Star-Crossed | Boy x Boy

𝑳𝒖𝒌𝒐

"RED! RED?!" Aster thundered down the stairs.

Elaine and I both leapt to our feet. I grabbed the kids and shoved them behind me, shielding them from the angry man. 

Aster spun around the corner, panting. When he saw me, he instantly froze. "Oh my god- I thought you left!" he cried, resting his hands on his knees. "You scared the shit out of me, Red!" he added, wiping beads of sweat off of his forehead. 

Elaine smiled. "Looks like he missed you," she whispered to me.

I stood in front of the kids still. "I went to look around."

Aster wheezed. "I thought that you ran off or something, either into the forest or back to town. If one of my wolves found you... especially one that wasn't in my meeting, I didn't know what they might've done. You're still a stray, and strays don't belong in someone's territory." He looked up. "Thank you for watching him, Elaine." He glanced at the bed. "And Suki. I'm sure she gave him an earful."

Elaine smiled. "I think she likes him."

Aster arched an eyebrow. "Really?" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a tight hug, crushing me in his buff arms. "I was so worried about you..." he mumbled, his breath hot on my ear. It was kind of amusing, seeing him act so gentle around me. All the other wolves acted scared of him. He was a real cuddlebug. I wonder why the others treated him like he was some sort of tyrant. Was that just how wolf hierachy worked?

Elaine smirked at me over his shoulder. She made a kissy face and pointed to Aster. I grinned at her. I liked Elaine. 

Aster pulled away, running a hand through his hair. "Seriously, you scared me. Tyler would've ripped you to shreds, waited for you to heal, and then rip you to shreds again!"

I glanced at Elaine, wondering if she was offended that he was talking about her husband like that, but she merely stared at her shoes. I pushed Aster away from me a little bit. I liked Aster, but I wasn't sure I was comfortable with how touchy he was. It was the same with Jamie, they were both touchy people, but I just didn't like it as much as they wanted me to. "I'm fine. The kids have been keeping me company."

Aster groaned. "Why can't you listen to me when I tell you not to go wandering off? Why don't you understand how dangerous it is?"

"Elaine told me we have healing powers."

"They're hardly powers, and much less of a blessing than you might think. You can still feel every bit of pain in the moment, and you'll remember it always. It means you could get shot every day for the rest of your life in non-vital areas and live the rest of your life in misery."

I frowned. "But-"

Aster hissed. "No buts, I'm serious. Start listening to me."

Elaine nodded. "It's for your own good, Red."

Aster handed me my phone. "Your friends called you like a dozen times. It was the ringing that woke me up. That and lack of warmth," he said, almost accusingly. I rolled my eyes and took the phone from him. 

"Thanks. I need to get home anyways, my mom is probably worried sick. I'm usually back by ten or eleven, and it's nearly nine o'clock now." I glanced at Aster. "Do I need my big, strong werewolf bodyguard to walk me home or can I do it myself?" Elaine snorted.

Aster scoffed. "Let me go get a jacket, and then I'll take you home. Stay here."

"Aye-aye, beefcake."

~*~

"Fuck you!" I cried, slamming down five hundred more dollars on the ground. Jamie grinned maliciously as she snatched up the dollar bills and added them to her growing pile. We were trying to play a peaceful game of Monopoly to help us through this all-nighter, but Jamie was bent on my destruction and was pulling everything in her power to make me lose. She was no manipulative- all that psychiatry training was coming in handy.