Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 69: 7

The following weeks were quiet. Tyler’s father had come in to do the scheduled tasting to decide on which cake to have made for their calibration. Tyler had not come with them to the tasting, and she found herself wanting to ask about him and how he was healing, but she knew it was better if she didn’t. Cutting all ties with Tyler was best, and as soon as she concluded, her dealings with his father would bring an end to all her connections to the sinfully good-looking Detective. The celebration was in two days, and she and Katelyn were working hard to finish the order.

The bell from the shop door rang, alerting them to a customer. Aster was deep into frosting the tears, and she didn’t have the time to deal with a customer. Katelyn hoped off the tall stool she sat on while doing her work. Because she was so very pregnant, it was too hard for her to stand all day. Katelyn had been working on modelling chocolate figures for the topper. “I got it.” She said, waddling off to the front of the shop. Aster snickered as she watched it. She found it hilarious how much pregnant women in their third trimester resembled penguins.

It wasn’t long before Katelyn came waddling back in. “They want to talk to you.”

Aster groaned. She was busy enough. She hated being interrupted when she was in a productive groove. Aster put down her tools and wiped her hands, then she brushed a stray lock of golden hair out of her eyes and went out front. Aster stopped in the doorway when she saw Tyler on the other side of the counter. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her.

Aster came to the counter, assuming he must be there about his father’s order. “Is there a problem with the order?” She asked, wondering why he would come here.

“None that I know of.” He said. “You look good.”

“Thank you.”

“You look like you are recovering.”

“I get the stitches out tomorrow.”

“Why are you here, Tyler?”

“Well, my dad’s wedding is in two days, and I need a date. I was hoping you might be interested in dusting off your dancing shoes.”

“Are you insane?” It just slipped out. Did this man have a death wish? “What the hell is wrong with you? Is there a medical diagnosis for what is wrong with you?”

Tyler stepped back, shocked. “Not exactly the response I was looking for.”

“I almost killed you. You will forever be maimed because of me. Why in the world would you want to date me? I am a danger to you. The next time it happens, I might kill you.”

“You didn’t do it on purpose. I know that.”

“It doesn’t matter. On purpose or not, dead is dead.”

“Ok, how about this? We go out on our date, and I promise to carry my taser. If you get uppity, I’ll zap you again.”

“It’s dangerous, Tyler.”

“Aster, look at me. I’m a cop. I do danger every day. Every time I strap this gun to my hip and hang that badge from my neck, I know that when I walk out my door, I might die. Death doesn’t scare me. Not living my life to the fullest while I have it, that scares me. So when you drop the cake off on Saturday, make sure you are in a nice dress and shoes you can dance in.” He smiled.

“You are really stubborn.”

“Yes, I am.” He grinned as he walked out of the shop. Aster knew it was a bad idea, but she smiled anyway, excited about the date she couldn’t get out of.

***

Aster sat in the prison visiting room, waiting to see her father. She heard the loud buzzer of the secure doors as the guards marched the inmates with visitors into the room still in chains. It broke Aster’s heart to see her father in chains when all he was doing had been trying to protect his lover and unborn child. Once in the room, the inmates were lined up against a wall, and each one had their restraints removed one by one with a warning to behave themselves, or they would suffer dearly for it.

Gordon fit into prison perfectly. He was a tattooed biker with his long shaggy hair and his short beard. Gordon was an Alpha which gave him a dangerous commanding air about his that even humans could sense. Gordon was a badass, and it was clear that he had been flexing his power intimidating the other inmates into behaving around him. There was no question to anyone in the room. Gordon ruled prison, and everyone in that room knew it. No matter where her father went, he was always the top dog.

Gordon stalked through the room, and Aster tried not to laugh as people diverted their eyes too timid to make eye contact with him. As her father reached the table, Aster stood up and hugged him hello. “Hello baby,” he greeted her warmly and kissed her cheek.

“I see you have been making friends again.” She teased as they sat down.

“Prison is just like pack life. Sometimes you got to bite to keep the omegas in line.” He whispered. “What’s wrong, baby?” He asked, placing his hands over hers.

“What makes you think anything is wrong?”

“I sense it. You’re my cub. I always know when something is bothering you.”

Aster forced a smile. Her father had always been the nurturing one out of her parents. Her mother had always been a nightmare, but her father had always protected her. When her mother would come after Aster as a child, her father would step in and take her mother’s wrath sparing her. Her mother had been so abusive, and even though her father was stronger than her mother. Gordon did not believe in hitting women even if they hit first. That led to many years of abuse. The day her father stood up to his wife and the abuse stopped, a new hell developed that cost many people their lives and ended with Aster losing her mother to the grave and her father to a cell. She couldn’t help but feel she had lost everything.

