Barrons Quotes

He just didn't look like the kind of creep that would messily murder a woman in her hotel room; he looked like the kind of creep that could line her up in the sights of an assassins rifle without a shred of emotion. ~ Karen Marie Moning

He turned his face to mine, looked down. Handsome, chilling man. His eyes were the clearest I'd ever seen. This was a man that suffered no conflicts with himself. He had no problems being what he was.
We stared at each other. "Black looks good on you," he murmured. "Has Barrons seen you like this? ~ Karen Marie Moning

Well, forgive the fuck out of me for being shocked senseless when I realized he wasn't dead. Why didn't you tell me he was the beast, Ryodan? Why did we have to kill him? I know it's not because he can't control himself when he's the beast. He controlled himself last night when he rescued me from the Book. He can change at will, can't he? What happened in the Silvers? Does the place have some kind of effect on you, make you uncontrollable?"
I almost slapped myself in the forehead. Barrons had told me that the reason he tattooed himself with black and red protection runes was because using dark magic called a price due, unless you took measures to protect yourself against the backlash. Did using IYD require the blackest kind of magic to make it work? Would it grant his demand to magically transport him to me no matter where I was but devolve him into the darkest, most savage version of himself as the price?
"It was because of how he got there, wasn't it?" I said. "The spell you two worked sent him to me like was it was supposed to, but the cost was that it turned him into the lowest common denominator of himself. An insane killing machine. Which he figured was all right, because if I was dying, I'd probably need a killing machine around. A champion to show up and decimate all my enemies. That was it, wasn't it?"
Ryodan had gone completely still. Not a muscle twitched. I wasn't sure he was breathing.
"He knew what would happen if I pressed IYD, and he made ~ Karen Marie Moning

He bristles with impatience. I feel the lust rolling off him, the violence beneath it.
"You said you wanted something. What is it, Ms. Lane?"
I smile coolly. "The deed to my bookstore, Barrons. What else? ~ Karen Marie Moning

Was that the sum total of my exsitence? I didn't get the erudition of 'I think therefore I am.'
Instead I got 'I am, therefore I want to fuck Jericho Barrons. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I heard - " I began.
"I let you hear," he cut me off.
I shut my mouth, closed the door, and leaned back against it. The corners of his lips turned up as if at some private amusement, and for a moment I thought we were having one of those silent conversations.
You think it's safe to close yourself in with the Beast?
If you think I'm afraid of you, you're wrong.
You should be afraid.
Maybe you should be afraid of me. Go ahead, piss me off, Barrons. See what happens.
Little girl thinks she's all grown up now.
His mouth moved into a smile that I've grown familiar with over the past few months, shaped of competing tensions: part mockery, part pissed off, and part turned on. Men are so complicated. ~ Karen Marie Moning

When Darroc returns, I know by the look in his eyes that I've chosen well. He thinks I picked black and red for him, the colors of his guard, the colors he has told me he selected for his future court. I chose black and red for the tattoos on Barrons' body. Tonight I wear my promise to him that I will make things right. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I hope they change my drugs soon. Whatever I'm on isn't working. ~ Karen Marie Moning

There was no lifeboat here in these
deep, killing waters, not even a lighthouse, marking the way back to shore with its soft amber promise.
There was only the storm of Barrons and the one I seemed to be, and if there were dark shapes moving in the waters beneath my feet that I should probably take a good hard look at and possibly reconsider trying to swim here, I didn't care. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I said, my phone."
I stand at the threshold and look in. The princess has her back to me, and Lor is beyond noticing anything. Ryodan and Barrons are another matter. They're too observant by far. There is also the small matter of the enormous possessiveness I feel where Barrons is concerned.
I step inside and place my palm on the interior panel.
Two males roar in unison.
"Ms. Lane, you will not close-"
"Mac, you will give me my f*ucking-"
The door hisses closed behind me. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons has something the rest of us don't have. I don't know what it is, but I feel it all the time, especially when we're standing close. Beneath the expensive clothes, unplaceable accent, and cultured veneer, there's something that never crawled all the way out of the swamp. It didn't want to. It likes it there. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I drive him to school, then I break back into Barron's house. I'm the best kind of thief, the kind that leaves behind items equal in value to those he's stolen.
Then I go home and shave until my skin is as slick as any slickster's. ~ Holly Black

