All Chapters of CHASING MONSTERS: Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

(Malik's pov) Malik let Veronica kiss him goodbye. Her mouth was soft, practiced, just familiar enough to sting. She cupped his jaw like she owned him, like she’d shaped him from clay instead of digging her nails into whatever pieces of him she wanted to bend. “I’ll be back this afternoon,” he said, thumb brushing her cheek. “Meeting the Alpha again.” “Of course,” she murmured. “I’ll be running the pack, as is my job.” There was something in her eyes, something sharp, secret, dangerous. Suspicion. Ambition. Hunger that had nothing to do with him. Malik pulled her closer, kissed her again, this time deep and claiming. When he pulled back, his voice dropped. “Behave.” Her answering smile was sweet poison. “Always.” He turned and walked out, letting her believe he was gone. He didn’t go far. From a ridge overlooking the castle ruins, Malik crouched among the stone and frost-burned grass, two of his best trackers flanking him. “She’ll move fast,” he said quietly. “Follow wit

The border town lay beneath a brittle calm, the kind born not of peace but of habit, of people convincing themselves that danger belonged somewhere else. Lantern light pooled along the crooked street below, catching on old stone and worn timber, while music drifted lazily from an open tavern door. Laughter rose and fell in uneven waves, careless and loud, as if the past had never learned how to scream here.Jax stood on the rooftop opposite the square, unmoving, his presence part of the night itself. Every sense was tuned outward, stretched taut with focus, his attention narrowed to the lone figure seated below.Lucian.Unhurried. Unafraid. Drinking as if the world had never once tried to tear him apart.Jax watched him steadily, breathing slow, controlled, the weight of years pressing in around the moment. Memory layered itself over the present whether he wanted it or not, scenes from laboratories and council chambers threading through his thoughts with uncomfortable ease. Lucian had

The throne room felt too large for the number of men inside it.Xavier stood at the head of the chamber, hands resting on the back of the carved chair, staring down at the table between them. Ronan stood to his right, arms folded, posture rigid with restrained violence. Abel paced slowly opposite them.“We can’t sit here,” Ronan said finally, breaking the silence. “Every hour we wait is another hour Jo is further away.”Xavier nodded once. The restless pressure pulsed in his chest—a king's burden, the urge to defend what was his and spill blood if required. "Agreed."Abel stopped pacing. “I have an informant who reached out after the festival. They claim to know where Toren was taken, and who took the woman.”“And you trust them?” Ronan asked.Abel’s mouth curved humorlessly. “No.”“Then why meet?” Xavier asked."Because the information lines up with what little we have," Abel replied. "And because if it’s a trap, I want to be the one who controls the approach and risks, not someone e

Malik knew Veronica would leave again.She moved through the world as if it owed her something, like consequences were for other people, lesser people. She didn’t bother hiding it anymore. No excuses. No explanations. Just the same casual confidence, the same expectation that he would look the other way because he always had before.This time, he didn’t.He stood at the edge of the fortress grounds and watched her disappear down the path, red cloak a slash of certainty against the muted earth. She didn’t glance back. In her mind, she was untouchable.He signaled two of his best scouts with a subtle shift of his hand.“Follow her,” he said quietly. “Not close enough to be seen. I want to know where she goes, who she meets, and what she promises in my name.”They nodded once and vanished into the trees.Malik exhaled slowly.His pack came first.He turned back toward the fortress, already cataloging what needed to change, who needed to be moved, who needed to be protected from Veronica’

Veronica ran from the Rogue Stronghold like a woman leaving a burning room, not because the heat scared her, but because she wanted space to decide what to set alight next.The forest tore at her cloak, branches catching and snapping loose as she drove herself forward, boots cutting a hard line through dirt and leaf-litter, lungs working in steady rhythm while her mind stayed sharp and furious. Malik had done it. Malik had dared to place guards between her and the child, dared to treat her like she was a liability instead of the reason half that pack feared to sleep with their backs exposed.He had barred her from Scarlett and tried to cage her.Scarlett, who wasn’t even his by blood.Scarlett belonged to Arnold. A dead man. A useful mistake. A footnote that should have meant nothing now, except Malik had gone and made it matter by claiming the girl as if she were sacred. Like she was his heart, his soft spot, his excuse for rules.Veronica’s hands curled as she ran, nails digging int