“Beth!” Crystal breathed. She dropped the laundry and sprang forward. She ran three steps before her sandals slipped and forced her to kick them off. She continued, her feet slapping the pavement until she stepped off and onto the hard packed shoulder of the road. Hank and the others turned their heads to see her but she was nearly on them. Adrian and Guntar, a few steps farther away, turned to face her but she put her hands on Hank’s haunch and sprung off the ground and off him, clearing both of the older wolves with room to spare.

Crystal’s dress billowed up around her as she pivoted in the air to put her feet first. She landed rough and blind, crashing and rolling forward. She rolled up to her knees and one hand and lurched ahead. After a few stumbling steps, she regained her balance and then lost it again as she slid down the embankment beside the bridge.

Crystal crashed into the fence and would have bounced off and fallen into the stream if she hadn’t grabbed the chain links with her fingers. She stared through it and saw two gleaming eyes staring back at her. She blinked, squinting in the darkness even as the scent of her friend grew stronger. There was another scent mixed with it, a wild and musky scent. It reminded her of the Beast, but mixed with the stink of a teenage boy.

“Beth!” Crystal hissed. She yanked at the fence, rattling it and pulling against the wires that fastened it to the poles and concrete. The eyes rose up and she made out the silhouette of a man standing. She heard a muffled cry and the eyes disappeared. The slapping thud of flesh against flesh explained his movement.

Crystal yelped as someone crashed into her side and sent her flying into the creek. She splashed into it and floundered, slapping the surface and trying to stay afloat. Her feet hit the bottom and she remembered it wasn’t deep, just had a strong current that would hold her under. That and whatever phantoms she’d dreamt up last time that she thought were trying to drown her.

Crystal slipped on the rocks, driving herself down on her knee painfully. Her other foot shot out and for a terrifying moment was wedged between rocks. She twisted and pulled on it with strength borne of desperation. Something wrenched in her ankle and foot, making her gasp as a flare of agony burned away the chill of the water. Her foot slipped free and she climbed onto the shore. She drew herself up and put pressure on her foot, relieving the burn from the damaged tissue.

Growling brought her attention back to the bridge. The fence was torn aside. All three of her pack were beneath the bridge but they stood still and waited. A form lay slumped between them. Only one, not two. Crystal staggered closer and ducked under the bridge, not caring where Chad had gone. She noticed the fence had been ripped away from the other side of the bridge and some sticks were still swaying in the night air.

Crystal dropped to her knees and looked down at her friend. “Oh Beth,” she whispered before reaching out to rub the blood and dirt off her face. Beth groaned, proving she was still alive. Crystal looked up at the three wolves. Hank and Adrian looked back at her while Guntar stared after Chad. She opened her mouth to demand they catch him when a human shout echoed through the woods. A gun fired, making all of them cringe, and was followed by more shouting. She couldn’t make out enough words to understand it, but she knew it meant they weren’t alone.

“Hurry!” Crystal hissed. “Change and get dressed! They’ve got a gun, maybe more!”

Hank and Guntar both growled.

“They won’t believe I scared him off by myself!”

Guntar huffed and turned away. Hank stared at her a moment longer and then looked down at Beth. He looked back up and met her eyes, his lupine orbs bright with anger. Then he was going, running back to resume his two-legged form.

“Crys?” Beth moaned.

Crystal looked down at her friend and shifted so she could help raise her head into her lap. “I’m here, Beth. I’ve got you.”

“I’m sorry,” Beth said between breaths. She winced and turned her head to drool some blood down her cheek. “I should have stayed away.”

“No, it’s okay,” Crystal whispered to her. She glanced at her friend’s body and saw the scratches on her chest where her shirt and bra had been ripped. If they didn’t give proof to the savage attack, there were more scratches on her belly and waist beside the welts from where her pants had been yanked over her hips and off her legs. Crystal could smell blood mixed with the seminal stench from Chad’s seed. “Did he bite you or bleed on you?”

Beth stared up at her. “You’re so pretty.”

“Beth!” Crystal snapped. She paused and blinked away tears. “Not now, honey. Did he bite you or bleed on you?”

Beth managed to shake her head. “No.”

Crystal forced herself to look at Beth’s ravaged body. She saw the glistening mixture of fluid before she couldn’t stand the sight any longer. “He raped you, honey. I don’t know if it matters, but how many times?”

Beth blinked and shook her head after a few seconds passed. “What?”

Crystal opened her mouth and then shut it. Did it really matter? Wasn’t once bad enough? “Nothing, sweetie. Just let me hold you until help gets here. I won’t let anything else happen, I promise.”

Beth’s split lips twitched in a smile. “Love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” Crystal said before her throat was too tight to say anymore. Her tears fell on her friend’s face, washing away the blood while she held her and rocked her.

Chapter 5

“Crys—Beth! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”

Crystal spun her head and saw Stephanie slipping on the soft ground beneath the bridge. She fell to her knees beside her, heedless of the mud on her designer pants, and reached out to take Beth’s hand in hers.

“Why aren’t you in your car?” Crystal asked.

“They said it was okay,” Stephanie answered without looking at her. She was too busy taking in the damage done to Beth’s body. “Oh Jesus, he raped you, didn’t he? That stupid fuck!”

“Crys, we’re going after him.” Hank’s voice rumbled from behind her.

Crystal turned and saw Hank, fully dressed again, at the edge of the bridge. She nodded and glanced down. “Hank! Wait. Can you help us get her out from under here?”

“Shouldn’t move her,” Hank said with a frown.

Crystal glanced around and shivered. “I’d agree anywhere else. But not here.”

Hank stared at her for a heavy second and then nodded and ducked his head to walk under the bridge and help them.

“Beth, sweetie, we’re going to get you out from under the bridge, okay? Are you hurt anywhere else? Anything broken?”

“All over,” she whispered.

Crystal and Stephanie shared a glance. “That means her back’s okay, at least,” Stephanie offered.

Crystal bit her lip to keep her eyes from tearing up and nodded. “Okay, I’ll get your legs and—”

“I got her,” Hank said and scooped her up in forklift tines he called arms. He moved in a crouch and walked back out from under the bridge to a flat spot in the woods beside the road. He set her down and turned back. “Keep—”

“I’m going too,” Crystal demanded.

Hank dropped his gaze to her and frowned. Crystal followed his eyes and saw what bothered him. Her dress was soaked, weighing down and exposing a neckline that was almost closer to her waist than her neck. It clung to her, leaving nothing to the imagination. On top of being soaked, it was torn in some potentially revealing spots and stained with dirt and Beth’s blood. “I don’t care,” she snapped. She turned to Stephanie. “Stay with her.”

Stephanie nodded and reached down to put her hand on Beth’s again. “I will.”

Crystal rose and followed Hank to the road and across it. They moved through the woods faster than she would have dared on her own, but in a matter of moments caught up to Adrian and Guntar. They were traveling beside the stream and were getting closer to where some lights were shining into the woods and moving around.

“Flashlights,” Hank whispered to her.

“I know,” she said. She saw him jerk at her sharp response and reached out to squeeze his hand. “Sorry, worried about Beth.”

“You should be,” Adrian hissed. “Worried about that boy, too.”

“He hasn’t changed yet,” Crystal whispered back. “Not all the way. I saw him.”

“Only a matter of time,” Guntar said. “Come on.”

“Wait! What are you going to do if there’s a bunch of people there?”

“What we have to,” Adrian answered. “He can’t get away.”

Crystal’s eyes widened and she turned to Hank. She licked her lips to wet them and asked, “What about Gwen and Ember? Where are they?”

“Don’t know,” Guntar said. She’d gotten used to his accent enough to tell his words were more clipped than usual. He was worried too. “Stay if you like. You may not like what you see.”

“Or what happens,” Adrian added.

“I’ll go,” Crystal vowed. She felt the reassuring presence of Hank’s hand on her lower back. The heat from his palm warmed the drenched fabric of her dress.

Guntar led the way through the woods and up to where a group of three men stood just inside the edge of the woods. A fourth—Chad—was sitting on the ground with only a shirt on. All three of them men swung their flashlights towards them, having heard them approach, and joined the beams of light with two guns and a pistol.

Crystal sniffed and grunted as an acrid stench hit her with an almost physical force. “What is that?” She gagged.

“Nightshade,” Adrian hissed.

“Who’s out there!” one of the men called to them.

“Come on out, we don’t need any accidents in the dark,” another man said.

“Nightshade?” Crystal whispered to Hank.

He leaned close to her ear to muffle his deep voice and said, “Belladonna, a poisonous herb. That and wolfsbane are two things that can really mess us up.”

“Oh.”

Guntar glared at them until they stopped and then turned back to the group of men with lights. He squinted and stared forward, motioning to the others. “We’re looking for—looking for that boy right there,” Guntar said while pointing at Chad.

Chad stared at him for a long moment and then his nostrils flared and he sneered. He started to get up but one of the men moved and knocked him back down with his knee.

“He’s already been found,” a man holding one of the longer guns said. He wore a long jacket that looked too warm for the night. If not too warm, definitely too expensive to be stomping around the woods in.

“He hurt a girl,” Guntar said. “Hurt her pretty bad.”

“Hurt her? How’s that?” another man asked. This one wore an Arkansas Razorbacks baseball cap and matching sweatshirt. “Young girls, you know how they are. They get confused and can mess with a boy’s head. Yes and no, lines in the sand with these kids.”

“There’s a difference between yes and no,” Adrian said.

The man in the cap looked at Crystal. “You the girl? You look all right. Well, maybe a tussle in the creek here, but that’s not so bad. Pretty young thing, too. I can see why a young man could get fired up and have trouble hearing.”

“No, I’m n—”

Guntar glared at her and gave a terse shake of his head. He turned back to them.

“I’ll make it right,” the man in the long coat said. “Won’t be the first time I’ve had to take care of a situation my boy’s gotten a little too excited over.”

The man in the coat was Mr. Dixon, Chad’s father. The expensive coat made sense if he was the big-shot lawyer she’d heard about. “You son of a bitch,” Crystal blurted out. “He’s done this before?”

Mr. Dixon’s voice took on a darker edge. “Whoa there, little missy. A virtuous woman wouldn’t lead my boy on.”

“A virtuous woman wouldn’t run around with her tits hanging out and not wearing any shoes or underwear either,” the man with the cap added.

Hank stiffened while Crystal’s cheeks burned. She lifted her chin; now she didn’t dare back down. She knew Hank would defend her honor if she gave him the chance, but doing that might cause problems that couldn’t be undone. “Maybe I should just take it off then,” she growled.

Hank grabbed her arm in an attempt to calm her down. She glanced at it and then up at him. She was calm, but she gave him a nod to show that she understood the caution he was urging. It saved him face and kept the situation from deteriorating. Her actions also earned a chuckle from the man holding the pistol. If she had to lose a little face in front of these jerks, she could accept it.

“That’s right, it takes a firm hand to keep a woman in line,” Mr. Dixon said.

“Man fell from the grace of God because of a woman. Seems fit they want to remind us of the devil’s ways ever since,” the man with the hat said.

“Crystal?” Chad blurted. He looked up at her with wide eyes and started to rise to his feet. Lacking any pants, his virile interest in her was obvious to all of them. The man with the pistol put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “Beth—your fault?”

Mr. Dixon frowned at his son’s broken words and turned on her. “You’re Crystal?”

Crystal nodded. “I am. He just raped my best friend!”

“Beth,” the man with the hat said. He shook his head. “Damn shame. That girl talked a good talk.”

“Who are you?” Crystal snapped.

“Robert Edgerton,” he answered.

“Oh my God,” Crystal breathed. She shook her head. “Do you know who—”

“Crystal, that’s enough,” Guntar barked at her.

He caught her gaze until she realized she was getting in over her head. Yes, the three men with her could do some amazing things and, maybe, so could she. But Chad was dangerous, even if he hadn’t fully changed. And the other three—Chad’s dad, Stephanie’s dad, and the other guy—were all armed.

The man with the pistol spoke. “How bad is she hurt?”

“Raped and beat up. Some scratches and bruises,” Guntar said. “Where I come from, that kind of thing has a price to be paid. A price in blood.”

“She wasn’t bit?” the man asked.

“Where are you from?” Mr. Dixon asked.

“Bit? That’s a funny question,” Adrian pointed out. “Why are you worried about that? Your boy got rabies?”

Mr. Dixon smirked. “Hardly,” he said before turning to glare at the man with the pistol.

“Let’s see how bad she is,” Mr. Dixon said.

Guntar stared at him and glanced at Adrian. Adrian gave a nod. “Crystal, head back and make sure she’s okay where we left her.”

Crystal opened her mouth to protest and felt the subtle pressure from Hank’s hand on her arm. She sniffed and glanced at Guntar and Adrian. The way they were standing, poised on their feet and ready to act, told her as much as the stink of anxiety and tension in the air. She nodded. “All right.”

Hank let go as she backed away into the woods. As soon as a few trees were between them, she turned and started moving as fast as she dared. It wasn’t fast enough. She wanted to throw herself forward and run on all fours. She reached down inside herself, trying to find something that made sense. She needed something to latch on to. Something she could grab and understand and use.

Instead, she ran, her feet dancing over the soft floor of the woods without regard for the sticks and stones she stepped on.