“He clearly wasn’t dissuaded, and stroked my jawline with his thumb. “You can run. You can keep running to the ends of the earth. But I won’t be far behind you.”

“Ethan: You can run. You can keep running to the ends of the earth. But I won't be far behind you. No. I will never be far behind you.”

“You can run. You can keep running to the ends of the earth. But I won’t be far behind you.”“Ethan—”“No. I will never be far behind you.” He tipped up my chin so that I could do nothing else but look back into his eyes. “Do the things you need to do. Learn to be a vampire, to be a warrior, to be the soldier you are capable of being. But consider the possibility that I made a mistake I regret—and that I’ll continue to regret that mistake and try to convince you to give me another chance until the earth stops turning.”

“The end is soon...I feel it. If you're close, run away, far, hide, do whatever you can. Who knows if we'll be safe.”

“I can't force you. I can't make you want to survive this." He pulls me against him and runs his hand over my hair, tucking it behind my ear. His fingers trail down my neck and over my shoulder, and he says, "But you will do it. It doesn't matter if you believe you can or not. You will, because that's who you are.”

“I won’t run.” Gabriel gulped. “I promise.”“You aren’t being punished; you’re being protected.” Cal snorted. “But you’ll run. When you’re scared or hurt, your first instinct is to run. You can’t help it any more than I can resist chasing you.” The shifter leaned to brush his mouth over Gabriel’s. “Be smart, pet. Run to me.”