Read Claimed by the Beast Bundle for Free Online

um—I’ve never done that before. I don’t know what came over me!”
    He turned his head back around and cursed. The bike lurched under her as he wrestled it at an angle to keep them from going off the path and into some bushes.
    “Crap! I’m sorry!” Crystal cried again. She held on tighter than ever but tried to distance herself from him. She had the taste of leather in her mouth and the smell of his jacket and his skin in her nose. She wrinkled her nose and tried to breathe in the moist air of the woods to clear her senses.
    Hank remained silent the rest of the short ride. He pulled into a clearing where some trailers were set up. Trailers complete wi th motorcycles in front of them except one. He parked his there and waited for her to climb off.
    Crystal noticed he joined her only because she saw his feet a few moments later. He was facing her, but she was staring at the ground and too embarrassed to look up at him.
    “Hey,” he said. “It’s okay. It just caught me off guard.”
    She risked a look up and saw him smiling. She risked a smile back and then noticed one of the trailer doors opening. The redhead from the night before stuck her head out. She was wearing her leather vest and a skirt again. Crystal dropped her eyes and found herself caught up on the woman ’s bare feet. Especially when she stepped out of her trailer and walked across the hard-packed ground of the small compound without any sign of discomfort.
    Other trailer doors were opening and people were coming out. In moments there were five of them, including Hank, surrounding her. The redhead sniffed the air before saying, “You made it.”
    “ I think she’s fine,” Hank said.
    “ What? Of course I’m fine,” Crystal mumbled.
    The oldest man in the group, complete with a salt -and-pepper beard worthy of a family member of the Duck Dynasty reality show, stepped up to her and reached out. He cupped Crystal’s chin in his rough hands and lifted her face up to meet his eyes. Crystal’s heart fluttered in her chest fast enough to give a hummingbird a run for its money.
    The redheaded woman leaned in again until her face was only a few inches from Crystal ’s. Crystal heard her inhale loudly. She wanted to push her back or at least move away, but she felt paralyzed by the old man’s gaze. His eyes were light gray, reminding her of storm clouds that hadn’t gotten angry enough yet to rain.
    “ She’s tainted,” the redheaded woman claimed.
    The bearded man let go of her chin and grunted, “Were you hurt?” She could pick out a touch of a strange accent that she’d never heard before.
    “ She was fine when I left her,” Hank said.
    The older man ’s eyes flicked to Hank and then back to her. “Either you were hurt, or you went back and got hurt. Which is it?”
    “ I didn’t go back!” Crystal said. “I haven’t been by that bridge since then. What was that thing, a rabid dog or something?”
    “ Answer the question!” the redhead scolded in a voice just shy of being a scream.
    Crystal jerked and turned to glance at her and then Hank. He offered an apologetic shrug. “Crystal, meet Ember,” he said.
    “ I’m Guntar,” the old man offered. He gestured at the platinum blond beside him. “This is Gwen, my mate.”
    Gwen offered her a smile. Her outfit was similar to Ember ’s, right down to the lack of shoes. The difference was the silver necklace with a half-moon pendant on it she wore.
    “ I’m Adrian,” the final man said. He wore faded jeans and a Harley-Davidson t-shirt.
    Crystal checked Adrian ’s feet and saw he had riding boots on, but they were barely tied. Was he in a rush to meet her and didn’t bother tightening them?
    “ You’d better answer my question before Ember gets too riled up,” Guntar reminded her.
    Crystal tilted her head. Was it some kind of Russian accent? Maybe German? She couldn ’t figure it out. “I fell and bruised my knee and shoulder,” she said.
    “ And your face,” Hank