Crystal barely caught her breath before the Beast had her. His arm, fur slick with blood, wrapped under her belly and hoisted her up. She was already kicking back and felt her heel glance off the inside of his thigh. She let her arms go limp to throw herself forward and kicked up with her other leg. She felt her heel hit tissue that was softer than what she’d come to expect from the muscle-bound monster.
The beast’s snarl turned into a yipping howl in her ear. She felt herself jerked left and then right before she fell to the ground and had her breath blasted from her. When she tipped herself up on a hip and lifted herself up with her elbows, she saw Ember had her teeth sunk into the Beast’s right leg and Hank had his jaw wrapped on the back of the Beast’s neck.
Crystal turned some more as her heart skipped a beat. She sat up, ignoring the ache in her butt as she scraped her gashed bottom across the ground. A flash of gray out of the corner of her mind made her turn. Another two wolves streaked out of the dark woods and leapt onto the beast.
Crystal found herself grinning and rose up. She licked her lips and took a step towards the battle. The Beast rose up on his legs in spite of being covered in wolves. Fur and flesh hung from him and blood fell like rain from his wounds. Crystal stopped and stared, and then her eyes narrowed as she felt something twist in her belly. She snarled and curled her fingers into fists and took another step before a wolf with silver streaks leapt up onto the Beast and bit down on his snout.
The wolf—Gwen, Crystal guessed by the silver fur—slid off the Beast but left his face torn and bleeding. He tottered and crashed to the ground on his back. The pack of wolves fell on him anew. Blood, dirt, and patches of fur filled the air as the Beast’s struggles grew weaker and weaker. After a few minutes, the only ones still moving were the wolves.
Crystal straightened and watched the fight turn gory. Her brow furrowed, confused, and then she saw one of the wolves rip a bloody morsel from the Beast’s corpse and swallow it down. Her mouth dropped as she watched the feeding frenzy unfold.
One of the wolves, a long-haired gray one, snapped and roared at the others. The other wolves backed away and looked up at him, each of them licking the blood from their chops or swallowing whatever gibbets of flesh were in their mouths. The wolf shifted, blurring and contorting before her eyes until a nude man rose up from the blood-strewn ground. He bent over and shoved his hand into the disemboweled monster’s chest. He pulled his blood-soaked arm out and held the Beast’s dripping heart in his hand. She gasped as she saw it still quivering.
Guntar turned and walked towards her, mindless of his nudity. Crystal was equally ignorant; her eyes were on the gift he carried. He stopped in front of her and lifted it to her. She noticed the blood soaking his cheeks and beard, and then looked down at the heart of the monster. He nodded to it and raised it to her face. “Eat,” he said in a voice barely recognizable as human.
The coppery smell of blood and tissue filled her nose. Her stomach twisted again and her mouth watered. She licked her lips and tasted something that made her tongue tingly. A rush of heat spread through her body. She glanced down and saw blood splatters on her skin and tattered clothes. She lifted her head up and saw the heart was closer still. She sniffed and filled her senses with the taste of the Beast’s flesh.
She leaned forward and spread her lips. She felt the near searing heat of the heart and let the taste overwhelm her. What she knew rationally was a disgusting thing her body suddenly craved. She captured Guntar’s arm in her hands and sawed her teeth into the muscle. She ripped it away and chewed the strong tissue before swallowing. The act only increased her appetite. Crystal attacked the heart, tearing, chewing, and swallowing so fast her throat ached as it had to stretch to let the partially chewed meat pass through.
When her senses returned, someone held her back while Guntar pulled his hand from her. He grinned, his teeth pink contrast to the red of his face. She blinked and looked down at the stains on her body. Her shirt was soaked and her hands were coated with the sticky substance. She gasped and felt her belly rumble. It was a happy and contented sigh. She blinked, horrified at what she’d done.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “What—”
Guntar nodded to her and looked at the other naked people surrounding them. “We need to burn the remains.”
“That’s it?” Crystal asked. “Just business as usual?”
Adrian smirked. “Nothing is ever usual with a beast like this. They’re all different, and this one died because of you.”
“Um, great,” Crystal said. She looked over at the remains and shuddered. “I just ate his fucking heart!”
“Might help you,” Guntar said.
“Or it might kill her,” Adrian said.
Hank touched her arm, startling her. Crystal turned to see him holding her jeans and shoes. Crystal blushed and took them. “Thanks,” she mumbled and found herself unable to think of anything except how magnificent Hank’s body was. Magnificent and naked. And close enough to touch.
Ember cleared her throat and stepped up. “Back off, Tiny. She’s still in heat.”
“Tiny?” Crystal asked. She glanced down and saw that Hank was anything but small.
“Because I’m so big,” Hank explained.
Crystal glanced down again and said, “I’ll say.”
“Okay, let’s get these two apart,” Gwen agreed. She stepped up and grabbed onto Crystal’s hand. “Put your clothes back on, dear. We’ve got to get you home.”
Crystal frowned and realized she was still holding onto her pants. She bit her lip and nodded. “Hey!” She looked at Gwen and then Guntar. “If he’s dead, why am I still, um, like this?”
“The poison doesn’t die with him,” Adrian said.
“But, I thought—”
“There’s no amount of thinking that will help. This is blood and magic,” he said. “Might be eating the Beast’s essence will give you strength to fight it. Or it might be that it will make it worse.”
“Worse? You mean, like, kill me faster? Turn me into a slut?”
Adrian shrugged and looked away.
Crystal sighed. “So now what?”
“Get dressed,” Gwen repeated. “We’ll get you home and get you cleaned up. We’ll watch you and figure it out from there.”
Crystal nodded and balanced on one leg while she slipped her jeans back on. She glanced back and saw Hank staring at her butt and she jerked her head away. Her cheeks burned and then she realized that Hank was interested. She glanced back and saw him raise his gaze to hers. His cheeks flushed beneath the drying blood and she smiled.
She would have him; it was only a matter of time. She didn’t understand how, but she knew that she’d staked her claim.
###
Afterward by the Author
Claimed by the Beast is very exciting for me, and very much the beginning of something greater. This is only part one of the serial novel but part two is being edited and worked up by Cora Graphics. Part three is almost finished, and I plan to keep going until their story is told in full. Maybe as few as four parts, but probably more, like five or six.
I’d love to share more, but I don’t want to give away spoilers. I can’t help but be very excited about this serial. On the sly I’d love to talk more about it if you’re interested. Feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]. Or you could wait a week or two for part two to come out. I hope to have a new part released every three to four weeks, and if you’d like to know when they’re available sign up for my newsletter so you can be the first to know!
About the Author
Dawn Michelle is a girl next door turned mother of two and household champion. After years of watching her husband write novel after novel and not trying to write the stories she was interested in she decided it was time she showed him how it was done.
If you enjoyed Dawn’s writing and would like to have a chance to find out more about her and her new releases, please sign up for her newsletter. You can also
reach out to her personally at [email protected].
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