Claimed by the Beast Bundle (45 page)

Chapter 11

Crystal shook her head. “I—I can’t!”

“Can’t? Can’t what?” Guntar asked. “Kill the men who tried to kill you?”

She swallowed and nodded. “I know, it sounds stupid, but, I mean, I don’t want to hurt anyone!”

Adrian snorted. “That’s not the way the world works.”

“Well it should be!” she protested. “They should have let me live in peace and I’d do the same to them.”

“People have been saying that for thousands of years,” Adrian admitted. He lowered his head, taking on a more serious and sinister look. “Those people have also not gotten anywhere because they were killed.”

“Well, they shouldn’t have been!”

Adrian threw his hands up in the air and muttered something about her being childish and naïve.

“I’m not going to argue with you,” Guntar said. “If you won’t help, then you won’t help and we won’t force you.”

“Really? But you’re still going to?”

“Yes. These kinds of people can’t be reasoned with. They don’t understand anything but what they believe. They’re no different in some ways than the terrorists who blow themselves up to kill innocents. If we run, they will come after us. That, or they will go after someone else. These people burned witches, whether they were guilty or not.”

Crystal held up her hand. “Okay, okay, I get it. I just—I don’t want to hurt anyone!”

Ember walked up to her and looked her in the eye. “Crys, I love messing with you. I’ll tease you and argue with you and make your life difficult as long as we’re alive.”

As soon as Ember stopped to take a breath, Crystal said, “Um, okay. Love you too.”

“I do love you,” Ember said. “You are my sister in blood and in spirit now. As much as I might like torturing you, I will stand by you—or over you—and fight for you. I will kill for you.”

Crystal leaned back and would have taken a step if Hank hadn’t been holding on to her. She stared at Ember and then glanced up at Hank. He met her eyes and distracted her with the brilliance of his blue eyes. They were more than entrancing; they were magical.

“Close your eyes,” Hank said.

Crystal snapped her eyes shut without questioning him.

“Ember’s on the ground—she’s been caught in a rope net laced with silver, like the cords you were tied down with. She’s bleeding and burnt. Hurt badly. One of those men is there, standing over here. He’s got a gun. A gun with a silver bullet, like the one he used to shoot your friend in the head with.”

Crystal gasped, caught up in his hypnotic deep voice.

“You’re behind him. Only you, Crys. No one else can help. No one else can stop him. Only you.”

She shook her head and whimpered, “No. We wouldn’t let it happen. We can’t!”

“It is,” Hank said, his voice stronger. More harsh. “You can save her, but you have to act. You have to use the wolf. You have to kill him. Will you?”

“Help me,” Ember whispered. “Please!”

Crystal snapped her eyes open and gasped in a deep breath. She looked around and then pulled away from Hank. She turned to glare at him and then looked at Ember with the same hard look in her eyes. “I don’t know what you just did to me, but I don’t appreciate it. Don’t do it again. Ever!”

Hank’s face paled for a moment. “I just created a scene and asked a question,” he said.

“Would you help me?” Ember pushed. “Or let me die?”

Crystal snapped her head around and glared at her. “Yes, I would help you if it came to that. I’d even kill for you. But I don’t want to and you damn well better not put me in that position!”

Ember leaned back from the finger pointing at her face and grinned. She blew Crystal a kiss and said, “Love you too, sis.”

Crystal opened and shut her mouth, and then glared a moment longer before turning to the others. “Okay, fine. I’ll help. But I don’t want to hurt anybody. At least, not like that. Can’t we scare them or maybe make them think we’re going to kill them, then spare them at the last minute if they promise not to come after us or anyone else ever again?”

“Nobody wants to kill them,” Guntar said.

“I do,” Adrian snarled.

Everyone glanced at him except Guntar. The pack’s alpha sighed and nodded. “Okay, most of us don’t want to, but that’s what it will come to. It always does.”

Crystal frowned. “I’ll find a way,” she said.

Hank squeezed her and Gwen chuckled. The waitress turned wolf said, “I bet if anyone can, it’s you.”

