Page 162 of Monsters Wear Crowns
My heart twisted, a painful ache swelling inside me, but I still said it back. Because it was the truth. “I love you, too.”
His movements faltered, just for a second. Like those words had struck something deep inside him.
I swallowed hard, my fingers threading into his hair, clinging to him. But the weight of reality pressed down on me just as heavily as his body. “What about your empire?” I whispered, the words catching between us. “What about everything you’ve built? I’m caught between you and him, and you’re at risk of losing it all. I’m a distraction for you.”
Rafe stilled. Then, slowly, he lifted his head, his dark eyes burning into mine. “My empire or you?” he repeated, a rough, humorless laugh escaping him. “I would crown you at the top and bow at your fucking feet.”
A sharp gasp left me. He didn’t give me time to respond. His mouth was back on mine, kissing me with bruising, feveredintensity. And then he devoured me. Within moments, he ripped off my bloody clothing as well as his own. My mind reeled between the trauma I had just experienced, the adrenaline coming down, and now, the arousal bursting into a full flame inside me.
I had never felt so alive.
And when he buried his cock inside me, I cried out into the night sky. “It willalwaysbe you.”Thrust. “No matter what.”Thrust. “You’remine, and I’m–”Thrust. “Yours.”
My eyes rolled back at his rough, breathy words. Cedar filled my senses, overpowering the coppery tang of blood that existed there before. I wrapped my legs around his waist while he ground into me, kissing me so passionately that I became lightheaded.
Rafe was terrifying. He was dangerous. He was unhinged. But he...helovedme. And as scared as I was to become collateral like my mother, I also felt the risk was worth it. I had been depressed for a while. A drone that just went through the daily tasks of work, drinks with Lauren, and the occasional hookup that still left me feeling empty.
But Rafe made me feel...whole.
He continued to ravish me for what seemed like forever, and when an orgasm tore through both of us at the same time, my eyes were on the stars above us.
***
RAFE
The city blurred past me in streaks of gold and shadow, but I barely saw it. My hand strangled the steering wheel, knuckles aching from the grip, but I didn’t ease up. I needed something to hold on to, something to anchor me while the fucking chaos inside me roared.
I should’ve stayed.
God, I should’ve stayed. She was barefoot on that balcony, glowing in the city lights, slick with me, and looking like every goddamn dream I’d never thought I deserved. I’d left her there because if I didn’t, I would’ve fucked her again, harder, until she forgot how to stand.
But even driving away from her didn’t stop the hunger. I stillfelther. I stilltastedher.
Adela fucking Sinclair.
She didn’t just crawl under my skin. She ripped it open and carved her name into every inch of me. I was addicted to her. Helpless against her. And I didn’t give a shit. Because she wasmadefor me.
And she proved it when she painted the inside of that limo with the blood of those men. They didn’t know. They had no idea who they were dealing with. But I did.
And I still almost lost her.
That thought? That image? Her body limp in the back of that car, violated and torn apart while I was too fucking late to stop it? It made me want to burn the entire world to ash.
But she wasn't helpless. She was a goddamn queen, sitting atop a throne of corpses, and all I wanted to do was kneel.
I laughed, running a hand through my hair. Fuck, she was a bad bitch.Mybad bitch.
Even after draining myself inside her, I was already hard again just thinking about her. The way she gasped, the way her back arched when I told her to scream for me. I could still feel the pulse of her pussy around me, still hear the soft, broken way she said my name like it meant salvation.
It wasn’t enough.
I wanted the whole world to know she was mine. That the Dark Monster of New York had found his queen. Power used to be everything to me. I built an empire from the gutter up, brick by blood-soaked brick. I ruled this filthy city with fear and fire. But she…
She made it all feel like background noise. Because she was everything.
She was the sharp edge of the knife I’d always been afraid to fall on. She was fire, rage, lust, and fucking divinity. And I’d stand beside her. Not in front of her, not behind her–beside her. As her equal. As her king.
I pulled into the Orchard House, but I didn’t move to get out. I just sat there, panting like a fucking animal, heart pounding, cock throbbing, her taste still on my tongue.
