Defender (New World Book 7) Page 6

  “You’re an alien. Oh my God. A fucking monster. The rumors are true.”

  Rumors? Shit.

  He quickly lowered his shield, the transformation complete. The female hadn’t moved; she looked scared shitless, he scented her terror. This one would talk, and she might be believed. Taz heard his brain screaming; now he would have to kill her. If a description of him matched another’s hundreds of miles away it would be believed. It would only take a second to snap her delicate throat. But she was female and of child bearing years. Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with shock. For a moment, Taz cringed. The only thing he liked about humans was many had brown eyes, like his. Most Tonans had blue or grey eyes. Krish told Taz his eyes were shit colored because he was shit. Blue was the color of the free sky. No one shit blue.

  What to do with you my pretty…

  Blue eyes suited her, but he could capture her and her free blue eyes and cage her. Her long blond hair hung low with wild curls begging to be tamed. Taz marveled how small human females were again. Every one of them he encountered was small. It was a laugh to him when he heard humans chuckle and point at a ‘fat’ female. No matter their size, Taz was always heavier, taller, and more powerful. Humans were stupid when it came to judging size. If they closed their eyes and only scented they would better understand what was good and what was not. Size meant nothing. The sweetness of an individual was an aroma Taz used to differentiate. If the human before him were fifty times her size she would still smell of caring, compassion, determination and beyond her fear was courage. The scent was intoxicating.

  There was no need to kill such a beautiful creature. He could hide her away until he left and take her with him. She’d make a nice companion for the way home. Or as a gift. All he needed was to get the prize. After that thought, the female moved—fast. A sledge hammer was swung at his head. Last second his shield went up.

  The resounding ping of the blow was enough to startle him. Holy shit. Taz gave his head a shake. The female was struggling to open the door, trying to escape. Taz lunged for her, dropping his shield, his talons would slice her in half. He grabbed her, but she was a bundle of wild motion. She struggled insanely. He needed both his hands to try and still her thrashing. Her scream was short lived when Taz yanked her to his chest tilting her face up and he planted his mouth over hers to silence her. It was a mistake. His shield went crazy. Castians weren’t the only beings approaching must. Her taste filled him, devoured him. His senses went wild with the feel of her in his arms.

  This was Taz’s first kiss. Her mouth was soft, her tongue was velvet, her aroma flowed through him instead of only around him. Her moist lips quivered beneath his. She was afraid at first until Taz felt his shield reconfigure and their saliva flowed sweetly together. Taz knew he should pull away, but she was intoxicating. Her emotions fed his shield until he sensed euphoria. Her struggling ceased, and she collapsed into his arms, pressing against his chest. Her high firm breasts were crushed into him.

  When he released her lips, she was wide-eyed. There was no fear. She blinked in rapid succession. Taz knew the acceptance wouldn’t last long; his secretions gave a female enough to calm her.

  “Who are you? What are you?” she whispered.

  Taz dipped his head when she started to pull away. Her sharp intake of breath when he claimed her lips made him shudder. His shield adjusted inside centering on each different secretion she needed. The tiny female lifted her hand to run over his arm, an action she did on her own. Acceptance, his shield went into hyper claim. Taz had no idea what the emotion meant. Each touch drove him to strive harder to create the hormones she needed to feel safe in his arms. Taz wanted her to feel safe. The sensations inside made no sense. She would be a gift all right.

  His.

  Taz lifted his head breaking contact. “It appears my mission is over. I’m headed home little human female. With you.”

  “Home?”

  She sounded dazed. Her breathing grew rapid. Taz sensed her fear grow and he wanted her to be afraid, he wanted her to be fine. The warring inside him grew to such an extreme his shield came up. This close to the beast he turned into was too much for her. The female tried to kick him, tried to battle a warrior. Warnings in his shield went off. Half wanting her dead, the other half battling to keep her safe. Each hit to his person injured her and she cried out as she tried to battle him. Red marks dotted her hand. She drew her own blood. Taz’s insides screamed with the smell.

  She was injured, she should be injured.

  Damn, she shouldn’t be injured.

