“Eyes on me, Angel,” he commanded, closing the space between us, his breath brushing across my lips. “I’m going to know everything about you—your fears, your dreams, your past, the best and the worst. I want to be the one who stands by you when you’re at your lowest and lifts you up higher at your best. I’ll be the one who fights off anyone or anything that tries to hurt you. You’re mine now, and I will know every part of you, even your darkest origins. Nothing will get in my way. Nothing.”

~Anastasia Volkov, Day Shift

I nodded, trying to pull myself together. Embarrassment washed over me as I realized how exposed I was, both physically and emotionally. Quickly, I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “I’m fine. God, I’m just being stupid. It’s nothing. I’m just tired and—”

“Don’t,” he said firmly, taking my face in both hands. “Don’t say you’re being stupid.”

I froze.

“What you’re experiencing is how sexual pleasure should always make you feel. Giving a man that special piece of yourself is the best gift he could ever receive. You deserve to be adored and pleasured in every way, to be praised and feel loved. Your body is your temple, and any man should be lucky enough to worship before it.”

My heart cracked wide open.

~Daria Melnichenko, Mission Shift

“It was only a simple kiss,” I said. “It’s not like you threw me against a wall and f***ed me until I didn’t know my name—not that I know my name, but you get my drift. Besides, I all but fell into your lap and begged you to kiss me. No need to be dramatic. It was no big deal.” I huffed.

~Anastasia Volkov, Day Shift

In that split second when I locked eyes with this devastatingly lethal masterpiece of untamed beauty—mine searching to understand, hers hardened in resolve—I knew one thing with absolute clarity: she wasn’t the kind of woman a man walked away from unscathed. She fought like a demon, looked like a damn dream, and if I had any sense, I’d focus on survival instead of how much I wanted to pin her down for entirely different reasons. Whether I made it out of this fight or not, I was already a goner. She wasn’t just dangerous—she was the kind of trouble men lost themselves in.

~Braxton Thorin, Mission Shift

She can hiss and spit all she wants, but I’m taking possession of her future one way or another. Feral just means special handling.

~Lucian Byrne, Eyes of the Unholy

She was a match, and I was soaked in gasoline.

Now every part of my life—my empire, my secrets, my control—was at risk of going up in flames, all because of one girl who spun through the air with the grace of an angel, tempting men to risk damnation just to touch her.

~Nikolai Volkov, Eyes on You

She was Persephone.

Pure spring caught in the harsh reality of my dark domain.

And I?

I was Hades.

King of an underworld forged not of myth but of concrete and blood.

I knew, in the gut-wrenching way only a man like me could, that what I was about to do was wrong. I knew every fiber of her being would scream against the chains I hadn’t even yet forged—but I couldn’t stop the inevitable.

I would make her mine.

~Nikolai Volkov, Eyes on You

In his eyes there had been genuine compassion. Those kinds of eyes didn’t belong to liars or cowards. They were the kind of eyes someone could hold on to in their darkest moments. That kind of human decency was foreign to me, a quality I’d never witnessed in the cold, calculated men who had shaped my life—the Bratva, the Kremlin. It made him compelling and dangerous because it drew me to him.

He was an American, a man risking his life to help in a war that wasn’t his and believing he’d be safe. And that trust in the better angels of our nature was my undoing. And now, for reasons I couldn’t fully explain, I was willing to risk everything to help him. If I hadn’t felt compelled to act before, the decision was now clear. Letting him die here wasn’t just a part of the mission I’d chosen—it was unthinkable. My fate was sealed.

~Daria Melnichenko, Mission Shift

As I held her, I made a silent vow. I would be there for her, no matter what. I would help her through this, help her find her strength, her courage. I would be her rock, her safe haven, her home because she deserved it. She deserved to be loved, to be cherished, to be protected. And I would be the one to give her that. No matter what it took, no matter what it cost me, I would be there for her. Always.

~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