Claimed by the Beast Bundle

by Dawn Michelle

  She wiped her chin with a towel Gwen offered and then realized her blanket was still around her waist. She was naked. Her eyes widened for a moment and then she reminded herself they’d all seen her naked. For a couple of days now, at least. Before that, she’d gone for nude runs in the woods with Gwen and Ember. And Hank, well, he’d seen her most private areas.

  She handed Hank the bowl and gave him a thankful smile. He returned it and she could see the tension in his body. She tilted her head and considered why he was upset. It was because of her. Not her fault, but because she was hurting. He wanted to help. He wanted to take care of her. Just like she’d want to do for him.

  “I’m okay,” she assured him.

  She saw some of the stress flow out of his face. He closed his eyes and exhaled before opening them and nodding. “Good.”

  “So, tell us what happened,” Ember said.

  Crystal nodded. She opened her mouth and a bit of air slipped out of her belly to escape in a surprise belch. Her hand flew to her lips. “Oh! Excuse me. I ate too fast.”

  Gwen laughed silently while Guntar and Adrian showed no reaction. Typical men. Crystal put the faux pas aside and took a deep breath. She could do that now and it felt good. “Well, this is long and confusing, but here goes…”

  Chapter 8

  Crystal suddenly felt uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at her but she wasn’t doing anything. Her mouth felt paralyzed. Ember squeezed her hand, startling her out of her stage fright. Crystal turned and gave her a quick smile.

  “Sorry,” she said. “So I left here Monday night after Hank and I, um—”

  “You said you wanted some time to think about things and figure stuff out,” Hank offered.

  “Yeah, that,” Crystal agreed. This time he earned the appreciative smile. “Anyhow, I ran through the woods because running felt so good. I was trying to figure myself out and I thought that would help. It wasn’t until I made it to the road that I realized something wasn’t right. Somehow Chad must have tracked me. I was just about to come back when he surprised me. Before I could get away, the others showed up.”

  “The others?” Guntar asked. “You mean the three we found near the bridge?”

  “Yes, and two others. One of them is the sheriff.”

  “Wait.” Adrian stopped the conversation with his need for understanding. “You mean they used Chad to find you?”

  Crystal swallowed and nodded. “Yes. That was exactly it. They used him and then, uh, then they,” she hesitated and took a deep breath before saying, “then they killed him.”

  Ember squeezed her hand again and Hank stiffened beside her. Adrian scowled. “They preach against people like us and him, but they use him for their own ends.”

  “Why’d they kill him?” Guntar asked.

  Adrian looked to Crystal and asked, “Had he changed yet?”

  “He was messed up,” Crystal admitted. “Didn’t look very different yet, though.”

  Adrian nodded. “They killed him before they lost control and he got away. Or killed them.”

  Gwen shivered. “And they call us animals.”

  Guntar shrugged. “He’s dead, that’s what matters.”

  “What about you?” Hank asked, bringing the conversation back to Crystal. “How did you get away?”

  “I didn’t,” she answered. “They gave me something. Nightshade, I think. It was in a needle they stabbed me with and it knocked me out really quick. When I woke up again, I was in a shed somewhere and they wanted to know if I was like you guys or not.”

  “They didn’t know?” Gwen asked.

  Crystal shook her head. “Speaking of that, though, they know about you guys. Maybe not who you are, but that there are some others out there.”

  “How did you get away?” Ember asked.

  “I figured out who I was,” she said and then looked at the frowns and confused expressions on everyone’s faces. It made her smile to think she knew something they didn’t for once. “I thought back to all the times my feet and hands had changed. My body did it because it was needed. That meant I had some control over it, but not the way you guys do.”

  “I don’t understand,” Adrian admitted.

  Ember stiffened beside her. “This is the thing where you don’t control your wolf, you work with it?”

  “Not just that, I am the wolf. And she is me,” Crystal said. She turned to Adrian and clarified. “At Clover’s when I beat the Beast, I couldn’t do it without my wolf. She agreed, so we joined together. We merged, became one person. One wolf. One being.”

  Adrian tilted his head. “Fascinating.”

  Crystal nodded. “You have no idea. Anyhow, Mr. Edgerton, Mr. Dixon, and the other guy we saw in the woods wanted to find out if I was special or not. So they stabbed me in the arm with a silver knife to see if it would heal.”

  “That’s stupid,” Adrian growled. “Nobody’s going to heal from a wound like that!”

  “Yes, but then they stabbed me in the other shoulder with a normal steel knife,” Crystal said.

  Adrian grunted and nodded.

  “I was able to keep myself from healing that one so they’d think I was normal.”

  “Impressive,” Guntar said.

  “Except they decided they didn’t need to keep me around if I wasn’t a shifter,” Crystal said. “So Mr. Edgerton stabbed me in the chest.”

  “In the chest?” Gwen gasped.

  Ember’s hand squeezed down on hers, and Hank started to rise to his feet. Crystal grabbed onto his leg and kept him sitting beside her.

  “In the heart,” Crystal said. “I was lucky he used the steel knife last, so he had that in his hand instead of the silver one.”

  “How did you not die?” Gwen whispered.

  Crystal shook her head. “I’m not sure I didn’t,” she admitted. “My heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe. I fought to stay awake and conscious so I could heal enough to stop bleeding.”

  “You don’t bleed if your heart isn’t pumping,” Adrian grumbled.

  Crystal jerked her head up. “Oh my God! I never even thought of that!”

  “Not the recommended way to stop bleeding, though,” Guntar added.

  Crystal let out a laugh. “You got that right! He figured I was dead so he threw a tarp over me and walked out. I had a weird vision of chasing some rabbit while you guys were watching me. Then I stopped chasing it because something didn’t feel right. The rabbit came to me, and I almost killed it before I realized an animal would never do that. Then I woke up, coughing and gagging and hurting like I’d never hurt before.”

  Ember’s hand was squeezing hers so hard it was beginning to hurt. Crystal turned and saw the trails of tears on Ember’s cheeks. She smiled at her and got a smile and a sniff in return. She turned to deal with Hank’s trembling leg under her other hand. “I’m okay. Really.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. She saw the anger in his eyes.

  “I was tied down with some ropes that burned if I pushed against them, but I knew I had to get away. Only way I could figure to do it was shift. So, um, I did.”

  “Just like that?” Gwen asked.

  Crystal nodded. “Pretty much. I figured out that I was trying too hard and doing the wrong stuff. What I wasn’t ready for was the pain. Oh my God, it hurt!”

  “We told you it did,” Gwen said.

  “You get used to it,” Ember said.

  Crystal blew out a breath. “I hope so. That first time was a disaster!”

  “Because it hurt?”

  “No, because I didn’t know what I was doing and was clumsy. By the time I got my feet under me, I’d been seen by a dozen different people and was running for my life. Stephanie saw me, too, but she didn’t know it was me.”

  “That was when I found you?” Adrian asked.

  Crystal nodded.

  Guntar grunted. “That explains your shoulder.”

  “My shoulder?”

  “Why it didn’t heal when you shifted,” Gwen said. �
��You were stabbed with a silver knife.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” Crystal nodded. “It didn’t bother me much when I was shifted, but now it’s tight and kind of sore.”

  “It’s healing, just not as fast,” Guntar said. “That explains the new scar too.”

  “New scar?” Crystal looked at her shoulder. It was still scabbed over; a scar hadn’t had a chance to form yet.

  “Your heart,” Hank mumbled.

  Crystal dropped her eyes to her chest and saw, just left of her sternum in the soft skin of her breast, a thin pink line. “Oh! I never thought about that.”

  “You’re still beautiful,” Hank reassured her.

  Crystal blushed and squeezed his leg. She glanced at Ember out of the corner of her eye but the redhead wasn’t looking at her. She wondered if maybe Ember’s strange affection wasn’t so strange after all. Maybe she really did care for her as a friend and a sister instead of in a romantic way. Crystal smiled. She was in need of a new BFF.

  “Oh my God!” Crystal gasped. “Beth!”

  “Between looking for you and keeping an eye on her, it’s been a busy week,” Guntar said. “She’s doing okay. Anxious to see you, but so is everybody.”

  Crystal groaned. “I’ve been gone a week. My mom! Oh crap.”

  “She’s never going to let you go somewhere with me again,” Hank said with a weak chuckle.

  Crystal winced and leaned into his side. He put his arm around her to side hug her to him. “Then I’ll move out,” she said.

  Hank sucked in a breath. “Really?”

  “Nothing’s going to keep me away from you again,” Crystal vowed. She turned to look at the others and ended up meeting Ember’s eyes. “All of you.”

  Chapter 9

  Crystal woke up feeling like she was in an oven. The blankets had been pushed off the foot of the bed but that didn’t matter. It was the press of bodies around her that was keeping her warm. Bodies as bare as hers was.

  She blinked the sleep out of her eyes as the situation settled in. She’d faded fast as they started talking about what was going to happen next. Crystal wasn’t sure what the decision was; exhaustion had sucked her under. Ember had been with her enough times now that she found her presence comforting beside her. She’d snuggled into Hank but didn’t let go of the fear that Mr. Edgerton was going to burst through the door at any moment until Ember curled up behind her and molded her lithe body to hers.

  Crystal smiled and turned her head to saw Ember still sleeping beside her. Crystal’s smile twisted as she thought how impossible it would have been for her to even imagine something like this a month ago. Her mom would have freaked out! Crystal would have freaked out, for that matter. And Beth? Phew! She didn’t even want to think about how Beth would take it.

  Then there was Stephanie. Stephanie would flip out. She’d be jealous, to say the least, and then probably hopeful. Hopeful that she could sleep next to her too. She shuddered at the thought of how Stephanie wouldn’t be able to keep her hands to herself.

  “What’s wrong?” Ember whispered.

  Crystal jerked in surprise and twisted. Hank grunted as she woke him up. He twisted and then slid off the edge of the small bed and hit both the floor and the legs of the table. The table bounced back into the wall and the alarm clock fell off and landed on him.

  “Oh my God! Hank!” Crystal rolled after him and leaned over the bed to stare at him. “Are you okay?”

  Hank peered out from behind his arm that he held over his head. “We need a bigger bed,” he grumbled.

  Crystal grinned and leaned down to kiss him. Ember nudged her, forcing her to yelp as she lost her balance and fell on top of Hank. Hank grunted as he softened her landing and then relaxed when she leaned in to kiss him.

  “Really?” Ember said from above them. “Fine, but don’t take too long. We have things to do.”

  Crystal pulled her head back after Ember crawled off the bed and slapped her butt on her way out the door. She pulled the door shut behind her and, a moment later, the outer door opened and shut. “Holy crap, she didn’t even get dressed!”

  Hank chuckled. “That’s Red for you.”

  Crystal shook her head. She had a long ways to go before she could be as confident and sexy as Ember was. Or as much of an exhibitionist. “So, um, what are we going to do?”

  Hank grinned and pulled her down to kiss him again. Crystal returned the kiss and then wrinkled her nose. “Morning breath,” she said.

  Hank frowned, forcing Crystal to burst out laughing. She kissed him again and captured his face in her hands when he tried to turn his head away. He frowned. “I thought—”

  “I’m screwing with you,” she said.

  Hank’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “Screwing with me? I’ll show you screwing!”

  Crystal’s giggle turned into a yelp and he rolled her over and into the wall. He got to his knees and picked her up, not that she squirmed to escape. She ended up tossed on the bed. Hank stood over her, his interest visible both in his eyes and below his eyes. A few feet below.

  “Is that for me?”

  Hank glanced down and grinned. “If you want it.”

  “Oh yeah,” Crystal breathed. She licked her lips. “I want it!”

  “You’re not, um, worried?” he asked.

  Crystal grinned. He was too sweet. “No, baby, I’m not. I won’t do that to you again, I promise.”

  His lips split apart in a grin that was accompanied by a fresh surge down below. Crystal raised a finger and beckoned him to come closer but Hank had something else in mind. He dropped to his knees beside the bed and grabbed her legs.

  “Hey! What—” Crystal started to protest until her strong man lifted her legs and spread them before he pulled her closer to the edge of the bed.

  “Oh my God! Hank, don’t—Oh! Shit!” Crystal grabbed a fistful of sheet in each hand as Hank pressed his mouth to her flesh. She stared down at him, horrified at first but unable to say anything. She hadn’t showered in, like, forever! And even still, that was not something she wanted. It was dirty and—and—and what the hell was he doing?

  Crystal gasped and let her head fall back on the bed. Was that his tongue? She mewed when his teeth raked across her sensitive flesh. Hard enough to leave her panting but not hard enough to hurt. He kept going, licking and tickling and sucking on her in ways she’d never imagined were possible. The image from her dream of Hank between Stephanie’s legs flashed through her mind. She shuddered and squeezed her thighs against his head. No way, no how, was she ever going to let him do this to anyone but her!

  She cried out again as he found some new way to send an electric jolt of pure heaven through her body and decided that maybe this wasn’t so bad after all. She relaxed onto the bed and then suffered a minor seizure when his tongue flattened and licked in a long swath.

  Crystal groaned and reached down to run her fingers through Hank’s hair. He growled, sending tremors through her body. Hank picked up on it and did it again. It worked as well the second time.

  Days and nights may have passed as far as Crystal cared. When Hank finally picked his head up and crawled up her body, she lay spent and weak on the bed. She gasped for breath and didn’t know how she could possibly take any more. Hank paused to sniff her belly and then worship her breasts with his mouth.

  She groaned as fresh tingles swept through her and connected in her belly. Why weren’t his lips and tongue exhausted? He bit down on her nipple, drawing a gasp from her that arched her back and pressed her aching flesh into his mouth. Hank sucked and soothed it, slowly lowering her back to the bed.

  She picked her head up to tell him no more but he sensed her movement and moved up to press his lips to hers. It didn’t occur to her until well after their tongues met where his mouth had been. It didn’t matter. She loved him and needed him. Besides, she couldn’t tell any difference.

  Hank pulled her up on the bed and slipped between her legs. She felt him rubbing against her, coating himself before he p
oked at her entrance. Crystal moaned into his mouth and twisted her legs so she could open herself more and put her heels against his muscular butt. She tried to drive him in with her feet, encouraging him to take her.

  He obliged and slid himself farther than either of his first attempts had been. Crystal gasped, sucking in his breath and then she capturing his tongue between her lips so she could suck on it. She slid her arms down his sweat-soaked back and used both her hands and feet to tug him farther into her. Hank got the message and rocked his hips back and forth, inching farther and farther until their flesh pressed against each other.

  Crystal moaned and slid her arms up to his back. She held him tight and moved her face into his neck. He was so deep inside her, she felt his hardness in her belly. She wanted more. She needed more.

  “Take me,” she whispered into his ear.

  Hank grunted and tried to pull his head back to look in her eyes. She clung to him. “No, just make love to me,” she whispered before pressing her lips to his neck. When she released them, she added, “Make me yours.”

  “We already did that,” Hank responded. He shifted his hips and twisted his pelvis to grind his pubic bone against hers.

  Crystal shuddered and bit down on his shoulder hard enough to draw blood. He stiffened on top and inside her while she lapped it up. “I was a stupid kid before,” Crystal whispered. “Now I know what I want. Give it to me. I claimed you, baby. Now make me the happiest girl in the world and make me yours.”

  Hank drew himself out, pulling almost completely free of her. Crystal gasped, confused and feeling empty. His arms were under hers and his hand clutched her shoulders, holding her tight. He thrust back in, driving the air from her even as she felt his teeth break the skin of her shoulder. It was too much. The teasing orgasms when he’d gone down on her couldn’t prepare her for this. Her entire body went rigid beneath him but it didn’t stop him from grinding himself into her time and time again.