Claimed by the Beast Bundle (32 page)

Chapter 14

Crystal gasped and had to blink several times until she could focus clearly. She relaxed when she noticed the wall and door of Hank’s trailer. She picked her head up and looked up into Hank’s smiling blue eyes. Somehow he’d rearranged them on the couch. She was lying half on top of him and half tucked between him and the back of the couch. Her left leg was sprawled across his belly and her arm was curled on his chest.

“How?” she whispered.

“How what? How did I move us?”

“Mmm, yes,” she said before kissing the side of his chest.

His arm, wrapped around her back, squeezed her against him for a moment. “You passed out and nearly took me with you. I managed to stay awake and, after I got my strength back, picked you up and moved us.”

Crystal snuggled into him and nodded. The trailer was still warm but she didn’t mind. A little sweat was a fine price to pay to be next to him. To feel his skin against hers. She gasped and picked her head up. “We’re naked!”

Hank grinned. “Feels better this way.”

She opened her mouth to respond and then realized he was right. It did feel good. Just like in the swamp, she felt natural. Like this was how she was supposed to be. How she felt to her and how she felt to him were two completely different matters. “I’m not crushing you, am I?”

Hank’s chuckle died in his throat as he looked at her. “You’re serious?”

Crystal bit her lip and nodded.

“Don’t get any skinnier,” he said.

Crystal blinked. “What?”

“We’re both big,” he told her and then cursed when her chin started to tremble. “No, I mean tall and with broad shoulders. You are beautiful, Crystal. A goddess.”

“Stop it.”

“No.” He shook his head. “If you get any smaller, I’m going to be afraid to touch you and that just won’t do. I really, really like touching you.”

Crystal blushed. “Me too.”

He laughed. “You’d better!”

She jerked her eyes back up to his and found herself getting lost in them again. “I’d better? Why?”

“You bit me.”

“Oh my God!”

Hank stared at her, his features relaxing until only a gentle smile remained. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know? Know what?”

“Biting. It’s a sign of dominance or maybe possession. At least when you’re not fighting for your life. Although I guess it applies then too.”

Crystal shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

“You bit me. That means you want to claim me as yours or make me look up and respect you.”

Her eyes widened and she blurted out her question before he could finish. “Do you?”

Color filled his cheeks before he admitted, “Yes. Very much.”

“Oh my God!”

He chuckled again. “That’s a bite. But you drew blood. Once was enough, but you did it twice. And you soothed the bites.”

“Twice? I only remember once.”

“When you came, at the end.”

Crystal gasped at a faint memory of chewing on his neck and swallowing every time she felt him quiver and release inside her. “Oh! Um, so what’s that mean?”

“Normally it means you’ve chosen me.”

Thoughts of the beast biting her and claiming her filtered through her head. “Chosen you?”

He blushed and nodded. “As your mate.”

“Mate?” she gasped.

“It’s like a boyfriend, only longer term. Like, a lot longer,” he supplied.

Crystal slapped his chest lightly. “I know what it means! I just—um, wow. I had no idea.”

“I figured as much. I’m not holding you to it.”

“No!” Crystal dropped her eyes from his. It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? She loved him. He’d just taken her virginity, for crying out loud! She rested her head back on his shoulder and kissed his chest again. “It’s not like that. I mean, I like you. Like, I really, really like you.”

He smiled and leaned over to kiss her on top of her head. “I like you too.”

She shivered in spite of the warmth and hugged him. “So we’re cool?”

She felt a hitch in his breathing. “I’m not sure. What did you decide?”

Crystal blushed. She hadn’t decided anything. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing. Only that he’d made her feel incredible and she wanted to do it again. Stephanie was right: people who didn’t like sex really were crazy!

“Crys?”

“Sorry, I was thinking about Stephanie,” she half-lied. “Um, yes, I like you. And yes, if you’ll have me, I’d like to be with you. I don’t know what that makes us, but, um, I’ve kinda been calling you my boyfriend.”

He grinned and kissed her again. “So if I get a bigger place you’ll move in?”

She bit her lip and nodded. Her mom would freak but this was her family now. Her pack. She’d deal with her mom when she had to.

“Great. Um, how big of a bed will we need? You know, three people and all.”

Crystal picked herself up and stared at him. “Three? What are you talking about?”

“I thought you wanted to keep Stephanie around?”

Crystal’s eyes bulged and she gawked at him. She slapped his belly even as he laughed at her reaction. She pouted for all of a second until she dissolved into giggles. “Stop it!” she chided him when she could talk again. “I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

He grinned. “Good.”

Crystal leaned over and kissed him. She broke away and paused, and then leaned back in.
He was a good kisser, so why not?

The door to the trailer flew open and sent Crystal jumping up off the couch and then crashing back down on top of Hank. He grunted and held on to her to keep her from hurting herself—or him.

Guntar stood in the doorway and stared at them while they stopped thrashing on the couch. Crystal saw his lips curl up in a smirk beneath his heavy mustache and beard. “Get dressed. We’ve got to ride.”

“What?” Crystal asked.

“You too,” he told her. “ Adrian took a ride to check on this Chad guy. He just called. Your friend Beth’s at his house.”

Crystal lurched to her feet, breaking out of Hank’s arms and then fell when her feet hit the floor. “Oh my God!” she cried as she grabbed her groin. She couldn’t stand up, her muscles hurt so bad. With no regard to her earlier thoughts of how wonderful it had been, she blurted out, “I’m never having sex again!”

###

**Part Five**

Chapter 1

“This is so crazy.” Stephanie had to yell to be heard over the sound of the wind rushing past them.

