“All around him the chanting swelled, Harm no one, harm no one. What the hell did that mean? He was going to have to shoot the poor son of a bitch, but maybe that was a far better way to go than what the house of horrors had planned. This was a hell of a way for men to die, even if they deserved it.”

“Son of a bitch, you're scary," he informed Jackson. "Where the hell did you get that look? Practicing in the mirror every day?”

“What the hell was he shooting at? You? Or the birds?''He fired off a few rounds at me, both from here and back there.' Lev turned to indicate the spot where the assailant stood. 'Then he was shooting at the owls.''The ones that attacked him.' There was open skepticism in Jonas's voice.'I don't carry spare owl feathers in my pocket,' Levi said.”

“So they wanted to take Tansy to a different doctor and her husband refused", Ryland said. "I wonder why he would do that." He frowned and leanede close to Kadan, sniffing. "Cinnamon?""Shut the hell up", Kadan said and pushed past him.Ryland took another whiff and gave a low whistle."You smeel yummy. I'm getting hungry. Maybe cinnamon buns".Kadan flipped him off rudely.Nico stood waiting by the front door. As always he was their backup. He frowned when the two Ghostwalkers got close. "What the hell is that smell?""Kadan's new spicy cologne"."Go to hell Rye", Kadan said ans shot him a look thaty should have withered him on the spot. "Both of you can go to hell"."I think his blood sugar's dropping", Ryland explained. "Must have been all the cinnamon candy he got tonight".”

“I can't be anything but what I am, Elle. If you want a man who is going to treat you like a broken doll, you sure as hell come to the wrong place. And if you expect me to step aside and let you make decisions that are ultimately going to harm you, then baby, you definitely have the wrong man because I protect my woman. Right or wrong, politically correct or not, I stand in front of her when there's need.”

“But I'm not any better at relationships than you are. We'll find our way together, even if we're fumbling around in the dark for a while.”

“Aidan’s hands itched to strangle the woman. He had known Marie from the moment of her birth—sixty two years ago—and they had never exchanged a cross word. And he suddenly wanted to strangle her. He should have ripped Ivan’s throat out. Flowers. Why hadn’t he thought of flowers? Why hadn’t Marie mentioned it to him first? Why had she accepted them? Whose side was she on, anyway? Flowers! He had the urge to rip those petals off one by one.“Look,” Marie cooed, “he even had the thorns removed so you wouldn’t hurt yourself. What a thoughtful man.”“What time did you tell the police we would see them?” Aidan interrupted, afraid that if he didn’t he would erupt into violence. He detested the way Alexandria kept caressing the petals of one of the white roses.”