“Where would I bite you, to show that you’re mine?”
Koen goes still at the question. And then, after processing it for entirely too long, he lets out a soft, explosive curse against my collarbone. “I hate it,” he breathes out.
“What?”
“How perfect you are. I spent the last twenty years hoping that if there was a mate for me out there, I’d never come across them. And then I found you, and, Serena… there isn’t one thing I would change about you. Or one single thing I regret about knowing you.”
― Mate
Koen goes still at the question. And then, after processing it for entirely too long, he lets out a soft, explosive curse against my collarbone. “I hate it,” he breathes out.
“What?”
“How perfect you are. I spent the last twenty years hoping that if there was a mate for me out there, I’d never come across them. And then I found you, and, Serena… there isn’t one thing I would change about you. Or one single thing I regret about knowing you.”
― Mate
“I am concerned for Ana, though,” I hasten to add, tearing my eyes away. “She’s already a bunch of stressors stacked in a trench coat. There are only that many kidnapping and murder attempts a child can endure before developing serious issues and self-destructive behaviors. We wouldn’t want her to grow up and, say, go to grad school.”
“Don’t worry,” Misery reassures me, “every day I drill into her that we’ll be disappointed in anything but a DJing career.”
“You’re such a good role model.”
― Mate
“Don’t worry,” Misery reassures me, “every day I drill into her that we’ll be disappointed in anything but a DJing career.”
“You’re such a good role model.”
― Mate
“Dear Koen:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I’m about to undergo a period of enhanced sexual receptivity in which I will require the assistance of a compatible partner
Could that perhaps be you?”
― Mate
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I’m about to undergo a period of enhanced sexual receptivity in which I will require the assistance of a compatible partner
Could that perhaps be you?”
― Mate
“Serena is the name by which my sister calls me. The name on my diploma. The name Koen whispered in my ear last night. Eva might be what Fiona chose when I was a child, but it belongs to someone who was at mercy of others, someone who doesn’t exist even in her own memories. Serena was a spur-of-the-moment decision by a nurse, but it’s my name because I made it so. Everything I built is attached to it.”
― Mate
― Mate
“I was being a patient, considerate, respectful, non-intrusive, accommodating mate. I was trying to—”
“Koen, you are the most intrusive mate ever. You never stop staring at me when we’re in the same room, you wake me up to have sex in the middle of the night, you keep tearing my clothes, and you want to be with me every second you’re not gone on pack business. You’re not really the space-giving kind of partner, and—”
“I’m trying. I could be way fucking worse.”
“—and I’m not complaining, because I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
― Mate
“Koen, you are the most intrusive mate ever. You never stop staring at me when we’re in the same room, you wake me up to have sex in the middle of the night, you keep tearing my clothes, and you want to be with me every second you’re not gone on pack business. You’re not really the space-giving kind of partner, and—”
“I’m trying. I could be way fucking worse.”
“—and I’m not complaining, because I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
― Mate
Laila’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Laila’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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