“Poor bastards," Cole said, his gaze still on the stars. "They must get pretty tired of watching us make the same damn mistakes all the time.”

“Sam Roth, you bastard," Cole said. There was admiration in his voice, which probably meant I'd made a poor decision.”

“Suddenly, Shelby started, at the same time that we heard Cole's voice across the backyard: "Clear off, you psychotic bitch!"She slid off into the darkness as the back door slammed."Thanks, Cole," I said. "That was incredibly subtle.""That," replied Cole, "is one of my finest traits.”

“That was pretty much all you needed to know about Cole, right there. He saw something he didn't quite understand, liked it, and took it to be his.”

“Nobody ever sees this part,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s pretty.”“So it’s like track six on an album,” Cole said.”

“I felt like I was watching the transfomation of two people: Victor to wolf, and Cole to someone else. I was the only one here, staying the same.”

“Come on," Cole said. He looked back over his shoulder at Mr. Brisbane, who was looking at me with a complicated expression as I left. Cole pointed at him and said, "You're a son of a bitch. He belongs here more than you do.”