Claimed by the Beast - Part One (9 page)

“Just something we do,” Hank said.

Crystal fell silent and found her mind
wandering. The air chilled her enough that she was pressing her
chest against his back. Her bra was pinching her and she itched
underneath it. She almost giggled at the thought that her nipples
were the part she wanted to scratch the most. They were aching as
they pressed into the bra’s cups.

“Your friend’s going to get herself pulled
over if she keeps driving like that.”

Crystal looked around his shoulder and saw
Beth’s Ford racing ahead of them as they pulled out of the busy
downtown area. “She’s upset,” Crystal said. “Worried about me.”

“She’s a good friend.”

Crystal nodded and realized he couldn’t see
her and definitely couldn’t hear that. “She is. My best friend.
Tell me something about you? How’d you get so big?” She bit her lip
to keep from asking if he was big all over.

“I was always big,” he said. “Joined the
wrestling team and played football in junior high and spent a lot
of time in the gym.”

“Cool. What about Ember and the others?”

“What about them?”

Crystal raised an eyebrow. His quick
response made her hesitate. Was she asking too much? “Nothing, I
guess. Ember’s cool, just kind of bitchy.”

Hank chuckled. “Yeah, she can be.”

“Can be?” Crystal asked. “She hasn’t given
me a break yet.”

“All right, she is,” he admitted. He twisted
his head to say something and stopped. He jerked his head back as a
dark blur shot out from between the bushes on the side of the
road.

Crystal turned to look and then screamed as
Hank twisted the throttle and made the tire squeal as it slipped
against the pavement. It lurched forward and rocked her back. She
held on to Hank’s belly and squeezed his hips between her thighs as
the bike tilted and twisted. She hit the ground and rolled and slid
across the pavement.

She stared at the bike and saw the rear
fender had gashes and twisted metal, exposing a shredded tire on a
bent rim. It spun unevenly a few times and then the entire
motorcycle jerked on its side as the engine died. Crystal rolled,
crying out at the pain that shot through her body. A dark shape
leapt across her vision, passing from left to right. She tried to
follow it but the world was still spinning around her.

When she lifted her head up again, she saw a
huge shape pick itself up and turn towards her. She blinked, trying
to clear the blood from her eyes. Was it Hank? She couldn’t make
out the details. Was it the blood in her eyes that made it so
blurry?

She shook her head and whimpered at the pain
in her neck and back. Her eyes fell on the shape of something on
the ground behind it. Something furry and large. No, not
large—massive. Was it a bear? She turned and looked up as a
fur-covered hand passed in front of her face. Thick dark nails
stood out and then disappeared and grabbed her hair.

Crystal screamed as she was picked up by her
hair. The Beast’s other hand wrapped around her waist and tucked
her against his side. He turned and took off, running off the road
and between the houses. She caught a glimpse as it ran of a leather
jacket and the shredded remains of Hank’s jeans and shirt on the
ground.

She screamed again and received a stunning
slap to the back of her head. She bit her tongue and fought to keep
herself from throwing up from each jarring step the Beast took.

Crystal hit the ground and cried out. Unlike
the pavement, the spongy ground she hit had grass on it. She rolled
over in time to see a dog go flying and hit the ground rolling. It
leapt to its feet and snarled before charging at the Beast standing
a few feet from Crystal.

The dog wasn’t a dog
, a voice in the
back of her head reminded her. It was a charcoal and red
wolf—Ember.

Ember leapt at the Beast but he smacked her
aside with one massive arm. Ember’s breath blasted from her lungs
in a yelp even before she hit the ground and rolled end over end.
She struggled to rise and fell back down when she put her weight on
one of her legs.

“Wait!” Crystal whimpered as the Beast
grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up. The material ripped and
tore, releasing her from his grasp. He caught her before she hit
the ground and tucked her under his arm again.

Her struggles made him tighten his grip on
her and threatened to crush her chest. She gasped and relaxed,
forcing herself to focus on breathing. She could see behind her and
saw Ember struggling again to pick herself up. She limped and tried
to come after her. Crystal wanted to reach out for her but she knew
it would only get her beaten again. Or worse.

