A Touch of Madness (A Recipe for Disaster Novel 1)

It writhes under my skin

The hallway I rushed down was cordoned off into sleeping areas and I could hear the slumbering Changers snore and settle. Distantly I heard the cell door bang open so I gave up trying to be quiet and broke into a sprint, aiming in the direction I remembered the exit was. I made it into the large room where the fight with the devilkin had occurred before Alex caught up with me. Goddess damned changers and their ability to run fast. Alex didn’t try anything fancy, he just tackled me down. We hit the floor and I rolled us so I ended up on top. Alex still had a strong grip around me but I bit his arm hard enough to draw blood because I have never been afraid to fight dirty. He just squeezed me harder and I swallowed compulsively which was really gross, but I didn’t get a chance to worry about that because Ashley clicked into view with her friends in tow.

“We’re not interrupting anything are we?” she asked, menace in her voice. Her entourage spread out and we were quickly surrounded. Alex let me go and we rolled apart coming to our feet, back to back.

“What is the meaning of this?” Alex demanded, his entire posture radiating fury.

“Well my dear, you’ve been distracted with this little human of yours. We think it’s time for a little rearranging of the power structure, with us at the top. For that to happen though we made an alliance; the wolves and I. The wolf pack gets to take you down and I get the pleasure of handling your little human whore, I’ll enjoy shredding her skin slowly. It’s a shame you and I hadn’t had a chance to be... close, before the wolf pack kills you.” Ashley purred.

 Alex watched her intently. “Your little alliance won’t be enough; I have been aware of your power craving for a while now. Despite your best efforts you’re neither strong enough nor dominant enough to take control let alone keep it. This is you first and only warning to walk away without repercussions, after this I will severely punish you.” He growled warningly.

One of Jason’s wolves jumped at Alex from the side and he just grabbed the smaller man by the throat and threw him back. That moved Alex away from guarding my back which seemed to be what Ashley was waiting for, I tried dodging to the side but Ashley used actual claws that sunk into my arm and held me. I hissed and stopped moving; my blood dripped onto the floor in a quick tattoo so I locked eyes with Ashley, and then I growled. Dominance in Changers is a function of personality and power. I’m not a Changer nor am I particularly powerful, but I have strength of personality and self that has been trained to the highest level I could manage; mixed into that was the pervasive wrongness I always buried inside. So I let that part of me lose and it rushed over Ashley in a hot wave. Her eyes widened and a panicked look replaced the smug confidence on her face. “Kneel.” The word rattled out of my chest and she let my arm go trying to back away, but she couldn’t break the eye contact and my gaze forced her to her knees. In my peripheral vision I could see the others drop to their knees as I forced them down with my anger and personal dominance. The only one not on his knees was Alex which really wasn’t much of a surprise at all; hell I hadn’t even expected the response I’d gotten.

Alex stepped up to me and gently used his fingers to touch my face, breaking my eye contact with Ashley to turn my face so I was looking at him; his eyes had gone entirely tiger. “I’ll deal with them Callahan. Thank you, but you should get that arm checked out.” He said softly and I could hear Ashley whimpering in the background. His tiger used the contact to take another stroll in my mind and this time I actually shuddered at the feeling; it was like when he had bitten my neck, pleasurable and painful at the same time. I think Alex felt that too because his breathing sped up so I had to compel myself to step back and break the connection. The feeling of his tiger faded but I swear I could feel it rub against me in farewell.