Magic, New Mexico Boxset books 1-3

Chapter 3-3

Taar’s lips pulled back as he pressed down on the body of the alien under him. Every instinct in him demanded that he satisfy his hunger. The warm, fragrant scent of her blood and skin wetted his appetite to a raging inferno.

He parted his sharp teeth and let his long forked tongue unwind so he could run it along the smooth skin. He jerked when he received a painful shock the moment it touched the creamy flesh. He shook his head and growled in displeasure as a torrent of bitterness filled his senses, replacing the fragrant smell.

He pulled back, releasing the creature, as the taste continued to course over his taste buds. He needed something to wash it away. A sense of desperation filled him as the awful taste continued to build. Rolling to the side, he quickly rose and shook his head again. His eyes lit on a small bowl filled with water on the table by the female.

Taar snatched the clear bowl up and poured the entire contents of the bowl down his throat. He ignored the small rocks as he swallowed. He tossed the glass bowl to the side, ignoring the soft cry of distress from the female and the sound of shattering glass as it struck. A dark frown creased his leathery brow as he watched the slender figure scoot backwards before she gripped the table and pulled herself up.

“You ate Alfred!” the female cried out in dismay.

Taar snarled and shook his head as her voice resounded through his head. The damn translator that had been implanted in his ear at the mining prison echoed loudly. He gripped the side of his head as it pounded.

“Silence,” he ordered with a menacing voice.

“What are you? And what are you doing here?” the female demanded, ignoring his order.

Taar roared as the translator echoed loudly again. He reached out and gripped the front of the female’s clothing. With a rough push, he knocked her down onto the long dark red cloth-covered couch.

The horrid taste continued to plague him. The combination of foul bitterness and the loud echo from the translator infuriated him. He needed sustenance. Twisting around, he used his tail to toss a low table out of his way when he stumbled into it. He needed food and weapons, but he also needed to remove the translator that was pulsing with a piercing shriek in his ear.

Slicing one claw across the back of his ear, he reached the sharp tip through the opened tissue until he was able to grasp the small metal implant. Snaring it, he jerked it out, ignoring the green ooze of blood that came with it. Satisfied by the sudden silence that followed, he dropped the tiny device and stepped on it.

Rolling his head, he growled at the female now standing in front of him with her arms folded across her chest. A frown creased his brow when he discovered that instead of quaking in fear as most species do when he was near, she was glaring at him in what looked suspiciously like anger. He started to reach for her again, but this time the jolt of electrical charge that he encountered when he tried to touch her jumped from her skin to his, searing a deep burn through his leathery hide. Surprised by the sudden pain, he roared in rage.

“I don’t know who or what you are, but one of the kids must have really mucked up a spell when they created you! I want Alfred back,” Lacey snapped, holding out her left hand. “Now! He has been in the family for six generations. I am not about to go down in history as the one who lost him.”

Taar snarled at the female. He didn’t understand a word she was saying now that the translator had been removed. Instead of cowering in front of him, the female impatiently snapped her fingers. This time when his mouth opened it was because his stomach was heaving and rolling. He tried to swallow the bubbling in his throat, but whatever he had just swallowed was determined to come back up. With a loud belch, a round bubble containing a strange scaled creature popped out of his mouth and floated into the female’s extended hand.

For the first time in his life, Taar felt a sense of unease. He watched as the female mumbled a series of unfamiliar words in her language. The shards of glass from the bowl he had grabbed swirled like a small tornado until the bowl reformed. The moment it did, the bubble containing the tiny creature popped over it and it fell into the clear container that was once again filled with water.

“What are you?” Taar demanded, gazing at the female with suspicion. “Can all your species do this?”