Ember would keep coming. Hank was already
down. Probably dead, she hated to admit. Between the motorcycle
wreck and the Beast, he hadn’t moved. The same thing would happen
to Ember if she kept coming. She wanted to scream for her to stop.
To go back. To do anything. She felt the Beast’s strength. She knew
how hard he was. She could tell they couldn’t stop him. She was
screwed, figuratively and soon literally. Nobody else had to get
hurt.

The ground blurred past her as the Beast
ran. His loping stride cleared distances greater than she thought
possible. She shifted as much as she could and studied him, noting
first that while he was naked, he was covered in a dark-mottled
fur. She could smell him, too: he smelled musky and damp. Like the
swamp, but without the sickly-sweet stench of rotting plants.

Her body went from numb to aching and then
started to fade back towards numb as the Beast ran. She lost track
of time but did notice it was getting darker out before he took her
into a forest.

Crystal cried out when he dropped and left
her feeling weightless. It ended a heartbeat later with a jarring
landing that splattered her with cold water. He changed directions
and ran down the stream, splashing her again and again until she
shivered and clung to his warmth.

They left the water behind and slowed down
once the Beast was on dry land again. He dropped her on the ground
without warning, knocking the wind out of her again. She scrambled,
twisting around enough to see him roll a massive rock several
inches and then grab a fallen log as big around as her waist and
pick it up to move it aside. The Beast revealed a dark hole dug out
of the side of a hill.

“Oh, hell no,” Crystal muttered. “Not in
there. Please, not in there!”

He grabbed her outstretched arm and yanked
on it hard enough to make her scream. Her shirt, already torn,
ripped some more before he used her legs and arms to take the
pressure off her shoulder. He let her go once she was in the mouth
of his den.

The dusk light was blocked by the Beast as
he stood outside of it. She stared up at him and got as good a look
as the darkness would allow. He resembled a man, if a man were
covered in fur and stood as tall as a tree. His arms were not only
thick but long. Long enough his thick fingernails were closer to
the ground than to his knees. Middlebrook High’s basketball coach
would have killed to have him try out.

She looked up and noticed his arms weren’t
the only thing thick and long about him. He sniffed loudly and let
out a lusty growl. The growl broke through her terror and helped
her jerk her eyes off his swollen member. She whimpered and stared
at the wide chest and savage face of the Beast. He had two eyes,
but his mouth and nose were on a short snout. His teeth were sharp
and stained.

He took a step and reached for her. She
scooted back, dodging his clutching hand. He growled again and
lunged forward, making her cry out in fear and then pain when he
grabbed her leg. He dragged her towards him and reached for her
jeans.

Crystal struggled, twisting and turning and
rolling over so she could use her hands to pull herself away. He
pushed her down, driving her belly and hips into the ground and
making her grunt. She tried again, flailing her feet to no effect
and then lifting her chest up on her elbows.

The Beast grabbed the waist of her jeans and
tugged on them. Her flesh scraped as the denim rubbed it raw. Her
belt snapped and the button on the front tore free. The skin of her
ass stung as he pulled her jeans over her hips and left her
exposed.

“No! Please, no!” Crystal whimpered.

She felt something hot blowing against her
and smelled his fetid breath. The den grew darker as he descended
on her. He licked her exposed shoulder where her shirt had been
torn away. She gagged and then froze in terror when she felt his
sharp teeth clamp down on her skin. He bit, breaking the skin and
making her body stiffen. A whimper slipped through her lips from
the pain and then it turned into a moan as something hard and
searing hot poked against her exposed butt. Her paralysis ended as
she felt him trying to spread her legs. Her jeans, now around her
hips, worked to protect her.

She squirmed under him, ignoring the teeth
next to her neck and the sharp claws piercing her lower back. She
had to get away! She started to make headway when he relinquished
his grip on her shoulder with his mouth and grabbed her hip in his
hand. He picked her butt up and drove her shoulders and chin into
the ground.

