Claimed by the Beast Bundle (35 page)

Chapter
6

Crystal slowed to a halt at the edge of the road and watched as Stephanie’s car drove off. She frowned and turned to stare across the road. Was Beth in the car or still lying on the ground? Had she been abandoned?

Crystal hurried across and crashed through the bushes, all thoughts of being quiet gone. She smelled Beth before she saw her and started to relax. When she stepped around a tree, she saw her lying on the ground with Gwen sitting cross-legged beside her and stroking her hair.

“Gwen!” Crystal gasped. “When did—no, where did Stephanie go?”

“We saw you in the woods and hurried back.”

Crystal turned and glanced into the dark woods behind her. She looked back. “But you’re dressed!”

“I said we hurried,” Gwen said with a smile. “Ember said one of the men was Stephanie’s father, so I stayed with your friend.”

Crystal stepped closer and knelt next to her. Beth’s torn pants were back on and her torn shirt was arranged to provide as much cover as it could. Stephanie had even retrieved Beth’s purse. “How is she?”

“Sleeping and hurt,” Gwen said. “Beyond that, I don’t know.”

“Is she, um, is she going to be okay?”

Gwen ran her fingers across Beth’s hair and didn’t answer.

Crystal glanced at Beth’s pants. The buttons were torn off and the fly was gaping slightly. Her underwear was gone, lost to Chad’s savage attack. “She said she wasn’t bitten,” Crystal said. “Does that mean she wasn’t like I was?”

“I don’t know,” Gwen answered.

“God, I hope she doesn’t get pregnant,” Crystal muttered. “That would destroy her.”

“Her life has been changed,” Gwen commented. “We won’t know how much until time passes.”

Crystal shivered. “This sucks.”

Gwen offered a sad smile. “You and Beth make me wonder what my life would have been like if I’d had children. I hope they’d be strong young woman like you.”

Crystal glanced at her. “You’re not that old, are you?”

Gwen smiled. “It’s not the age, sweetie; it’s what I am. What you are.”

Crystal gasped and felt a lurch in her belly. “Wait—I can’t have children?”

“Oh, we can—it’s just hard.”

“Why?”

“Every time we change, our cycle starts over,” Gwen explained. “Convenient—as long as you change once every month, you don’t need to worry about having a period. But if you do conceive a child and change, it won’t survive the shift.”

Crystal’s jaw hung open until she realized it and clamped it shut.

“Shifting rebuilds us,” Gwen said. “It keeps us young and healthy. If you catch a cold or a something worse, just shift and it will be gone.”

Crystal shifted her head as she digested the information. It sounded awesome. No more getting sick and no more cramps or worrying about always carrying spare tampons in her purse. She stiffened and glanced down at herself. Her dress was drying but it was stiff and scratchy from the dirt. She wasn’t looking at her dress; she was thinking about what was beneath it. Her underwear, also stiff with what she and Hank had done earlier. She knew she wasn’t in heat anymore, but she wasn’t on the Pill either. Something could have happened. Except now she didn’t need to worry about that.

Except she didn’t know how to shift.

A broken twig snapped her head up. She and Gwen both rose and moved to stand between Beth and the men approaching through the woods. Guntar led them through the darkness and stopped less than ten feet from them. Adrian and Hank moved to stand beside him while Mr. Edgerton and Mr. Dixon stepped up to Guntar’s right. The man with the pistol was nowhere to be seen and neither was Chad.

“Where’s Chad?” Crystal asked.

“He’s being taken care of,” Mr. Dixon grated. “He’s confused and sick right now. We’ll have a doctor see him.”

“What about her!” Crystal pointed at Beth. “She needs a doctor! Your son needs—”

“Crystal, that’s enough,” Guntar ordered.

Her words died on her lips and she took a step back from the power in his voice. She even dropped her head.

The two wealthy men stepped closer and looked down at Beth. Mr. Edgerton frowned. “I don’t see any proof of any—”

Crystal whipped her head up but Guntar beat her to it. “I saw it and so did my friends.”

“Relax, Robert,” Mr. Dixon said. “I’ll take care of things.”

Mr. Edgerton sniffed and nodded. “Then let’s get out of here.”

“What the hell do you mean, you’ll take care of things?” Crystal sputtered. She felt Guntar glaring at her but ignored him. “You can’t just take care of what he did to her! He beat her and raped her! She might be pregnant! She might—”

Mr. Dixon stared at her while Crystal shook her head and turned away. She clenched her hands at her sides while her arms trembled and her shoulders shook. She was furious and upset and a host of other emotions she didn’t recognize. She wanted to jump on him and push him into the ground. Along the way she’d bite him and punch him and rip his guts out. Maybe even pee on him when she was done!

Pee on him? Crystal shook her head. Where had that come from? She turned back around and saw everyone staring at her.

“Take her to a hospital,” Mr. Dixon said while reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a card and handed it to Adrian, the only man close to him and willing to take it. “Give them my card. I’ll pay for whatever she needs. Including any medication or procedures to make sure there aren’t any complications.”

