Crave (Tainted Angels Book 1) (6 page)

“To alcohol,” we all toasted as we closed our eyes and knocked back our drinks.

“To alcohol,”
Rax toasted with us.
“I like your friends. The blonde one is pretty.”

I snapped my eyes open and ignored the tightness in my gut with his declaration. Turning my face away from Marie, hindering his eyes on her, I growled under my breath. “Fuck off!”

“Charming,” Marie scoffed.

“Not you!”

They all squinted at me, my consumption of tequila making them all a little fuzzy.

“Who?” Frannie peered at me, her own eyes wide as she attempted to focus on me.

Shaking, my head, I waved them off. “Ignore me, talking to myself.”

“That’s a sign of madness!”

I scoffed then grinned up at Bobby when he brought us a round of drinks. “Did we order these?”

He shook his head and nudged his chin towards a guy sat at the bar watching us. “Geezer wants to introduce himself to you, Willa.”

Bobby knew us; we’d been coming to his joint for quite a while. We filled his till with cash and he filled our souls with calmness. He wasn’t aware of what we were but I sensed he could feel something unusual about us, yet we’d never brought him trouble and he seemed to like us so he never questioned us. When I looked at him questioningly, he shrugged.

“Really?” I peered over, each of my girlfriends following my lead and craning their necks to catch the good-looking guy smiling at me. He had a head of thick, dark hair but it was his deep blue eyes twinkling with naughtiness that called out to me.

“Oooh, nice,” Marie said.

“Who is it?”
Rax asked sharply.

I chuckled to myself. Two could play at his game. Gulping down my drink, I picked up my bag and sauntered over to him.

“Willa! Don’t!”
Rax grumbled but I severed the link, his frantic hiss as I switched off making my smile bigger.

Thrusting out my hand to the guy, I smiled. “Hi.”

“Good evening, Willa.” He smiled back as he gestured to the barstool beside him. There was something in the twitch of his eyes that sent a shiver down my spine but I ignored it. Alcohol always sent my senses haywire.

“You seem to know me,” I said as I slipped on to the stool. “But forgive me; I’m not sure we’ve met before.”

“Ahh, unfortunately only in my dreams.” He leaned towards me, his mouth brushing up to my ear.

The touch of his breath on my skin rushed a cold trickle through me and I gasped as tranquillity seeped into my veins. My head felt light, my body sighing with appreciation. My mouth dried as I closed my eyes and welcomed the exquisite feeling. It was like someone was caressing my insides, their touch warm and feather light, but so very perfect.

“You smell divine,” he breathed down my neck as his lips brushed over my skin.

I couldn’t talk, the arid expanse of my mouth appearing to belong to someone else.

“I want you in my bed, Willa.”

I nodded. I wanted that too, so much that I was ready to beg for it.

I looked down slowly as his fingers slipped through mine, the gentle feel of him making my skin tingle with electricity.

“Come,” he whispered as he guided me off the stool.

My friends stared at me as I walked past them, their mouths as wide as their eyes. Their surprise was understandable, I never hooked up with anyone. But this man … I knew he would make me feel good. His worship would allow my mind to be released from the depths of the prison I was always consumed in. He could release me. He could grant me ecstasy. And right then, I craved that more than I had ever craved anything.

The chill in the air directed a shiver through my body as my skin prickled with goosebumps. I seemed to be floating as he led me to the back of the carpark, his pull soft but secure as the night shadows secluded us from attention.

“Don’t let me go,” I managed to whisper. The very thought that he would drop my hand was causing me to panic. I needed him with an almighty hunger.

He stopped and turned to me, his hand rising until he gently cupped the side of my face. “Never, Angel. You’re mine.”

I groaned in pleasure at his touch on my face, a liquid bliss curling through my hot veins as I pushed further into his caress. His hand was replaced by his mouth and an erotic moan left me as his tongue tickled over the trail of my pulsing vein.

“Oh God,” I moaned as I grappled with his belt. “I need you in my mouth.” My urgency was torturous, my need to consume him overpowering.

“That’s it, Willa. Get on your knees for me.”

“Yes,” I breathed as I did what he asked and fell before him.

“Willa!”

I blinked for a moment when Rax’s voice filtered into my head. A large cock sprang in my face and I gasped, rearing back at the sight of it. “What the …?”

A man’s fingers gripped my chin, his touch warm and soothing. My body sighed with serenity and I smiled up at him as his pale blue eyes warmed me inside, a flood of desire making me sigh heavily. “Stay with me, pretty girl.”

“I’m yours,” I replied as I gently enclosed my fingers around the thick shaft of his cock and leaned forwards.

“Willa! Listen to me!” Rax exploded in my ears.

“Huh?”

I paused when the tip of a penis glistened under the lamplight, the head wet and bulging. It was the fact that my tongue was out and a hair’s breadth away from the pulsing gentleman that caused me to splutter and fall back on my hands. “What the hell?” I choked out as I stared up at a strange man.

He growled, his anger bared. I screamed when a pain tore through the whole of my nervous system. I couldn’t move, my body frozen as he clenched his fist. “I wanted to fill your throat with my cum before I had the pleasure of killing you,” he spat. “It looks like I’ll have to find another whore for the night. That wasn’t part of the deal. He said I could have you.”