Actions talk. Words are worthless. You think to discover in me a vein of vulnerability, a marbling of sensitivity glimpsed only by you because you're special, so you can proclaim, "Look, Barrons' torturous past has made him a monster but only because he's suffered so much. It's understandable that he lives by no law but his own - a violent, bloody, conscienceless law - but the healing power of my love will restore his demolished humanity!"
Restore means to return a thing that was taken. Mine was not. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Hope you got your things together.'" I sang, stabbing a pillow with my spear. Feathers exploded into the air. "'Hope you are quite prepared to die!'" I spun in a dazzling whirl of lights, landed a killer back-kick on a phantom Shade, and simultaneously punched the magazine rack. "'Looks like we're in for nasty weather!'" I took a swan dive at a short, imaginary Shade, lunged up at a taller one -
- and froze.
Barrons stood inside the front door, dripping cool-world elegance.
I hadn't heard him come in over the music. He was leaning, shoulder against the wall, arms folded, watching me.
"'One eye is taken for an eye . . .'" I trailed off, deflating. I didn't need a mirror to know how stupid I looked. I regarded him sourly for a moment, then moved for the sound dock to turn it off. When I heard a choked sound behind me I spun, and shot him a hostile glare. He wore his usual expression of arrogance and boredom. I resumed my path for the sound dock, and heard it again. This time when I turned back, the corners of his mouth were twitching. I stared at him until they stopped.
I'd reached the sound dock, and just turned it off, when he exploded.
I whirled. "I didn't look that funny," I snapped.
His shoulders shook.
"Oh, come on! Stop it!"
He cleared his throat and stopped laughing. Then his gaze took a quick dart upward, fixed on my blazing MacHalo, and he lost it again. I don't know, maybe it was the brackets sticking out from the sides. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Like is an emotion. Emotions" - he raised a hand, made a fist, clenched it tightly - "are like holding water. You open your hand, there's nothing there. Better to be a weapon than a woman. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Dubh is do?" I was incredulous. It was no wonder I hadn't been able to find the stupid word. "Should I be
calling pubs poos?"
"Dubh is Gaelic, Ms. Lane. Pub is not. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons's hold tightened further. "Give me one good reason not to kill him. Ms. Lane," he growled roughly around thick, long black fangs. "Because I asked you not to, Barrons. That's good enough. You killed the other princes, and I was grateful. I wasn't ready then. I was still afraid of what I'd become. But this last prince is mine to kill or not to kill. And I say no. At the moment. And although Cruce is incapable of understanding that word, I know you know that a no from me means no. And you will honor it," I said in a voice that brooked no resistance. It was one of the defining differences between the two proud, dark, violent males. And if he didn't honor it, he wasn't the man I believed he was. ~ Karen Marie Moning

No way. I'm not going in there. I draw the line at grave-robbing, Barrons.
It's not your pen. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I'd also secreted a few crosses and bottles of holy water in various nooks. Barrons would laugh at me if he knew. You might wonder if I'm expecting an army from Hell. I am. ~ Karen Marie Moning

When do these three days expire?"
"That's what really pisses me off. I don't know. He was annoyingly vague."
Barrons looked at me, then a faint smile curved his lips, and for a moment I thought he might laugh. "The nerve. Threatening you and not being precise about it."
"My sentiments exactly. ~ Karen Marie Moning

You have me in your mouth, you don't get anybody else. Or you don't get me. - Jericho Barrons ~ Karen Marie Moning

Why should I let you take it?" "Because you owe me." "Why do I owe you?" "Because I put up with you. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Beautiful women rarely possess sufficient depth of character to survive without their pretty feathers. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I glanced back at the two darknesses. They were moving toward us. Quickly. I looked up at Barrons. He was motionless, staring down at me. He turned and looked over his shoulder where I had been staring, then back at me. Then he pushed open the door, shoved me inside, shut the door, and slid three dead bolts behind us. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barron's stuck teaching me. It's supposed to be just for a few months, until I graduate from Wallingford. Let's see if we can stand each other that long. ~ Holly Black

