Daria Melnichenko didn’t collect helpless things. Not anymore. But Braxton Thorin had stumbled into her war with kind eyes, a paramedic’s hands, and a dangerous ability to remind her of the mother who once believed kindness was strength.
He was mine now. My stray.
The thought bit at me, sharp as a shepherd’s canine. My mother’s voice whispered from the past: “You can’t turn your back on someone in need, Dasha.” She’d always said that when bringing home another mangy dog or helping a stranger in trouble. Back then, I’d thought it was all just fun and games—the more furry friends, the better. Now, I understood all too well why she’d done it. She’d been a virtuous soul married to the Devil.
Except, this stray wasn’t a helpless puppy. He was a tall, strong, hot-as-hell paramedic with kind eyes. A man from a world entirely different than anything I’d ever known.
~Daria Melnichenko, Mission Shift
About this Daria Melnichenko quote
This Daria Melnichenko quote comes from Mission Shift by Evie James, the third and final book in the Broken Heroes trilogy. After discovering Braxton Thorin is truly an American paramedic and humanitarian volunteer, Daria begins to see him as more than a liability. He becomes her stray—someone vulnerable enough to need protection, yet strong enough to unsettle every rule she has lived by. Their story blends enemies to lovers tension, forced proximity, secret identity, fish out of water danger, kidnapping, romantic suspense, Russian mafia stakes, and a war-zone bond shaped by survival, trust, and impossible attraction.
Read more about Mission Shift or explore the Broken Heroes trilogy.