Claimed by the Beast Bundle

by Dawn Michelle

Stephanie nodded. “You know, from the circle. Now that somebody took him down from the outside, he’s screwed. Nobody’s going to help him because nobody really likes him. He just had too much dirt on us.”

  “Dirt?” Crystal asked.

  “Stupid things we’ve all done. Secrets. You know.”

  “Jesus, it’s like my dad bitching about politics,” Beth said.

  Stephanie laughed. “It is, and it’s everywhere. If you don’t learn how to play the game, you end up nobody in life.”

  Beth pulled out and started driving while Crystal considered Stephanie’s words. “I don’t know—there’s more to life than being popular.”

  Beth snorted. “This from the girl who was tripping over herself to get attention?”

  “What?”

  “Look at you! You look awesome today. You’d never have worn those clothes before—um, you know.”

  Stephanie looked at both girls and frowned. “Before what?”

  “Before I lost the weight,” Crystal said. “It’s okay, I was fat. You can say it.”

  Beth’s shoulders dropped and she flashed Crystal a quick grin. “You weren’t fat. Just…healthy.”

  Stephanie laughed. “Healthy enough for a couple of us.”

  Crystal forced a smile on her face and tried to come up with something else to talk about. Beth beat her to it.

  “So you wanted to be popular but now you don’t?”

  “I don’t know. Not if it means I have to fight everybody.”

  Stephanie laughed. “It’s a fight, but it’s fun. And no, most of the time you won’t break a nail.”

  Beth glanced at the prom queen in her mirror and asked, “Why should we trust you? How do we know you won’t just screw us over yourself?”

  Crystal turned to look at Stephanie and saw the blond’s eyes dart to her mouth. Stephanie licked her own lips and then pulled her eyes back up to Crystal’s. She reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on her necklace. She pulled it out from where the chain dangled in her cleavage and offered it to Crystal. She smiled and said, “Because you’re with me now, and like I said, I take care of my people. Here, take this as proof.”

  Crystal caught Beth giving her a warning glance and knew better than to say anything. She reached out and lifted her open palm underneath the cross. As soon as her hand touched it, she felt something was wrong with it. Her hand itched and she wanted to scratch it.

  Crystal pulled her hand back and saw Stephanie’s furrowed brow. “Is that silver?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I’m allergic to silver,” Crystal said. “Sorry.”

  Stephanie tilted her head. “I’ve never heard of anyone being allergic to silver. Cheap plated jewelry, sure, but this is real.”

  Crystal shrugged. “I didn’t make the rules.”

  Stephanie laughed and turned to Beth. “Are you allergic too?”

  “Hell no,” Beth said before snatching the necklace. She grinned and, as soon as she stopped at the next corner, she slipped it around her neck. “Thanks!”

  Crystal bit off a laugh at her friend. Beth loved jewelry, the more expensive the better. Most of hers was costume jewelry she picked up every time she dragged Crystal to a strip mall or a flea market.

  Crystal turned back around to face the front of the car and watched the perfectly trimmed hedges pass by as Beth turned in to Stephanie’s driveway. Beth pulled the car up in front of the circle drive and put it in park.

  They turned to face Stephanie again. She smiled at them both and then her eyes refocused on something behind them. “This was fun,” Stephanie said. “Give me a call sometime if you want to hang out and mess around.”

  “Mess around?” Crystal asked.

  Stephanie glanced at her mouth again and said, “Yeah, you know, whatever you guys want to do.”

  Crystal nodded while Beth’s eyes grew round. Stephanie smiled again and winked before she turned and opened her door. She climbed out and waved as she bounced across the driveway and up to her house.

  “What the eff?” Beth groaned.

  Crystal shook her head and was about to share a similar statement when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked closer. Was that what Stephanie had seen, too? Parked on the far side of the four-car garage, she could make out the tail end of a motorcycle.

  Her eyes narrowed. “We need to go.”

  “What? Where. And why?”

  “Just go,” Crystal said. “I’ll give you directions. I need to see my friends.”

  “You mean the, um, the bikers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think one of them is here.”

