Free Crave (Tainted Angels Book 1) by D. H. Sidebottom Page A

stared up at a furious Delilah when she stepped out from behind me. She curled a lip at Tabitha and dragged her eyes down her in contempt. Her head tipped to the side as she worshipped her long leather whip with her fingers. “You wanna play with me , bitch?”
    Oh, how I loved Delilah!
    Tabitha gawped, her wide eyes making me smile to myself when she stepped back, her neck bent back as she stared in amazement at my minion. Realising she was being watched, Tabitha cleared her throat and stepped forwards. “You don’t want to make an enemy of me.”
    Delilah laughed loudly, her head tipped back as she cackled brashly.
    Suddenly Rax grabbed Tabitha’s hand. “You shouldn’t have come here.” He turned to me, his expression wary. “Sorry, sweet thing.” Then a marbling in the air to my left appeared and he pulled Tabitha through it with him, his friends following suit and stepping through their own hatches.
    “Well, hell!” Bobby said. “That was … different.” He grinned up at Delilah. “By the way, I never got a chance to thank you for saving my life the other day.”
    She purred at him, a smile on her face as she ran a long fingernail down his cheek. “Any time, honey.” Then she disappeared, leaving me with a shiver when my soul housed its mate once again.
    “What a bitch!” Sadie murmured, snapping me out of my thoughts about exactly who Tabitha was to Rax.
    “You okay?” Frannie asked, nudging me gently when she caught on to my wounded pride. I hated to admit to myself that I had wanted things to progress with Rax and me, even if we were complete opposites, and not just in race. I had even thought about sharing blood with him. How fucking stupid I had been – yet again.
    “Yeah,” I replied with a forced smile before turning to Bobby. “You ran out of tequila?”
    Shaking his head firmly, he vaulted easily over the bar and lifted a new bottle. “Never! Bobby never runs out!”
    “Good job!” I answered, forcing the hurt back and gesturing for him to fill my glass to the top. “Who needs men!” I toasted to my friends. “No offence, Bobby.”
    “None taken,” he replied as he tipped his own drink back.
    “You okay?” Rax whispered.
    Ignoring him, I locked up my mind, shut him out, and drank myself into Utopia.

“W HAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Father bellowed, his hot breath slamming into my face with his closeness.
    Wiping his spit from my eye, I sighed. “Tabitha been telling tales again?”
    He shook his head, his skin puce as he stepped closer. I hissed when a tightness gripped my throat, even though his hands were by his side. “I warned you, Rax. I asked you if you had any association with her.” The constriction increased. “YOU ARE NOT GOD HERE YET!”
    Swallowing the saliva in my mouth, I licked my lips. “She can help. She’s our only chance!”
    “You fool!” he spat, his grip on my neck disappearing when he spun around. Raking his hands through his hair, he sighed heavily. “Sit down!” he ordered as he took his usual seat by the fire.
    Doing as charged, I took the only other seat in the room and watched him warily. For a long time he was silent. I could see his inner turmoil but eventually he narrowed his eyes on me. “Have you drunk from her?”
    I couldn’t help but chuckle. “If I had we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation.”
    He regarded me for a second then nodded. “Has she offered to?” His voice was quiet, apprehensive, greedy even, and I paused when the answer to his question seemed important – to him anyway.
    “No.” He wasn’t to know the truth. He didn’t need to know the truth.
    He looked both relieved and disappointed. His query made every one of my senses prickle. “Be honest with me, Father. What is the big deal with the seraph?”
    His fury ghosted once more over his pale skin, the red hue to his eyes back again. “Other than she’s Empyrean?” he barked out, leaning forwards, as if that simple fact should have