The Shadows (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #13)

by J.R. Ward

Trez “Latimer”

The alignment of stars was more significant than the alignment of DNA.

“Hello? V—what the fuck.” “You’re running out of time,” the Brother said in a low voice. “On two fronts.” Trez’s phone went off again, but he wouldn’t have answered the damn thing even if he’d wanted to. “What are you talking about.” “There are two females. And in both cases, you’re running out of time.”

“I’m having a vision of you.” V rubbed his eyes. “Look, unless you need me, I’ma—” “For you, the statue will waltz.”

Luchas, son of Lohstrong,

“Battling the Lessening Society is a full-time endeavor.” “Mayhap if you were in fact fighting.” “The slayers I killed tonight were of my imagination, then?” “That is not all you do at night.” Xcor bared his fangs. “Be of care where thee tread the now.”

“You are a fool,” Xcor said quietly. Throe spun around and pegged him with a hostile glare. “And you are a failure!”

“But did you see in the second paragraph?” She refocused on the words. “Females? Whoa, whoa . . . they’re accepting females?”

“What are they thinking?” Peyton muttered. “I mean, this is supposed to be for the glymera sons only.” “Not anymore, apparently.”

“Yeah, and you’d better stop smoking. They’re not going to like that.” “What they don’t know can’t hurt them. Besides, I have First Amendment rights.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, for one, you’re not human, so their Constitution doesn’t apply to you. And two, that’s about freedom of speech, not freedom to light up.” “Whatever.”

For two confirmed enemies on opposite sides of the war, they got along damn good.

“My Mary,” he sighed. Deep inside him, his beast chuffed in satisfaction. “My Mary girl.”