He stabbed at her again, his throbbing heat
jabbing against her thighs and sliding wetly against her skin. She
started screaming and thrashing at the same time she felt his
hardness slide against her and begin to stretch her open.

Crystal’s breath was blasted out of her as
he crashed on top of her and drove her into the ground. His manhood
slipped free instead of piercing her but the pain left her
breathless. He lifted himself off her, letting her breathe in some
of the damp air from the den and then groan at the fiery pain in
her crotch.

She spun after she realized he wasn’t trying
to breed her anymore. Instead, she heard noises. Growling and
snarling. She yanked her torn pants back up over her hips and held
them there as she stared out of the opening. The Beast was out
there, standing between her and two wolves she could barely make
out in the darkness. One was a big wolf, maybe big enough to be
Hank? The other was picking itself up off the ground and snarling
at the Beast.

“Ember!” Crystal realized even though she
couldn’t understand how she was moving without limping. Her leg
looked healed, and Hank was walking back and forth while growling.
But where were the others?

And if five of them couldn’t stop the Beast
by the river the other night, what hope did only two of them
have?

Ember kicked up dirt
as she darted in from the side towards the Beast. She stopped and
darted away as he turned to face her and swung a long arm. Hank
pounced from the other side, barreling in and leaping up to land on
the Beast’s back.

The Beast staggered forward and then spun
around, sending Hank falling off. Blood and fur splattered on the
ground from where Hank’s paws had dug into him. Hank hit the ground
with a hollow thud and began to flop. Ember was back, nipping at
the Beast’s leg and darting away.

Crystal’s hand went to her mouth. She
started forward and then stopped when the pony-sized wolf sprung to
his feet. His flopping hadn’t been an injury; it had been a
contraction of muscles to bounce back. She felt her chest loosen
but she was still terrified.

Crystal moved to hide between the fallen
tree trunk and the rock wall beside the den. She held her pants up
with one hand and pulled her shirt together over her breasts with
the other. “Get him, Hank!” she urged in a whisper.

Her champion ran across the small
battlefield and crossed in front of the Beast as he swung an arm at
Ember and clipped her hindquarters. She went sprawling across the
ground and sent fallen leaves and sticks plopping into the nearby
stream. She yipped and twisted her back to stare at the deep gouge
in her flank.

Hank’s distraction kept the Beast from going
after her. He followed Hank as the wolf turned and ran back at him.
Crystal winced as her would-be boyfriend’s paws dug into the ground
and he crouched low to build up strength and speed. The Beast was
ready for him and leaned forward to catch Hank as he leapt.

Crystal squeezed her eyes shut and then
realized she couldn’t miss what was going to happen. She opened
them in time to see her wolf leaping through the air and shifting
as he jumped. The Beast hesitated and barely caught the flying man.
Hank’s left arm came across in a hook that drove the Beast’s head
to the side.

Hank used the distraction to rip his right
arm free of the Beast’s cruel grip and twist around so he could
wrap his arm around his opponent’s neck. He grabbed his right hand
with his left, locking the Beast’s head against his side, and
slipped his right leg between the legs of the Beast and tripped his
right leg forward. The one-time wrestler threw his weight back and
drove the Beast onto his back, with Hank landing on top of him.

Crystal winced and then gasped as they
struck the ground together. Hank bounced off the Beast and
struggled to keep his grip. He growled as the Beast bit at his arm
and side and then used his arms to push Hank off him. Hank rolled
and came up gasping for breath. Blood coated his side and right
arm. Hank snarled and threw himself to the side in another roll
while he shifted back into a wolf.

The Beast rolled onto its hands and feet and
crouched down to pounce. He turned as Ember slammed into him from
the side, deflecting her towards Hank with little more than a tuft
of hair lost from his shoulder. Ember bounced to her feet and
snarled, and then risked a glance at Hank as he moved to put some
distance between the two of them.

Crystal realized they couldn’t win. The
Beast’s wounds were closing almost as fast as they made them. It
wasn’t possible, but nothing that had happened to her had been
possible since that fateful night.