“Complications?” Crystal scoffed.

“I’ll see to it that you’re compensated for any damages,” he added.

“What? I don’t want any money!” Crystal snapped. “We’re not even her family.”

“You’re not?” He scowled. “When she’s well enough she can speak to me then. Or her parents. Privately. We don’t need to ruin anyone’s life any further by letting word of this out.”

Crystal felt her nails digging into her palms.

“Someone will be in touch,” Guntar promised.

Crystal glared at him and then felt Hank pulling her around and away. She resisted at first and then turned. Behind her she heard the two men walk back into the woods.

“Follow them,” Guntar growled.

Crystal sucked in a surprised breath and turned to see Adrian push his clothing down and then shift into his lupine form. He darted into the shadows and was gone.

Crystal turned back to her stricken friend. “How do we get her to a hospital?” she wondered.

“Go and get her car,” Guntar said.

“I don’t—” Crystal stopped as her eyes fell on Beth’s purse. She stepped over and picked it up. Beth’s keys were clipped to a ring connecting the shoulder strap. She unclipped them and dropped the purse. “Can Hank come with me? These woods creep me out.”

Guntar nodded.

Hank stepped up to her and slipped his hand around her shoulders. Together the two walked out of the woods and began a quick walk to where Hank’s bike was parked. Crystal hugged her arms against herself. She wasn’t cold, in spite of the damp clothing. She was confused and angry. Why had Guntar let them get away? Especially when they outnumbered Mr. Dixon and Mr. Edgerton five to two!

There was more going on than they were telling her. She was going to find out and she was going to make it right, no matter what it took.

Chapter 7

“I’ll explain everything tomorrow,” Crystal repeated into her phone. “Just stay at home, okay?”

She waited a moment longer until Stephanie agreed and then ended the call. The last thing Stephanie needed was learning that her father had been in the woods that night. Crystal had a hunch that all their lives would have gotten a lot more complicated if Mr. Edgerton had known his daughter was there.

Crystal slipped her phone into her purse and glanced at the mirror to check on Beth. She was lying scrunched up on the back seat and appeared to be sleeping. Crystal slowed as she approached the entrance into the hospital’s emergency room on her right.

Hank rumbled along behind them on his motorcycle, refusing to leave her side. Crystal had another call to make but she wasn’t looking forward to it. She needed to get ahold of Beth’s parents. She turned in to the parking lot and decided it could wait until after Beth was checked in.

She drove into the circle drive of the ER and put Beth’s car into park. By the time she climbed out and circled around the car, Hank was at the door and opening it. Inside, the admitting clerk looked up from her desk and out at them. Crystal saw her frown and reach for the phone before she took over holding the door wide open so Hank could pull Beth out.

Crystal shut the door and then hurried to skip ahead of Hank. The automatic doors swooshed open, allowing her to dart in and grab a wheelchair. She spun it around so Hank could lower Beth into it. She whimpered and hugged her arms around herself, pulling her tattered shirt tight against her. Her eyes were closed but her cheeks had shiny trails of wetness on them.

Hank took over for Crystal so she could rush ahead to the clerk’s office. The woman put her phone down and peered past Crystal at Beth. “Is she critical?”

Crystal turned and looked at Beth. “Um, yes. I think so.”

The admitting clerk turned. “Liz, triage a young girl in a wheelchair, stat!” She turned back to Crystal. “What happened?”

Crystal saw a heavyset woman in scrubs step away from a counter and start in her direction. A moment later, the door that led into the emergency room department opened and she emerged pushing a cart.

“She’s been beaten up and raped,” Crystal said while watching the nurse.

“Who are you?”

“What? Me, I’m her friend,” Crystal said. “Crystal, sorry. My name’s Crystal Davis.”

“Well, Crystal Davis, can you fill out this paperwork for me?”

“Paperwork? Um, I guess. I don’t know much. I need to call her folks.”

“What happened?” Liz, the nurse, asked as she did a quick inspection of Beth’s visible injuries. She slipped a blood pressure cuff around her arm and clipped a plastic clip to the end of her finger.

“We saw her car parked and stopped to see if she needed help,” Hank said, repeating the story they’d agreed on. “Found her near the creek with some guy trying to finish her off. We scared him away and he ran. Couldn’t catch him. We wanted to make sure she was okay first.”

Liz stared up at Hank and blinked. She shook her head when the device measuring Beth’s blood pressure beeped. She swore under her breath and restarted it. She focused until she got the readings and jotted them down. She looked at Hank again and then glanced over at Crystal. The nurse did a double take. “Where are your shoes?”

Crystal glanced down away from the paperwork she was trying to fill out. Her feet were still bare. “Oh my God,” she muttered. “I lost them in the mud and the creek. Then I forgot all about them.”

“You know this girl?” the nurse asked.

