Patricia Briggs

“Then he snarled at her. “You are not leaving me.”It was an order, and she didn’t have to follow anyone’s orders. That was part of being Omega instead of a regular werewolf – who might have had a snowball’s chance in hell of being a proper mate.“You need someone stronger,” Anna told him again. “So you wouldn’t have to hide when you’re hurt. So you could trust your mate to take care of herself and help, damn it, instead of having to protect me from whatever you are hiding.” She hated crying. Tears were weaknesses that could be exploited and they never solved a damned thing. Sobs gathered in her chest like a rushing tide and she needed to get away from him before she broke.Instead of fighting his grip, she tried to slide out of it. “I need to go,” she said to his chest. “I need–”His mouth closed over hers, hot and hungry, warming her mouth as his body warmed her body.“Me,” Charles said, his voice dark and gravelly as if it had traveled up from the bottom of the earth, his eyes a bright gold. “You need me.”

“Leslie had learned two valuable things about the fae that day. They were powerful and charming -- and they ate children and puppies.”

“Over the years, she'd learned not to question him too closely—mostly because he wouldn't answer her.”

“It was unsettling to be in love with someone who looked like the face in her nightmares.”

“I used my history degree about twice a year whether I needed to or not.”

“Yes,” I told him. “I think the guy playing the Pirate King was awesome.”He stopped where he was.“What?” I asked, frowning at the big smile on his face.“I didn’t say I liked the Pirate King,” he told me.“Oh.” I closed my eyes—and there he was. A warm, edgy presence right on the edge of my perception. When I opened my eyes, he was standing right in front of me. “Cool,” I told him. “You’re back.”He kissed me leisurely. When he was finished, I was more than ready to head home. Fast.“You make me laugh,” he told me seriously.”

“Mercy," he mumbled. "What the hell did you do to my French Roast?”

“Drink it,” I told her. “It’s good for what ails you. Caffeine and sugar. I don’t drink it, so I ran over to your house and stole the expensive stuff in your freezer. It shouldn’t be that bad. Samuel told me to make it strong and pour sugar into it. It should taste sort of like bitter syrup.” She gave me a smile smile, then a bigger one, and plugged her nose before she drank it down in one gulp. “Next time," she said in a hoarse voice, “I make the coffee.”

“Charles looked at her thoughtfully. "People talk to you," he said. "That could be useful.”

“Women are the bloodthirsty sex," said Ric sadly. "We get the reputation, but it is only because the women stand behind us, and say, 'Kill it. Squish it.”

“Where does a werewolf sleep? Anywhere he wants to.”

“Why is it that all cars are women?" he asked. "Because they're fussy and demanding," answered Zee. "Because if they were men, they'd sit around and complain instead of getting the job done," I told him.”

“He was obviously dead. But since he was a vampire that wasn't as hopeless a thing as it might have been.”

“Christmas garland and a rock?" he said, a smile in his voice. "Why not an ornament?""Wolves aren't fragile," I told him. "And they're... stubbon and hard to move.”

“He didn't say anything more, just waited for me to tell him what I'd been thinking. It was pure speculation, and I was opening myself up to ridicule by saying anything at all. I sat on the stool and realized that I had my loyalties, too.”

“Never trust a mechanic who drives new cars. They're either charging too much money for their work, or they can't keep an old car running - maybe both.”

“If it would benefit you, I would kill every wolf here. But there are things that you need to do -- and interfering with that is not protecting, not in my book. The best way for me to protect you is to encourage you to be able to protect yourself.”

“There was I thinking being a shifter had its upsides. Looks like I was wrong.”

“It wasn't hard to follow the scent of blood to the living room where the fae had been killed. It had been a violent death, perfect for creating ghosts.”

“Charles could care less about shoes - and he suspected he wasn't alone among men in his feelings. Shoe, no shoe, he didn't care. Naked was good, though over the past couple of weeks he was beginning to think that dressed in his clothes was a decent second best.”

“Things change whether you want them to, or not--unless you are dead. Don't hold so hard to the past that you die with it.”

“Truth is without flourishes or manners and runs with a logic all its own.”

“Identity was partly heritage, partly upbringing, but mostly the choices you make in life. ~ Bran”

“I feel like I'm lost in an anime movie" I said, as Coyote picked the thing up. "One of the tentacle-monster ones." Most of them were X-rated and ended up with a lot of dead people.”