Crystal stared at her a moment until she was sure Gwen’s comment was genuine. She smiled and looked away. “So, how do we do this? There’s at least five of them, including the county sheriff. Five of them and five of us, but there’s no way we can get that lucky.”

“One at a time,” Adrian said. “We’ll pick them off.”

“That’s really freaking scary,” Crystal said. “You’re talking like some kind of serial killer or something.”

Adrian shrugged.

“This could work,” Guntar agreed. “Especially since they want you and a man on a motorcycle.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That farmer, he knows what he saw,” Guntar said. “Hopefully he didn’t see well enough to know it was Adrian who rescued you.”

“Why?” Crystal asked.

“Yeah, why?” Adrian agreed.

Not to be outdone, Crystal added, “And I’m not so sure—he shot me twice while I was running! Pretty good eyes, if you ask me.”

Guntar glanced over to the thrown dirt on the ground from Rebecca’s tires. “Was that girl right? Was he a soldier?”

“What? Oh, Old Man Brown? Yeah. He’s been honored a couple of times for being the only survivor left in the county from the soldiers who took the beaches on D-Day. He’s a little crazy, too, though.”

“He’s probably close to ninety years old,” Hank said.

“Yeah, probably,” she agreed.

Guntar nodded. “I wonder which beach,” he mused aloud and then shook his head. “The men who fought back then were special. I don’t doubt for a moment that he’s still a deadly shot.”

Crystal shivered. “Too deadly, if you ask me.”

Hank grunted his agreement.

“Well, you and Hank can be the bait we use to lure them out. That will keep you as safe as possible and let us do what needs to be done.”

Crystal frowned. “Promise me you try to convince them to leave us alone.”

Guntar’s eyes narrowed and the others all watched with interest. “Remember who’s the leader of our pack.”

Crystal dropped her eyes and felt the heat in her face. She nodded and lifted her gaze back to his. “Um, I do. Sorry. I’m learning as fast as I can.”

“And you’re a fast learner,” he admitted. “But I don’t answer to demands from others.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again and wished she could slip behind Hank.

“I’ll do my best,” Guntar said after a moment of thought. “But I make no promises.”

“Thank you,” Crystal said and then bit her lip. She glanced around at the gathered pack and added, “Thank you all. For everything. I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve saved my life.”

“We’re a pack—we look out for each other,” Gwen said.

“Perhaps you’ll be returning the favor someday soon,” Ember said and winked.

Crystal’s nostrils flared as she remembered the scene she and Hank had painted in her imagination a few minutes ago. She stuck her tongue out at the redhead and earned a laugh.

“It’s late,” Hank said. “And now that someone knows Crystal’s with us, news will spread. We should leave.”

Crystal nodded. “I have to let my mom know I’m all right. Shit—my phone—and my purse. Everything’s gone!”

“Your purse is in our trailer,” Hank said.

“What? How? I lost it when Chad tackled me.”

Ember smiled. “I tracked you that far,” she said. “Found your purse and your dress, all shredded and bloody. Wasn’t your blood, though.”

“Chad,” Crystal breathed.

Ember shrugged. “It was a man and it was definitely tainted blood. I could tell that much from the smell.”

“Oh my God!”

“Leave your mother out of this,” Guntar said. “Until it’s safe, that is. They will use her against you if they can. They’re probably watching your house, hoping you’ll go back to it.”

Crystal shook her head but it didn’t stop the world from spinning. “This is insane,” she muttered.

“Go get ready,” Guntar said and turned to head back to his trailer. He called out over his shoulder, “We’ll ride out in fifteen minutes.”

Crystal watched Adrian and Ember turn to leave and asked, “Where?”

“We have a backup camp,” Gwen said. “Not much there, but we can survive a little while until this is over.”

Crystal nodded and let Hank pull her around and head her back towards his trailer. Wait, their trailer. Had he really called it theirs? Sure, it was only a lousy little camp trailer, but he really meant they were together! She found herself smiling and whispered, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening!”

Hank chuckled before saying, “It’s cute how you do that.”

