Chapter 68: 6


    Tyler was driving through the streets thinking about the informant he had just spoken with when he


    spotted a car that looked suspiciously like Aster’s. Hoping he was wrong, he pulled into the parking lot


    and blocked the car in question from being able to back out. Using his onboardputer, he ran the


    tes, and he shook his head when Aster’s registry information popped up on the screen. He was


    ticked off. She was drinking again and was going to drive her car home after she promised him she


    would not.


    Tyler called for a tow truck, and when it arrived fifteen minutester, he gave the driver Aster’s address


    and had the driver take it to her ce. He then called a buddy of his who worked in traffic. He had the


    night off, so Tyler asked him to head out to Aster’s ce and put a boot on her car. He would save her


    the impound fees and the jail time, but he was going to make that girl earn her vehicle back.


    Once her vehicle was dealt with, he got out of his car and headed into the bar. It was like any bar; dark


    and a little dingy. Aster was sitting at the bar with some fat biker hitting on her. She was doing her best


    to deflect his clumsy advances, but the man didn’t get the hint. Tyler might have intervened if he had


    not known for a fact that Aster of all people did not need his help. She could easily tear this drunk to


    ribbons if he annoyed her enough.


    Tyler walked up to the bar next to her. “So much for your word.”


    Aster turned her attention away from the drunk hitting on her to see Tyler. “Fuck.” She groaned. “I only


    came in for one drink.” She said. Tyler looked at the bartender, who held up nine fingers, telling him her


    words were yet one more lie. “Rat.” She hissed at the bartender.


    “You promised me you weren’t going to drink anymore.”


    “You know it doesn’t matter what you think. You are not my boyfriend, you are not my father, and you


    are not my keeper.” She said, picking up her drink once more.


    Tyler took the drink from her hand, preventing her from finishing it. “Dude, thedy told you to fuck off.”


    The biker growled. And Tyler shed first his badge and then his gun. The biker put up his hands and


    backed off. “Right, none of my damn business. The girl is all yours, bro.” He turned and walked away.


    “I got to get me one of those.” Aster chuckled.


    “I might not be your keeper, but I am thew, and you will show me respect,” Tyler growled.


    “When did I not show you respect?” She growled.


    “When you looked me in the eye and lied to me.” She had no reply. “Give me one good reason why I


    should not just arrest you and let you do jail time?” He challenged her.


    Aster smiled flirtatiously and leaned in so close she could almost kiss him. “Because it would be awfully


    difficult for you to screw me through the bars of a jail cell.” She purred.


    “I am not joking.”


    “Neither am I.”


    “That’s it.” He growled, grabbing Aster by the bicep and forcing her to get off her barstool. “I am taking


    you home. Are you going toe willingly, or do I have to put the handcuffs on?”


    “Kicky, Detective.” She made a sexy growl as she pressed against him.


    “That’s your hormones and the booze talking. I’m just taking you home, and then I am going to put you


    to bed.” He said, walking her out of the bar to his car. Tyler opened the back door and urged her to get


    in.


    “I’ve never done it in the backseat of a cop car.” She said, flipping her tongue over his earlobe.


    “And you aren’t going tonight.” He urged her to sit back and then shut the door. God damn, the woman


    was going to drive him to drink.


    Tyler drove out to Feral. On the trip, he called into the station and exined he had a personal


    emergency and would need the rest of the night off. His supervisor was not impressed. By the time he


    reached Aster’s house, she had passed out. He searched her four keys and then took her inside and


    put her to bed. He then grabbed an extra nket and went to sleep on the couch. He was going to


    have it out with Aster in the morning when her head was clear of alcohol.


    ***


    Aster twitched in bed; her sleep restless. A sound startled her awake. She opened her eyes and looked


    around the darkness of her bedroom. Slowly she sat up. She couldn’t help but feel she wasn’t alone.


    That was when she noticed the shadowy figure in the corner by the open window. The thing white


    curtain pping ever so slightly from the breezeing in. the shadowy figure standing ominously just


    behind the sheer fabric of the curtain.