Crystal nodded. “Beth Stenger. We’re friends.”

The nurse nodded and turned her attention to Beth. “Beth? Honey? I’m going to take you back into a room for some privacy while we check you out. You’ll be safe, I promise. Do you want your friends to come with you?”

Beth blinked and let her eyes dart to Crystal. They dropped to the ground again a second later and she nodded.

“Take that with you,” the admitting clerk said with a nod to the clipboard in Crystal’s hands.

Crystal stood up and walked over to stand next to Beth. She dropped her hand onto Beth’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I won’t leave you,” she promised.

Beth shuddered under her hand but didn’t say anything. Liz grabbed her cart and nodded to Hank to follow her with Beth in the wheelchair.

They moved down the hall past a couple of bays with curtains pulled to offer a semblance of privacy. Liz took them to an actual room with a bed in it and motioned for them to head in. She shut the door behind them and turned back around to face them.

Liz opened one of the cupboard doors and pulled out a folded blue hospital gown. “Honey, we have to get you into a hospital robe. Is that going to be okay?”

Beth stared at her. She hugged her hands tighter and looked up at Crystal.

“It’s okay, I won’t leave,” Crystal tried to reassure her.

Beth shook her head and fresh tears fell down her cheeks. “So stupid,” Beth whispered.

“No, no, you weren’t,” Crystal said through the hitch in her voice. “You’re going to be okay. I promise, you’ll be fine. Just let the nurse help you.”

“No!” Beth said with more force. She shook her head. “Just you.”

Crystal hesitated and then nodded. She turned to Liz and Hank. “Can you wait outside?”

Hank nodded and stepped out. Liz followed behind him, glancing back at Beth and Crystal before she pulled the door shut. Crystal turned to Beth and knelt in front of the chair. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this. This is all my fault.”

Beth shook her head. “I fucked up,” she whispered. “I wanted to help. Thought I could stop him or something.”

Crystal leaned into her friend and hugged her. She didn’t know what to say; instead, she just held her friend and felt her hot tears against her skin. After Beth began to calm and the tears dried, Crystal backed away. “He didn’t bite you?”

She shook her head.

“Did you hurt him? Cut him or scratch him?”

“No.”

Crystal smiled. “You’re going to be okay then. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Crys, he—he raped me,” she whispered and shot her eyes to the door. “And he just kept doing it!”

Crystal nodded. “Don’t worry. They’ll take care of you. We have to get you changed in to a robe, though. Can you stand?”

Beth sucked on her lip and winced. It was split in two places and the movement caused fresh blood to well up in one of the rips. “I think so,” she whispered.

Crystal slipped her hands under Beth’s arms and helped her stand up. Beth gasped, making Crystal freeze in place. “I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No. Well, a little,” she admitted. “You’re so strong. You didn’t used to be. Is that, um, what happened to you?”

Crystal felt her cheeks tighten. “I don’t know, maybe,” she said. “Don’t worry about that.”

“I wish I could be like you,” Beth mumbled.

Crystal shook her head. “No you don’t. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

Beth snorted, but she was standing steady on her feet. Crystal helped her slip the ruined shirt off and then held her steady while they pulled her pants back off. Kneeling beside her, Crystal couldn’t help but breathe in the overwhelming scent of the brutality Chad had done to her. She snarled and wrinkled her nose. She marked Chad’s scent and knew she’d never forget it. Against her better judgment, she turned her head and stared past the dark curls between Beth’s legs. She tilted her head, surprised. She looked nothing like she had before.

“Beth, are you sure he didn’t get any blood on you?”

“What? Yes, why?”

“You, um…” Crystal hesitated. She wasn’t sure how to say what she needed to. “You looked worse, down here, before.”

“Stephanie,” Beth said, her breath whistling through her lips. “She helped clean me up. Said it might help if I could get as much out of me as possible.”

Crystal stared up at her friend’s flaming red face. “She did what?”

Beth nodded. “Is that bad?”

Crystal shook her head. The cheerleader might have had a point. Still, it bothered Crystal. Especially after how Steph had offered to help her clean up earlier! “She didn’t, um, lick you anywhere, did she?”

“What are you talking about? Lick me? No!” Crystal and Beth shared a shiver. “Steph’s nice. She’s a good friend. She really cares about us.”

Crystal nodded and didn’t say anything. Beth was right, but she didn’t know the half of it. She stood up and helped Beth into the gown. She tied it in the back and held her hands while she moved to sit and then lay on the hospital bed.

“Hey, I’m going to let them in and call your folks, okay?”

Beth sucked on her lip and nodded. “Just the nurse?”

“Hank’s only here to help protect you,” Crystal said.

“I—I know,” Beth stammered. “But still, um, if you’re not here…”

Crystal nodded. “It’s okay, I understand. I’ll keep him with me.”

“Thanks.”

Crystal leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re going to be fine.”

Beth offered her a weak smile and watched her as Crystal went to the door and opened it.