CRAVING (The Elite Book 2) Read online

  The Mother is already waiting for us in the dinning room, when I enter, a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage in front of her.

  “Full English?” I ask with a smirk. “Yuk.”

  “We’re not all so fussy,” she replies. “When you get older, you’ll realise it doesn’t taste that bad.”

  “Really?” I can’t imagine human food ever tasting better. It all tastes like dishwater to me.

  “Sure. In like five hundred, six hundred years, you might actually be able to enjoy a meal.”

  I shudder at the thought.

  “Farah will be down in a moment,” I say, taking a seat.

  “She’s not happy with you. You really should treat her better. Hell, you should just change her already. What are you even waiting for?”

  I don’t really want to talk about this, especially when Farah could walk in and overhear.

  “Let’s not talk about that,” I say between gritted teeth.

  “Sure. Sure. You’ll regret it though, if you lose her,” she says sincerely and for a second her grief shows.

  The door opens before I can say anything and Farah enters the room. She looks confident, striding towards us as if it’s nothing at all. Her expression is steel, unreadable in a way I don’t like.

  “You must be Farah,” the Mother says, getting to her feet, offering her hand for Farah to shake.

  It’s strange seeing her interacting with a human. It’s something I haven’t seen since I was a human, at least not when there wasn’t a meal to be had.

  Farah accepts her hand with a confidence that most Vampires would lack in the Mother’s presence. My lip twitches, wanting to smile with pride.

  “They all call me the Mother like we’re in a Godfather movie but instead of it being a sexist patriarch, the women rule. But I have a name, though no one uses it. I hope you will.”

  It’s surreal. The Mother is not just being polite but outright friendly. In the minute and a half since Farah entered the room, she’s been treated with more civility from the Mother than I have in my entire existence.

  “My name is Jessamine and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Thank you,” Farah says, her voice quiet and hesitant, the only clue that she’s scared.

  “You look just like your mother.”

  “Wait. What? You knew my mother?”

  Farah’s eyes go wide. She glances my way before looking back at the Mother.

  “How do you know my mother?”

  “It’s a long story. One I’ll happily tell you over breakfast.”

  Farah looks uncertainly down at the plates on the table.

  “You’re eating?” she asks.

  “I’m old enough that my tastes have evolved, unlike Everette. He’s still very much so a child. Don’t let him fool you.”

  “A child?” Farah asks with a smirk.

  “Will you eat with me?” the Mother asks, pointing towards the place where Farah’s breakfast lies waiting for her.

  I’m conflicted. A part of me wants her to stay as far from my world as humanly possible but I also desperately want to keep her by my side for eternity if I can. I want her to take that seat and run away in equal measure.

  The problem is that even if she were to leave, run away and not look back, that wouldn’t save her from my world.

  My world and her world are one and the same.

  To Be Continued In

  THIRST

  Hanleigh Bradley’s Books

  The Elite Series

  INSTINCT

  CRAVING

  Utterly Betrayed Series

  Flip A Coin

  Hanleigh’s Reverse Harems

  Reverse Harem books have one female main character with multiple male main characters. It is not just a ‘Love Triangle’.

  Lust & Lyrics – Celebrity Reverse Harem

  His, His Or His?

  All Mine

  Less Than Conventional

  Kumari’s Kitsune – Fantasy Reverse Harem

  Cursed by the Crown

  Tainted by Prophecy

  Standalone Reverse Harems

  First Snow

  Hanleigh’s London Saga

  All the books in this Contemporary British Saga have interwoven plotlines, returning characters and places.

  The Rules Series

  Broken Rules

  Enforced Rules

  Revised Rules

  A Secret Melody

  The History Series

  Repeating History

  Deleting History

  Forging History

  A History In Paris

  The Intimacy Series

  Damaged Intimacy

  Entangled Intimacy

  Forceful Intimacy

  Call Me Doctor

  The Fate Series

  Inescapable Fate

  Inexplicable Fate

  Irreversible Fate

  A Bleak December

  Hanleigh’s London Boxsets

  RULES

  HISTORY

  INTIMACY

  FATE