  Taz did the only thing he could until he would be able to figure out what he should do. Two long fangs on either side of his mouth began to drip saliva. Dipping his head Taz sunk the fangs into her throat a short way, not wanting to rip her skin apart. The reaction was instantaneous. The female went limp, the potent drug worked fast. She wasn’t unconscious, her body was placid. He swung her into his arms and pressed her safely to his chest and took off into the night. Once she was aboard his ship he could cage her. The tiny thing he held was the closest Taz had ever come to real danger. Nothing before her taste and the scent of her blood made his body and shield war.

  * * * *

  Cold wet rain slipped down Macey’s cheeks. Her hair was plastered to her head. The beast carrying her moved so fast her surroundings were a blur. Macey was in no pain, her limbs were lethargic, dangling. A single powerful arm kept her pressed to his hard chest. Her cheek brushed against the cold, hard, terrifying alien. The only thought keeping her from succumbing to terror was the beast was moving and not anywhere near her aunt and the girls. Macey couldn’t let it near the others. The little ones were already family, she loved them. She promised to keep them safe. Haven would be heartbroken. She’d promised to return. A surge went through her. Macey had protected those children for over a week, she had saved them from only God knew what. She was going to have to find something stronger than a sledge hammer to stop this beast and return to her family.

  The beast stopped dead in his tracks when she wiggled for a moment. It wasn’t more than a twitch, but she filled with relief. To be alert and totally vulnerable was horrifying. She wondered all sorts of terrifying scenarios. Would the alien do an autopsy on her while she couldn’t move but could feel everything? She would go insane. He was halfway up a massive tree. His arms held her, his clawed feet buried in the bark. A tail at his behind wrapped around her ankles pulling them together. His head was tilted but where his eyes were supposed to be were grey bulbs. Black tattoos on his cheeks glowed against the darkness. Two-inch, pure snow-white fangs dripped with a clear substance. He was hideous to look at, when he had been so incredibly handsome. She knew when she saw he had no nipples he was an alien, but he was the most perfect man—male she had ever seen. Her heart almost exploded with attraction, until he changed.

  What happened to the male I kissed?

  Why had she been so complacent? Why had she wanted this thing to kiss her? He wasn’t this thing at the time. Why couldn’t he change back? This creature was too scary. The creature dipped his head and each fang slid into her throat. He wasn’t cruel or hurried. It didn’t hurt. Droplets from his fangs dripped onto her skin first, and she wondered if it was a numbing agent. He could have ripped her throat out. The effect was instantaneous. Her body was incapable of motion, no twitch, not the wiggle of a baby finger, nothing. Except her eyes. Macey felt the trail of a single tear slide its way to mingle in her wet hair.

  I wish I was home.

  “I scent your fear, female human,” his voice was deep and void of emotion. “The drug won’t hurt you, little female.”

  Macey could say nothing. Another tear slipped free. She promised the children she would return; her aunt would be so worried. Aunt Greta would blame herself if Macey didn’t return.

  “Stop,” he commanded. “The tears mix with rain and my damned shield allows my skin to absorb them. I can’t calm you here. We’re exposed. I won’t kill you. Make your eyes behave. Tame y
our emotional weapon. Fuck, females are dangerous.”

  He swore under his breath and was again on the move. Macey was glad it was dark. The beast went from land to tree to land when possible. Frightening shadow glimpses were all she caught of their surroundings. Palm trees disappeared and were replaced by coniferous trees. The air cooled. The smell of the atmosphere was different. Macey couldn’t believe it, he moved so fast she was in different States, she was certain. He was taking her so far from home. With each movement, she was further from the ones she loved. Her heart ached. She wanted her family safe, but how could she return?

  Cold invaded her bones. She would die; he would kill her, and her aunt and the children would never know what happened. Macey couldn’t move, beg, scream, whisper. His grip on her was tight but not bone crushing. The lightning was as fierce where he was taking her. They were in a remote deeply forested area. Her world was gone. Where are we? The beast stopped and Macey was clutched under her arms and pressed to his chest, belly to belly.

