Page 163 of Monsters Wear Crowns
If this was what love felt like, I got it now.
I got why people died for it. Why they’d take bullets. Why they’d burn down empires. Because I would. For her? I’d doworse, and I’d never let her go. Not even if it killed me.
I paced just beyond the porch, boots crunching over gravel and dew-slick grass. The Orchard House stood behind me, smelling like wood smoke and earth. Moonlight spilled over the trees, silvering the apple blossoms, casting long shadows that moved when I did.
But my body wasn’t calm. My shoulders were tight, jaw clenched, fists aching from how often I’d curled them tonight. I could still feel the ghost of her breath on my neck. The echo of her moans in my ears. My blood was too hot, too full. I should’ve been satisfied.
Butof courseI wasn’t.
There was something alive inside me again, something feral and territorial and dangerously close to the surface. I needed to leash it for her. Because if she was going to stay and feel safe, I couldn’t let the monster inside me breathe too loudly. I needed to soften. Butfuck, it was hard.
The thought of anyone laying a hand on her, touching whatbelongedto me, sent rage curling down my spine like barbed wire. I wanted to rip flesh. Break bone. Make a goddamn display of every man stupid enough to look at her the wrong way.
And the limo–
Christ.
I tasted blood. Bit my tongue, hard. My nails dug crescents into my palms as I forced myself to breathe through it.She was alive. She was safe. She was stronger than all of them put together.
Still, I fantasized.
I imagined dragging Moreau's men back from the dead just to kill them all over again. Slower. More creatively. I’d carve into their chests. Peel them open and show the world what happens when you threaten what’s mine.
Because she was.
She wasmine.
Not in some delicate, poetic way. Not in a “we found each other” kind of way.No. This was carnal. Brutal. Written in blood and sealed in sex and violence. I loved her, and I would slaughter for her. There was no leash strong enough to stop that kind of devotion.
I ran a hand through my hair, dragging in cold air like it could cool the fire inside me. It didn’t. Not even close. If anyone ever touched her again, I’d make them vanish from the fucking earth. She was my queen. And I was the monster who guarded the gates. They’d have to go throughme. And they wouldn’t fucking survive it.
Chapter 31
ADELA
The following day at work breezed by, my mind clouded by thoughts of Rafe.What were we?I couldn’t be entirely sure. Any progress we were having in this relationship was snuffed out the night he hurt me. He was an unhinged criminal, and I…I wasn’t sure how we’d really fit together. In my dream world, I could have it all. But perhaps Sinclair women weren’t meant to have it all. Sure, my mother thought she had love, but she had no empire. And still, she ended up with her brains splattered on a fucking wall.
The text came through just past midnight.
I have a proposition for you. Come alone.
The sender was an unknown number, but I already knew who it was. I stared at the message, my pulse a slow, deliberate thud in my chest. There was no location, no details. I set down my wine glass, straightening on my couch. And then, another text came through.
Your apartment. Ten minutes.
A warning, not a request. My fingers hovered over my phone, my instincts screaming at me to ignore it, to call Rafe, to do anything but entertain this invitation. But instead, I exhaled slowly and typed three words.
I’ll be waiting.
Kieran was still stationed outside my apartment. The thought comforted me as I approached the mailroom, heels clickingagainst the tile. I swiped my keycard, the lock releasing with a soft beep.
I was barely inside when I saw him. A man I didn’t recognize walked through the lobby like he belonged there. No hesitation. No glance toward the security cameras. His confidence was terrifying in its own right because it meant he had no fear of being stopped. His dark brown eyes flicked to me with intent. This man with short, messy brown hair definitely wasn’t Moreau, probably because of Kieran.
I wordlessly gestured for him to follow.
We took the elevator in silence. His presence was like an oppressive fog, nearly stifling the air around us. It was an annoying reminder that no matter how high I climbed, there would always be men like Moreau looking to drag me down.
I entered my apartment first, watching him shut the door behind me. Then, with slow precision, he pulled a phone from his pocket, tapped the screen, and turned it toward me.
