This wasn't the first time I'd woken up as a captive. It wasn't even the second. I so needed to reevaluate my life choices.

No one believes you’re serious until bodies start to fall. -Vlad

He'll learn that many women can satisfy for a short period of time, but when he falls in love, only one will sustain him forever.

There is no way I’m going out in public like this!” It seemed while I was being tormented at the salon, Bones had been out shopping. I didn’t ask where he got the money from, images of old folks with their necks bleeding and their wallets missing dancing in my head. There were boots, earrings, push-up bras, skirts, and something he swore to me were dresses but only looked like pieces of dresses.

This isn’t the first time I’ve faced death, and I don’t intend for it to be the last,” I said, repeating the same words he’d told me before fighting in that fateful duel. “I’ve chosen to live a dangerous life, but it’s who I am, and that wouldn’t change even if we’d never met.

I have been stabbed, shot, burned, bitten, beaten unconscious too many times to count, and even staked. None of those held a candle to the pain I felt at seeing his mouth on hers.

Don't squander what you have. If you do, you'll spend the rest of your days regretting it.