  Chapter 14

  Beth slowed the car to a stop and looked at the four people gathering in the middle of the small ring of trailers. She swallowed and turned to face Crystal. “They don’t look happy.”

  Crystal chuckled. “They weren’t expecting guests.”

  “Oh,” Crystal’s friend said. “Um, well, I have to work tonight so I can’t stay very long.”

  “It’s cool,” Crystal said. “I can get a ride home.”

  “Crys—”

  “Beth, it’s cool. These are good people. They are my friends.”

  “You said you thought one of them was at Stephanie’s?” Beth turned and stared at the four people and frowned. “Where’s Ember?”

  Crystal nodded. “That’s what I plan on finding out.”

  Beth frowned and stared at her. “Are you not telling me something?”

  Crystal forced herself to laugh. “Go to work. Get a promotion so you can afford a nice apartment for us to move to when we go to college.”

  “Is that even a possibility anymore?” Beth asked.

  Crystal smiled and reached over to hug her friend. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  Beth wrinkled her nose and waited for Crystal to climb out of the car. Crystal shut the door and waved before turning to face the others.

  “Somebody cleaned up,” Gwen said as Crystal walked up to them.

  Crystal grinned and then turned to watch as Beth backed into a three-point turn and headed back down the driveway. Once she was out of sight, she turned back. “This is as good as it gets. All my other clothes are fat girl clothes.”

  “Fat girl clothes?” Hank asked.

  Crystal chewed on her lip and looked at him. He was wearing a ribbed t-shirt that looked like it was going to split open over his chest and arms if he moved wrong. That and a pair of jeans made her knees weak. “Yes,” Crystal breathed. “Dark and baggy stuff, to hide in.”

  “You’re not fat,” he declared.

  “Duh,” she teased. “Not now—before.”

  “Not then either,” he said.

  She looked at him and felt her chest tighten and her heart swell. Without thinking first, she blurted out, “I am so going to rock your world.”

  Hank stiffened and blushed. He grinned in spite of the reddening skin beneath his scruff and turned to glance at the others. Gwen laughed while Guntar glanced away. Adrian scowled and it was that scowl that brought reason to Crystal’s mind. Her hand flew to her mouth.

  “Oh my God! I’m sorry, I didn’t—Why do I get like this whenever I’m around you?”

  “It’s because you’re in heat,” Adrian growled. “Try to pull your head out of the gutter, though. It’s not doing you any good.”

  “No—I mean, yes, I believe you, but it’s not just that. I got a ride home from a guy who wanted to sleep with me last night and I felt nothing for him. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

  Hank took a half step forward before Gwen touched his arm with her hand and stopped him. He snorted and stepped back. Crystal smiled at him. He was so damn cute—she was definitely going to rock his world!

  “You’re not an animal, sweetie,” Gwen chided her. “And even if you were, haven’t you seen the complex mating rituals animals have? The females of any species don’t just let anyone impregnate them.”r />
  Crystal’s eyes widened at Gwen’s choice of words. “Uh, that’s good, I guess.”

  Gwen nodded. “We have our standards, from chipmunk to human. Our mates must be good enough to be worthy of us.”

  Crystal risked a glance at a blushing Hank and felt her own cheeks heat up. She couldn’t imagine him failing any tests she gave him. Then again, maybe that’s why she was so desperate to make him her first, and last, lover.

  Guntar coughed and asked, “So what happened with this guy?”

  “Well, um, he tried to get me back to his place and I told him to stop. So he did. Stopped so fast I hit the dash.”

  Hank took a step closer and growled, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” Crystal said and smiled at him. “Had a bloody nose and my fingers got smashed into the dashboard, but they were fine a few seconds later.”

  Adrian shook his head and muttered something she couldn’t make out.

  Guntar nodded but didn’t offer an explanation.

  “So that’s it?” Gwen asked.

  “Well…not exactly.” Crystal hesitated. She sighed and shrugged. “He came at me today at lunch and was yelling about how I had to pay for the damages to his car. Guess it got scratches and dents on the door and the dash is cracked or something.”

  “Where you hit it?” Hank asked.

  “The dash? Yes. I didn’t do the door, though, I swear! I slammed it shut, but that was it. I couldn’t scratch it.”

  “Are you sure?” Gwen asked.

  “Of course I’m sure,” Crystal said. She held up her hand. “No keys or anything, just my hand. My nails aren’t even fake! No way I could scratch his car, let alone dent it.”

  Gwen frowned and turned to Guntar and Adrian. The historian of the pack sighed. “This is beyond me. We need help.”

  “Help? What are you talking about?” Crystal asked.

  “They don’t know what to do with you,” Hank said. “I’m not worried about that. Who was the kid who pulled this stunt?”

  “Crystal!” Gwen snapped before she could respond. “Do not tell that to Hank!”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because none of us will be able to stop him from making your friend have a very bad accident.”

  Crystal gasped and turned her attention on Hank. He shrugged and glanced at the ground. The heat in her belly doubled and spread lower in her abdomen. She started towards him and almost reached him when Gwen cleared her throat loudly.

  “I’m not telling him,” Crystal sulked. “I just wanted to thank him for wanting to protect me.”

  Guntar chuckled again and Gwen snorted. “Finish the story.”

  “The story? Oh! You mean about—about that guy. Right. Sorry. I got up to leave and he grabbed my arm. I got mad. I mean really, really mad. Everything was red and I was so hot. When I could see again, he was on the ground and covered in food.”

  “What did you do?” Adrian snarled.

  “I slapped him, that’s all!”

  Hank took a step and reached out to grab her hand.

  She felt him and had to fight to resist the urge to melt into him. To keep herself distracted, she kept talking. “I got detention for it. Otherwise, I’d have been here sooner.”

  “Knocked him down with a slap?” Guntar asked.

  Hank’s chuckle rumbled in his chest beside her.

  Hearing him made her breath quicken. “Yes,” she said. “And he’s a jock too, not a little guy. Beth covered for me; she said I’ve been exercising a lot lately to lose some weight.”

  “This is happening too fast,” Adrian said. “We need to take her soon.”

  “Take me? Where?”

  “We need Ember,” Guntar said. “We’ll do it this weekend.”

  “Every day could be a day too late,” Adrian warned.

  “Ember!” Crystal said while looking around. “Where is she? I thought I saw her this morning outside my house.”

  “She hasn’t been back since yesterday,” Gwen said.

  “You mean when you told her to go take care of Stephanie?”

  Gwen nodded again.

  Crystal groaned. “Her bike is at Stephanie’s house then. That must be who gave her a ride this morning! I wonder if that’s why she was so different today.”

  “She? She who? Ember?” Gwen asked.

  “Sorry, Stephanie,” Crystal clarified. “Did Ember do something to her?”

  “She’d better not,” Adrian said.

  “Not much she can do. We don’t have any way to make people behave different.”

  Crystal nodded. “Okay. Um. Well, there was one other thing.”

  Adrian growled deep in his throat.

  “Stephanie tried to give me a necklace but it felt wrong. It made my hand itch really bad as soon as I touched it. She said it was silver.”

  Guntar frowned. “Silver? Already? After a week?”

  “A week!” Adrian hissed. “Has it even been a week? Is this weekend going to be too long?”

  “What are you guys talking about?” Crystal demanded.

  Hank pulled her to him and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. She burrowed against him, forgetting for a moment everything except smelling and touching him. When he spoke, it made her jerk in surprise. “We’re going to see Clover.”

  “Clover? Like, the stuff that grows in fields?”

  Guntar chuckled. “Hardly. This Clover is in the swamp.”

  “Hope it’s got four leaves—I could use some luck,” Crystal murmured as she started to lose herself in Hank’s presence again. She didn’t really care, though; as long as she was next to Hank, she’d be willing to endure anything.

  “You will need luck,” Adrian barked. “Clover’s a witch.”

  ###

  **Part Three**

  Chapter 1

  “A witch named Clover?”