    Aster tried to get up out of bed, but she couldn’t. It was as if she were invisibly tethered to her bed. The


    eyes of the figure lit up a bright amber, and Aster’s fear grew. She could smell her mother’s perfume


    wafting on the breeze. A secondter, the figure shot across the room and was on Aster before she


    could scream. Aster was pinned to the mattress with her mother on top of her. Her mother’s hands


    were wrapped around Aster’s throat, her ws digging into Aster’s flesh. Her lips twisted in a snarling


    smiled with her fangs bared.


    Aster struggled against her mother, but she couldn’t get her off. Then her mother leaned forward and


    sunk her teeth into Aster’s throat. Aster screamed out in pain. She had to kill her mother before her


    mother killed her.


    ***


    Tyler heard a scream, and he fell off the couch. Scrambling to his feet, he ran through the house to


    Aster’s bedroom. He found her thrashing around the bed violently. She let out a blood-curdling scream.


    He rushed the bed and bracing one knee against the mattress. He took Aster by the shoulders to wake


    her. As soon as he touched her, Aster’s eyes flew open and were glowing. Oh, he had a bad feeling.


    Aster growled at him, and Tyler rushed the door as she jumped out of bed and came after him. Tyler


    pulled the bedroom door closed in the hopes of slowing her down. He ran back to the couch where he


    had left his gun and other weapons. He didn’t want to shoot her, so he grabbed his taser. He heard


    Aster rip the bedroom door off, and a loud snarl echoed through the house.


    Turning around, he saw what he assumed had once been Astere around the corner. Her beautiful


    human form had been reced by arge hairy snarling nightmare of a beast, all teeth and ws. “Oh


    fuck me.” He panicked and started to back up with his taser drawn. He had no idea if it would be


    enough to stop her. Tyler began to back away into the kitchen. “Aster, please wake up. Please don’t


    make me shoot you. Wake up!”


    Aster dropped to all fours and came at him. Tyler tried to run, but Aster got close enough to swipe at


    him, her ws slicing deep across his chest. The pain was tremendous, and she knocked him to the


    floor. Tyler quickly crawled away, trying to distance himself from her. She had left him no choice. He


    turned his taser on Aster and pulled the trigger.


    The electrodes shot out from the end of the gun and imbedded into Aster’s chest, delivering a massive


    charge stopping her short and causing her body to jerk violently for a few minutes before she reverted


    to her human form and copsed unconscious on the floor. With her rendered harmless, Tyler


    copsed and lost consciousness himself.


    ***


    Aster groaned in pain as she slowly woke on the living room floor. She was naked, and two metal


    prongs attached to long metal leads were embedded in her chest. Everything hurt. Did someone taser


    her? Aster coiled her fingers around the prongs and pulled them from her body, swearing in pain as she


    did so. There were burn marks on her skin, but in a few hours, there would be no evidence of a wound


    at all.


    Where were her clothes? Aster got up on her knees when she spotted Tyler a few feet away,


    unconscious and covered in blood. “Oh no.” She crawled over to him to find the taser gun in one hand


    as hey their limp. Aster checked his vital signs to see if he were dead. She couldn’t recall what had


    happened, but it didn’t take much to put two and two together. She must have changed during the


    night, which exined why she was naked. Then she must have attacked Tyler, which ounted for


    the taser and his wounded state.


    His vitals were strong, so she got up and went to her bedroom, where she got dressed and then came


    back to collect Tyler. Given her superior strength, Aster was able to lift Tyler off the floor and carry him


    to the bedroom, where sheid him down on the bed. She stripped off his bloody shredded shirt and


    tossed it on the floor. She collected some clothes and water then came back to the bed trying to clean


    him up. He had lost a lot of blood, and Aster worried he might need blood; she very well might need to


    take him to a hospital. Only she could not exin his wounds. She knew Tyler wouldn’t heal, not as she


    did. He was human, and he needed medical attention.


