All Chapters of To Marry a Monster: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I'm giving the chef the night off," I said, a rare spark of energy hitting me as I set the shopping bags on the kitchen island of the Afolayan estate. "I want to prepare the meal myself. It’s a blood-debt of gratitude for what you did to Sienna and Bianca."Lucien didn't look up from his encrypted tablet, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "You can handle a blade in the kitchen as well as you handle one in the field, Chika? I’m intrigued.""Stay in the study," I teased, feeling lighter than I had since the massacre. "I’ll come fetch you when the offering is ready."I spent the next two hours in a blur of motion. In the Afolayan Dominion, power was everything, but even an Alpha King needed to be fed. I prepared four distinct dishes—seared venison with a berry reduction, spicy grilled fish, a root vegetable mash, and a bitter herb soup. By the time I walked into Lucien's study, the sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving the room in a wash of predatory shadows."The table is set, L

Chika clutched his head as the elevator ascended to the top floor of the Afolayan stronghold. The memory of the Blood Moon Gala was a jagged mess in his mind, but one image stood crystal clear: Lucien. When the enforcers had closed in, when the Blackwell mockery reached a fever pitch, it was Lucien who had stepped into the room. Not in a chair, not broken, but standing tall, radiating a lethal dominance that had silenced every wolf in the hall."Chika, breathe," Lucien’s voice cut through his spiral as they entered the private penthouse. "You’re vibrating with enough anxiety to trigger a pack-wide panic.""I thought I was dreaming, Lucien," Chika admitted, leaning against the cold glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the mafia-run sprawl of the city. "I told the whole damn room my husband was the Dark King of the Dominion, and then you just... you appeared. You weren't in that chair. You carried me to the car like I weighed nothing."Lucien stepped toward him, his gait sm

“How much weight does this chamber actually hold in the hierarchy of the Afolayan Dominion, Lucien?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I leaned toward him.We were seated at the head of the table in the Silverfang Ceremony Chamber. The air was thick with the scent of old leather, gunpowder, and the metallic tang of shifting wolves. This wasn't just a dining room; it was a sanctuary of the underground.“More than you can imagine, Chika,” Lucien replied, his eyes scanning the room with the predatory grace of a True Alpha. “This is where blood pacts are sealed and territories are carved up. It belongs to me. No soldier, no captain, and certainly no rival pack sets foot here without my express command. It is your fortress now. Consider it the first piece of the empire I am handing to you.”I looked out at my former classmates from the Blood Moon Reunion Gala. They looked small in this world of monsters and shadows. “Are you sure you want these people here? They’re just civilians. They

You really are a piece of work, aren't you?" Ronan chuckled, his hand sliding through Sienna’s hair as he stared at the glowing screen."I aim to please," Sienna purred, watching him from the corner of her eye. She noticed the way he lingered on the notification from Bianca Whitmore. "So, the little sister wants a secret meeting to discuss the 'traitor' Chika? How original."Ronan let out a sharp, cynical laugh. "Bianca doesn't have a fraction of the weight Chika carried, even at his weakest. But she’s persistent. I’ll give her that.""Are you actually going to waste your breath on her?" Sienna asked, her voice dipping into a dangerous, jealous silk."Why not? I’ve been bored since the Afolayan Dominion went quiet," Ronan replied, tossing the phone aside. "It won't hurt to see what the little mutt has to say. Maybe she has some dirt on her brother I can use."Sienna’s jaw tightened. She’d spent too much energy burning Chika’s bridges to let another Whitmore crawl into Ronan’s bed. "Yo

"Is it not exhausting, Cedric?" I asked, my voice echoing in the cold confines of the war room. "Using every drop of blood to grease the wheels of your own ambition? You never saw me as your son; only as a transaction that failed to yield enough profit."Cedric’s face twisted, the noble patriarch mask slipping to reveal the jagged edges of a desperate wolf. "Don't lecture me on morality, Chika. I didn't summon you here to listen to your grievances. I summoned you because the Blackwell Pack has a mark on our family now. I’m not asking you to rekindle a flame; I’m telling you to command Ronan to make Bianca his Luna. It is the only way to save the Whitmore name from becoming a footnote in the Afolayan archives."I let out a sharp, jagged laugh. "I am a married man, Cedric. The ink on the Afolayan contract is barely dry. What do you think Lucien will do if he finds out I’m brokering marriages for the man who discarded me?""Then take the Alpha with you!" Cedric barked, pacing the small r