“I don’t know what to do, Daddy.” She said, trying to control her emotions.

“What happened?” He asked quietly.

“I have been sleep-walking again.” Her father knew she only did that when something was seriously bothering her. “I’ve had horrible dreams about mom.” She cleared her throat, trying not to sound choked up about it. “When I wake up, I find that I’ve hurt someone while I was sleep-walking. I hurt someone really badly. Someone how was only trying to help me. Someone I like. I’m scared, Daddy. I’m scared I am turning into mom.”

Gordon reached out ad took Aster by the back of the head, pulling her in close so he could whisper in her ear. “Your mother was a psychotic bitch who didn’t care who she hurt. You are nothing like her baby. What is happening to you is her fault. Good mothers do not traumatize their cubs.” Then he sighed. “I must bear some blame for this too. I should have put a stop to the abuse long before I did. It wasn’t right for you to see that, to be forced to live that way. I am sorry. Don’t blame yourself. You are not your mother.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. It was the same soft loving look her father had always given her. “Who did you hurt?”

“A man who wants to take me out.”

Her father looked suspicious. “Human?” She nodded. “How did you hurt him?”

“He woke me, and I bit him, and a clawed open his chest.” She confessed quietly.

Gordon lowered his voice. “He knows what you are?” She nodded. Normally this would be the part where Gordon would tell her Tyler needed to be executed to protect the pack, but since he had taken a human bride himself, he had become far more lenient. “Is he trustworthy?”

“Yes.” At least Aster trusted Tyler. He had never given her any reason not to trust him. “Should I kill him?”

“No. You trust him not to expose us, and I trust your judgment.” He held her hands once more. “I love you, baby, and I promise the nightmares will end. I know things are hard right now with me in here. But it won’t last forever. You’ll see I’ll be out of here soon.”

“Why are you even in here?” She snapped. “You could break those chains like dry pasta. You could rip the cell door off with little effort. You could walk right past those guards and their guns. Why do you stay in here?”

“To protect the pack.”

“How does you being in prison protect the pack?”

“You are right. There is nothing holding me here but my honour. The humans have deemed me guilty of killing a man. If I escape and leave, they would come for me. Bounty hunters, state troopers, the full weight of the Colorado justice department would come down on Feral and put everyone at risk. To protect the pack, I do my time. It’s only five years.” Then he smiled. “After twenty-five years with your mother, five years with love-starved murders is a holiday.” Aster laughed. “So, are you going to keep seeing this guy?”

“His father is getting married tomorrow. He invited me to go with him. I haven’t decided if I am going to go.”

“Does he know about your nightmares?”

“He knows I have them but not why.”

“Do you really like him?”

“I do.”

“Does his interest in you seem sincere?”

“It does.” He had put up with a lot and hadn’t so much as earned a kiss yet.

“Then maybe you should tell him.” Aster stared blankly at her father. All her life, they had hidden what happened behind closed doors, and they sure as hell never involved humans. For her father to suggest she not only tell their family shame but to a human was so uncharacteristic for him. “Sometimes, you just have to trust people. Sometimes the silence is harmful. I know that now. Let him in, baby. It might help you heal.”

Shortly after, Aster was forced to say goodbye to her father once more. She watched the guards walk him from the room in chains again. She would never get used to seeing that. Aster left the prison and took hopped into her car. Tyler never had the chance to remove the boot, but Aster didn’t need him. She simply removed the booted tire and replaced it with a new one. Aster was mechanically inclined. Her father had taught her a few things about cars. She often spent time in the garage with her father under the hood of one car or another. He even allowed her to work on his bike. Gordon had always believed in teaching his cub self-reliance, and she thanked him for it because it meant she didn’t need anyone.

Aster got into her car and took her phone out from the glove box. She had left her valuables in the car because she knew the guards would have just taken them from her anyway had she brought them in with her. She held her phone in her hand, staring at it. She had his private cellphone number in her phone because he had given it to her when he brought his parents in to place an order with her business.

She decided to call.

***

Tyler sat at the table locked in a stand-off with the man he had arrested last night. Dennis Wallace was a large white supremacist who had been beating the hell out of his wife and kids when his black neighbour called the cops because of the screaming coming from his house. The neighbour had made the mistake of standing on his porch when the cops came to this man’s door. When the Uniform tried to deal with the complaint. Dennis took off after his neighbour. This guy took the cop's gun and emptied it into his neighbour for calling the police.

