She rolled back onto her hands and knees and staggered to her feet. Her right knee felt like someone was sticking needles in it but she had to go. She clutched her right arm against her side and took a few steps that left her limping and crying out. She couldn’t make it—it hurt too much! She suddenly caught a new and wretched smell. It made her think of rotting meat.
A howl pierced the night and sent a shiver down her spine. She stopped breathing for a moment and started to turn her head back just as she heard the sound of an animal fighting another one. Was it her animal? The one that was after her? It sounded like more than that. Were there two of them under the bridge?
She risked a look and saw dark shapes rolling on the bridge. She made out fur and a flash of white teeth. Eyes sparkled with a light that seemed like something straight out of hell. Crystal wanted to scream but she couldn’t find her breath. Something grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
“Go!”
Crystal stared into the wild eyes of a woman with flaming red hair flowing down her back. She tugged Crystal as though she was a little kid instead of a teenager who ate too many meals out of a drive-through window. Crystal stumbled and cried out, but the pain in her knee was numbing already. She staggered a few steps and looked back again.
She stopped and stared as the woman slipped her leather vest off her shoulders and reached down to rip her skirt off. She jumped forward, her image blurring in the darkness. She landed on all fours and jumped again, except she looked different. Did she just—
Crystal was spun around again. She stared into the chest and neck of a man who might as well have been a mountain. Before she could say anything, she felt him grab her waist and pick her up. Her stomach felt like she’d left it behind until she landed on his shoulder and realized she was staring at his leather-clad back.
She screamed and started punching him as he turned and started to run.
Chapter 3
Crystal yelped as the brute carrying her upended her and set her down. She staggered and would have fallen except for his hands keeping her upright. She shook her head and lifted her head to look at him. She opened her mouth but the words didn’t come to her.
He was amazing. He reminded her of a bigger Adam Levine, with his strong jaw line and dark scruff darkening his face. His eyes were blue, but not a blue like she’d ever seen before. They were bright, almost bright enough to glow in the dark. Cornflower blue, maybe?
“I said, are you all right?”
She shook her head. He’d been talking? Why hadn’t she heard him? And his voice—it was raspy and deep and it made her knees weak. At least she thought it was his voice. Her entire body felt sore and loose. So was she all right?
She shook her head. “No!” she blurted. “What just happened? I was—something—what was that?”
He opened his mouth but she spun and pointed back down the road. “And what was that woman? Not who—what? She just took off her clothes and—and—and I don’t know!”
She turned back around to face him and saw him glancing around. She watched him for a moment and realized that he’d looked ageless at first, but now that she saw him searching for answers, he looked younger. Older than her, probably, but not by much. She swallowed and glanced down, and then realized part of why she felt off-balance. Her shoe was missing!
“Where’s my shoe? I need my shoe! Those were expensive wedges!”
He shook his head. “It’s gone,” he said.
“Gone? No, I tripped and it fell off. That’s all! It’s just back down there.”
He grabbed her arm as she started to walk. She stopped and tugged against him without any success. She imagined his grip was like what a handcuff would feel like, only stronger.
“Leave it,” he said.
She spun and pointed her finger at him. “Leave it? Look, um, dude. I don’t know who you or your freaky friends are but I have to get home. My clothes are ruined and I feel like I’ve been in a car wreck. My friends at the party I just left are going to be looking for me and so are my parents.”
He grunted and nodded with his head back behind him. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”
“Oh, sure!” she said. “That makes sense. Just show this big freaky biker guy with the nudist friend who likes wrestling bears where I live.”
He snickered. “Bears? Hardly.”
“Oh yeah? Then what was that?” She held her hand up and shook her head. “No, never mind. I don’t want to know. Just let me go home, please?”
He shrugged. “Take the other shoe off,” he suggested.
She looked down and saw her torn jeans darkened with her blood. Her knee stung now that she acknowledged it and it brought back the memories of how she’d landed on her arm and scraped her face. She brought her left hand up and touched the warmth spot on her cheek, making it burn. Her fingers came away wet.
“Oh my God!”
“Oh shit,” he muttered as she stumbled and started breathing hard.
“Oh my God!” Crystal whispered again. “I’m bleeding. My face! Oh God, my arm hurts! Is it broke?”
“You’re gonna live,” he said. “Just calm down.”
“Calm down? I just—I just—”
He groaned and moved so fast she barely saw him in time to scream. The world tipped sideways on her again and then righted itself. She was staring at his leather-clad chest. She looked up at his face and saw him staring down at her. She craned her neck around and realized he’d picked her up again. It was a princess carry this time, at least.
“Calm down,” he repeated.
“You—”
“And be quiet,” he told her.
Crystal clamped her mouth shut against her better judgment. This man was crazy strong. If he wanted to hurt her, he could. She settled against him and listened to him breathing. The air moving in and out of his thick chest rumbled like the speakers in Chad’s house. Crystal glanced up and noticed that his leather vest was open but he wore a white t-shirt underneath it. Above the V-neck of the t-shirt, she saw thick black hair curling out.
