Claimed by the Beast Bundle (36 page)

Chapter 8

A knock on Beth’s door preceded the nurse opening it and stepping out of the way. Brett and Marian Stenger, Beth’s parents, rushed in and nearly knocked Crystal over. Brett pulled up short and had to crane his neck up to look at Hank.

“Who are you?” he demanded while his wife all but fell onto Beth’s bed as she hugged and kissed her.

Hank raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m Hank,” he said.

“Mr. Stenger.” Crystal rushed to her boyfriend’s defense. “Hank was with me. He scared away the guy who was hurting her.”

Brett glanced at Crystal and his shoulders dropped. He turned back to Hank and stuck out his hand. Hank took it. “Thank you, Hank. Thank you so much. I—I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything,” Hank offered. “I didn’t do anything that someone else wouldn't have done.”

Brett shook his head and cleared his throat. “Well, thank you for being in the right place at the right time then.”

Hank smiled. “Glad I could be.”

Beth’s dad stepped around him and moved to the other side of Beth’s bed. He gave her a hug and then glanced away, blinking rapidly to clear the moisture from his eyes. Crystal felt her own throat tighten. She reached down to capture Hank’s hand in hers. She gave it a tug and nodded at the door.

“We’re going to give you guys some time with her, okay?” Crystal said.

She was ignored as Beth’s parents fawned over the injured girl.

Crystal pulled Hank outside with her, walking past two police officers who were headed the opposite direction. She glanced at them and frowned. Had the hospital called the police? It made sense; a major crime had been committed. The thought of getting cops involved seemed dangerous to her. If they found out what was really going on, there was a lot more at risk than just a family name.

Once they were outside the hospital and standing alone, Crystal turned to her boyfriend. “What the hell is going on?” she asked. His eyes widened but before he could respond, she pushed on. “Why would Guntar just let them go? They had guns, sure, but we outnumbered them.”

“You want to get shot?” Hank asked.

“Of course not!” she snapped. “But I’ve been hurt pretty bad lately and I’m fine now. It might hurt, but I would recover.”

“What if it was a bullet through your heart or your head? Think you’d still heal?”

Crystal frowned. “Maybe? I don’t know. I hit my head pretty hard when I fell off Ember’s bike.”

“Hit it hard,” he stressed, “but you didn’t spread it across the ground. And that was before, when you still had the Beast in you. You healed a lot faster then. Faster than any of us. Think you still do?”

Crystal glanced at her belly where her scars were covered by her dress. She hadn’t managed to hurt herself since her time with Clover and she wasn’t in a hurry to try. “I don’t know. Probably not, that’s what I was told.”

“Right,” Hank said. “And if they had belladonna with them, they probably had silver bullets too.”

“Silver? Like that necklace Stephanie gave Beth?”

“What?”

“She did,” Crystal said. “She gave it to me but it made my hand itch, so I let her give it to Beth instead. Besides, Beth loves jewelry and I don’t really care about it that much.”

“Oh, okay. Well, if it made your hand itch, imagine what being shot with a silver bullet or stabbed with a silver knife would feel like.”

Crystal stuck out her tongue. “No thanks.”

“Something about silver makes it harder for us to recover,” Hank said. “It’s our kryptonite.”

Crystal rolled her eyes and made him chuckle. “Okay, so what about this belladonna stuff? That’s a plant, I remember that from school. Poisonous, right?”

“Belladonna’s been used as poison for thousands of years,” he confirmed. “Wolfsbane too. In fact, it got that name from wolves, normal ones, digging up the roots in hard winters and eating them. Then it killed them.”

“Yuck.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know how it tastes, only that it will stop your breathing and your heart. We can handle most poisons; we digest them and metabolize them before they hurt us. A good dose of either of those will knock us out, though. A heavy dose can kill us.”

Crystal tilted her head. “Okay, uh, why would they have that then? And how would they know?”

“There are people out there who know about us. Not our pack, necessarily, but what we are. They know we are real and they don’t think we should be.”

“You mean—” Crystal hesitated. “Oh my God! Guntar and Adrian were talking about this. Nutjobs who think we’re evil and should be destroyed! But how did they know we’d be there?”

Hank shrugged.

“You have to have an idea! Come on, Hank, you’ve been with them awhile—you have to know something!”

He sighed. “My guess? They know enough to figure out what’s happening to that kid—”

“Chad?” Crystal interrupted.

“Yeah, Chad. So they armed themselves in case they had to take him down.”

“Jesus,” Crystal muttered. “But, uh, Chad’s dad was there! And Stephanie’s dad. Holy cow, Steph told me how religious her dad is and how he and Chad’s dad are in all the same clubs and stuff. Oh man, this is bad. Really, really bad!”

