Hank followed her eyes and glanced down at her chest. Her shirt clung to her curves and left nothing to the imagination. Even her bra wasn’t hiding the bumps caused by the cold water and her sudden desire. He jerked his head back up and met her eyes. “Uh, good?”
Crystal smiled. A part of her was mortified—both at her behavior and the fact that he was seeing her like this. But the bigger part felt the hardness in his pants against her side and she wanted to do more than just feel it. She wanted to—
“Crystal?”
Crystal jerked her hand back from his stomach and looked at him. “Damn it,” she muttered. She forced herself to her feet and took a few steps away. “This is impossible!”
Hank rose behind her and nodded. “I’m sorry. I know it must be hard.”
She spun and stared at him. His pants were soaked and his jacket glistened where water still clung to it. “Now you’re wet too.”
Hank’s nostrils flared as he stared at her. She saw him clench and unclench his fists. Was he angry? “What’s wrong? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I can’t make anyone happy today.”
“That’s not it,” Hank growled. “It’s you. All you. I shouldn’t be here. Not now and not alone with you.”
Crystal’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “What? You’d rather whatever was down there got me? What lives down there, anyhow?”
Hank blinked. “What? No, I mean you. I want to do things to you.”
Distracted from the stream by his admission, she asked, “Things? What things?”
“You know what things,” he rumbled.
“Why don’t you show me?”
“Crystal,” Hank growled.
Crystal stared at him and shook her head. God, she wanted him so bad! “I want you, Hank. Stop screwing around. You want me; I want you. It’s that simple.”
“No it’s not,” he said.
“Why not?”
“You’re in heat!” he spat out. “You’re not thinking clearly. So we screw and bam, you’re pregnant. Then, if you survive the next month, you’re stuck with a kid, and you resent me for taking advantage of that. You’re too young to be tied down like that. And I’m not strong enough to stop you if you really want that.”
Crystal glanced at the ground as she tried to really think about his words. She’d wanted him before she’d been—no! She hadn’t met Hank until after she’d been bitten by the Beast. Right after, but still. Maybe the poison had worked that fast? She jerked her head up. “Wait, why did you admit that you’re not strong enough to stop me?”
He groaned and worked his mouth a few times before he made words come out of it. “Because I can smell you. Because I want you!”
Crystal nodded. “Okay, um…” She trailed off and turned back to the stream. “So what’s down there?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“Nothing? Something grabbed me and bit me!”
“Your foot was caught in some exposed rebar and you gashed your arm on the bottom of the fence.”
She stared at the water and shook her head. A glance at her arm showed some dried blood still clung to the tiny hairs on her arm but there was no sign of the gouge. “This is freaking me out.”
Hank’s chest rumbled as he chuckled. It reminded her a little of the exhaust on his bike. “Your bike!” she gasped. “I thought it was ruined?”
He shrugged. “Naw. Guntar’s one hell of a mechanic. We picked up some parts at a junkyard and then a new fender at a dealer. Good as new.”
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. None of us expected him to attack during the day. Especially in public—that was a first! I can understand why, though.”
“You can?”
Hank nodded. “You’re irresistible.”
Crystal bit her lip and blushed. She was going to have him, one way or another. Her only problem was that things weren’t the way he thought they were. She had to make sure he didn’t resent her for it, not the other way around!
“Can you take me home, Hank?”
He grunted. “Will you promise to behave?”
“What do you mean?”
“Keep your hands in a safe place and don’t get too close. None of that biting stuff either.”
“No biting? Why?”
He shuddered. “Just don’t, okay?”
Crystal grinned. “Okay. I promise.”
He nodded and turned to head back up the roadside towards his bike. She followed and then stopped when he turned on her. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”
Crystal sighed. “Yeah, well, I kind of had an accident this morning.”
“An accident?”
She nodded. “I kissed a girl. It was an accident, I swear!”
Hank stared at her and blinked several times. He shook his head and turned away while muttering, “Wow.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t—I mean, I already lost my best friend. Please don’t hate me!”
Hank chuckled. “Hate you? Not an option.”
Crystal tilted her head and then smiled. “Okay, I’m not sure what that means but I think it’s good?”
“Yeah, it’s good. Ask me again when you’re not trying to screw everything in sight.”
“Well, you’re the only thing in my sight right now.”
“Crystal,” he warned.
“Sorry,” she said. “But I’m never going to be able to ask you because I’m always going to be after you! I mean, maybe I won’t have the courage to say what I’m saying now, but I’ll still feel that way. Trust me, this is not the way I usually act!”
He chuckled. “I bet. Come on, saddle up. Hands on my hips or sides, nowhere else. Got it?”
“Got it!”
“Your place or mine?”
“Ooh!”
“Not my trailer. I meant back where my friends are.”
“Oh, um, yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I think my mom is home today.”
Hank started his bike and leaned forward for her to climb on. She couldn’t resist pressing herself close to him and sliding her thighs against his hips. She smiled and inhaled his scent before he leaned forward and kicked it into gear. With a roar of exhaust, the bike jerked forward and they were off.
