Under Your Scars (Under Your Scars, #1)

by Ariel N. Anderson

“I don’t want to kill you, angel. I want to keep you all to myself. You’d better take off those rose-colored glasses and accept that the only place you belong is in my black heart.”

“They need to know what happens when they touch what’s mine, Elena. They’re going to convert religions, because they won’t be praying to God, they’ll be praying to me. Begging for my fucking mercy after I hunt them all down and show them the true meaning of fear.”

“If your safety is even slightly in jeopardy, it’s an emergency to me. Next time, press the goddamn button.”

“If you’re so concerned about my humanity, Elena, then reach into my soul and find it, because I’m not sure I have any left.”

Eight. I’ve given him eight souls since September sixth. It should have only been one. It should have only been me.

“Mr. Reeves thinks you’re pretty too, ‘cause he won’t stop looking at you.”

It’s a shame I’m already destined for Hell, because it’s not where angels belong. But I’m not going anywhere without her.

One day, only when you’re ready, I will fill you with my love again, and I promise I will do it so thoroughly you will forget all that pain you went through for me. You’ll forget about the secrets and the lies and how betrayed you felt when you found out the truth. I will chase away all your demons because you know I’m scarier than they’ll ever be. I’ll do everything for you until the only thing you know how to do is love me back.”

“Why did you keep my secret?”

“Because I love you, too.”

“Will you give up the Silencer?”

“Yes. If that’s what it takes to get you to stay, yes.”

“I’d rather chew glass than be friends with you. I’ll be damned before I let a Reeves tear apart my family again.”

Christian is objectively not a good man. He is a serial killer and though I’ve made peace with that after everything we’ve been through, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s got so much blood on his hands he could fill a lake. Seventy-three people, by my count. Twenty-one of those have been since he met me. Maybe that makes me the bad guy.

Love is the most volatile poison in the universe. I’m not a saint by any stretch of the imagination, but I make you a promise on my life, that Elena will always be safe with me, even if it costs me everything in the end.”

“For Elena? I wouldn’t just start a war. I’d win it.”