Katherine McIntyre

“Truth be told, loneliness had seeped into her bones with the passing of time until it had become her normal way of life.”

“The jury’s still out on your level of intellect. After all, you signed up with Evil Incorporated in the first place.”

“As the sky faded to night, her anger dissipated—but not in a healing way, just dulled, like forged iron sizzling in a cold pail of water.”

“The sharp light of the stars and moon sliced away her misconceptions and pared down their layers until the feelings that had always existed between them lay bare.”

“He looked so frustrated and perfectly serious, and yet here we were talking about his missing seal pelt.”

“Aggression like this demanded slinging the first punch in a bar brawl, firing rounds at a range, or setting a car on fire.”

“Once upon a time, he might’ve chased her and tumbled her in the sheets with the promise of more in the future.”

“What bothered me the most was the hesitation in his voice when he said that— like he was running out of time.”

“Darkness lingered in those blue eyes, like ghosts haunted him despite only the two of them standing in this cabin.”

“My dad had always said to not trust something unless it’s taken a tumble in the dirt. He’d meant it for people, and for things. Shiny and new didn’t exist for humankind any more.”

“Took long enough,” she called out, not wanting to admit how the sight of him made her throat hitch, how the man was so gorgeous she lost her mind. “I thought you drowned in the mirror from staring into your reflection too long.”

“May as well have ox blood running through those veins,” I added, “You’re as stubborn as one.”

“A thousand words blossomed to her lips and died there, because no amount of speaking could communicate the depths of how he’d affected her. Of how he’d changed her.”

“This date had started as bland and was speeding right along to abysmal.”

“Better to leave with good memories than have the last ones be the embarrassing, smoking ruin of what once had been a fantastic friendship.”

“She made him yearn for a future his kind could never have, and a connection he sure as hell didn’t deserve.”

“They surrounded him here, but beyond, flames licked the cabins, the incendiary glow striking a similar spark inside him from the injustice they’d faced tonight.”

“He’d fallen in the trap before of believing she had the cold soul of an ice queen, but moments like these, it seemed more like she’d been encased a long time ago and couldn’t break free.”

“I sent a silent prayer up to the Phoenix to keep her safe a little longer, because I would tear the shifters limb for limb until I got my baby sister back.”

“She would never forget how his soul was lonely as the moon they’d met under, and how, for several brief moments, she’d been able to chase the loneliness away.”