A few moments later, he shifted and set her down. Crystal flailed until she realized she was sitting on the back of a motorcycle. “Oh no!” she said. “I can’t—my mom would kill me!”
“At least that’ll buy you a few extra minutes,” he said before he lifted his leg and slid it over the seat in front of her. He settled into the seat and dropped the bike a few inches on its suspension. “Hold on tight.”
Crystal swallowed and grabbed his sides. The bike rumbled to life beneath her and then the transmission clunked as he put it in gear. She started to lean over to look and see if something had broken when he gave the bike some gas and it lurched forward. Crystal screamed and wrapped her arms around his belly.
She wasn’t sure if the rumbling she felt was him laughing at her or the engine beneath them.
They rode for a few minutes, heading back down the road and passing the yard she’d cut through to leave the party behind. She started to relax and dared to lift her head up from where she’d tucked it in his back when he turned his head and spoke.
“Where do you live?”
“Back the other way.” She shouted to be heard over the wind.
He winced. “I can hear fine.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Is there another way to your place?”
“Another way? Sure, um, turn left up ahead.”
He grunted and drove on, turning when she indicated. Her first turn almost ended up with her falling off the bike. He slowed down and stopped the bike before turning his head to look at her out of one eye. “Lean into the turns.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. Won’t we fall?”
“Only if you lean too far.”
“How will I know?”
“You’ll know.”
Crystal bit her lip and then nodded. He sped back up and drove through town at a smooth and steady speed. The exhaust rumbled behind them but it didn’t sound too loud. Not loud enough to rais
e any fuss, at least.
She gave him turn-by-turn directions to her house and then sat on the back of his bike when he pulled into her driveway and put the kickstand down.
“You need help?” he asked. “Or do you want to go for another ride?”
“What? No!” Crystal tried to jump off the bike. The reality was her stumbling and almost falling thanks to her aching body and missing shoe. She reached out and ended up grabbing onto his outstretched leg to keep from hitting the ground again. She straightened, her face burning for a different reason.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “Um, yeah. I’ll be fine.”
He raised an eyebrow. It was a bizarre look that made her laugh. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s been a crazy night. Um, thanks. For the ride. And for…um, whatever that was back there.”
He nodded.
Crystal turned and started walking up to her house. Was that it? She’d almost been eaten and then nearly been turned into roadkill. Finally, this beautiful man drove her home and she was running from him. She shook her head and sighed. He’d smelled so rough and manly. It was a good smell, one that made her want to nuzzle up to him again.
“Hey!”
Crystal turned to see he’d already backed his motorcycle around in the driveway. “Hey,” she said back. “Thanks again.”
“You need to feel the power between your legs again, just let me know.”
She grinned. “Okay. I will.”
He nodded and thumbed the starter. A moment later, he drove off in a rumble that sent chills through her body. She turned back to the house with a smile that wouldn’t go away in spite of the pain it caused her cheek.
He wanted to see her again! She wondered how long she should wait until she—
“Shit!” Crystal swore. She didn’t have his number. Even worse, she didn’t even know his name!
Chapter 4
Crystal woke up the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping outside. She groaned and rolled over, right into a beam of sunshine that warmed her face and made it impossible to pretend it was still night. She yanked her blankets up over her head but it was too late. She was awake. And her bladder was about to burst.
Crystal groaned and threw the covers back. She stepped on something on her floor and cried out as the pain in her heel shot up her leg. She stumbled forward and limped out into the hallway, thinking dark thoughts about whatever hair clip or earring she must have dropped.
She finished up in the bathroom and picked up her foot to look at it. She felt like whatever she’d stepped on was still stuck in her heel. She blinked and stared at it, not understanding what she saw.
On the inside of her heel, she saw oval splotches that were pink and red. They weren’t bleeding, but the spots looked like the skin was thin and only recently healed. Along the bottom of her heel, another curving line of them joined up with the marks on the inside. There were two of them that were more than just an angry pink: they were crusted over with dried blood.
Crystal went to pick at the scab with her fingernails and noticed how chipped and ragged they looked. Yesterday’s paint was scraped off and ruined already. She scowled at the waste and refocused on her heel. She peeled the scab away, drawing a hiss as it pulled at the living tissue beneath. She watched as a spot of blood welled up and started to run down the bottom of her foot.
She grabbed some toilet paper and blotted it up before it could drop to the floor. She kept the paper pressed against the wound, enduring the sting until it faded. When the bloody paper was pulled away, her eyes widened. It looked like the other spots on her foot, the skin pink and unbroken.
“What the f—” She trailed off and remembered more of her aches from last night. It brought back more memories. The bikers and the one in particular who picked her up like she was a kitten. Then there was the source of the strange marks on her foot.
“Oh my God,” she whispered as she remembered the growl and saw again the flash of teeth and eyes in the darkness. “It bit me!”