  “I’m taking you down into the valley below, little female human. I won’t drop you. You have no need to be afraid. You don’t need to die. There’s a cave down there and my shuttle.”

  Macey would have screamed if she could. The rock face was a sheer drop hundreds of feet down. Her heart began to pound, she couldn’t control it.

  “Human female, stop. I said you will be fine. I’m a warrior used to threats and uttering threats. How can you not understand a simple guarantee of safety? If I wanted your fear, I would dangle you over the edge not ease your fears. Now be eased, damn you.”

  The beast had the nerve to be condescending as though what he spoke was fact. He jumped. The claws on the beast’s feet squealed as he surfed down the mountain side. One arm held her secure to his chest, pressed along the length of his body, the other stretched out back behind him. Sparks flew in his wake from long talons against the darkness. Their pace was electrifying and Macey’s tummy lurched in protest as their speed increased. A number of times they were airborne, and then landed against hard rock in a zig zag. An eagle squawked and took flight when lightning flashed.

  The beast hit the ground running, and she was tucked under an arm. Macey had no idea how he could find his way in the pitch black. He stopped and swung her up to cradle her against his chest. The pressure to hold her was slight but enough to know she wouldn’t be dropped. She heard a huge amount of expelled air, smoke swirled and a door in the dark opened to reveal the inside of a shuttle. Everything inside was lit up with florescent lights. Macey was slung over his shoulder. When he entered the shuttle, the door closed behind him. Sealing her in with him. She was taken to a room with a small silver cage with bars spaced only an inch apart. It looked like an overgrown hamster house. The beast set her down beside the cage; the shuttle floor was icy. Her chest was on fire while the rest of her begged to shake with cold.

  On all fours, he changed into the male she had seen in the shed. The grey hardness disappeared into his skin looking like mercury. His breath was ragged. He sat back on his haunches and stretched. When he turned to gaze at her, Macey was impaled by dark eyes. He was power, and gorgeous, and too terrifying to comprehend.

  “Don’t die of fright, little human female. I need to settle you in here. I have to regenerate. You can’t wander my vessel.”

  He was the beast and yet she would be caged. She saw nothing in his expression, no pity, no remorse, no anger. His appearance was drawn and haggard. When his warm hands settled onto her bare arms, he released her as though injured. He sat back to stare at his palms. His grey covering enveloped him. The beast growled low in his throat. He glared at her.

  “I’m not hurting you. Stop being frightened.” The grey disappeared and he once more looked like a man.

  Macey was surprised at his anger. It was as though she were the one tormenting him. Her fingers twitched. Her jaw quivered. Feeling began to return.

  “Name?” she whispered. Her lips barely moved; her breath almost inaudible.

  “I’m Taz. I’m a Tonan warrior from a distant planet. I’m here to observe, but I hate this place. It’s time for me to go home and end my mission. Earth is an awful planet. You’re lucky I found you. I can keep you—somewhere.”

  “Cold.”

  He will keep me somewhere?

  Would she be kept caged forever? Taz felt her face. His fingers lingered. Macey coughed and shivered. She was soaked, frozen, and afraid. In her haste to retrieve the gas for the generator she forgot she had draped her jacket over Haven in order to protect the child from the heavy rain as they fled the cottage. The numerous puddles had soaked her shoes, her slide down the embankment on the grass had covered her in mud, her jeans and socks were sodden. The ache in her chest grew worse. The pain built, but she wondered if it was an anxiety attack. She really deserved one right now.

  “Hurts.” Her palm rubbed across her chest.

  “My shield detects an illness beginning inside you. There is pain, I sense it. Your temperature is rising. The cage would be too cold and cause more harm. It’s not my mission to harm, or be seen, or to capture, or to fucking give an anal rat’s ass. Damn. Stupid mission. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate Krish more.”

  Taz picked her up and strode to a cot. The cot dipped when he sat beside her. He ran a hand over his short spiked blond hair. His head tilted as though thinking. He took her hand in his and held tight. His hand was warm and grew moist in a way she found pleasant. He cocked his head. He nodded and said yes aloud several times as though answering unheard questions.

