|
7089279
|
If I came with you, I'd have to answer uncomfortable questions. I ask questions, I don't answer them." "What kind of questions?" "Why were you in a vehicle with Kate, alone? What were you wearing? What was she wearing? How long were you there? Did you do something or did you talk? What was the nature of your discussion? Could this trip have been avoided?"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
587c23d
|
Arabella did not need backup. Most of the time she was the backup, the field artillery, and the air support, but Nevada taught me to always have an exit strategy.
|
|
sisters
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
3919f59
|
There were so many things I wanted to say at once if the words would just get out of each other's way. "Fine."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
738aeed
|
Do you really want to go to the Black Sea?" "Yes," Curran said. I nodded. "We do." Saying things like and would endanger our ship acquisition and our badass image."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
f2843fd
|
You taught me the meaning of loneliness, because when I don't see you, I feel alone. You
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
31c62cf
|
The man approached. He stood tall, at least six three, maybe six four. Broad shoulders. Long legs in black pants. His black hair fell in a tangled mess on his shoulders. It looked like he might have cut it himself with a knife and then tied a leather cord around his forehead to keep it somewhat pinned. I looked at his face. Handsome bastard. Defined jaw, chiseled cheekbones, full lips. Eyes like black fire. The kind of eyes that jumped from..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
7e03e54
|
I looked at his face and saw the decisive thrust of the adolescent jaw. No intelligent life there.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
c7218c5
|
How does this even happen? How can someone you love be there one second and then gone the next?
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
b3ae1a9
|
I made someone's day better. Today wasn't a complete loss.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
732ed25
|
Somewhere in the darkness the Beast Lord prowled. I didn't know what he looked like. I didn't know the species of his beast. Few people outside of the Pack claimed to have met him and nobody seemed willing to discuss the experience. The only thing certain about him was power. By the latest count, he commanded a force of three hundred and thirty-seven shapechangers in Atlanta alone. He wasn't in charge because he was the smartest or the most..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
1d0e3c0
|
He did not fall down to his feet, kiss my shoes, and promise me the world. I must be getting rusty.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
ec30445
|
There was more to it than that--my mother's face had feminine gentleness. Mine didn't, at least not when compared to hers. If we were to stand side by side in a room full of people, I wouldn't get a single glance. And if someone had stopped to chat me up, she could've stolen him with a single smile. Pretty . . . Yeah. Nice understatement, Dad. On the other hand, if the same people had to pick one of us to kick a bad guy in the kneecap, I'd ..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
74bf9da
|
Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit,
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
fc1c144
|
Another howl ruptured the quiet, still too far away to be a threat. The Beast Lord, the leader, the alpha male, had to enforce his position as much by will as by physical force. He would have to answer any challenges to his rule, so it was unlikely that he turned into a wolf. A wolf would have little chance against a cat. Wolves hunted in a pack, bleeding their victim and running them into exhaustion, while cats were solitary killing machin..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
605201d
|
Life is trade; we trade our labor for its fruit, we trade hours of study for knowledge, we trade pleasure for pleasure or sometimes for wealth, security, or offspring.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
a4d960e
|
He fixed me with a hard stare. "What do you want?" I blinked. "I'm sorry?" He spoke slowly, carefully shaping the words as if I was slow or hard of hearing. "What do you want for the maps?" I wanted to hit him in the mouth really hard."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
7a894bc
|
People, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It's easy to be a cog in a machine: you don't have to think, you have no responsibility. You're just following orders. Doing as you're told.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
8cf6bf5
|
But I would be damned if I'd let Curran intimidate me into caving in. "I see. I retrieve the surveys the Pack let slip through its fingers, and in return you bring me here against my will, interrogate me, and threaten me with bodily harm. I'm sure the Order will be amused to learn the Pack kidnapped its representative." Curran nodded thoughtfully. "Aha. Who's going to tell them?" Um . . . Good question. He could kill me and nobody would eve..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
84b8dd1
|
That's the problem. People, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It's easy to be a cog in a machine: you don't have to think, you have no responsibility. You're just following orders. Doing as you're told." "I"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
5131d32
|
I grow tired of your mouth." Bones shifted under Curran's skin. The nose widened, the jaws grew, the top lip split, displaying enormous teeth. I was staring into the face of a nightmare, a horrible meld of human and lion. If a thing that weighed over six hundred pounds in beast-form could be called a lion. His eyes never changed. The rest of him--the body, the arms, the legs, even his hair and skin remained human. The shapeshifters had thre..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
3d5e6f8
|
Who are you, what are you doing here, who is Hood, why does he want Julie, and where is Julie's mother?" "Is that all?" He wiped the red smudge off his lip with the back of his hand. "Yes. No. Why is the cauldron important, where did it go, how is Morrigan involved, where do you go when you disappear, and why do you keep stealing the maps? Okay, now that's everything." He pushed a little against Slayer. "I see now. You just want me for my m..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
65f369e
|