She craned her neck to look up at him. “Do what?”

“That’s your signature saying. Your catchphrase. ‘Oh my God!’”

Crystal opened and then clamped her mouth shut. “Oh—wow, you’re right. And I almost did it again!”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Like I said, I think it’s cute.”

Crystal blinked a few times and shook her head again. Here she was in the midst of a bitter fight for survival and he was finding ways to distract her and make her feel cherished. She grabbed his hand and pulled it up to her lips. “I love you so much!”

She felt his chuckle and, more importantly, felt him pull her against him in a hug that made its way all the way to her heart.

Chapter 12

The wind tugged at Crystal’s hair and made it snap back and sting her in the face. She’d been too caught up in daydreaming about Hank to remember to pull her hair into a ponytail. She kept her face tight against Hank’s leather jacket and narrowed her eyes to slits to protect them. She knew she should be paying attention to where they were going but all that really mattered to her was being alive and with Hank.

Her mom and her friends were safe, as long as she stayed away from them. It was harsh, but she was okay with that. She had someone else to be with. A new family. Her pack. Well, Guntar’s pack, but she was coming to realize she was as much a part of it as any of them were. Even if she was too much of a wimp to fight like they did.

Except she wasn’t a wimp! She wasn’t afraid; she just thought there had to be a better way. She’d never understood how anybody could hate someone or something else so much they needed to kill it. Terrorists and tyrants she’d heard about in history classes were beyond her. She couldn’t make herself feel that way. Maybe in the heat of the moment, like when Chad had threatened her or when the deluded paladins tried to kill her. But even that was only a maybe.

“Hey,” Crystal called out loud enough for Hank to hear.

“Yeah?”

“Why does Adrian hate them so much? The paladins?”

“I don’t know the details,” he called over his shoulder, “only that they killed somebody important to him.”

“Wow,” Crystal breathed. “Like a wife or family or something?”

Hank shrugged. “Ask him.”

She nodded and realized he couldn’t see the gesture. “Maybe I will. What about Guntar?”

“What about him? Why does he hate them? Because they hate us.”

“No,” she said. “I mean when he asked about Mr. Brown, the farmer. He wondered about what beach he was on in World War II.”

“Oh, he was there,” Hank said. “Him and Adrian both. They were both on Utah.”

“Utah?”

“Beach,” he said.

“Oh.”

They rode in silence for several seconds before Hank said, “I wrote a historical romance set in World War II. Guntar and Adrian gave me a lot of insight into how things were back then.”

“I can’t believe they were alive then. I mean, look at Mr. Brown!”

“The man who shot you twice with a shotgun at over a hundred yards? While you were running?”

“Yeah, so?”

“That’s a tough shot for just about anyone. If he could do it two out of three times, that makes him pretty special.”

“Special like us?”

Hank chuckled. “No, not that special.”

Crystal lapsed into silence as they rode. She thought about what he said and then picked her face up from the shelter of his back. “How do you know so much about shooting? You don’t even own a gun, do you?”

“None of us do. We don’t need them,” Guntar said. “But I’ve had to go to ranges a few times and learn how to do it. Research for my stories.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“You want to go sometime? Kind of a redneck date, if you ask me.”

Crystal grinned. “Sounds like fun!”

“My kinda girl, but I already knew that.”

She squeezed him tighter and fell silent so she could enjoy the rest of the ride. It was short-lived. They pulled off to a drive that led into a national forest and stopped to check in to the guardhouse.

“Are we going camping?” Crystal asked. “We didn’t even bring tents, did we?”

“We’ll be okay,” Hank said. “Hang tight.”

Crystal watched as Guntar and Gwen dismounted and went to talk to someone at the gatehouse. A few minutes later, they returned to their bike and started it back up. They rumbled ahead slowly, starting the procession and leading them into the preserved forest ahead.

Crystal turned her head back and forth, admiring the trees and natural beauty. The overhead coverage blocked what setting sunlight was left but she could see well enough to still be impressed. They drove past a pair of women loading camera equipment in a Subaru at a pull-off with a trail into the forest and then rolled on a paved road through the wilderness. The road and their bikes were the only evidence of civilization they encountered.