Hank sighed. “Crys, calm down.”

“Calm down? How can I calm down? I’m living in the same town as some psychopaths who want me dead! His daughter is one of my best friends!”

“Stephanie’s one of your best friends? When did that happen?” he asked.

“This week,” Crystal said. “After I accidentally made her fall in love with me.”

He frowned. “Just because she has to love you doesn’t mean you have to feel anything special for her. Remember, you couldn’t stand her a couple weeks ago.”

“What are you talking about? How can I not feel something?”

“Guilt maybe,” he offered. “I’m just trying to remind you, that’s all. Don’t let yourself get caught up into thinking this is some high school drama. Settle down a little.”

“Oh my God! Beth just got raped and had the crap beat out of her! If we hadn’t found her, she’d either be dead or a lot worse off. What almost happened to me could have happened to her!”

“And it didn’t. We can’t undo what’s been done; we can only move ahead,” he said in a voice that was so calm it made her furious.

“Maybe you’re used to this kind of stuff but I’m not,” Crystal hissed at him. “That’s my friend in there. She’s been my best friend for, like, ever. If she’s hurting, then I’m hurting. And right now she’s really messed up. I want to find that son of a bitch and I want him to pay for what he did!”

“He will.”

“How? Guntar let him go!”

“We know who and where he is,” Hank reminded her. “We’ll watch him and we’ll take care of him, but not until it’s safe to do so.”

The door to the ER lobby hissed open, stopping Crystal from responding. They turned and saw Beth’s parents walking towards them. Brett was reaching into his pocket while Marian looked up from her purse and rushed forward. She threw her arms around Crystal and squeezed her tight enough to make Crystal gasp. Marian let her go and turned to Hank. Without a word, she gave him a long hug that left the tall biker blushing.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered when she finally let go. “Both of you!”

“I wish we’d have gotten there sooner,” Crystal said.

Mrs. Stenger’s eyes lingered on Hank before she turned to Crystal and said, “You got there, that’s what’s important. I just wish it hadn’t been so dark so one of you could have seen him clearly.”

Crystal’s brow furrowed. “Beth didn’t get a good look at him?”

“She said it was too dark.”

Crystal turned to Hank and saw him give a quick shake of his head. She frowned. “Dang it. I hoped she’d know.”

Mrs. Stenger turned to Hank. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Hank,” he offered and smiled. “Hank Rogers.”

“I’m Marian Stenger, and this is my husband, Brett. We can’t thank either of you two enough,” she gushed. She glanced back at the doors and said, “They gave her some medicine to help her rest. I’m going to stay with her tonight so I can find out what the lab tests have to say.”

Crystal grimaced. They were probably testing for a lot of things. It was too early to check for pregnancy, but they might be able to look for other things. Infections and maybe even STDs. She shivered at the thought of it.

“They gave her some medicine to make sure nothing happened,” Mrs. Stenger added after watching Crystal shudder. “Beth’s been on the Pill for over a year but, you know, in a case like this we can’t be too careful.”

Crystal saw Hank’s eyes widen and felt her own reacting the same. “Um, yeah,” she said, anxious to talk about something—anything—else. “I’m glad Hank was with me, otherwise that creep might have tried to rape me too.”

Mrs. Stenger nodded and turned to regard Hank. “You look like you go to the gym?”

Mr. Stenger chuckled. “He looks like he ate the gym! I’d guess college football?”

“Used to play a little ball,” Hank admitted. “Wrestled too. These days I just try to keep in shape.”

“Your idea of in shape reminds me of action movie stars from the eighties!”

“He’s a hero as far as I’m concerned,” Mrs. Stenger added to her husband’s praise. She smiled at Crystal and said, “Both of you are!”

“I’d do almost anything for her,” Crystal said.

Marian nodded and sniffed back some tears. “Go home, it’s late. I’ll stay with her.”

“I—”

“I’m telling you that as a mother,” Mrs. Stenger said. “You’ve been my daughter all these years too, Crystal. Go get some rest. She’s going to have a rough time and need you, but not tonight.”

Crystal pressed her lips together and nodded. She glanced at the hospital and then looked at Hank. He nodded and started to turn away.

“Crystal!”

Crystal spun back around, a feeling of icy dread running down her spine. Her mom stood in the open doorway of the ER and came rushing out. “What’s going on?”

Chapter 9

“Mom!” Crystal blurted.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Crystal’s mom asked. She turned and looked at Mr. and Mrs. Stenger. “Oh no! Beth? Is she okay?”

Mrs. Stenger and Crystal started to talk at the same time. Crystal stopped and let Beth’s mother go. She didn’t want to incriminate herself any worse than she already was.