You can keep her here," Curran said. "We'll look after her." "Thank you for the offer. I honestly appreciate it. But things are hunting her. She'll be safe in the vault and I don't want to be responsible for any deaths." He sighed. "You do realize that you just insulted me, right?" "How so?" "You implied that I can't protect her or my people." I looked at him. "That's not at all what I meant." "Apologize and I'll let it go." I kept my hands..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
7ccade8
|
I like problem solving. I like taking a crisis, breaking it into manageable pieces, and finding a solution. I don't like the minutiae. I don't like paperwork." "You"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
6fb9414
|
Just saying, you have to pull your own weight. A hot body and flirting will only get you so far.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
0935438
|
When you live in chaos as a child, you strive to impose order over the world. Unfortunately, the world refuses to comply, so you have to settle for trying to control yourself, your habitat, and your friends.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
ec88262
|
He's my fiance," I told her. "We are living in sin."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
e6bd491
|
All my life I was taught to stay out of the way of the powerful. Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't show off. Guard your blood, because it will betray you. If you bleed, wipe it clean and burn the rag. Burn the bandages. If someone manages to obtain some of your blood, kill him and destroy the sample. At first it was a matter of survival. Later it became a matter of vengeance. Meeting the Beast Lord meant plunging head first into the ..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
503fc6a
|
Congratulations, love. You traded up. Does he treat you well?' 'He's a teddy bear,' I said. Teddy Bear looked like he was suffering from murder withdrawal.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
53652e0
|
What about the Pack?" His upper lip trembled, betraying the edge of his teeth. "Fuck the Pack. I gave them fifteen years of my life. I fought for them, bled for them, and the moment my back was turned, they attacked my wife. I owe them nothing." Curran reached over and covered my fingers with his hand. "I'm serious. Say the word right now and we're gone."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
76ef1d1
|
Why? Is the sight of my legs disturbing you, Derek?
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
c061641
|
People must make their own choices, no matter how wrong those choices are. Otherwise they can't be free." A"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
031194c
|
And most of the time, I like being by myself. But when I look into my future, I see no family, no husband, no children. No warmth. I just see myself getting older and more scarred.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
645daef
|
As long as you were willing to drink beer, get rowdy, and proclaim yourself a Viking, you had a place at their table.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
670c12b
|
What in the bloody hell are you?" "Andrea Nash," I said. "This is my associate, Robin of Loxley."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
5cb7ec9
|
I gave him my best cryptic smile. He grimaced. "What have you found out?" he asked. "I'm not at liberty to tell you that." Not with the Pack suspect. He leaned forward more, letting the moonlight fall on his face. His gaze was direct and difficult to hold. Our stares locked and I gritted my teeth. Five seconds into the conversation and he was already giving me the alpha-stare. If he started clicking his teeth, I'd have to make a run for it...
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
f2a68da
|
According to Maimonides, one should always walk the King's Road, staying away from the extremes, neither surrendering completely to one's emotions nor rejecting them entirely.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
6ebe34f
|
While there I had picked up a few vital crumbs of information, and I knew the first twenty-four hours of any investigation were crucial. The more time passed, the colder the trail grew. In a missing person case, that meant the chances of finding that missing person alive dropped by the hour. The first twenty-four had come and gone. The first forty-eight were waving good-bye from the window of the "you suck at your job" train."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
ccaa2eb
|
To the left Derek raised his bloody muzzle from the ruined back of the fifth reeve. "Don't bite!" Dumbass. Perfect wolf for you--isn't happy until he's got poisonous shit smeared all over his teeth."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
c54b50d
|
Her philosophy was, if it had a pulse, it could be killed. I didn't really have a philosophy, but I could see how talking with the school director would be difficult for her. If he said something she didn't like, chopping him to tiny pieces wouldn't exactly help me get into the school.
|
|
humor
self-control
school
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
9fcfa35
|
Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit, sit." I"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
b4811f0
|
Can he keep from throwing his hissy fit until he gets to the cauldron?" "I don't know. You're not impressed by his warp spasm, huh?" He grimaced. "It's abhorrent. Total loss of control. No beauty to it, no symmetry. His eye was hanging out on his cheek like some piece of snot. No, I'm not impressed." "I can try to keep a lid on him until we get to the cauldron." I made a pun, but he wasn't in the mood to notice. "No." "What do you mean no?"..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
d0ded00
|
I swung it a couple of times, getting used to the weight. "Two swords," Bran said from the doorway. His spasm had torn his clothes, and he had cut and rigged the remnants of his shirt and pants into a makeshift kilt, showcasing the world's greatest chest. Too bad the kilt gave me a flashback to Greg's killer. He had worn a kilt, too. "Can you handle two swords?" I pulled Slayer from the sheath, lunged at him, drawing a classic figure eight ..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
cd08c50
|
I pulled Slayer from its sheath and pushed the door open with my fingertips. It swung soundlessly on well-greased hinges. Through the hallway, I saw the living room lamp glowing with soothing yellow light. I smelled coffee. Who breaks into a house, turns on the lights, and makes coffee? I padded into the living room on soft feet, Slayer ready. "Loud and clumsy, like a baby rhino," said a familiar voice. I stepped into the living room. Curra..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
|
a45745f
|
I told him I was about to do something idiotic and dangerous, and he told me to go ahead and let him know if he could help in any way." "I don't understand your relationship."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |