Claimed by the Beast Bundle (42 page)

Chapter 5

The trees led to an intersection with enough traffic to turn her away. She needed to disappear, not leave a trail of people who saw her. She slipped along the park, intending to cut away as soon as she found a safe way to do so. She was focusing on the road so much she didn’t realize until it was too late that she’d walked up on the edge of a playground.

“Whoa! Cool, check out that dog!” the high-pitched voice of a young boy called out.

Crystal froze and whipped her head around. Who was he calling a dog!

“How pretty!” a girl who looked to be eight or nine years old squealed. “C’mere, puppy!”

Puppy? Crystal snarled and then crouched down when a woman screamed. That would be the mother.

Sure enough, a woman ran onto the playground and grabbed her kids away from the play set they’d been climbing and sliding on. “That’s a wolf!” she said. “Back away slowly.”

“Mom, come on, Mr. Christianson says there aren’t any wolves in Arkansas!” her son protested.

Crystal snorted. Back away slowly? She wasn’t going to attack them! Especially children.

The snort made the woman pull her children back faster. “Your teacher can say whatever,” she argued. “That’s a wolf and it’s right here. Now go! To the car, both of you!”

Crystal stared at her and shook her head. The woman stumbled and caught herself, and then turned and ran after her kids. Crystal huffed again and turned to see the parking lot they were headed towards. The mom and her two kids weren’t the only ones there. She turned and started running again, heading away from them and paralleling the road until she couldn’t go any further.

She glanced back and saw a crowd over her shoulder. They were pointing and talking. Several had cell phones out, some being used to call and others trying to take pictures. She was dead. If Mr. Edgerton didn’t find her and kill her, then Adrian would. She dug her claws in and took off, running across the road without looking and barely avoiding a car that had to jam on its brakes and swerve onto the shoulder to avoid hitting her.

Crystal ran across a yard and had to hop another fence, this one chain link and no taller than the hedges she’d jumped earlier. She skirted across the yard and ran out the driveway before turning the corner and finding herself in the lot of a gas station. She stared up at the sign and froze for a moment. She was headed the wrong way!

A new scream jerked her attention back to the people putting gas in their cars and a woman leaving the gas station. The woman’s plastic bag hit the ground before she turned and ran back inside.

Crystal growled and ran, sending a young man jumping back and tripping over the raised concrete the gas pumps sat on. She leapt up on his Toyota and sprang from there over the fallen man and took off, running around behind the gas station and darting into the employee parking lot of the closed roller rink behind them. She started to slow down, wondering if she could find a place to hide until dark. Her hopes were dashed when she heard the first police siren.

She ran on and darted across the street in front of the roller rink, causing more cars to screech to a halt in shock at seeing her. On the other side, she ran the wrong way through the drive-through lane of a coffee shop and repeated her performance of leaping on top of cars to get past. At any other time, the shocked and frantic expressions on the faces of the people in the car would have made her laugh. Or whatever sound she would have made as a wolf.

As it was, Crystal finally cleared the last one and found the rear of the parking lot was blocked by another fence. She looked around, including a glance behind her to see the approaching sirens were approaching her now. She turned back and started again, running and leaping onto the top of a closed dumpster and springing blindly from the top over the fence. She had a split second to brace herself for the impact. It wasn’t enough.

She splashed head first into a pool. Her hind legs caught the edge but that only served to make her dive deeper. She struggled, swatting her arms and panicking as the water surrounded her. Her front paws pumped in the water; her toes spread as though she could claw and climb her way up and out of it. Miraculously, it worked!

Crystal’s head broke the surface and she started panting for breath. Unfamiliar with how exactly her long mouth worked, she sucked in some water and gagged and coughed before she managed to figure out how to turn around and find the edge of the pool. She pulled herself out of it and turned to see two women in bathing suits and four children staring at her.

She smiled, which came out as a snarl. They panicked. Screams and scrambling bodies rushed to either get out of the pool or run inside the house. Crystal rolled her eyes and looked around. This time the backyard was open and, if she ran straight through, she’d end up in somebody else’s backyard. Grateful for the small break, she started running again and made it through two yards before she came to the drive of a subdivision.

She paused, tired of being weighed down by all the water trapped in her fur, and tried to do what she’d seen countless dogs do. She shook. She got rid of some of the water, but not before she lost her balance and fell to her side. She let out a huff of frustration and climbed back to her feet. Being a wolf was hard work!

She trotted across the drive and ran through some landscaped plots of trees and flowers into another backyard. No pools, but there was a trampoline. She used it as cover and walked beneath it. With no immediate threats present, although she could hear the police sirens screaming off to her left as they raced down a street, she took a moment to plot her escape.

She crept out from beneath the trampoline and moved up beside the house. She hoped the shade would hide her white fur and make her harder to spot. She stopped at the corner of the house. She’d wandered into the yard of a house at the end of a cul-de-sac. The round drive had a landscaped centerpiece, complete with shrubs and a fountain. Not enough room for her to hide in, though. Houses lined either side of the street that stretched away from her.

Flashing red and blue lights drew her attention to the end of the street. A police car stopped while the driver and his partner both peered out the windows, looking for her. Crystal sank down, trying to hide herself. They were a long ways away, a football field, maybe? She waited, afraid to move. The longer she waited, the greater the chance of being found.

Run and be found or wait and be found. Crappy choices. She huffed and slunk back into the backyard. From there, she turned and trotted into the neighbor’s yard on her right. Going back where she came from was a really bad idea, but her only other option was trying to sneak past the cops.

Crystal moved through the yard, sticking close to the line of trees planted at the back of it. She mostly ignored the thick evergreens, other than hoping they would give her some cover if she needed it. It wasn’t until she heard something that made her perk her ear and turn her head that she really looked at them. It sounded like a piece of machinery. A tractor, maybe. She sniffed the air and smelled the diesel exhaust.

Crystal kept walking, looking for an opening through the tall trees and finally decided to make one. She pawed at the bushy branches but they sprang back as soon as she lowered her foot. At a loss for what to do, she closed her eyes and pushed her nose through where the branches and soft needles of the trees had grown into each other.

She had to push hard to break through but once she did she blinked her eyes open and saw a cloud of dust trailing behind a tractor. Was it time for spring planting already? There were tons of fields and farms around Arkansas but she’d never been a farm girl so she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter; it was open ground she could run through and try to escape to the south of town.

Open ground also meant she’d be easy to spot. She turned to watch the tractor as it drove away from her near the far side of the field. She turned her attention back and judged the distance. She could cross it in seconds. Seconds that would leave her vulnerable. She pulled herself through the tree line and sat down, considering her options.

Another noise drifted over the tractor’s engine. She perked her ears up and stood. It was the sound of a motorcycle. She peered through the dust hanging in the air over the field and saw a man on a bike riding hard and fast. It wasn’t Hank or Ember, but that was okay. She recognized Adrian from his bike and the way he sat on it.

Crystal took off without a thought. She darted through the field, kicking up clods of dirt and losing her traction in the freshly tilled ground. She pushed harder and soon was all but flying across the field. Adrian was moving, too, though, and she had to change her course, which caused her precious speed in the shifting dirt. She thought of her geometry class and realized she was chasing Adrian like a dog chases a car. She’d never catch him. She had to meet him.

With that goal in mind, she changed course a final time and angled herself to meet him at the far corner of the field. She ran hard and fast, head down and teeth bared. She passed the tractor and started to cross in front of the farmer when the tractor’s engine changed pitch. He’d seen her, but she didn’t care. If she could make it to Adrian, she would be safe!

She risked a glance and saw Adrian looking at her. He looked ahead and swerved over, crossing into the other lane and then pulling onto the shoulder to stop. Crystal grinned and wanted to leap into the air. She surged ahead with fresh hope and then felt her legs jerk to her left and pull her with them. She tumbled into the dirt, rolling and skidding amid a cloud of dust.

When the world stopped spinning around her, she jerked her head around and looked back. Dirt caked her haunch and then was washed away as fresh blood seeped out of the hole in her hip. She stared, in shock, and wondered why it didn’t hurt.

“Crystal! Get up!”

Adrian’s voice jerked her attention back to him. She scrambled to get her front legs under her and rise up on them. Her injury didn’t hurt so she figured her hind legs would be okay. A startled yelp burst from her mouth, proving she was wrong. Her leg twisted and she felt the vibration of bone grating on bone. Fresh blood ran down her leg and she looked up to see the farmer aiming down his gun at her.

Three legs would have to do. She tried again and lurched forward, hopping on her left hind leg while she used her front legs to pull herself. In seconds, her shoulders were exhausted. The farmer’s shotgun roared again but the slug passed over her by inches. She hunched down and whimpered from the pain that dragging her broken leg caused.

She looked up and saw Adrian walking towards her. He was on the edge of the field and was looking past her at the farmer. She had twenty feet to go. Fifteen. Ten. She jerked as another bullet hit her, this time in the front shoulder. She fell over and lie there on the ground, gasping. She couldn’t catch her breath this time. She struggled to climb to her feet, kicking her legs but only moving dirt and aggravating her injuries.

A shadow fell over her and then she felt somebody picking her up. “Hang on, kid,” Adrian’s strained voice hissed. “I’ve got to get you out of here.”

Crystal whimpered. She couldn’t talk. She could barely breathe. Everything was hurting on her. Her shoulder, her hip, her chest. Everything.

Somehow Adrian climbed on his motorcycle and positioned Crystal on his lap. She tried to shift and make it easier, but he put his hand on her side to keep her still. He raced the throttle and shifted, jerking the bike and chirping the tire as it lurched forward. The engine chunked for a moment and then took up a smooth stride as the transmission and pistons agreed to get along without the clutch.

A few seconds later, Adrian shifted again. He still didn’t use the clutch but he managed to time the engine’s RPMs just right so it was a smooth shift. He kept this up and raced through an empty stop sign. He kept going, only slowing to turn once.

Crystal focused on trying to breathe. She was safe, that’s all that mattered. Adrian would help her. He would fix her up and take the burning agony away. He’d take her to Hank and then nothing would ever be wrong again. Nothing except the need to run like hell and get away from the crazy psychos who tried to kill her.

Clinging to that thought, Crystal let the vibration of the engine convince her it was okay to let the darkness take her.

Chapter 6

A dream of being eaten alive by ants forced Crystal awake. The dream was just that, a dream, but the itch in her shoulder only grew worse. She flopped and tried to lift herself up, only to be held down. She cried out but didn’t recognize the words that came out of her mouth. They weren’t words; they were whimpers and cries. She was still a wolf.

“Be still,” Gwen whispered in her ear and stroked her head with one hand. Gwen turned to her right and said, “She’s awake.”

She rolled her eye, searching for some clue about what was happening to her. All she saw was Guntar’s shoulder and the side of his face. He looked very serious. She felt him push against her and that led to the sharp pinch before she felt some strange pressure inside her. It tickled inside her chest and made her want to cough. The weight on her chest kept her from doing more than wheezing. She wanted to ask what was going on and why but the memories started coming back to her. Memories of running through town and being shot. Memories of learning how to shift and how she’d come to that knowledge.

Something tugged inside her, flooding her chest with heat. The heat faded after a moment. Her breathing became worse, even though she felt like some of the pressure in her chest was gone. The weight that filled it now was different. It wasn’t heavier, but it made her breathing sluggish, as though something was resisting her or pushing back.

“Roll her over,” Guntar snapped. “Let the blood drain out or she’ll drown.”

Drown? Crystal tried to rise up again but Gwen and Guntar held her down. Was that the resistance she felt? Before she could wonder any more, strong hands grabbed her legs and belly and rolled her over on her back. She tried to cry out but it came out as a weak whimper that included a wheezing and bubbling sound. She’d been shot in the shoulder and the bullet had punctured her lung.

She gasped for breath. She knew how to heal herself; they just had to let her be so she could. Instead, her shoulder and leg were rubbed against the ground and sent a deep throbbing ache all the way to her eyeballs.

“Crystal, you need to shift,” Adrian said from somewhere nearby. She couldn’t see him but she heard him over her own frantic pants. “It will heal you enough to survive now that Guntar has removed the bullet.”

“Listen to him,” Gwen urged. “He’s right. You’re hurt very badly and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“Do it,” Guntar demanded.

“I know you’re weak, but focus and put the wolf away.”

Crystal moved her head in an attempt to shake it. She wanted to tell Gwen that wouldn’t work for her. The wolf wasn’t something she controlled; it was her. She was the wolf. They’d become one being. The furry monster that she’d turned into when she was with Hank was also part of who she was now.

“Yes, do it,” Gwen insisted, mistaking her movement for something else. “Please, Crystal; you feel weak but this will help.”

Gwen was right about one thing: she did feel weak. She was breathing a little easier, but not much. She closed her eyes to focus on trying to make herself better. Barely a second passed before Gwen slapped her cheek lightly and interrupted her.

“Don’t go to sleep! If you sleep again you’ll die!”

Crystal blinked and managed a soft whimper. She glanced around, trying to spot Hank and Ember. Shouldn’t they be there too?

“Shift, damn it!” Ember snarled from nearby. Her voice sounded like a mix of pleading and angry frustration. It reminded Crystal of how she’d felt so often lately.

Wait, if Ember was there but she couldn’t see her, did that mean Hank was probably there too? Why wasn’t he holding her? Stroking her fur or kissing away her hurts. Of course that wouldn’t do any good, unless Hank had some magical healing powers she didn’t know about. Only Clover had those and hers were more than a little complicated. No, it was good that Hank wasn’t there. He’d be upset and so would she. And all of that would distract her from what she needed to do.

Crystal focused again and tried to make the pain go away. She held onto the idea for a count of four before her thoughts began to drift and her head dropped to the ground. She hadn’t realized she’d even picked it up. She gasped for each labored breath. The bright side was she thought it was a little easier to breathe.

Easy or not, another attempt like that and she’d pass out again. Whatever she had left, she had to use to shift back. Even if it killed her, she had to give it her all. Her tongue lolled onto the ground and she licked her jowls a couple of times to try to clean the dirt off before she dug into her tired memories for what she’d done when she’d shifted to a wolf in the first place.

She focused on an image of herself and tried to will the change to come. Several seconds passed before she blinked and realized she was doing it wrong. It wasn’t want; it was need. And the need was at her demand. If she wanted to pick up a glass of water, she did. If she needed to squat and pee, she did. And if she needed to shift—

Crystal’s teeth clamped together and her body ripped itself apart for the second time. Red and white splashes filled her vision as her bones and flesh reshaped around her. Her organs shifted, rearranging themselves to fit her different form, and in the process the body knew to restore much of the damage that had been done. Her fur retracted, pulling back into her skin even as the hair on her body she’d had before grew out.

After several agonizing seconds, the spots in her eyes faded and she stared up into the night sky. She felt different. Colder, among other things. She tried to pick her head up but the fading memory of the pain robbed her of both the will and the strength to do it. She laid still and licked her dry lips.

“Hey, it’s night,” she realized and whispered before her head rolled to the side and she knew no more.