“Malinda moved so we were eye-level. "Forget the people who've hurt you. You don't have them anymore, but you have two others that'll do anything to you. Mason and Logan would move mountains for you. I see how you are with them. You love them, but you're scared to let yourself be happy. Why? Because that's when they'll leave? Is that what you think? You've got it all wrong. Those two will never leave you." She tapped my chest. Once. Twice. "You. You're the one that's going to hurt them. You have that power, and you don't know it. You could rip those two apart in a second, and they're the ones who are scared of you. Not the other way around. You need to recognize the real situation.”

“I don't understand why everyone loves you and feels this need to protect me against you or warn me against you." It was insulting, to tell the truth. Everyone just assumed she'd roll over... "Everyone just automatically assumes that you're after me and that I'm going to fall for you. It's insulting.”

“I swallowed, feeling like I'd just gotten the wind knocked out of me. He was breathtaking.”

“When I see you’re hurting, I want to wipe it away. When I see you doubting yourself, I want to give you the best damned pep talk in history. When you cry, I want to make you smile. When you laugh, I want to make you laugh harder. When you moan in my arms, I want to make you dissolve into a puddle. When you’re insecure about how I feel about you, I want to replace that with a proclamation that I love you so hard that I never want you to question us again.”

“What do you do when you’re in a room of vampires and the most dangerous one tells you that youknow too much? You bolt. What did I do? I hyperventilated.”

“You've got ice in your veins, but you're smart enough to keep it from freezing your heart.”

“You got beat up. Bones and bruises heal. Those girls didn't win because they didn't do what they wanted. They wanted to break you. I was already broken."You're not broken at all.”

“Once you cry it out, it’s supposed to vanish…right? It’s not true. It’s just…a little less.It was the first chink in my brickwall. The wall was still there. And it was still made of bricks,but one, maybe two, had been torn down”

“Malinda moved so we were eye-level. "Forget the people who've hurt you. You don't have them anymore, but you have two others that'll do anything to you. Mason and Logan would move mountains for you. I see how you are with them. You love them, but you're scared to let yourself be happy. Why? Because that's when they'll leave? Is that what you think? You've got it all wrong. Those two will never leave you." She tapped my chest. Once. Twice. "You. You're the one that's going to hurt them. You have that power, and you don't know it. You could rip those two apart in a second, and they're the ones who are scared of you. Not the other way around. You need to recognize the real situation.”

“I get to see her at night.""No deal.""That's the only deal. I sleep over.""She's my daughter.""She's the love of my life". My heart was pumping so damn fast I needed to see her. David was searching my eyes.I let him see the truth. I needed her. That was the only way."Fine, but only you. Logan can't start sleeping over, too.""He'll try."David groaned. "You two, you just storm your way in-""We're family to her. We took her in when you let her go. We protected her from that woman.”