Page 57 of Monsters Carve Thrones (Crowned Monsters Duet #2)

I traced her jawline, watching her eyes flutter half-closed beneath the weight of everything I was pouring into her. “You’re mine,” I said. “And I’ll spend every day reminding you how loved you are.” I dipped my head close, lips brushing hers. “I love you, little doe.”

Then I kissed her.

Not like the monster I used to be. Not like the killer they all feared. I kissed her like a man who’d found heaven after a lifetime in fire.

Her mouth opened for me, warm and welcoming, and I took my time.

Our wine sat forgotten on the side table.

Her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging softly, her thighs tightening around my hips.

I stood with her in my arms, her laugh low against my throat, and carried her down onto the thick rug in front of the fire.

The robe slipped from her shoulders.

She was bare beneath it all.

And I nearly lost my goddamn mind.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I whispered, hands gliding over her hips, her stomach, the soft curve of her breasts. “What God did I please to be gifted with you?”

She pulled my shirt off, running her palms over the muscle beneath like she needed to remind herself I was real. I looked down at the woman lying beneath me with a look in her eyes that utterly wrecked me.

“You saved me,” I whispered. “You made me something better.”

She smiled sweetly. “We saved each other.”

I stole another kiss. “You never needed saving before me, love.”

She arched into my touch, her nails dragging down my back. My weight pressed her into the rug, but I was slow. This wasn’t about the wild claiming I usually did. This wasn’t about control.

This was about love.

My hands moved over every inch of her like I needed to memorize her.

Her moans were quiet and breathy, the kind that drove me to the edge with how truly real they were.

I settled between her legs and pushed inside her slowly–so goddamn slowly I nearly shattered.

My name spilled from her lips in a whisper, and the world just… stopped.

Jesus Christ.

Sex with love… with emotion… was the most intense, beautiful thing I’d ever known.

I kissed her as she took all of me, her nails digging into my back, her thighs pulling me in deeper.

The fire burned at my left side as I thrust all the way in, burying myself inside the woman I would kill and die for without hesitation.

I drove into her harder, groaning against her mouth. The firelight wrapped around us, flickering gold and orange as our rhythm deepened, and as the sounds of ragged breathing filled the room.

“I’ll love you until the day I die,” I promised, my voice cracking as I held her tight. “And even then, I’ll find my way back to you.”

She whimpered on my next thrust, her breath catching.

I stilled instantly, as the sound struck something in me.

“Did you almost–”

“Yes,” I interrupted, with a laugh. She felt so fucking perfect that I almost came right there. I exhaled a shaky breath to gather myself.

She giggled quietly, her voice breathy and sweet.

I loved that sound.

I moved slowly again, savoring every second. “You’re my weakness in every way, Dela,” I whispered against her mouth.

Her eyes watered.

Mine, too.

“You’re my weakness, but you’re also my strength,” I said, pressing deeper into her. “If I’ve become any better than the demon I was, it’s because you loved me.”

Thrust .

“You gave me everything,” I panted. “God, baby… you’re the best thing to ever have fallen into my miserable life.” I cupped her face and kissed her deeply. And when I pulled back just a little, I saw her face was wet.

Tears .

Something inside me broke open.

Emotion and passion crashed together like a fucking tidal wave. I moved faster, driven by everything she meant to me–everything we’d survived. My eyes rolled back at how incredible she felt, how perfect, how warm, how mine.

“You’re my life, Rafe,” she whispered into my shoulder, her voice wrecked. “Thank you for coming for me. And never giving up on me. On the days when I wanted to give up, I thought of you. Of your smile. That dimple on your cheek.”

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t fucking breathe.

So I kissed her instead. Hard. Tongue against tongue, her body rising to meet every thrust like she was trying to crawl inside me. Then she clenched around me, her breath breaking into tiny sobs into my mouth. Her nails clawed down my back, scratching fire into my skin.

I groaned, my whole body flexing. She was soaked, her hips rocking up to take everything I had.

I couldn’t hold back.

I pressed my forehead to hers while I came inside her, filling her with my cum and my goddamn soul.

Thoughts shattered entirely, and all I felt was her.

All I smelled was her. I stayed buried as I finished, her little moans spurring me deeper, her arms locked around my shoulders. She always loved feeling me fill her.

After a few minutes of catching our breath, I finally pulled away to look at her flushed face. “I should probably say something else romantic now,” I muttered, half-dazed, brushing her hair back from her damp forehead. “I feel like I just recited a sonnet.”

She laughed, eyes still wet. “That was romantic. In a completely Rafe sort of way. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I kissed her again, gently now. Like I had all the time in the world.

Because with her, I did.

