Page 20 of Monsters Wear Crowns (Crowned Monsters Duet #1)

The room was quiet except for the slow, steady rhythm of our breathing. My body still hummed, a tired ache spreading through my limbs, but my mind…my mind was anything but still.

I rolled onto my side, watching Rafe as he stretched out on his back, one arm flung behind his head.

His skin was flushed, his hair deliciously tousled, but the sharpness in his eyes hadn’t dulled.

If anything, it had deepened–like the fire between us had only fed whatever darkness lay beneath the surface.

And I wanted to know what was hiding there. The silence stretched on, but I refused to let it settle.

“You never really told me much,” I said softly. “About your business.”

Rafe’s head turned toward me slowly. He didn’t speak right away–just studied me, his eyes a slow, dangerous sweep over my face.

“I told you,” he said finally, his voice low and lazy. “I move things people want. Things they shouldn’t have.”

“Not good enough,” I countered, padding into my bathroom.

“Sorry.”

I nearly jolted when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I looked…sated. Like a glimmer of light had returned to my eyes. They looked…bluer than usual. “I don’t understand why you just can’t–”

“Leave it,” he said swiftly, his gaze landing on mine as I returned to the bedroom.

I narrowed my eyes, but before I could push further, he slid out of bed.

I watched him disappear into the bathroom, and when the sound of running water reached me.

I found my red silk camisole and matching shorts and slipped them on, suddenly hyper-aware of how exposed I felt.

As if the armor I always wore in public had been stripped away with my clothes.

When Rafe returned, I was brushing my now-messy hair in front of the tall mirror. He leaned against the doorframe, watching me with that unreadable gaze.

“You’re too beautiful when you’re thinking,” he murmured.

I rolled my eyes, but my stomach flipped all the same. “And you’re too evasive when you’re cornered.”

He smirked. “I never get cornered, love.”

I set the brush down, walking toward him slowly. “Spend the night,” I said, my voice softer than intended.

Something flickered in his face, not fear, but caution. Like the idea of staying was far more dangerous than the fire we’d just played with.

“Adela–”

“Am I yours or not?” I interrupted. My heart pounded as I stared up at him, refusing to back down. “Because if I am, that means you’re mine, too. And I can request things like this from you.”

There was a long beat of silence while he mulled it over. I couldn’t help but admire his tattoos again. God, he was a wild, terrifying and beautiful thing.

Then he smiled, like I’d just beaten him at a friendly game. “You really are impossible,” he murmured, brushing his thumb across my jaw.

“And you still want me,” I whispered with a flirty smile.

“I do,” he agreed.

He didn’t leave. He sighed, slipping back into the sheets and pulling me in with him .

Once he settled and I cozied up, the words left my mouth. “Where did you learn to be like this?”

His arm tightened around my waist, his lips brushing my shoulder. “Like what?”

“Cold. Volatile. Yet in control. You’re unlike any man I’ve ever dealt with. And that’s saying something, considering the men I tend to work with would terrify the average person.”

He was quiet for so long that I didn’t think he’d answer. But then–

“My father wasn’t like yours,” he said softly. “He wasn’t powerful. Not at first.”

I turned my head toward him, waiting.

“He built his empire from nothing. Brick by bloody brick. And I watched him do it.” His voice dipped lower. “I watched him take what he wanted, no matter the cost. And I learned the same lesson–that power doesn’t come from wealth. It comes from fear. From control.”

It should have scared me, hearing that. But it didn’t.

Maybe because I understood.

“My father believed in control, too,” I whispered.

“But for him, it wasn’t about fear. It was about ruthlessness.

Strength. Intelligence. He taught me that if I wanted to survive in this world, I had to be harder than the men around me.

I know how to wield a gun and a blade, and possess a tongue sharper than and more explosive than both. ”

Rafe’s fingers traced slow circles against my hip. “And have you?”

“Survived?”

“Become harder than them.”

I turned toward him, meeting those dark, terrifying eyes. At times, they resembled the ocean’s depths. Others, ice. “You tell me.”

He smiled, but there was no softness in it. Only fire. “You’re the most dangerous woman I’ve ever met.” His mouth found mine in a kiss that was all teeth and heat. “Because you’re mine ,” he whispered against my lips.

As he kissed me, a kind of awareness came over me.

The man could be rough and borderline hurt me, but he could also be gentle.

And beneath the quiet, there was something else simmering.