Where are you? Touch me.
I slip my hand into his, and for a moment he just stands there, looking down at where I am, then he closes his eyes and laces strong fingers with mine. I hear exactly what he's not saying in them: You better bring your ass back to me, woman.
I reply with mine, Always.
He laughs softly then somehow finds my face and kisses me, light and fast, and I taste him on my lips, need him again, hard and fast and soon. ~ Karen Marie Moning

He places the last pillow on the pile and looks at me. He jerks his head to the pile of pillows.
"I watched you die. I need to fuck you Mac."
The words slam into me like bullets taking my knees out. I lean back against a piece of furniture-an armoire I think. I really don't care. It holds me up. It wasn't a request. It was an acknowledgement of a requirement to make it from this moment to the next like I need a transfusion my body has been poisoned.
"Do you want me to " There is no purr or coyness or seduction in his voice. There is a question that needs an answer. Bare bones. That's what he's after. That's what he offers.
"Yes. ~ Karen Marie Moning

When you know who I am. Let me be your man. ~ Karen Marie Moning

If you are not with me, you are against me. I have no mercy for my enemies. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Dying is overrated. Human sentimentality has twisted it into the ultimate act of love. Biggest load of bullshit in the world. Dying for someone isn't the hard thing. The man that dies escapes. Plain and simple. Game over. End of pain ... Try living for someone. Through it all-good, bad, thick, thin, joy, suffering. That's the hard thing. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Seen runes like these before, Barrons?" Ryodan said.
"No. You?" Barrons said.
"New to me. Could be useful."
I heard the sound of a phone taking pictures.
Then I heard the sound of a phone being crushed against rock.
"Are you out of your mind?" Ryodan said disbelievingly. "That was my phone."
"Possibly," Jo said. "But no one records anything here."
"Crush something of mine again, I'll crush your skill."
"I weary of you," Jo said.
"I weary of your ass, too, sidhe-seer," Ryodan growled. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Walk out of this with your parents, the stones, and Darroc dead, Ms. Lane, and I'll give you the bloody thing. ~ Karen Marie Moning

You don't get to make my decisions for me. It's my life and only I know what I need and what I'm willing to go through. I don't want to live without you. I felt that once. I never want to feel it again." I'd been lost, purposeless, denied Heaven. It was as if his frequency and my frequency made such an exquisite song together that without it I wasn't alive. ~ Karen Marie Moning

She wants me to take out Patton."
Barron's brows draw together. "Take out? As in transform him?"
"No," I say. "As in take out to dinner. She thinks we'd make a good couple. ~ Holly Black

I don't know about you, but I call impromptu vomiting harm. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I heard there are no male sidhe-seers."
Where did you hear that?"
Around."
And which one of those are you in doubt about Ms. Lane?"
Which one of what?"
Whether I see the Fae, or whether I'm a man. I believe I've laid your mind to rest on the former; shall I relieve it on the latter?" He reached for his belt.
Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "You're a leftie, Barrons."
Touche, Ms. Lane," he murmered. ~ Karen Marie Moning

You need me as much as I need you. That makes us equal partners in my book.
Well, your book is just wrong. ~ Karen Marie Moning

See me when you look at me. ~ Karen Marie Moning

We were watching Barrons.
Why were you watching Barrons?
Barrons needs watching. ~ Karen Marie Moning

No wonder Barrons was so determined to keep me alive, and I had a Fae prince playing lapdog, and the Lord Master hadn't yet launched a full scale attack against me. They all needed me alive. I was Tigger. I was the only one. ~ Karen Marie Moning

She's cold as ice."
"You used to worry she'd get herself killed before she managed to grow up," Barrons says. "Moot point now."
"She's fucking beautiful."
Barrons studies him a moment then says, "Old enough for you."
"That's not why I watched over her."
"Bullshit. We all saw the woman she could become. Just didn't think she'd do it so quickly."
"I wanted her to have - Ah, fuck, it doesn't matter."
"The childhood she missed. It's gone. Adapt. ~ Karen Marie Moning

You hated my rainbows, now you don't like my leather. Is there anything you like on me? ~ Karen Marie Moning