The world was rushing at me, his foreign tongue registering in my head but my brain was translating every word. “Impossible,” I whispered. My stupidity had seen me follow a Roué into his lair. Roué’s were enchanters, seducers and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t figured it out. But we had always been safe at Fred’s. And they never,
never,
made contact with us, only humans. Shit.

I flew through the air at a speed that made my ears whoosh, many cars racing by until my back hit the side of one and my head bounced off the bonnet. I slumped to the ground, darkness seeping in and granting me a reprieve from witnessing my own death.

Too late as usual. I watched in insane anger when Willa’s little body hit a silver BMW and her forehead ricocheted off the bonnet.

I winced when a pain tore through my own head as the rage in me engulfed my rationality. The Roué yelped when I lifted him clear off the ground, the tightening of my fist cutting off his air supply. His eyes widened as I walked towards him, his own hands clawing at his neck as he struggled for breath.

“You cunt!” I hissed, unable to grant him any relief from his suffering as I yanked my hand back and tore out his throat.

For a moment he stuttered, falling backwards as his oesophagus dropped at his feet. The gaping hole in his neck was mesmerising when the theatrical pump of his blood covered his pristine white shirt with a gloopy red substance.

“She’s mine,” I whispered icily in his ear when I reached him. “No one touches what is mine.”

His mouth moved, but with a lack of vocal cord, all he managed was to force his blood to spurt harder. Finally, he fell to the floor and released his last gurgle.

My eyes moved to Jaron who was observing everything. When his gaze moved to Willa he closed his eyes for a moment. His lips moved and I caught his quiet curse in the air. “Shit, Rax. What the fuck are you doing?”

I trusted Jaron. He was my father’s second but he was also practically my uncle. He’d watched me grow up, he was my sponsor, but I prayed right then to a God that wasn’t mine to pray to that he would keep quiet. “This doesn’t get back to my father, Jaron.”

“Shit,” he grumbled when I scooped Willa up and pressed her into my chest. I had to fight against the need to drain her when her unique scent of truffles and lilies drove me wild. I shivered when a jolt tore through me. My body felt on fire, my heart stampeding and my vision blurring as the most unreal pleasure slipped into my muscles, my body relaxing instantly. I couldn’t help but sigh heavily; the feeling was exquisite.

Willa moaned and shivered in my arms as a thumping resounded in my temple. She had felt it too, whatever the fuck had just happened.

“I need to get her somewhere safe.”

Jaron clenched his jaw then closed his eyes. “May Diablo burn my fucking soul for this,” he growled. “Take her to mine. I’ll cover for you.”

“Thank you,” I said, yet it seemed lacking in a way. The fact that Jaron was helping me didn’t sit well with me. He could lose his life for this.

I knew I had his backing when he said quietly, his eyes on Willa, “I shouldn’t be saying this.” He looked in turmoil for a moment as his expression saddened. “But we need her.” His eyes lifted to mine. “She’s the only way.”

“The only way for what?”

“Willa!” One of her friends shouted into the darkness. Jaron and I spun round to see a blonde teetering through the concrete assault course of cars and broken slabs, her head disappearing behind a car every now and again when she found another hole to navigate.

“Shit.” Jaron said. “Go. I’ll deal with Blondie.”

Nodding, I shifted to the edge of the carpark and slipped through the blurred haze of heat.

M
y head throbbed and the whole side of my body was sore. Background noise disturbed the peace in my head and slowly I prised my eyes open. Blinking in confusion I allowed my eyes to roam the dark room I found myself in. I was laid on a bed, yet the décor and taste in the atmosphere told my senses this was somewhere I’d never been before – unless Marie had redecorated, but then the dark blue walls really didn’t seem like her choice of colour. Marie was a proper girl; pinks, yellows and soft greens were more her thing. I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered her gasp of shock when she’d first observed my own choice of painting skills. Her pretty green eyes had grown so large she reminded me of one of those puffer fish, when their eyes grow large and then their little bodies puff out instantaneously.

“How are you feeling?” Rax’s voice cut into my thoughts.

I rolled my eyes when once again the irritating demon penetrated my lock. “If this were my apartment, I would expect you to knock first, so why you seem to think that invading my head would be any different is just rude.”

He barked out a laugh, angering me as I blew out a breath and reluctantly moved my body off the super soft mattress. I jumped when knuckles rapped against the back of my head. Spinning round I found Rax – in person – grinning at me. “I knocked,” he said with a smirk and a shrug.

I couldn’t move. My heartbeat quickened, the only thing in me that dared to move as the furious tingle in my blood told me my body was preparing for a fight.

“Simmer down, Seraph. You’re like a fucking Rottweiler without breakfast.”

“What the hell, Rax?”

Ignoring my stunned stutter he held out a mug, the steam from the hot beverage curling up and distorting his handsome face slightly. I grimaced to myself when I realised I found him handsome. He was well-built; his was body lean but the contour of each of his muscles was visible through the thin cotton shirt he wore. He had thick, black hair, the style unique to him as it thinned to stubble down the side of his face and across his rounded chin. His deep brown eyes glistened with a hint of bright blue and a lot of wickedness. The shiver that trapped my breath caused me to cough faintly.