  Crystal glanced around the lunchroom to make sure no one was paying attention and then nodded. “She’s in the swamp.”

  Beth gawked at her and then recovered. “The swamp? You mean, downriver?”

  “Yes.”

  “And her name is Clover?”

  “Beth!” Crystal hissed.

  “Sorry, it just doesn’t sound like a witchy name.”

  Crystal smirked in spite of herself. “Witchy?”

  Her friend shrugged and opened her mouth to say more. Her eyes flicked up and she clamped her mouth shut. Crystal turned her head and saw Stephanie approaching wearing a tight-fitting black miniskirt and a pink scoop neck shirt with silver sparkles on it. The sparkles matched her smile as she walked towards them.

  “Hi,” Stephanie said before she slid into the chair at the round table next to Crystal. “I looked for you guys this morning. You should really get here a little earlier so we can hang out.”

  “Hang out?” Beth asked.

  Stephanie turned and smiled at her. The smile reached her eyes when she saw Beth was wearing the silver necklace she’d given her the day before. “Yes, that’s part of everything. You have to be seen and it’s important who you’re seen with.”

  “This is giving me a headache.” Beth groaned.

  Stephanie laughed and turned as Rachel, another of the elite, walked up to them and took the chair at the table opposite her. Crystal leaned back, surprised at Rachel’s confidence, and looked at Beth. The four-person table seemed very full all of a sudden.

  “Hey,” Rachel said to Crystal and Beth. She grinned and said, “Has anyone seen Chad today?”

  Stephanie burst into giggles. Beth looked back and forth. “No, why? I don’t get it.”

  Rachel laughed harder while Stephanie explained. “No way to hide those scratches on his face. He probably figured it was better to stay home than face everyone.”

  “Or maybe he figured you’d slap the other side,” Rachel whispered.

  Crystal smiled with them and wondered if that was really it. She’d been embarrassed tons of times at school—most often by the blond sitting next to her. She’d
never taken a day off because of it. Could there be more to it? Had she made him sick? Like what the Beast had done to her when he staked his claim on her with a bite? Except she hadn’t bitten him. He should be safe.

  “Ow!” Rachel hissed as she chewed on a vegetable. She made a face and rolled her eyes before she reached up and put her finger between her lips and then pulled it out. “I don’t believe it! I just bit my lip!”

  Crystal stared at the red on Rachel’s finger. Blood. She realized she was sniffing after doing it and forced herself to stop. Blood. Her friends had told her the curse or gift or whatever they called it was in the blood. The Beast had poisoned her with his bites, but she was changing because she’d gotten their blood mixed with hers. And she’d had a nosebleed in Chad’s car and probably gotten some on his seat.

  “What are you doing?” Beth asked as Crystal rose to her feet.

  Crystal hesitated and glanced around.

  “Are you all right?” Stephanie asked.

  Beth’s eyes went to Rachel and then back to Crystal.

  “Yeah, uh…” Crystal paused. “No, I’m feeling a little weird. I’m going to go splash some water on my face.”

  “I’ve got some emergency makeup in my purse. I’ll help,” Stephanie offered.

  “No—I’m okay. I mean, I’ll be okay. It’s waterproof.”

  Stephanie relaxed back into her seat and nodded. “Okay, well, let us know how you’re doing. If you need a ride home, I can give you a ride if Beth can’t.”

  “Um, yeah, me too,” Rachel offered.

  Crystal nodded and offered a weak smile. Beth stared at her, her eyes boring into Crystal’s. Crystal tried to look apologetic without giving anything away and then turned and headed out of the lunchroom.

  She stopped by the girls’ restroom and stared into the mirror for a long moment. Her eyes always caught her attention first. They seemed brighter, with more and more gold flecks every day. Her cheeks had thinned out as though her baby fat was melting away. She was hardly a baby, but she couldn’t think of any other way to describe it.

  Her neck was thinner too. She could make out the tendons and muscles where before her neck looked round and smooth. Her collarbones where visible and the hollow at the base of her throat was more pronounced than it had ever been. Her weight was down twenty-four pounds this morning.