Page 7 of Oh No, I Stole An Alien Furball And Kissed A Beastmaster

The dark-haired female frantically shakes her head. “Nope, not happening.”

“Then maybe help with the naming, at least! Keep track of how many there are?” Zoe replies with a grim smile, quickly returning to the chase.

Time and time again, the clones double rapidly, feeding and replicating in a blur, continuing to greedily consume anything nearby to fuel their unchecked growth.

“I don’t have my containment foam!” I shout to Rist over the chaos.

“What? Why not?” My prince calls back to me. As if it should be common to carry the heavy tool everywhere I go, like I expect to encounter pests constantly.

One of the animals throws itself into a pot of simmering stew, its whole body disappearing into the heated liquid with a splash.

I slam the lid on the stew pot, hoping to contain the first creature. Beneath my palm, the metal is already vibrating.

Oh, I have a very bad feeling…

Meanwhile, both Zoe and Rist wrangle a beast each. As I watch, with some degree of horror, the beast that Zoe holds begins to inflate. It grows so large that she can’t even wrap her arms around it, though she desperately attempts to keep hold.

“Human, drop it!” I cry out, abandoning my trapped beast to rush to her side.

The world explodes in a flurry of fur. Again.

I hear the lid of the pot flying off, banging against the ceiling with a loud clang.

I watch in horror as the tiny aliens scamper towards the open kitchen door. They chirp joyously as they discover their freedom.

Behind me, Zoe gasps in dismay as she surveys the ruined kitchen. Every surface is coated with remnants of food. Cooks shout in anger and shock as they try to salvage their workstations.

“*beep*,” Rist curses. “We have to catch them.”

It’s too late—the Turmerics have escaped into the hotel. With the rate they are multiplying… If we don’t get this situation under control, it could take years to get rid of them. If we are even able to.

He doesn’t need to voice out loud the cost of failing; the entire hotel, our very home and source of our livelihoods, will be doomed.

Chapter

Five

TARUK

“Ithink we should start calling them Yumz,” the little human huffs beside me as she attempts to keep pace with my longer strides as I make my way back towards the stables.

“What?” I ask, as she’s broken me from my thought process. I’m still trying to decide the best way to capture the small monsters. The containment foam normally used would be too risky to them; it could easily cover their mouths and suffocate them.

“Well, I started to name each of them after food,” Zoe continues at my side, “and they are so freaking cute that I could just eat them up!” Zoe’s voice rises to an excited pitch, her eyes alight.

I stare at her contemplatively. In my time training with beasts, I’ve had to handle all manner of creatures. Some used for warfare, others for carrying heavy loads when machinery is not easily accessible. I never considered the idea that these beasts might be farmed for food.

“Do humans make it a habit of eating their pets? You were adamant you didn’t want me to kill it before,” I say, frustration souring my words. We are only in this mess since she was so adamant to protect the beast. Now she wants to eat it!?

The smell of dried grass fills my nostrils as we step into the stables. Thankfully, no guest has brought a pet for me to care for, as of yet. It’s only a matter of time. I have to get this mess sorted before I have more workload.

With haste, I search for items I might use to capture the little monster. I need to get this task done as quickly as possible. Every moment I spend in Zoe’s presence has me unsettled. I’m constantly aware of her—her scent, her little breaths and gasps…

It’s been a long time since I laid with any female, and it shows. As soon as this drama is sorted, I am going to have to take myself in hand. Of course, it disturbs me even more that the face I will envision is Zoe’s. My cokas hardens further as I imagine her kneeling at my feet, looking up at me with those bright eyes, a small smile playing at her lips. A hint of shyness overcoming her as she reaches out her tiny hand towards my throbbing member …

“I’m just going to go ahead and grab it, okay?”

“Huh?” I jolt out of my musings. I look over my shoulder at the little human as she hovers at one of my workbenches. If I turn now, she’ll see the tent pitching in my trousers, and that will undoubtedly scare her off.

---