“Brandy, oh, thank goodness for your daughter!” she said. “Crystal and her boyfriend saved Beth’s life!”

“I don’t know about—” Mr. Stenger started to say. He was overruled by his wife.

“Beth was attacked. She said a man surprised her when she got out of work and overpowered her. He kidnapped her and took her off into the woods to—to do things to her!”

Mr. Stenger rubbed his wife’s back as she stuttered to a halt.

“Is she okay? I was told Crystal brought someone in who had been hurt.”

“Crystal and Hank scared him off,” Mr. Stenger said.

“Hank?” Brandy turned to look up at the large man. He nodded and offered a weak smile. She raised an eyebrow and then looked at Crystal. “Why haven’t I heard of Hank before?”

“Sorry, it’s been crazy lately,” Crystal mumbled. “I met him through Ember.”

“I see,” Brandy said. She pressed her lips together and then softened her expression. “We can talk about that later. Thank God you two were there. How did you find them?”

“We were out for a walk,” Crystal lied. “I saw Beth’s car and thought it was weird that it was parked in the middle of nowhere. Then we heard a noise and checked it out.”

“Kind of weird that you were walking in the middle of nowhere too,” Brandy observed.

Crystal opened and shut her mouth, blushing. “It was a long walk.”

“I bet,” Brandy said with a smirk. She turned to Hank. “Hi, Hank, I’m Brandy, Crystal’s mom.”

He shook her hand and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you. I see where Crys gets her good looks from.”

Brandy laughed. “Oh! Is that how this is? Watch out, Crystal, your friend has saved my other daughter’s life and now he’s lying to my face in the sweetest way possible. Tell me, Mr. Heartbreaker, how old are you?”

“Twenty,” he lied.

Crystal’s mom pressed her lips together.

“Mom, you said we could talk later?” Crystal reminded her.

Brandy glanced at her and let out her breath. She smiled. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Thank you, Hank, for helping.”

“I’m wiped out. Hank’s going to take me home,” Crystal said. She turned to Mrs. Stenger and asked, “Call me when you find out something?”

Marian smiled. “Of course! Beth wouldn’t let me live with myself if I didn’t.”

Mr. Stenger chuckled and shook his head. He caught Hank’s eye and shrugged, earning a chuckle from the large biker.

“I have to get back to work,” Brandy said. “But I’ll swing by and check on things. I’ll be sure to ride the lab to get results as fast as possible.”

“Thank you!” Marian said.

Crystal grabbed Hank’s hand and pulled him away. He followed while her mom and Mrs. Stenger started doing the mom-talk thing. They’d met through Crystal and Beth and had become friends, even when Beth and Crystal got in fights and weren’t attached at the hip. There was no better person to keep her mom distracted so she could get away.

“Okay, make sure we head out the back,” Crystal whispered as they walked. “If she sees me on the back of your bike without a helmet, she won’t let me anywhere near you ever again!”

“Aren’t you eighteen?”

“Trust me, that doesn’t matter.”

Hank chuckled and led her to where he’d parked his bike. He climbed on and backed it out before leaning forward so Crystal could climb on the back. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against his broad back. “This is so crazy,” she whispered.

“Welcome to the pack,” Hank said.

Crystal picked her head up. “Is it always like this?”

“No,” he said and thumbed the starter to make his motorcycle rumble to life beneath them. He raised his voice to be heard over the sputtering exhaust. “Once we get through all of this, we’ll probably move on again. We stick around until things get crazy.”

“Things get crazy a lot?”

Hank chuckled. “They seem to. I’m not sure why, other than maybe some law of nature that draws like to like.”

“What?”

“You know, we’re different. Not like norms, I mean,” he tried to explain. “Somewhere we always end up finding other people like us. Shifters, witches, and other stuff.”

“Oh my God, how many are there?”

“A lot. It’s amazing the world doesn’t know more about us. I mean, it’s not like, common or anything. But there’s more than you’d think.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow. So, um, am I taking you home?”

“My mom works nights,” Crystal said.

Hank raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“As much as I want to hunt Chad down and deal with him, I really want to just forget about everything too.”

“Um, okay. What’s that mean?”

Crystal grinned and picked herself up so she could gently bite his neck. One of the things she was enjoying about not being a norm anymore was how quick she recovered. The soreness in her legs and groin was barely even a memory anymore. “It means I want to go back to your place and do what we did earlier again.”

Hank’s chuckle was more of a purr that matched the vibrations from the engine of the bike.

“And again, and again.”

Rather than waste time on words, Hank shifted the bike into gear and twisted the throttle.