Are we, like, having a conversation?"
"Did you just, like, ask me for advice and listen with an open mind? If so, then yes, I would call this a conversation ~ Karen Marie Moning

And you can tell Darroc that Ms. Lane is mine. If he wants her, he can bloody well come and get her ~ Karen Marie Moning

All those 'bloodys' was a veritable cornucopia of emotion for Barrons. ~ Karen Marie Moning

You don't know me inside and out. You may have gotten in my skin, but you have never gotten inside my heart. Go ahead, Barrons, make me slice and dice myself. Go ahead, play games with me. Push me around. Lie to me. Bully me. Be your usual constant jackass self. Stalk around all broody and pissy and secretive, but you're wrong about me. There's something inside me you'd better be afraid of. And you can't touch my soul. You will never touch my soul! ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons." I hastily shoved the phone between the cushions.
Ms. Lane." He inclined his dark head.
You tattooed me, you bastard." I got right to the point. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons knows virtually everything about me. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere he has a little file that encompasses my entire life to date, with neatly mounted, acerbically captioned photos - see Mac sunbathe, see Mac paint her nails, see Mac almost die. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Punch me." "Don't be absurd." "Come on, punch me, Barrons." "I'm not punching you." "I said, punch
OW!" He decked me. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons' head whipped around and he stared at me. You said nothing of this to me?
You said nothing to me about my mother? What do you know about her? About me?
His dark gaze promised retribution for my oversight.
So did mine.
I hated this. Barrons and I were enemies. It confused my head and hurt my heart. I'd grieved him as if I'd lost the only person who mattered to me, and now here we were, adversaries again. Were we destined to be eternal enemies?
One of us is going to have to trust the other, I told him.
Your first, Ms. Lane.
That was the whole problem. Neither of us would take the risk. I had a lengthy list of reasons why I shouldn't, and they were sound. My daddy could take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing my side. Barrons didn't inspire trust. He didn't even bother trying.
When hell freezes over, Barrons.
Same bloody page, Ms. Lane. Same bloody -
I turned my gaze away in the middle of his sentence, the ocular equivalent of flipping him the bird.
Ryodan was watching us, hard.
"Butt out," I warned. "This is between him and me. All you need to do is keep my parents safe and - "
"Little hard to do when you're such a fucking loose cannon. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Then we're on the same page. Same paragraph, same sentence," I snapped. "Same bloody word," he agreed flatly. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons was powerful, broodingly good-looking, insanely wealthy, frighteningly intelligent, and had exquisite taste, not to mention a hard body that emitted some kind of constant low-level charge. Bottom line: He was the stuff of heroes.
And psychotic killers. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Your pretty college boy isn't so pretty anymore."
"He isn't my pretty college boy."
Our gazes locked.
"But I still think he's pretty pretty," I said, just to antagonize him.
See you in bed with him like I saw in the Silvers, I'll kill him.
I blinked. I did not just see that in Barrons' eyes. ~ Karen Marie Moning

One minute you think you've got the world by the balls, the next minute you don't know where the fuck the world's balls are."
"Sure I do," I say irritably. "Right next to the world's big fat hairy asshole, upon which I seem to be stuck in superglue lately, waiting for it to have its next case of explosive diarrhea. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I squinted. "What's that on your hand, Barrons? Blood?" He started, glanced at me, then at his hand. "Ah yes," he said, as if remembering, "I was out for a walk. There was a badly injured dog in the street. I returned it to its owner's shop to die. ~ Karen Marie Moning

The two of you are getting downright chatty, aren't you, Ms. Lane? When did you last see him? what else did he tell you?
I'm asking the questions tonight.
If an illusion of control comforts you, Ms. Lane, by all means, cling to it. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Suddenly every muscle in my body tensed as if standing up in greeting, even though I didn't move. "Barrons." I dropped my hands and raised my head.
"Ms. Lane." He took a chair across from me with such eerie grace that I wondered how I'd ever believed he was human. He poured himself into the brocade wing chair, like water over stone, before settling into sleek muscle. He moved as if he knew where everything in the room was, in precise measurements. He didn't walk, stalk, or prowl; he glided with flawless awareness of all other atoms in relation to his. It made it easy for him to conceal himself behind inanimate objects and to assume a similar . . . structure or something.
"Have you always moved like that in front of me and I just never noticed? Was I oblivious?"
"No and yes. You were oblivious. Head up that tight pink ass. But I never moved this way in front of you." His looked dripped sexual innuendo. "I might have moved this way a time or two behind you."
"Not hiding anything from me anymore?"
"I wouldn't go that far."
"What does someone like you conceal?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" His glittering eyes raked me with a hard once-over. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Jericho Barrons was my poison now. ~ Karen Marie Moning

