He let the silence stretch before delivering the final blow.

“And you’re right about one thing,” he said coldly. “I am a killer. I’ve ended lives without flinching. But there’s a difference between violence and violation. I don’t touch women who can’t say no. I don’t trade flesh for profit. And I sure as hell don’t parade innocents on a stage so monsters can place their bids.”

~Lyla Oakley, Eyes on You

Daria wasn’t just ice—she was fire too. She would burn for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. She carried a quiet, unseen goodness, the kind that refused to be extinguished no matter how much darkness tried to swallow it. It was still there, even after men like her father and Malinov had spent decades trying to snuff it out. And as for all the blood on her hands, I knew—knew—she had never wanted it there.

She hadn’t been born a killer. She’d been made into one.

Forced into the Kremlin’s machine, raised under her father’s brutal rule, taught that love was a weakness and that her only loyalty was to the men who controlled her. Every lesson had been beaten into her. Every moment of softness was something she’d had to carve out of herself just to survive. And despite all of it, she had still chosen to protect the innocent. She had still risked her life for the Ukrainian people. For me.

~Braxton Thorin, Mission Shift

Her eyes locked onto mine, and I had the insane urge to close the gap, to taste that sass on her lips.

~Captain Kol Vinter, Christmas Cancellation

“I went from a career that was on track, a boyfriend who I thought was total husband material, and a past that was neatly tucked away where it belonged…to this.” I glanced around the room, holding my hands out in a helpless gesture. “Jobless, single, hitching rides with strangers. And a past that’s now the only future I have.” I laughed bitterly. “Sometimes fate’s a little bitch.”

~Noelle Nichols, Christmas Cancellation

She was so touch-deprived it bordered on cruelty, and I planned to make up for every stolen moment—to hold her, to care for her, until every fiber of her body and every corner of her soul recognized she was loved by me.

~Lucian Byrne, Eyes of the Unholy

How could there be a God?

I wanted to believe. I needed to believe. But when the holy were the abusers, when the righteous sold their children, when the system protected predators—what kind of God allowed that?

The devil outside that door had never lied to me.

He was the type of man I should fear, should hate—but I couldn’t.

He never pretended to be anything he wasn’t.

~Scarlett Hayes, Eyes of the Unholy

There was something profound about returning to your roots, like a tree reaching deep into the earth, drawing strength from the past to grow tall and strong. It could be the best thing for me—a chance to rebuild. This was a place where I didn’t have to be perfect, where people remembered the girl I’d been before life tore me apart. It could be a chance to start over—not somewhere new, but where it all began.

~Noelle Nichols, Christmas Cancellation

A smile spread across my face before I could stop it. God, he was handsome. But it went deeper than that now. He was the only person on this earth I trusted without hesitation. Somewhere along the brutal path that had led us here, he’d worked his way into my head and my heart, my future without ever asking, and I didn’t mind one bit.

~Scarlett Hayes, Eyes of the Unholy

“Eyes on me, Angel,” he commanded, closing the space between us, his breath brushing across my lips. “I’m going to know everything about you—your fears, your dreams, your past, the best and the worst. I want to be the one who stands by you when you’re at your lowest and lifts you up higher at your best. I’ll be the one who fights off anyone or anything that tries to hurt you. You’re mine now, and I will know every part of you, even your darkest origins. Nothing will get in my way. Nothing.”

~Anastasia Volkov, Day Shift

Tonight I wanted to be wrecked, to be so consumed by someone that I couldn’t remember my name, much less all the screwed-up things life had thrown at me. Kol was the kind of man who could do that; I could tell just by the way he moved. I wanted him to worship every inch of me, to let him light up every one of my nerves like a Christmas tree.

~Noelle Nichols, Christmas Cancellation