Chapter 7
Crystal stared at the remains of the fire pit in the middle of the ring of trailers. She could smell the burnt wood even though the fire had been out for hours. Hank turned his bike off and shifted in his seat. She stayed still.
“You can get off now,” Hank said.
Crystal moaned and applied more pressure to his sides and hips. “What if I don’t want to?”
“You need to,” he said. “Because you’re not helping me.”
“How can I—” She was stopped by the sight of a trailer door opening and Gwen leading the way out, with Guntar following. She had a flowing skirt and a sash that was wrapped loosely around her neck, chest, and back to provide a measure of modesty. Ember stepped out of her trailer a moment later. The redhead wore black yoga shorts so thin they were almost transparent and a loose-fitting sleeveless t-shirt.
“Get off,” Hank urged her again.
Pouting her lips, Crystal slid off the bike and waited for Hank. She stayed next to him and even reached down to take his hand in hers. She saw all three of the bikers glance at their joined hands as they approached.
“You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?” Guntar looked at Hank and asked.
“No.”
He grunted and turned to her. “Why aren’t you in school?”
Crystal lifted her chin and asked, “What’s the point? I may die in a few weeks. What good is school then?”
“You might not,” he said.
“Oh, in that case, maybe I’ll end up hiding under bridges and eating people who are stupid enough to walk under them. I bet advanced algebra will come in handy there.”
He scowled.
“I know,” she said before he could talk, “there’s a chance I might end up like you guys
. But look at how you live! Moving from one place to the next and living off the grid? Yeah, I bet a diploma or even a college degree will come in real handy. What do you guys do for money, anyhow?”
“We pick up small jobs when we need them,” Gwen said with a smile. “Hank writes and we’ve got a lot of money saved away. The benefit of living a long time and not having expensive needs.”
Crystal turned to look at Hank. “You write?”
His cheeks flushed while he nodded. “I use a pen name.”
“This is not debatable,” Guntar said. “You will go to school.”
“Why? I don’t want to waste my last days trapped in a place where nobody can stand me!”
“You have friends,” he said.
“What about Beth?” Ember asked.
Crystal glanced at her and shook her head. “I screwed up.”
The redheaded woman frowned. “What happened?”
Crystal hesitated. She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t even know. I screwed up and tried to make Stephanie leave me alone, but I pissed off Beth and drove her away instead.”
“What did you do?” Gwen wondered.
Crystal glanced at all of them and felt her cheeks burning. Hank squeezed her hand, giving her a surge of strength. “I kissed her.”
Ember barked out a laugh. Crystal looked up at her and caught Gwen pressing her lips together out of the corner of her eye. She turned to face the older woman as Gwen ran her hand down Guntar’s arm. “She’ll go back later,” Gwen said.
“What?” Guntar asked. “Why not now?”
“Because Crystal and I are going to go for a walk in the woods,” Gwen said. She turned to Ember. “Can you help with Stephanie?”
Ember hesitated and then nodded. “Of course.”
“Wait,” Crystal said. “What’s going on? A walk in the woods? That doesn’t sound—”
“Girl talk,” Gwen reassured her. She stepped away from Guntar and gestured with one hand towards the tree line between Ember’s and Guntar’s trailer. “Come along, dear. We’ll be back soon.”
Crystal turned and looked at Hank. He offered a smile and nodded. She bit her lip and turned towards Gwen. Gwen’s fingers beckoned for her again. She took a step and then started walking with the woman towards the edge of the camp.
After Gwen led her down a narrow trail and into the woods, she said, “Are you a lesbian?”
“What!” Crystal blurted out. She stopped and stared at her. “No!”
“So why kiss her?”
Crystal groaned and hugged her arms across her chest. “She teased me about being one. I think it’s because she wants to be popular. Gay kids, especially girls, are the in thing these days. Except she wasn’t—or isn’t—I don’t think. Whatever. I tried to freak her out and make her leave me alone.”
“Did it work?”
“I don’t know.” Crystal moaned. “I don’t think so. I think she liked it.”
Gwen nodded. “And your friend, Beth?”
“I pissed her off,” Crystal said. “She can’t stand Stephanie. She—Stephanie—tricked me earlier this year into thinking she wanted to be my friend. She used me to help her get her grades up and then made fun of me in front of everyone. She made me—”
“Crystal, stop,” Gwen interrupted. “What about Beth?”
Crystal frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand. She was mad at me; she thought I liked her so she stormed off. She blocked my number and won’t take my calls or texts. It’s the same thing she showed me how to do to block Stephanie after she screwed me over.”
Gwen sighed and smiled. “So you and Beth aren’t a couple?”
“What!” Crystal sputtered and stared at Gwen. When she could speak again, she asked, “What are you talking about? No, we’re not a couple! She’s my best friend! Or was, I guess.”
“Okay,” the matron of the pack said. “You might find that she’s not upset at you for the same reasons you think she is. Think about that before you try to get back in her good graces.”
Crystal’s eyes widened. Was Gwen suggesting that Beth liked her? As in, liked her, liked her? “Oh my God,” she breathed.
“Later,” Gwen said, distracting her. “First, tell me how you feel.”
“About what—Beth?”