The paranoid one's wards are still active. They keep me several feet from the building."
"But not his car," I said, a smile tugging at my lips. Barrons would go nuts if he knew that V'lane had touched his Viper. And stretched out on it nude? He'd have an aneurysm. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Basque and Celt. Criminals and barbarians. I didn't think there could be a more primitive pairing of genes. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons: "He got upset it wouldn't shut up and tore its head off."
Mac: "The child?" I gasped ~ Karen Marie Moning

Leave it alone, I'm handling this," Barrons told Ryodan.
"I suggest you do a better job."
"And I suggest you go fuck yourself. ~ Karen Marie Moning

CJ
It took me a moment to figure out the initials.Constant Jackass. I smiled. "Apology accepted, Barrons,
if it's the Ferrari."
It was. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I know part of what turns me on so hard, makes me so violent with lust, is that he's dangerous. I fell for the bad guy. I'm crazy about the one who's trouble. The alpha that doesn't play well with others and doesn't take orders from anyone. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I was no longer sexually vulnerable to the death-by-sex Fae Prince.
Jericho Barrons was my poison now. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I want you to go to the Ancient Languages Department at Trinity College tomorrow morning, Ms.Lane. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Little testy tonight?"
"That woman's boobs do not belong in your face."
"It's not as if I can see yours at the moment."
"Well, you're damn well going to feel them. Soon."
"One hopes," he murmurs. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Had he stood outside my door as I'd stood outside his, fists at his sides, lips drawn back? Did it have him as bad as it had me? Was it eating at him, gnawing at him with the same sharp vicious little teeth that wouldn't let me sleep?
Yes, it was. I could see the rage of insatiable uninvited lust in every line of that dark, stoic face that had once been too subtly etched for me to read. I wasn't the only one lying awake at night, fevered with memories, tossing, turning, soaking my sheets, burning up
not for Fae sex, but him, damn it all to hell, him. ~ Karen Marie Moning

For what other reason would you have me save you? Because I like you? Better to be useful than liked. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Oh, yes, I'm going to have to kill you, Barrons, I said coolly. Partly because, for the most minuscule sliver of an instant, while looking at those handcuffs, I'd imagined myself climbing back into bed and pretending I wasn't cured yet. ~ Karen Marie Moning

He's disturbingly sexual to men and women alike in a way that sets your teeth on edge. With Barrons you aren't sure if you're going to get fucked or turned inside out and left a new unrecognizable person adrift with no moorings on a see with no bottom and no rules. ~ Karen Marie Moning

What are you Barrons?"
"The one who will never let you die, and that's more, Ms Lane, than anyone in your life has been able to say to you. More than anyone else can do ~ Karen Marie Moning

Maybe you need to get a grip on your libido, Barrons!"
Fuck you, Ms. Lane!"
You just try. I'll kick the shit out of you!"
You think you could?"
Bring it on."

He grabbed a fistful of my T-shirt, and dragged me up against him until our noses touched.
I'll bring it on, Ms. Lane. But remember you asked for it. So don't even think about trying to tap out on the mat and quit the fight."
You hear anybody crying ‗Uncle' here, Barrons? I don't."
Fine."
Fine. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Ryodan doesn't like Mac. He never has. She got between him and his best boy-bud. I give him a look. "I'll tell you a secret, Ryodan. You mess with her, Barrons'll kill you." I drag a finger across my neck. "Just like that. You aren't all that. Barrons'll stomp your ass, hand's down."

He smiles faintly. "I'll be damned. You have a crush on Barrons."

