“From the moment fate brought me into your emergency department, you became the best example of what a man should be. Honest, even when I couldn’t be truthful about my past. Kind, when no one else was. Giving, to a complete stranger without hesitation. Funny, when things were at their worst. You protected my heart, my soul, and my body. You understood me even when I didn’t understand myself.”

~Anastasia Volkov, Day Shift

She was perfect. Beautiful and defiant, soft in all the right places, and strong in ways that sent my imagination spiraling. I loved the way her voice had cracked when she’d told me to let her go…and then moaned when I didn’t.

~Nikolai Volkov, Eyes on You

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.

But we had tonight.

And if tonight was all fate ever gave me with her, I was going to give her everything I had in return.

Every touch.

Every tenderness.

Every bit of love in me, whether I was ready to call it that or not.

Daria wasn’t just ice—she was fire too. She would burn for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. She carried a quiet, unseen goodness, the kind that refused to be extinguished no matter how much darkness tried to swallow it. It was still there, even after men like her father and Malinov had spent decades trying to snuff it out. And as for all the blood on her hands, I knew—knew—she had never wanted it there.

She hadn’t been born a killer. She’d been made into one.

Forced into the Kremlin’s machine, raised under her father’s brutal rule, taught that love was a weakness and that her only loyalty was to the men who controlled her. Every lesson had been beaten into her. Every moment of softness was something she’d had to carve out of herself just to survive. And despite all of it, she had still chosen to protect the innocent. She had still risked her life for the Ukrainian people. For me.

~Braxton Thorin, Mission Shift

Every selfish part of me wanted to tell her she was already mine.

But I refused to use the worst day of her life to decide the rest of it for her.

“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 couldn’t begin to fathom why I’d agreed—no, chosen—to participate in this sexual experiment. Curiosity had gotten the better of me. It wasn’t that I regretted what we’d done—he’d given me the best orgasms I’d ever had—it was that being with him was unthinkable, taboo even. Why had I allowed a man who was essentially my boss, sixteen years my senior, do the things he’d done? I had no answers.

~Samantha Sheridan, Night Shift

A smile spread across my face before I could stop it. God, he was handsome. But it went deeper than that now. He was the only person on this earth I trusted without hesitation. Somewhere along the brutal path that had led us here, he’d worked his way into my head and my heart, my future without ever asking, and I didn’t mind one bit.

~Scarlett Hayes, Eyes of the Unholy

Noelle was an open book—most of the time. She didn’t bother hiding who she was, and I respected that. But the topic of her parents? That was a door she kept bolted shut. It stirred up an instinct I didn’t usually have for strangers—to defend her from whatever hurt lay behind that door. It wasn’t the same as looking out for my brother and sisters, or even the guys in my unit. This was different. More visceral. I wanted to shield her from whatever caused her pain and make it right.

~Captain Kol Vinter, Christmas Cancellation