  Oh God, he’s insane. The voices in his head speak to him.

  “Close your eyes,” he said. Macey shook her head no. “I won’t leave you to wander. You need rest. I’m going to bite you, but my fangs will scare you. My fangs will give you enough drug to knock you out. This drug is different from the last, I can’t use a numbing agent, it will interfere with the end result and my fangs will be larger and pierce deeper. I sense your exhaustion. I need to make you sleep little female. When you wake you should feel better. Close your eyes, human female.”

  “No.”

  “Fine, be stubborn. Don’t die of fright, although it would serve you right for your disobedience.”

  Macey sucked in her breath when Taz’s top fangs grew past his lower lip. They were larger. Clear liquid dripped from each. He was in human form, wearing only tight grey pants, nothing else. Taz gripped her hair and tilted her neck to expose her throat. In the light he was scary as shit and she saw everything.

  Vampires do exist.

  “Don’t eat me,” she managed to gurgle.

  “Gross, female.”

  Taz used his other hand to cover her eyes. Two sharp pricks pierced her flesh this time and before she could say ouch, Macey was unconscious.

  Taz wrinkled his nose as he sat up. The female was too emotional. Eat her? As if. Tonans weren’t a race of cannibals. What a disgusting image. If he needed to sedate her again, he wouldn’t warn her, he would just do it. Insubordinate little thing. Krish would have beat her for her willfulness. She was lucky he wasn’t here. Her skin was on fire with fear, confusion, and desperation. The emotion in her secretions was everywhere. Terror, sadness, loneliness. She was hot and cold. He gazed down on her limp form wondering what to do next. She was sodden. The clothing she wore was cold which might be adding to her distress. Taz didn’t like it much when he had been soaked in confining materials.

  Taz went to the replicator and demanded a heated blanket. Heated blankets drew away the cold and dried wetness. A soft fluffy large blanket appeared and Taz took it to her. Taz tucked the blanket around her. The blanket was chipped with sensors and molded to her, within seconds her hair was dry. It was the best he could do. He didn’t know how to take care of a human female. She was too fragile. And Taz was weary.

  The only times he had ever been weary on his planet was when Krish locked him away from sunlight as punishment. It happened often as a child and more often as a teen. He would emerge, crawli
ng, half dead. It’s what they did to the Castian prisoners and still they kept their secrets. Not one broke. Then again, neither did Taz. The human females were weapons. They would be the fall of the Castians. This female would be his fall if he didn’t keep his distance. Her touch and scent were emotional toxins.

  He rose from the bed and dragged his weary body to the regenerator. The pull of his shield to return to the female was annoying and strange. Taz had no time for her. She was a pawn. He was a deadly warrior.

  There were two generators, one hand-held, the other larger and faster. Taz opted for larger and faster. The machine clicked a systems check, reconfigured data and began humming. The pull on his shield to go to the female increased instead of decreasing. His shield was ticked, and tugged on images that Taz rebuffed.

  “What the devil are you after?” Taz said aloud. He often talked to his shield when he was alone. “Fine. Show me what the hell you want.”

  Thoughts rolled in his head and a scenario played out. Taz watched the scene his shield showed him would unfold when Taz returned home to his planet with the female. The image was vivid; it was as though Taz was home already. Taz strode into Krish’s den in the huge hive; he heard his footsteps on the harder ground Krish liked in his private den so he could hear another’s approach. Taz was carrying the little female. Krish smiled and trailed his fingers over her soft cheek. Krish brushed her locks from her face. He gazed into Taz’s eyes while taking the female.

  An emotion flickered while Taz handed her over. Reluctance. Then worry. And Krish saw and scented Taz was swayed by her for a moment. Taz had been interested in the female, he still was. He wanted to hide her away but knew it wouldn’t happen. He returned hoping Krish would allow him this one boon, when he never had and never would. Krish smiled and his fist slammed into the female’s chest and yanked out her heart and stomped on it as she crumbled and dropped to the ground as Krish released her to let her fall. Taz could never have anything; Taz must remain alone, forever.