They had called for backup. The cops subdued the man and arrested him. The officer who was so careless as to lose his gun was now facing an internal investigation and facing suspension without pay. As for Dennis, he was facing first-degree murder and a death sentence when convicted. The sleazy smile on this skin head’s face made Tyler’s blood boil. He hated people like this. He had put up with bullies like this guy all his life.

Tyler grew up on a reservation. The conditions were terrible, and he had to fight every day of his life. There had been a huge rift between the residences of the reserve and the white community of the nearest town. In short, it was war. Bigotry was one of Tyler’s biggest triggers. He didn’t like it, and he didn’t put up with it. It was one of the reason’s he became a homicide detective. To put scum like this guy where they belonged.

Perhaps growing up the way he did made it easier for Tyler to understand Aster’s plight, that us against them mentality she and her pack had was deeply rooted, and he could relate. Sure, Aster and her pack had killed people, but the way Tyler saw it, that was self-defence. What this man did was cold-blooded murder.

“You keep eyeing me like that, Chief and I’m going to half to do something about it.” Dennis sneered.

Tyler laughed. “Yeah, what you going to do about? You’re in handcuffs, asshole. Let me ask you something, why do all you skinheads all tattoo those swastikas to your heads and faces. Do you think it makes you look tough? Do you think it puts the fear of God into people? I’m sorry to burst your bubble dickhead, but it just identifies you as a douc bag. When you get to prison, the brothers are going to love you.”

“Oh, testy Detective. Don’t they train you not to get your braids in a knot?” Dennis laughed. Tyler really wanted to draw his gun and shoot this guy in the knee cap, see if he was still laughing afterwards.

Tyler stood up and placed both hands on the table, leaning in close to Dennis. He was about to tear into him when his cellphone rang. Surprised, Tyler pulled back and looked at the detective he had been riding with that day. His colleague gave him a “what the hell” look.

Tyler knew the interrogation room was not a place to be receiving personal calls, and in truth, he had no idea who could be calling him at this inopportune moment. “You want to take that?” Dennis laughed.

Tyler took out his cellphone and looked at it. He didn’t recognize the number, so he decided to answer. “Winthrop.” He answered.

“Tyler?” He heard Aster’s voice.

Tyler stepped away to the corner and turned his back to the others in the room. He lowered his voice. “Aster? Are you alright? Are you in trouble?”

“I’m fine. I was hoping to see you tonight. If that is possible.” It wasn’t after work he had a million responsibilities to deal with for his father’s wedding tomorrow. He just couldn’t come by tonight.

“I can’t. I have a million things to do. But can we talk about whatever it is tomorrow at the wedding?”

The line was quiet for a long time. “Yeah… alright.” She sounded disappointed. He was starting to wonder what it was that was troubling her. He felt bad making her wait. “Look, if it is really important, I can come by late.”

“No.” She said. “It’s fine. I will see you tomorrow.” Before he could answer, she hung up.

Tyler looked at his phone and sighed. He wished he could call her back but now was just not the time to do it. He tucked his phone into his jacket and turned to face Dennis, who smiled. “Problems? Yeah, I had problems with mine too. Sometimes you just need to hit a bitch.”

Tyler did not respond. He couldn’t. If he did, his CO would suspend him for what he said. And he didn’t want this asshole getting off because he lost his cool.

“If you are too much of a pussy to do it yourself, I can go over to your girl's house when I get out on bail and put her in her place for you. If I break her jaw, she can’t talk back.”

That was the last straw. Tyler came around the table and placed his hand on the back of Dennis’ head, then slammed his face into the steel table a few times. Dennis lifted his head, and there was blood everywhere. Tyler had broken the nose of a perp in custody while he was handcuffed and restrained.

Dennis laughed and spat blood. “Thank you for making my case. Police brutality!” He yelled at the two- way mirror. They all knew there was a camera recording every minute of the interrogation, and it had just caught Tyler brutalizing a restrained man.

The other detective grabbed Tyler and took him out into the hall. “What the hell are you doing? You can’t beat a suspect in custody. Thanks to what you just did, his lawyer is going to have him out on bail in a matter of days. He’s going to go right back to his home and terrorized his family and neighbours, and it’s going to be all your fault.”

At that moment, his CO came out of the viewing room next to them. “Have you lost your fucking mind? You are suspended immediately until IA looks into this incident. Give me your badge and your gun.”

Furious Tyler removed his holster and gun and put it in his CO’s hand. He then took his badge from around his neck and handed it over. He couldn’t fault his CO, Tyler had crossed the line, and he knew the suspension was standard protocol for this situation. Without a fight, Tyler walked to his locker. Took his stuff and headed to his father’s place early.