Something neither of us seemed willing to name just yet.

But I felt it. And I wondered if he did, too.

It was an undeniable chemistry that said we’d like each other even if it weren’t for business.

I actually liked him. I found him fascinating and sexy.

I was eager to get to know his other sides, too.

When I pulled away, I laid my head on his chest, feeling the slow, steady rhythm of his heart. His fingers traced lazy circles on my bare shoulder, but I could feel the tension still coiled in him. Even now, even here , Rafe Vaughan was still on guard.

I wanted to know why.

“What’s your biggest fear?” I asked softly.

The circles stopped. His hand went still. “You think that’s the kind of question men like me like to answer?”

“I think it’s the kind of question you should answer,” I said, lifting my head to look at him. “If you want me to trust you.”

His eyes flicked to mine. “Trust is a risky thing to give.”

“And yet you’re asking me for it through business. And my body.”

A long beat of silence passed. He studied me, that sharp, assessing gaze trying to strip me down and to see what I was really asking. I didn’t look away. Most would cave underneath it. It was intense in a way that made you feel he was dissecting everything you were.

Finally, he spoke.

“Losing control,” he said quietly. “That’s my greatest fear.”

I watched the way his jaw tightened, his throat working as if the words cost him something.

“Control is everything,” he continued, his voice low and measured. “It’s how you survive. How you build something worth keeping. I’ve seen what happens when you let your guard slip. When you trust too easily or let emotion cloud your judgment. Empires fall that way. People die that way.”

His words felt heavy. And yet I couldn’t help but notice how his fingers still brushed against my skin–slow, almost absentminded. A contradiction.

“Is that what you think I’ll do?” I asked. “Make you lose control?”

He didn’t answer. But his silence spoke volumes.

My lips curved in a slow, risky smile. “Good. I’d love to see it”

“No, you wouldn’t. Trust me. I hate seeing myself that way.” His hand tightened on my waist, and his eyes flashed. “And your greatest fear, little doe ?” he asked, his voice a low rasp.

I didn’t hesitate. “Weakness.” The word hung in the air, sharp and cold. “I was taught that weakness gets you destroyed,” I said softly. “I saw it happen with my mother. I watched my father push her aside because she didn’t know how to fight back. She let her heart get in the way. I never will.”

Rafe’s thumb brushed my bottom lip, his eyes burning into mine. “And still, you let me in,” he murmured. “Into your bed.”

“I never said I wasn’t willing to take risks,” I whispered. “But I don’t gamble unless I know the odds are in my favor.”

He smiled then, that slow, sinful curve that always made my stomach twist. “Is that what this is?” he asked. “A gamble?”

“Isn’t everything with you?”

An intense quiet filled the room, laced with the tension that had been building from the moment we met.

But I wasn’t done yet.

“Am I officially your girlfriend, then?” I asked, my voice deceptively light.

Rafe blinked, and then he laughed . A low, rough sound that made my blood heat and my temper spark all at once.

“ Girlfriend ?” he repeated, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “Adela–”

“I’m serious.”

The laughter faded at the edges.

“I don’t play when it comes to my heart,” I said quietly. “So if this is just a game for you, tell me now. Because if you scorn me, Rafe, if you betray me, you’ll wish you’d never met me.”

The temperature in the room shifted, the heat giving way to something colder.

Rafe’s eyes darkened, his smile slowly slipping away. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s a promise,” I said, my voice soft and lethal. “I will tear your empire apart. I will burn everything you’ve built to the ground and do it with a smile on my pretty face.”

The silence between us was deafening.

But I didn’t flinch. I held his gaze, my chin tilted in defiance.

Slowly, his lips curved again, not in amusement this time, but something darker. “You really are perfect for me,” he murmured quietly, almost to himself. His eyes bore into mine, dipping to my lips.

“Then don’t make the mistake of underestimating me,” I said. “If you really want me, know that it’s your choice. And going back on that would threaten everything .”

Rafe’s hand slid up my throat, his fingers tilting my chin as his mouth claimed mine–slow, consuming, and possessive . “I always protect what’s mine,” he whispered against my lips.

And I wasn’t sure which one of us was more dangerous. Because I’d be willing to burn down an empire for a crack in my heart. I was still catching my breath, still tasting the fire of his last kiss, when his hand slid into my hair, tightening just enough to make my pulse jump.

“You make everything dangerous,” Rafe murmured, his voice a low, dark rasp. “Especially this.”