***

ADELA

The morning light poured in through the tall windows, soft and golden, spilling across the stone floors and warming the mess we’d left behind. My body still ached in the best way. Every inch of me hummed with the memory of his hands, his mouth, the way he looked at me while he made love to me.

I was tucked against Rafe’s chest on the thick rug, one of his arms draped around me lazily, his hand splayed over my stomach like he didn’t plan to move for hours. Maybe days.

God, he was warm.

I turned my head slightly to look at him. His face was peaceful, but his eyes were open, already on me. “You watching me sleep again, stalker?” I whispered, a crooked smile pulling at my lips.

He smirked. “I’ll always watch you sleep, Dela.”

I rolled onto my back, eyes tracing the beamed ceiling above us. Silence settled between us, but it wasn’t empty. It was full. Full of everything we’d survived. Everything we’d taken back. Everything we’d ripped apart to get here.

“Do you remember,” I murmured, “the first night you broke into my apartment wearing that mask?”

He chuckled softly. “Yeah. You and that little knife. You thought you had a chance.”

“You caught that blade in your hand like a psycho,” I said, grinning.

He snorted. “You loved it. You loved being beneath my blade.”

“Yes, I did.” I rolled my eyes, really thinking of how far we’d come. “But I think I knew back then, somehow… that you’d ruin my life. And make it better at the same time.”

His hand curled tighter around me. “And I knew I’d never let anyone else have you.

Not once I saw the fire in your eyes. I knew I was destined to marry you.

Even if I was a man who had never felt love in the way that was required for marriage.

I just… saw something in you. You were different.

You remained standing even after I brought the entire goddamn house down. ”

I turned toward him again, reaching up to brush a lock of black hair from his face. “We’ve been through hell, Rafe. Since the beginning. But I think because of that, we’ll love each other more fiercely than most.”

He smiled, then pulled me against his chest again.

After a few minutes of peace, I sat up. I slipped one of Rafe’s oversized T-shirts over my head, tugged on underwear, and padded barefoot through the villa’s open glass doors.

The stone floors were warm beneath my feet.

Behind me, I heard his quiet footsteps and the soft shuffle of sweatpants.

When I stepped onto the back patio, the view knocked the breath out of me.

The sea stretched forever, glittering under the soft blush of dawn.

Pale gold light spilled over the balcony railing, illuminating the vines climbing the stone, the terracotta tiles still slick with dew.

I glanced down and noticed a tray of orange juice, fruit, and pastries waiting for us. I smiled to myself.

His arms slid around my waist from behind, his bare chest pressing into my back as he kissed my shoulder, then my neck. “You happy, little doe?” he asked against my skin.

I smiled, my hands resting over his. “Very.”

He rocked us gently, kissing my temple and down my cheek.

“I could stay here forever,” I whispered.

His lips brushed my hairline. “We really can if you want. I was serious, you know.”

I turned in his arms to face him. He looked so different here, shirtless, sleep-tousled, no guns, no blood.

Just a man in love, standing on a patio with the woman he crossed continents to save.

There was a warmth and a calm in his eyes that nearly made my knees buckle.

“As much as I’d love that, New York is my home.

Our home.” I turned in his arms to face him.

His eyes traced my face. “We can visit whenever you want, then.”

I grinned, kissing his cheek softly.

He cupped my face gently. “I love you in a way that scares me, Adela. But it’s the most beautiful and exhilarating thing I’ve ever known.”

My eyes stung. I leaned in, resting my forehead to his. “When I opened that door and saw you standing there, covered in blood...” I swallowed hard. “I thought I had died, Rafe.”

He tilted his head, waiting for me to continue.

“I thought I had been shot, and seeing you was my first glimpse of a heaven I never entirely believed in. It sounds corny, but it was really my first thought.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, like I had struck something deep inside him. “Trust me, I know the feeling.” He reached down and brought a glass of orange juice to his lips. He then offered it to me.

I took it, savoring the crisp, cold taste. “So now we’ve got a lot to manage, huh? Between Sinclair Solutions and your ever-expanding empire?”

His smile was slow. “Monsters don’t just wear crowns, baby.”

I blinked up at him.

“They carve thrones. And ours happens to be made from blood, fire, and the most epic love imaginable.”

My chest ached at those words, not with pain, but with fullness. He kissed me before I could reply. It was deep and slow. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything I had. Every scar. Every memory. Every promise .

Because he was mine.

And I was his.

As his lips roved over mine and his arms pressed me against his muscular body, I realized that he was right.

We did carve our way to the fucking top.

With blood, with bone, with every vow we made in the dark, and every kiss that pulled us back to the light.

He was my ending and my beginning. My monster.

My nightmare. My husband and my home. And if this was what came after the war…

Then I’d survive it all over again just to feel it twice. He saved me in every way a person could be saved. And I felt like I might have saved him, too.