    Aster decided to take him to a hospital. She dressed him once more and carried him out to the drive,


    where she saw her car booted. Things couldn’t get any worse. She looked at Tyler’s department car. If


    she took his police car, would she be charged with stealing it? She had no choice. She had to call for


    an ambnce. They didn’t like having any kind of sirens in the area. It made the pack nervous, but she


    had no other way of getting Tyler the help he required.


    Asterid him down on the driveway and went inside. She found a phone and called an ambnce.


    Then she cleaned up as much of the mess from the confrontation as she could in the short time it took


    for the paramedics to arrive. She didn’t want anyone to realize that she had done this to him. She


    couldn’t hide the broken bedroom door, and there wasn’t enough time to wash away the blood on the


    floor, but she moved the furniture to hide it.


    When she heard the siren approach, she was at Tyler’s side once more. When asked what happened,


    Aster told the paramedics that Tyler had spent the night and had gone out to investigate a noise when


    he was attacked by an animal. Around Feral, “attacked by an animal” was a standardint. Every


    few months, wildlife officials would search the area, trying to find the animals that “terrorized” the area,


    but they never could. The pack was cautious and was never caught.


    Aster climbed into the back of the ambnce with Tyler and went with him to the hospital. She wanted


    to make sure he would be alright and to be sure that no one would suspect her animal attack story was


    a lie. Reaching the hospital, the nurses and doctors hooked Tyler up to an IV bag of blood and set to


    work. They stripped him down, assessed his wounds, then cleaned him up and began to stitch the


    horrible gashes closed. Aster felt horrid. Tyler would forever be scarred, and it was her fault.


    While Tyler slept, Aster paced. She wanted to talk to her father. She needed advice, but she knew that


    the prison phones were tapped, and pack business was one conversation they couldn’t afford to have


    documented. Aster had no idea when Tyler would wake, so she left the room and headed down to the


    cafeteria to get herself some much-needed coffee.


    ***


    The steady rhythmic beep of the heart monitor drew Tyler back to the waking world. As he came to, the


    pain hit him like a freight train. It was so intense. Tyler looked around to find himself in a hospital. An IV


    of blood in his arm. Tyler pulled down the front of his hospital gown and saw the long deep gashes in


    his chest, which had all be stitched closed and dressed. That was going to leave a mark.


    He had no clue how he had gotten here. All he remembered was tasing Aster after she attacked him,


    then nothing after that.


    About ten minutester, Aster came in with a paper cup of coffee. She looked at him, and he returned


    the look. He could see the remorse in her eyes. He wasn’t angry. He knew she hadn’t been in her right


    mind, but it looked as though she were taking his injury harder than he was.


    Aster put her cup down and came to his bedside. “I am sorry.” She told him. “I don’t remember doing


    this.” She confessed. “But it must have been me. I am so sorry, Tyler. I told the doctors you were


    attacked by an animal.” That was probably a good lie.


    “I’m not angry.” He told her. It was clear to him this woman had some deep invisible scares which were


    far worse than the ones he would now bear.


    “Look, I like you Tyler, that is why I don’t want youing around anymore. I am dangerous, and I


    don’t want to hurt you again. So just stay away, ok.” She then ced the coffee by his bed and walked


    out.


    Themon sense in him told Tyler the smart thing to do was avoid Aster. Yet, the detective in him


    refused to walk away from someone with a problem. He wanted to help her. He didn’t know what was


    bothering her, but he wasn’t giving up until he found out what it was. However, he needed to recover


    before he confronted Aster once more.


    ***


    RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    Aster knocked on the door of her childhood home. Her mother dead and her father locked up. She


    hadn’te to see her parents. She hade to see her stepmother Makenzie. The human woman


    for whom her father was now serving a five-year sentence. Makenzie opened the door with her son in


    her arms. She smiled when she saw Aster. “Hi, what a surprise.” Makenzie’s expression became


    concerned when she saw the fear and pain in Aster’s eyes. “What is wrong?”


    “I hurt someone. I need someone I trust to talk to.”


    Makenzie stepped aside. “Come on in. I’ll make coffee.”