Captured by the Fae Beast (Monsters of Faery, #1)

by Mallory Dunlin

I promised myself, then and there, that I would never let a single barb leave my mouth about his body. Not one joke, not one angry, waspish jab when he inevitably did something to piss me off. It didn't matter how many people he'd killed or how selfish he was. Campsite rules: always leave a place better than you found it.

"What I'm trying to do is give you some fucking space to experience what it's like to exist around someone who isn't freaked out by your physical form."

"If you can't bear the fact that I'd rather you be comfortable and fully-realized or whatever, you can fuck all the way off. I'm not going to pretend not to give a shit about people because you can't pull your head out of your ass long enough to realize that the worst possible interpretation isn't always, in fact, the correct interpretation."

"It's not that," I said through the tightness in my chest. "Really, it's not," I said, expecting his reaction without needing to see the disbelief on his face. "I'm homesick and scared. Someone I love is dead. Right now people are searching for a body they'll never find, and my parents are weeping. My little brother is probably curled up in my old bedroom, holding the stuffed animal I gave him when he was three, telling himself they're going to find me."

"Haven't I said I don't want to push you into anything?" Dain said, without any teasing at all, all gentleness and fond affection. "I only want to claim your forever if you desire to have mine. If you want to hold us apart for the rest of our year and a day, and it's easier for you to do when we are not tangled together, then we won't tangle together."

"I love you," he said, his voice rough. "Your body, your spirit, and your soul. I want you by my side for the rest of my life. But even if we can't find balance, and my time runs out with you, I beg you to stay anyway. Choose me with your actions, even if you cannot with your soul."

"A toast, I think," I said, holding up my glass. "To love returned, in all its many forms: friendship, passion, romance, and loyalty."

"To opening the gates of our hearts, and accepting the risk of injury for the sake of love."

"To the compassion that allows us to see where our loved ones need help, and the willingness to a...

"To forgiveness and second chances, and to finding a place to stand," he said, looking only at me. "To choosing one another, and the joy of being chosen in return."