Guntar pulled off to the side as the road curved to the right. Crystal peered into the woods and frowned. “There’s nothing here,” she commented.

“It’s hidden,” he said. “I’ve never been here. I’m not sure where, exactly.”

“Hidden?” Crystal repeated while she watched Guntar and Adrian force their way under a large tree with limbs at shoulder level.

The lower branches of the tree hung down, making it difficult for them to make their way through. They were flushed with bright green new spring leaves. On the other side of the bushy branches she saw the two pack elders team up and push against something. After a few grunts, they moved forward and she made out a large rock they rolled out of the way.

“I could’ve helped,” Hank said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I was afraid you’d toss it somewhere,” Guntar said after clapping the dirt off his hands. “We need to put it back when we’re done!”

Crystal laughed at Hank’s red face and climbed off the back of his bike. She turned and saw Ember coming up beside her from where she’d ridden at the end of their small convoy. Ember’s eyes dipped to take in her outfit and she winked at her.

“Stop it!” Crystal hissed at her. Ember’s grin made her decide to add, “If you love me so much, you could have gotten me a longer skirt.”

“That’s plenty long,” the redhead said. “You’re just too tall.”

Crystal glanced down at her skirt and blushed. She looked back up, ready to make a joke about Ember’s being short even though she wasn’t. Shorter than her, at least. At least she was able to wear something instead of riding through the countryside naked. Having bare feet was bad enough; she doubted anyone they passed would notice that like they would if she didn’t have a top on!

Ember beat her to the punch. “Besides, I bet Hank doesn’t mind you showing a little skin?”

“A little?” Crystal scoffed. She turned and saw Hank’s eyes taking in her exposed skin and he nodded.

“Very nice,” he admitted. “You should borrow her clothes more often.”

Crystal groaned and slapped him on the arm.

“Get your bikes off the road,” Guntar barked at them from the head of the pack. Gwen was standing near the tree, holding back some of the branches. Guntar pushed his bike off the road and ducked to keep from getting his beard or hair hung up in any of the branches that Gwen couldn’t reach. Once he was through, he called out to them, “Trail’s rough, but we can make it.”

“I’m going to help,” Crystal glanced at Hank and said before she rushed ahead and crouched to get in and gather the branches Gwen pointed out to her.

Adrian pushed his bike through next with little more than a grunt of thanks. Hank and Ember followed, both smiling and thanking the women. Once they were through, Crystal followed behind Gwen and picked out the trail they were walking on. It was easy to see now that four bikes had been pushed along it.

The brush cleared out as they walked, making it easier going even as the ground rose slightly. Gwen and Crystal both jogged ahead to their respective mates and walked beside them. Crystal opened her mouth to say something when she saw Gwen pull her dress over her head and slip it into one of the saddlebags on Guntar’s bike. She turned away and lunged forward, shifting into her wolf before she landed on the ground.

“Oh!” Crystal gasped. She grinned and pulled her almost too-tight clothes off. Hank cursed as he got distracted and ended up laying his bike down on its side. He looked back up at Crystal, red-faced, and grew a darker shade of red when she couldn’t stop her laugh. “See something you like?”

“Yes,” he growled and twisted the handlebars of his bike so he could get his legs in position to muscle it back up.

Crystal waited and slipped her clothes into one of his bags before she took a deep breath.

“Let’s see it,” Ember called out from behind her.

Crystal nodded and fell forward, shifting as she did. The forgotten pain burned up her spine and through her skin. She let a short scream out before the shift choked it off. Her muscles tried to cramp but the shift forced them to reshape and relax. Nevertheless, she ended up crashing to the ground and writhed a few seconds as her body finished contorting itself into a long and lean white-furred wolf.

“Are you okay?” Hank asked. “It takes practice getting used to it.”

Crystal rolled onto her belly and picked her paws up so she could put them over her snout. Hank snorted and Ember laughed. Her only consolation was that in her current form, her fur wouldn’t turn as red as her face would have normally.