Page 18 of To Crave Madly
“What happens, Torsten? What would happen to me?” I couldn’t stop the tremor that had my voice quivering in fear.
“It is as the doctor says. Your demon would take control and you would be lost.”
“Can I stop it?”
“It depends.”
I swallowed. “On what?”
Torsten’s black eyebrow raised cynically. “On how persuasive you can be.”
Jasper let out a low growl. “Speak plainly, Fiend. What do you mean?”
Torsten bared his teeth in a snarl at Jasper’s derogatory words and I caught a glimpse of his wolfish-looking canines in his grimace. “Watch yourself, Leech.”
Jasper took a menacing step towards Torsten and the hairs on my neck stood on end. There was a whole lot of dick-measuring going on here that had the potential to turn violent.
“Hey! Enough!” I shouted while flicking my glance between them. “If you two can’t keep it in your pants, you canbothleave.”
Deep rumbles emanated from both men as they asserted their dominance. Jeez, there was way too much alpha in this room, and it was going to make my head explode.
“There is nothing outside my pants, Mistress. What do you mean?”
I looked back to Torsten and found such a sincere expression of confusion wrapped around his dark features that I couldn’t help myself. Laughter burst from my chest with the force of a sea bursting from a dam. Tears streamed from my eyes as I clutched my sides through the full-blown belly laughs and I swear a snort popped out through the giggles as well. The men all looked at me like I had gone insane. Perhaps I had. Maybe I had finally snapped. At least my sanity had fled laughing…
With glee shall thee depart, never more to be seen again.
My laughs stopped abruptly at the musical lilt of my demon’s voice. It had been so long since I had heard her soft tones that she caught me by surprise. I froze right in the middle of a laugh, my breath catching sharply in my throat and my stomach sinking like lead through my feet.
What’s the matter, Lori? Cat got your tongue?
“Lori?” Levi called my name softly. “Are you okay?”
“She’s here.” My voice was breathless, panic weaving its way into the inflections of my tone and making it sound weak and shaky.
Have you missed me? Or have you been enjoying my little show? The nails were a nice touch, weren’t they?Her voice was soft, but I could hear her intended taunting, loud and fucking clear.
“What do you want?” I asked her. I could feel the concerned gazes of the men around me, but my attention was completely on the demon currently making her presence known in my mind.
I want control. I want to be in the driving seat for a change. It’s my turn now, Lori.
“No, we are supposed to work together. Surely we can find—”
NO! I want freedom. I’m sick of being caged.
Her voice boomed in my mind as her rage grew. I could feel her pacing frantically as she looked for a way out of the confines of my mind. Her fingers trailed down my arms as she slipped into my skin.
Oh, God. If she took control, would I come back?
“Please,” I begged. “Please, don’t.”
“Lori?!”
Jasper’s voice cut through my panic and I locked eyes with him.
My heart raced in my chest as I felt my mind being pushed into a box. Oh, God. This was it. She was winning. I didn’t know how to fight back. It felt like trying to stand against the force of a whirlwind and I was useless to fight back against something so tumultuous. She slipped through my grasp like wisps of smoke and I felt defeat settle in my bones as my demon emerged victorious.
“Jasper, help me.”
