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

And Gives a Roar.

I woke up when it felt like someone was watching me so instinct propelled me to my feet and in front of the still slumbering Barry before my brain registered that the watcher was Alex. He blinked those astonishing orange eyes at me, not saying anything but watching me carefully. I forced myself out of a defensive stance into a more relaxed one and raised an eyebrow at him. “Why are you here?” I asked, keeping my voice soft.

He stepped towards me and held up a paper bag. “My Change Healer recommends lots of meat. Since he is my responsibility, I brought him some.” He answered, voice a deep whisper. Yes, Alex scared the crap out of me. But it would be a cold day in hell before I let him know that. Trying to make up for my earlier rudeness, I gestured for Alex to leave the room first. He took us to the kitchen and put the bag of meat into the fridge. His apparent familiarity let me know that I wasn’t the only one with keys to Barry’s place. Alex kept watching me with those strange orange eyes, so I returned the favour and gave him a thorough once over.

As with most shape changers Alex radiated energy but his was tightly controlled. You never once doubted that he had the strength to run the Community. His outward appearance was not all that striking, other than the orange eyes. He had flawless brown tanned skin, black hair and beard, a muscular body and a wicked smile. Alright I lied, he’s definitely striking, but I would never tell him that or that he scared the daylights out of me. At the moment he looked like a normal person wearing dark blue jeans, a blue shirt, a light black leather jacket and boots. Again it was only his eyes that physically marked him as something other than wholly human. A little unnerved by the intensity in those alien orange eyes, I stepped around him and started boiling water.

“Hot chocolate?” I asked. When I didn’t hear a response I turned to see where he was and discovered him very close into my personal space; I hadn’t even heard him move. Maybe two inches from my face, those orange eyes glowed at me.

“Never question my authority like you did today. I don’t have the patience for it.” He snarled. Me being me, I laughed at him. He looked quite shocked by that. “Do you think I’m joking?” he demanded. I stepped closer to him, making our bodies touch and grinned dementedly. Then I grabbed his chin with a hand covered in flames.

“I don’t doubt for one second you mean that. But remember this, I don’t like to be threatened, and I don’t play dominance games. Now would you like some hot chocolate or not?” I asked and made a point of stepping back and breaking eye contact. I swear I could hear him grind his teeth.

“Fine.” He growled at me, and stepped away to sit at the dining room table.

Barry’s apartment is, at nicest description, cozy. In reality the term I’d use is cramped. The entrance shows the living room slash dining room, straight ahead is a tiny kitchen, then the bedroom is to the right with a full bathroom beside it. There were only two things going for this apartment; one, the balcony had a magnificent view 24/7, 365 days a year, and two, there were four closets. There’s one in the bedroom, three in the hallway, plus a linen closet in the bathroom. Why? Not sure, but since Barry is a secret clotheshorse, he loves it.

I watched Alex out of the corner of my eyes as I puttered around the kitchen. I could hear Barry’s deep breathing over the soft sounds of the television. The noises of me making hot chocolate slowly started to wake him up, and by the time he was fully awake, the hot chocolate was ready. I had even found marshmallows. I gave the boys theirs steaming hot but added milk to mine to cool it down; I’m a wuss, so sue me. Then I curled up behind Barry so he could lean against me. Shape Changers are very responsive to touch, thus why I had gotten so close to Alex to tell him off and why I was cuddling Barry as a way to comfort him. Sometimes touch can be sexual with a shape changer but so far my actions were nonsexual, even though a Normal would see them as such. If my familiarity with Changer customs surprised Alex, he didn’t show it. Instead he watched us as we all sipped our hot chocolate. Talk about tension; Barry not being a complete idiot picked up on it. He kept looking between Alex and me.