She twisted her leg and stared at her knee. It was bruised and dirty, but that was it. Hadn’t she rubbed it raw on the road last night and bloodied her pants? She turned to look at her arm but no amount of twisting let her get a good look at her elbow. She pouted and tried straightening it and bending it. It was stiff and felt a little sore, but it worked.
Crystal reached across and pushed her fingers against her shoulder. It felt tender when she poked it. She stood up and pulled her nightshirt off so she could twist her head and look at it. Her skin was tinted with a faded yellow and blue from a bruise. A bruise that looked a couple of days old.
She shook her head and stepped in front of the mirror. Her foot was tender now but the pain from earlier was gone. The girl looking back at her in the mirror gasped. She was a wreck! Her left eye looked puffy and bruised, the colors spreading down to her cheek. Her hair was a tangled mess and her makeup had run and was smeared all over her face from all the crying she’d done.
“What happened to me?” she wondered.
Well, she knew what happened. She’d been there, after all! But it didn’t make sense. She’d cut her cheek and her knee—she knew it! But now they looked fine? Other than the bruises. She let her eyes drop in the vanity mirror and sighed. Some things didn’t change. She still looked like she could refer to herself as Shamu’s mama.
“But I can’t heal that quick,” she argued with herself. “Wouldn’t I have to eat or burn a lot of calories or something?”
She turned to the scale in the bathroom and stepped on it. She held her breath and willed herself to be lighter. Just like every morning, except this time she knew it would be different. She knew she would be changed. Something had happened to her. Something scary and maybe, just maybe, wonderful!
The digital readout flashed a final answer and she let out her breath in a disgusted sigh. She was down a little, but still closer to two hundred than one hundred. Sure, she was a tall girl, but not that tall. In her wedges last night, she’d probably been six feet tall. The dark stranger who saved her had towered over her and made her feel like a little kid.
Crystal was jerked from her thoughts by her phone ringing back in her bedroom. She turned and started to dash for it when she realized she was only wearing her underwear. She looked back at her nightshirt and shifted her balance to go for it when the second verse of the Lady Gaga song that was the ringtone she used for Beth started. She turned and dashed down the hall. Her leg felt funny but it did what she told it to and kept her from planting her face on the floor—again.
She made it to her phone and answered with an angry, “Ow! This better be worth it.”
“Ow?” Beth asked. “Are you okay?”
Crystal could hear the concern in her voice. “Yeah, I guess. I just woke up and had to run to answer the phone. I remember why I don’t run.”
“Why? Oh, never mind.”
“Yeah, never mind,” Crystal said with a flash of irritation. Like she needed to be reminded that she was big up top. “What’s up? How was the party? Sorry I bailed, I—”
“Crys, where are you?”
“What? I’m home.”
“Why aren’t you at school? They forgot all about you after you ditched me.”
“I didn’t ditch you, I—school? It’s Saturday—why would I be at school?”
“Oh my God! You’re kidding me, right? Crys, it’s Monday. First period is about to start.”
Crystal jerked her phone away from her face and stared at it. Beth was right; it was Monday. “Holy crap,” she mumbled. “I slept all weekend?”
“Did I just hear you say you slept all weekend?” Beth asked.
“Yeah, uh, I guess I did.”
“You seemed a little weird at the party. Wow, I had no idea. I guess that’s why you didn’t answer my calls or texts?”
“Um, yeah,” Crystal said. “Crap, I’ve gotta get dressed and get to school!”
“Hurry up. Do you need me to come get you?”
; “No, I’ll make it.”
“Okay. See you soon!”
Crystal smiled and hung up. She unlocked her phone and stared at it. She’d missed twelve calls and sixteen text messages. Most of them were from Beth but she’d gotten a couple from her mom, including some voicemails. “Wow,” she muttered while shaking her head. She turned and moved to her dresser and started pulling out clothes. She stopped with one leg in her pants and realized she needed a shower. Especially if she’d slept away two days!
Her arms clutching fresh clothes against her, she dashed back to the bathroom and cranked on the water. She brushed her teeth while the shower heated up and caught her reflection in the mirror. The bruises on her face made her pause. “Lots of makeup and sunglasses,” she mumbled around her toothbrush. That and a good story about how she tripped and fell on her way home from the party.
Chapter 5
Crystal made it to school a few minutes after her third class started. She walked in breathing hard but not quite panting from walking over a mile to get there. Fortunately for her, walking to school took her into town and away from the bridge. She wasn’t ready to cross over that again, especially on foot!
Beth met her at the front of the school and jumped up from the curb she’d been sitting on as soon as she saw her. “Crys! What is going on?”
“Nothing. I just—”
“Oh my God! What happened to you?”
Crystal sighed and shook her head. “I fell on my way home,” she lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, but there’d been a lot more to it. A lot more that didn’t make sense to her.
Beth reached out and picked up her sunglasses before she could stop her. “Jesus! That’s terrible! You look like you got in a fight. Are you sure you fell? Your mom didn’t—”
“No!” Crystal stopped her. “My mom is worried about me, but she let me sleep. She had a busy weekend at the hospital, working twelves.”
Claimed by the Beast Bundle Page 2