I’d gone into the dungeon to find out whether Lachlan Byrnes could be trusted and returned wanting his hands on me and his violence aimed at everyone else.

God help anyone who stood in his way when Lachlan got free.

God help me when he turned all that attention back on me.

I was already half out of my mind over a man who’d barely touched me.

I stayed silent, watching her breath. I wanted to freeze time, to hold on to this moment forever. No woman had ever affected me this deeply. Maybe it was her innocence—the fact that she was a blank slate due to her amnesia, free to write her story anew without the weight of past memories. God, how I longed to help her fill those empty spaces.

~Conan Thorin, Day Shift

“No one owns you. But anyone who comes for you answers to me.”

“That sounds a little like ownership.”

“You can walk away from me once you’re safe. There’s a difference.”

“I don’t think I mind being yours in that way.”

The standoff continued, a silent battle of wills under the starlit sky. In that moment, everything that had transpired between us—all the tension, the unspoken grievances—seemed to crystalize. This was more than just a breach of his precious rules; it was a clash of our very natures, a collision course that had been set in motion from the moment our lives had become entangled.

~Samantha Sheridan, Night Shift

“Mouse, you’re not going to hurt me.” I guided her down. “It’s time you found your place over my heart.”

Tears welled in her eyes.

“How do you always read me so well?” she whispered.

I brushed my thumb along one of her cheeks.

“Because you’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted to know by heart.”

I was beginning to understand that once Lachlan decided something was his responsibility, the cost to himself stopped being part of the equation. Pain, danger, inconvenience—it didn’t seem to matter. He would do what he said he would do and deal with the consequences afterward.

Noelle was a challenge I couldn’t refuse, an adventure that would either be the best damn thing I’d ever experienced or would blow up spectacularly in my face.

~Captain Kol Vinter, Christmas Cancellation

“I love you, my little bird. With everything in me. I love every part of you—your red hair, your sharp tongue, the strength you hide behind that fire. There will never be another woman for me. I’ll die with your name on my lips.”

~Lucian Byrne, Eyes of the Unholy

God forgive me for what I’m about to do to the girl praying inside that church.

~Lucian Byrne, Eyes of the Unholy

Her eyes locked onto mine, and I had the insane urge to close the gap, to taste that sass on her lips.

~Captain Kol Vinter, Christmas Cancellation