Gwen laughed. “No, this is about you and me. How are you feeling right now?”
Crystal bit her lip and blurted out before she could stop herself, “Horny! Oh my God! I didn’t—oh crap.”
Gwen’s laughter echoed through the woods without mocking her. “I understand,” she said.
“You do? Have you ever—I mean, is this something that happens?”
She shook her head. “No, not like it’s happening to you. But when I first met Guntar, I owned a small diner at a truck stop. Guntar walked in and there was something about him. Something manly. It swept me off my feet before he even looked at me or said anything.”
Crystal thought back to when Hank had saved her from the Beast and nodded. She’d felt that way too. And then when she looked at his face. “His eyes,” she whispered.
Gwen grinned. “Yes! It’s not fair. What normal woman could stand a chance against men like ours?”
“Ours?”
“Hank’s smitten with you. More than smitten, I think.”
“What if it’s just this, um, this thing that’s happening to me?”
“Adrian and Guntar aren’t acting like Hank is,” she pointed out. “They can smell and feel it, sure, but for Hank it’s different.”
“Oh,” Crystal said with a grin that she couldn’t hide. “So Hank and I, um, we’re going to be together?”
Gwen shrugged. “That’s up to you two to decide. We’re not animals, even if we may look like them and sometimes feel like them.”
“And I have to not die or turn into a monster,” Crystal added. She sighed heavily. “This is crazy.”
Gwen smiled and glanced away. A light breeze rustled the budding leaves in the upper branches of the trees. “Do you feel anything?”
Crystal followed her eyes into the forest and frowned. “Um, I don’t know.”
Gwen’s hand slipped down to her waist and undid the tie on her skirt. It fluttered to the ground and was joined a moment later by her wrap. Crystal stared at the lean mature woman standing beside her. Standing nude beside her, save for the silver crescent moon necklace on her neck.
“Take off your clothes,” Gwen said.
Crystal clamped her mouth shut and jerked her gaze up to Gwen’s smiling eyes. “Did this just get creepy?”
Gwen laughed. “No, not at all. I want you to feel nature and welcome it into your soul. I believe that if you want to be a part of it, you can influence your fate.”
“Um, okay. It’s just all the talk about being gay and then wanting me alone in the woods naked. If you’ve got any candy with you, I swear I’m gone!”
Gwen laughed even harder. When she could talk again, she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye and said, “Crystal, we’re all comfortable with our bodies. And other people’s. It’s all part of nature. Part of being an animal, no matter if you walk on two legs or four. Norms have lost touch with that.”
“Great, so you’re all nudists too?”
Gwen smiled. “Try it—you might like it. You haven’t lived until you’ve been trapped somewhere on a cold night and had a puppy pile to rely on.”
“Puppy pile?”
“Think about it. What do puppies do when they’re cold and tired?”
“I don’t know, snuggle with their momma?”
“And each other.”
“Oh,” Crystal said. A vision of Guntar, Gwen, Adrian, Ember, and Hank all lying nude in the same bed wrapped up together made her gasp. “Oh!”
“It’s not about sex,” Gwen said. “It’s about being a pack. About trusting and loving one another, even when we bicker and fight.”
Crystal stared into the forest and considered Gwen’s words. It sounded like a family. A real fam
ily, not just her and her mom trying to be friends and helping each other out since they never spent any time together. “Okay,” she said.
“Now take your clothes off.”
Crystal’s hands trembled as she lifted them up to the waist of her shirt. She took a deep breath and pulled it up and over her head. She hung it on the crook of a small branch and then added her skirt to it. Her boots and socks she set against the trunk of the tree. She forced herself to breathe evenly and kept her mind clear as she slipped her arms out of her bra straps and twisted her bra around. It slid easily, barely even rubbing her skin, even though she’d used the tightest hooks she had. She undid it and hung it up and then pushed her underwear down her legs and added them to the hanging pile.
“Freaked out?” Gwen asked with a smile.
Crystal hugged her arms to herself and nodded.
“Good. Now run with me.”
Crystal gasped as Gwen turned and started running barefoot through the forest. She stood paralyzed a moment longer and realized she’d be alone in a matter of seconds. Alone and naked. With a growl, she lunged forward and started running.
Her first concern had been about needing a sports bra. After half a dozen steps, she realized the real threat was the lack of shoes. Sticks and stones jabbed the bottom of her feet and made her stumble. She bounced off a tree and spun around, losing her balance and falling into a bush.
She climbed out of it, sputtering and scowling, only to find Gwen standing there and grinning at her. She had a light in her eyes that made Crystal forget about her aches and pains for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” Gwen asked.
“My feet hurt,” Crystal complained.
“They do?”
Crystal opened and closed her mouth. She picked up one foot and bent her knee to look at the bottom of it while balancing on the other. They were dirty, but she wasn’t cut or bleeding. “No,” she realized. “They don’t.”
“Good. Then we can run. I see why Hank likes you. You’re a good match for him.”
Crystal had to push herself to keep up with Gwen. “What?” She panted as they ran. “What do you mean by that?”
“You’re a strong girl. Athletic. A good match for him.”
Claimed by the Beast Bundle Page 11