"I do not have a crush - "

"You do, too. It's all over your face. Anybody could see it."

"Sometimes, boss, you're just wrong."

"I'm never wrong. You might as well take out a billboard. 'Dani O'Malley thinks Jericho Barrons is hot.' My offer to teach you is still open. Save you from future embarrassment. If I can see it on your face, he can, too. "

"He never figured it out before," I grumble then realize I just admitted it. Ryodan has a tricky way of wording things that makes you say things you didn't mean to say. "Maybe I'll ask Barrons to teach me," I mutter and turn away from the stairs, heading for his office. I run smack into his chest. "Dude, move. Trying to get somewhere here."

"No one but me is ever going to teach you, Dani."

He touches me before I see it coming, has his hand under my chin, turning my face up. My shiver is instant and uncontrollable.

"That's non-negotiable. You signed a contract with me that grants exclusivity. You won't like it if you try to break it. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Ryodan says softly, "Holy strawberries, Dani, we're in a jam."
I look at him like he's sprouted two heads. Holy strawberries? In a jam? Even Barrons looks stumped.
He continues, "But don't worry. Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods - you really butchered that one, by the way - I've got it in the bag. How about this one: holy borrowing bibliophile, let's book. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Woman, you are a thousand kinds of fool. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I have a box inside me now that never used to exist. I never needed it before. It's down in my deepest, darkest corner, and it's airtight, soundproofed and padlocked. It's where I keep the thoughts I don't know what to do with, that could get me into trouble. Eating Unseelie hammers on the inside of that lid incessantly. I try to keep kissing Barrons in that box, too, but it gets out sometimes. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I've learned a thing or two from Barrons: Power is sexy. It shapes my spine, infuses my beckoning hand.
I have not been devastated by Barrons' death. The alchemy of grief has forged a new metal.
I have been transformed.
There's only one way I can make his death okay. Undo it. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears. I'd seen many things in his eyes in the time that I'd known him: lust, amusement, sympathy, mockery, caution, fury. But I had never seen this.
Hope. Jericho Barrons had hope, and I was the reason for it.
I would never forget his smile. It had illuminated him from the inside out. ~ Karen Marie Moning

And here we go. She's bristling and my hackles go up. Bloody hell, I feel fangs coming on. Tell you what, Ms. Lane," Barrons said softly, "Anytime you want to have a conversation with me, leave the myriad issues you have with wanting to fuck me every time you look at me outside my cave, come on in, and see what you find. You might like it. ~ Karen Marie Moning

And then what? Said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, Ms. Lane, I didn't mean to wrinkle your lovely blouse. May I press that for you?' Or perhaps you gouged it with one of your pretty pink nails?
I was really beginning to wonder what his hang-up with pink was, but I didn't resent the sarcasm in his voice. ~ Karen Marie Moning

He pulls me around and kisses me. "You're Mac," he says. "And I'm Jericho. And nothing else matters. Never will. You exist in a place that is beyond all rules for me. Do you understand that?"
I do.
Jericho Barrons just told me he loves me. ~ Karen Marie Moning

-I'm going to kill the kid. - Barrons says faintly.
Ryodan makes a burbling sound like a bodly laught. -Get in line ~ Karen Marie Moning

How will we get back up?" I worried. "I have a different route in mind for our return trip." "Does it involve stairs?" I asked hopefully. "No." "Of course not. How silly of me. And for our return adventure we will be scaling the side of Mount Everest, hiking boots to be provided by our trusty sponsor, Barrons Books and Baubles. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Stop staring at my dick," he growled.
Oh, yes it was definitely an illusion. "Barrons loved me staring at his dick,"I informed it. "he would have been happy if I'd stared at his dick all day long, composing odes to its perfection. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I'm not the hero, Mac. Never have been. Never will be. Let us be perfectly clear: I'm not the antihero, either, so quit waiting to discover my hidden potential. There's nothing to redeem me. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Who's the little girl?" Don't speak, Barrons had told me on the way there, no matter what anyone says. I don't care how pissed off you might get. Swallow it. His derisive "little girl" ringing in my ears, I bit down hard and didn't say a word. "Just the latest piece of ass, McCabe." I no longer had to bite down. I was speechless. ~ Karen Marie Moning

