Riley : "Do you want to claw at me, kitty-cat? Come on." Mercy: "Sorry, I don't beat defenseless puppies.

Once, he hadn't been able to touch her without causing himself pain. Now, it only hurt when he didn't touch her.

A long-dead angel who thought to own me,” was his enigmatic answer, the silver in his eyes almost liquid. “I tore out his throat. After that, I ate his liver and his heart. The remaining internal organs weren’t as tasty so I gave them to his other creatures.” Elena’s hand tightened on the handle of the knife, conscious Naasir carried gleaming blades of his own in the sheaths strapped to his arms. “I wouldn’t think a vampire who killed an angel would be permitted to live.” A slow, feral smile. “I didn’t say I killed him.

Go on,” he said in a low tone that was a dare. “Keep on poking the hungry wolf, see how naked it gets you.

Tell her we don’t bite.” “I don’t lie to my friends.

Under her palm, his heart beat strong and sure. It was such a human sound, so honest, so real.

You’d make an enemy out of me over a human?” The word “human” might as well have been “rodent.