“I like that people can just look at you and know that you are taken, that you are mine.” He closed his eyes and laughed. “And yes, I know that sentiment is at the top of the Women’s Liberation Movement’s list of things not to say to a modern woman.”

“His voice was soft and sweet as molasses; but my mother once told me that you had to trust that the first thing out of a person's mouth was truth. After they have a chance to think about it, they'll change what they say to be more socially acceptable, something they think you'll be happier with, something that will get the results they want.”

“No-pocket jeans are only slightly less irritating than thong underwear.”

“Feeling scared yet? Want to go somewhere safe?" "It won't help, will it? We'd just run into Godzilla or the Vampire from Hell. Trouble just follows you around." "Hey, Trouble. Let's find out what your mysterious Indian wanted us to know.”

“If you leave me naked and waiting on the bed without making love to me, I’ll—” I didn’t get to finish the threat. I think it was the word “naked,” though maybe it was “bed,” but before I finished my sentence, he was on me. Mercy to Adam”

“Not that I'd really been planning on keeping the attack secret; it had just been an option I'd wanted to keep open if I could.”

“Mine. He was mine, and not even death would take him from me—not if I could help it.”

“I don't break; I bounce.”

“Usually the people I do know are sufficient to spawn any number of nightmares without inventing any.”

“When I die of heart failure the next time you frighten me like that, you can put that on my gravestone—‘I didn’t mean to startle her.”

“I suppose we must work on being gracious and grateful until we can do for ourselves. Someday the wheel of fate will put us in a position to be of use to them, and we will remember how much easier it is to give help than it is to accept it.”

“Death is not such a bad thing. What would be a bad thing would be living without challenges. Without knowing defeat, we cannot know what victory is. There is no life without death.”

“After I shut the door behind me, I heard Darryl say "of course eating him would work too.”

“Damn it," I said. "I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to kill Littleton."He smiled at me, his teeth very white in the darkness of his face. "Eat him," he said.”

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Adam asked as we went back upstairs.“Sometime,” I told him. “When we're telling ghost stories around a campfire, and I want to scare you.”

“Mmm, he rumbled into my ear. I thought that being married meant that I never go to bed hungry.”

“He stopped what he was doing and pulled out his magic phone. Okay, the phone wasn't magic, but it does things my computer struggles with.”

“Wolves eat coyotes," Gordon said[...] If he weren't an old man, I had some rude things I could have said to that."Yes," observed Adam blandly. "I do." Yep. That was the one that came to mind. And he didn't even blush when he said it. Maybe Gordon would miss the double entendre. But he grinned cheerfully at Adam.”

“Take a note: it usually works better if you wait until I do something stupid before getting mad at me.”

“I can turn into a coyote," I said. "My mom tells me I must get it from my father."Calvin's jaw dropped, then his face froze. "Your mother was a white woman," he said urgently. "You can't turn into a coyote.""Can, too," I said indignantly. It was one thing for me to tell him he was lying--I knew I was right. It was an entirely different matter for him to tell me I was lying."Can't.""Can.""Can't""Can, too.""Mercy," Adam said with an exaggerated patience tinged with humor. He knew I was doing it on purpose. That was okay but he wasn't angry anymore."Cannot," said Calvin."Knock it off, both of you. Neither of you is five.”

“Someday, I'm going to meet some supernatural creature who tells me everything I should know up front and in a forthright manner - but I'm not going to hold my breath.”

“I woke in the morning to the sound of Adam's stomach growling under my ear."Sorry," he said. "Too many changes and not enough food."I patted his hard belly and kissed it. "Poor thing," I told it. "Doesn't Adam treat you right? No worries, I'll go feed you."My head bounced when Adam laughed.”

“Son of a bitch. I would kill him. I didn't care if he was Coyote or the son of Satan. He was a dead man walking.”

“Mercy," he said,"in a fair fight between near equals, I'll back you every time. It's the demons, vampires, and river devils I worry about, and I'm working on that.”

“Some of the fae have an odd idea of bride send-offs," he explained "including, according to Zee, kidnapping." "I forgot about that." And I was appalled because I knew better. "Bran and Samuel are probably more of a danger than any of the fae," I told him. "Someday, I'll tell you about some of the more spectaculare wedding antics Samuel's told me about." Some of them made kidnapping look mild.”

“Mercy is not a proper Indian name."..........."Rash Coyote Who Runs With Wolf. We could shorten it to Dinner Woman.”