“The entire hospital seemed to go still, watching and waiting, and what the hell was up with Sin and guys on horses anyway? "Well, who is he?""War."Con stared at her. "War. Just...War. What kind of name is that?" Nope, not jealous at all of muscle-bound handsome guy."Yeah, you know, the original War. Second Horseman of the Apocalypse?"Con nearly swallowed his fucking tongue. Everyone else in the ER scrambled backward. Even Eidolon backed up a step as the guy swung down from the horse. Christ, standing, the guy was damned near seven feet tall."Sin," he said in an impossibly deep voice. He approached her, bent to kiss her cheek, and Con bristled."Big horse," Con ground out. "Compensating much?”

“As Con and Sin approached the Harrowgate, it flashed and a tank of a blood-bay stallion leaped out, scattering staff and patients. Atop the horse sat a massive male in hard leather armor. His hair was short, reddish brown, and his eyes were black as Sin's."What the hell are you doing?" Eidolon shouted, but the big male swiveled his head and focused his gaze on Sin with such intensity that Con stiffened."Why is he looking at you like that?""I...ah..." She slid him a timid glance. "I sort of slept with him once."Con took a deep breath and tried to rein in his desire to rip out the horse guy's throat. "Where'd you find him? EviLove.com?”

“―What about you, Con? Shade asked, and Con took two deep, calming breaths before he answered.―What about me?―You aren‘t a danger to her, right?―No, Con said levelly. ―I‘m not. But even he didn‘t believe his own words.Wraith flipped a blade in the air, a very Sin-like move. ―Okay, what the fuck is all the subtext here? He blinked when everyone stared at him. ―What? Like I don‘t know what subtext is? I watch movies.―That‘s because you can‘t read, Tayla said brightly, and the demon shot her the finger.”

“Just—don’t—move,” Guy said with his hands spread out in front of him. He looked as if he were trying to catch a wild horse, and did not advance, dismount, or draw his sword.Just then the portcullis dropped.“There’s no escape,” Guy assured him.From a nearby door, a handful of guards trotted toward Hadrian with their swords drawn.“Stop!” Guy ordered, raising his hand abruptly. “Don’t go near him. Just fan out.”The men waiting in line looked from the soldiers to Hadrian and then backed away.“I know what you’re thinking, Mr. Blackwater,” Guy said in an almost friendly tone. “But we truly have you outnumbered this time.”

“He said that war had destroyed the country and that men believe the cure for war is war as the curandero prescribes the serpent's flesh for its bite. He spoke of his campaigns in the deserts of Mexico and he told them of horses killed under him and he said that the souls of horses mirror the souls of men more closely than men suppose and that horses also love war. Men say they only learn this but he said that no creature can learn that which his heart has no shape to hold. His own father said that no man who has not gone to war horseback can ever truly understand the horse and he said that he supposed he wished that this were not so but that it was so.”

“Hell, Yeah. What girl doesn't want a guy who isn't ashamed to say he wants her? Everyone wants to be wanted.”