Crystal looked over at the former bully. “Welcome to my life,” she said. She squirmed in her seat and rolled her eyes at how sore she still was. She wasn’t healing as fast as she had before she’d driven the Beast out of her. She blushed at the thought of having a different kind of beast in her a little bit ago.

“Why would Beth go there?” Stephanie asked.

Crystal pushed the pleasant thoughts of making love to Hank out of her mind. Beth needed them. “I don’t know,” Crystal said. “She’s worried about me and wants to help.”

“About you?”

“Well, you too.”

Stephanie smiled. “You’ve got Chad after you, but I’m the one looking forward to a padded room and a straightjacket because I can’t stop lusting after you.”

“Oh my God.” Crystal groaned. “Do you have to make it sound like that?”

“Sorry,” Stephanie said. “Just want to make sure you understand how bad I’ve got it for you.”

“You mean how bad I screwed you up?”

“Crys, stop it,” Stephanie rebuked her. “I drove you to it and you didn’t know you could cast a spell on me. It’s cool.”

“You’re only saying that because I did that to you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t mind. I like it. Just being here and talking to you makes me feel good.”

“Even though you’re driving me to something that could be terrible?”

Stephanie shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m just surprised that you’re not riding with Hank. And yeah, I’m happy.”

Crystal glanced over at the mirror and saw Hank riding behind them on his Indian motorcycle. She smiled at the sight of the large man. “I can’t help it, you’re growing on me. Besides, this dress is too short to wear on a motorcycle.”

Stephanie glanced over at her and dropped her eyes down Crystal’s tall form to her long legs on display below the bottom of the sundress. “It wouldn’t stop Ember.”

“Not much would,” Crystal agreed. The redhead wasn’t crazy, but she was definitely full of confidence and marched to her own beat. She shifted again and winced. The soreness of trying to stuff the tree trunk that Hank called a penis inside her was fading but now she was learning about the aftereffects of having sex. She glanced down at the seat, checking to make sure that Stephanie’s seats were leather.

“What are you doing?” Stephanie asked her as she shifted.

“Oh, nothing. Just making sure you’ve got leather seats.”

“What? Why?” Stephanie wondered.

Crystal blushed. “No reason.”

Stephanie kept glancing at her and shook her head. “I call bullshit. Spill it, girlfriend.”

“I’m not—fine. I feel like I’m having my period, but I’m not.”

Stephanie burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny. I’ve never had sex before! I didn’t know!”

“Oh, it’s funny,” Stephanie said. She giggled and shook her head. “It’s called the wet spot and that’s what happens when the guy finishes inside you. Might help if you wore underwear.”

“What? Oh, I didn’t think of that!” Crystal grabbed her purse from beside her and rummaged around in it for her panties. She pulled them out and bent over in the seat to slip her feet through them. She straightened and glanced around. They were driving slow through town but nobody could see her in spite of the top being down on the convertible. She pulled her dress up and struggled to pull her underwear up her thighs and over her hips. She made a few adjustments and then lowered her dress back down.

She frowned at the feeling. The blood had changed her. She and the wolf were one, even if she didn’t know how things worked yet. Clothing itched and bothered her. It wasn’t natural. The tighter the fit, the more irritated she was. She glanced up out the front window and saw the brake lights of the bikes in front of them.

Crystal screamed as Stephanie jerked and slammed on her brakes. The tires chirped on the asphalt as Stephanie tried to force them to stop spinning in spite of the anti-lock brakes pushing back against her. The Camaro stopped with less than a foot of distance between the back of Guntar and Ember’s bikes.

“What the heck?” Crystal said when she found her voice.

“Sorry, I was distracted.”

“By what?” Crystal glared at her.

Stephanie’s cheeks flared red.

“Oh my God.” Crystal groaned. “You were checking me out, weren’t you?”

Stephanie bit her lip and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Why did I have to screw up and do this to you?”

“I’m glad you did,” Stephanie muttered.

Crystal barked out a laugh. “Of course you are. I turned you into this.”

Stephanie reached over and squeezed Crystal’s hand before letting it go. “If you hadn’t, I’d still be a bitch who was trying to make everyone hate you. This way I’ve gotten to know that you really are a great person who didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

“And it makes you perv on me.”

Stephanie grinned through her blush. “Just think of it as the price for not being branded a social misfit anymore.”

“Lucky me. I think I was doing okay as an outcast.”

Stephanie shrugged. “Just be thankful you don’t know what I was thinking about when you screamed.”

“Really? Like that’s not an invitation to ask?” Crystal asked.

Stephanie blushed and glanced at her. Her eyes dropped to her lap, now covered by her dress. She licked her lips and said, “I was fantasizing about helping you clean up the mess.”

“Oh my God! That’s nasty! It’s Hank’s, um—” Crystal trailed off, too embarrassed to finish her thought. She threw her head back on the seat and stared out the window of the car. The stoplight changed, giving her an escape from the conversation. “It’s green.”

Stephanie accelerated, keeping up with the bikes ahead of them. The rosy color of her cheeks faded slowly but she managed to keep her eyes on the road.

Crystal glanced at her a few times and then shook her head. Stephanie was willing to do anything to be with her, even accept that Hank was Crystal’s boyfriend. Hank had suggested Stephanie move in with her to help her until she could figure out how to avoid going crazy from being compelled to love someone who didn’t love her back. She groaned under her breath. Fighting off the Beast was nothing compared to dealing with Stephanie. The worst part was, it was all her fault.

Stephanie turned at the next road, following Guntar and Ember. Crystal had to put her thoughts of how to help the blond aside. Beth’s car was parked up ahead on the side of the road. She wasn’t in front of Chad’s house after all, but only two houses down. She didn’t have any doubt where her best friend was. She hoped they made it in time to save her.