Page 165 of Monsters Wear Crowns
“I don’tenjoyforcing anyone’s hand,” he murmured. “Unlike Rafe, Iwon’tpin you down. Or allow any of my men to do so.” A slow, taunting smirk. “I just need you to see reason.”
“Wonderful,” I mumbled, my gaze darting up to meet the asshole in front of me. “Then muzzle your fucking dog.”
“I am not one of his men,” Waylon grinned. “I’m a friend with mutual interests.”
Silence stretched between us. I picked up on a subtle accent from the man. Perhaps London? Blowing out a breath, I returned my focus to Moreau, feeling the weight of my next words. “What do you need me to do?”
***
RAFE
I couldn’t keep my fucking head straight. She hadn’t spoken to me since the night on the balcony. Since I’d fucked her so hard, the sky should’ve cracked open. It wasn’t like her to be overly communicative afterward, but something had shifted between us. Ifeltit. That wasn’t just sex. It was something raw and real. Like our souls had collided and shattered together.
But now? Silence. No call. No text. Not even a goddamn breadcrumb. It was driving me out of my mind. Kieran hadn't seen her today, and I didn't like that one fucking bit.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles white as I turned down a narrow side street. The silence pressed in around me like an eerie goddamn warning, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose, prickling with instinct.
That’s when the headlights snapped on.
One.
Two.
Three.
Vehicles appeared from nowhere, blocking me in at both ends. My stomach clenched.Fuck.I reached for my gun just as the first impact slammed into my side. The car groaned under the force, metal screeching, windows exploding into glittering shards. My head whipped violently to the side, pain lancing through my skull.
They came out of the shadows like fucking phantoms. They were fast, brutal, and coordinated. I managed to raise my weapon, squeezing off two shots. One man dropped like a sack of bricks. The second staggered back with a bullet in his shoulder. But it wasn’t enough.
Arms wrapped around me like a vice. A punch to my ribs knocked the breath from my lungs. Another clipped my jaw, splitting the skin. I slammed the butt of my gun into someone’s temple, earninga satisfying crunch before they swarmed me again.
A knee to my spine.
A boot to my gut.
A fucking gun pressed to my throat.
My vision blurred as blood filled my mouth, hot and metallic. But I didn’t go down easy. I fought like the bastard I am. I snarled and twisted free of one grip, only to be caught in another. I took one man down with my elbow and heard the crack of his nose breaking. Someone screamed.Good.
But they just kept coming. These weren’t low-level punks. These were trained. Precise. This wasn’t a warning–it was a fucking extraction.
The next boot caught my ribs. Then another, and another. My body folded, coughing red onto the pavement. My fingers scraped at the ground, at anything I could use as leverage. But they were done playing. Darkness clawed at the edges of my vision, hot and suffocating.
“He’s still awake,” one of them said, a cruel edge in his voice.
Another chuckled, colder. “Good. Boss wants him conscious.”
I was yanked upright, arms pinned painfully behind me. My legs barely held, blood dribbling from my mouth, mixing with the grime on the concrete.
They shoved me toward one of the SUVs. My skull slammed against the doorframe hard enough to spark white behind my eyes. Then metal clicked tight around my wrists–handcuffs, not rope.Smart fuckers.
One of them pressed a fist to my back to keep me still as the door slammed shut behind me. And even through the pain, even half-conscious, my voice came out like gravel soaked in gasoline. “Have you hurt her?”
I was met with silence. The kind that made your bones cold.
I lifted my head, blood trailing down my chin. “If you’vetouched her, I’ll gut every last one of you with my fucking teeth.”
The man across from me just smirked. Let them laugh now. Because if Adela was hurt, there would be no place on earth for them to hide from me. All masked in black, they didn’t say anything. They only stared. As we sped away, I leaned back against the seat, ignoring the ache in my ribs and the warm trickle of blood down my temple. I could already taste the vengeance in my mouth.