He wasn't just masculine and sexual, he was carnal in a set-your-teeth-on-edge kind of way; he was almost frightning. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I'll never forget the crippling headaches Grandpa suffered, the nausea from chemo and radiation. I watched Daddy wrestle with decision after decision, ultimately withholding IV antibiotics to treat the pneumonia that took Grandpa more quickly and far more gently. Barrons is voicing the legitimate question of anyone who's ever agreed not to resuscitate, to cease life-sustaining measures for a loved one, to accept a Stage 4 cancer patient's decision to refuse more chemo, or euthanize a beloved pet. Throughout the caretaker experience, your loved one's presence is intense and exquisitely poignant and painful, then all the sudden they're gone and you discover their absence is even more intense and exquisitely poignant and painful. You don't know how to walk or breathe when they're no longer there. And how could you? Your world revolved around them. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons had just given me the most carnal, sexually charged hungry look I'd ever seen in my life, and I was pretty sure he didn't even know he had done it. ~ Karen Marie Moning

The four Keltar Druids brought their wives and children. They breed like it's their personal mission to populate their country in case somebody attacks again, as if anybody wants the bloody place. ~ Karen Marie Moning

How do you kill a vampire?"-Mac "Hope hes not"-Barrons ~ Karen Marie Moning

There are three floors beneath the garage? Why on earth?
-Mac ~ Karen Marie Moning

Barrons cut her a hard look. "Some of us are more useful and important than others."
"My ass, you are," Christian growled.
Barrons folded his arms. "Who let the Unseelie in here? ~ Karen Marie Moning

You stand there all tan and glowing and wonder why I use Voice on you?" he bellowed. "Where the hell do you get off? You've been with V'lane again. How many slaps in the face do you think I'm going to take, Ms. Lane?" He grabbed my fist and held it when I tried to punch him again. I swung at him with the other. He caught that, too. "I warned you not to play us against each other."
"I'm not playing you! I'm trying to survive. And I don't slap you when I go off with V'lane!" I tried to yank my fists from his hands. "It doesn't have anything to do with you. I'm trying to get answers, and since you won't give me any, you can't blame me for going somewhere else."
"So, the man who doesn't get laid at home has the right to go off and cheat?"
"Huh?"
"Which word didn't you understand?" he sneered.
"You're the one who's crippled by illogic. This isn't home, it never will be, and nobody's getting laid!" I practically shouted.
"You think I don't know that?" He shifted his body beneath me, making me painfully aware of something. Two somethings, in fact, one of which was how far up my short skirt was. The other wasn't my problem. I wriggled, to shimmy my hem down, but his expression perished the thought. When Barrons looks at me like that, it rattles me. Lust, in those ancient, obsidian eyes, offers no trace of humanity. Doesn't even bother trying.
Savage Mac wants to invite it to come out and play. I think she's nuts. Nuts, I tell you.
"Let go of my ~ Karen Marie Moning

He goes for stark versus accessorized, dark over bright, jewel tone instead of pastel, carnal over flirty. ~ Karen Marie Moning

There are things that can break you, he'd said. I almost laughed. He had no idea the thing that had broken me most completely was my belief that Barrons was dead.
One look at Lor's eyes and I decided I would wait until Barrons was back before pressing any issues with him. "You think Barrons has a weakness for me," I said. "That's what worries you."
"It is forbidden."
"He despises me. He thinks I slept with Darroc, remember?"
"He cares that you slept with Darroc."
"He cared that I burned his rug, too. He gets a little pissy about those things he likes to think of as his property."
"You two drive me bug-fuck. ~ Karen Marie Moning

The corners of his mouth twitched then he gave up the ghost and just flashed me one of those rare, full-on smiles that always made me catch my breath and stare. He's so damn beautiful and his smiles are sunshine in a black velvet sky, improbable and stunning. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Lose the pessimism, Ms. Lane," Barrons said when I informed him of my thoughts. "It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Home, Ms. Lane?" His deep voice was gently amused.
"I have to call it something," I said morosely. "They say home is where the heart is. I think mine's satin-lined
and six feet under. ~ Karen Marie Moning