บททั้งหมดของ CHASING MONSTERS: บทที่ 171 - บทที่ 180

Xavier and Ronan had directed them to Xavier's office. The silence was deafening. By the time they stopped walking, Sophie’s temper was hanging by a thread.She and Shiloh were escorted through the palace like criminals, two guards at their backs, another leading the way. The front guard kept glancing over his shoulder as if expecting them to sprint for the nearest window.Shiloh muttered, “This feels excessive.”“Don’t,” Sophie whispered. “They’re already furious.”The guards opened Xavier’s office door without knocking.Tension met them like a wall. Xavier stood behind his desk, hands braced on the polished wood, shoulders tight. Ronan waited off to the side, arms folded, the look in his eyes saying everything he hadn’t yet put into words. Papers lay scattered, shoved aside mid-argument.The door shut behind them with a solid thud.Xavier’s gaze swept their faces, then dropped to Sophie’s stomach and Shiloh’s. Only when he seemed satisfied they were physically intact did his express

Dinner finally ended, Sophie kept her face calm as she walked beside Xavier through the corridors, but inside, she was a tangled knot of conflict, love, guilt, heat, resolve, and desire. Xavier’s hand rested at the small of her back as he led her toward their chambers. The contact was barely more than a guide, but it thrummed through her like a live current. He opened the door for her, letting her enter first. The room glowed in warm candlelight, shadows flickering over stone walls and thick rugs. The fire in the hearth had burned low. The air smelled faintly of rose petals from the oils the attendants used earlier. Xavier exhaled the moment the door shut. He rubbed both hands over his face, tension pouring out of him in a long, quiet groan. Sophie stepped closer. “You’re stressed.” He dropped his hands, meeting her eyes with that molten intensity that always made her knees soften. “I didn’t want to be,” he murmured. “Not with you. Not tonight.” Her heart snagged. She brushed he

Sophie woke slowly, wrapped in warmth and the soft breathing of the man she loved. Xavier’s arm was curled around her waist, his forehead resting against the back of her shoulder, his entire body pressed to hers in a quiet, protective hold.For a moment, she simply lay there, listening to his steady breathing, feeling the stability of him. A king. A mate. A man who loved her with a certainty she was still learning to fully understand.When he stirred, he brushed a kiss along her shoulder. “Good morning, my ice queen.”She smiled. “Morning, my king.”He slid his hand over her stomach, lingering there affectionately. “I like waking up like this.”“Me too,” she whispered.They rose, dressed, and walked hand in hand through the palace corridors toward breakfast. Whenever they passed guards or servants, they dipped their heads with a mixture of respect and quiet fondness. The news of her pregnancy had softened even the most stoic warriors.It was comfortable. Ordinary. She clung to the mom

(Jax’s POV)The title Grand Dragon should have settled on Jax’s shoulders like a crown, but instead it felt more like a confirmation of what he had always known, that he was meant to stand above the rest, to be the one others looked to when they were afraid, to carry power so comfortably that it no longer surprised him when people stepped aside before he even reached them.He sat in his office, not poring over plans or staring at projections, but simply listening to the steady quiet that came with authority. Papers lay scattered across the desk, reports of supply runs, patrol logs, injury assessments, half-finished disciplinary notes, but his mind hovered above all of it, circling something else entirely.Abel.Of all the things he had done in the name of progress, Abel remained the one experiment that refused to stay buried. That man had taken punishment and recovered from it in ways that should not have been possible, bruises fading too quickly, wounds knitting together faster than

Ronan woke slowly, drifting upward through layers of warmth and softness until the world settled into perfect clarity: Shiloh’s head resting on his chest, her breath warm against his skin, her hand curled possessively over his ribs as though even in sleep she refused to let him go. His heart swelled so sharply it almost hurt. This woman, this wild, impossible, wanton, breathtaking creature,was his. His mate. His equal. His greatest blessing in a life that had never offered softness until her. He brushed his thumb along her shoulder, marveling at the steady rise and fall of her breathing, at the faint, sleepy sigh she made when he shifted beneath her. It was ridiculous how full his chest felt just looking at her. Ridiculous how many times he wondered what he had done, in this life or another, to deserve something so precious. And then, like a flash of ice through his veins, he remembered the assassin who had gone for her throat. His jaw tightened. His arms instinctively closed arou