Free Leopard's Kiss (Shadow Guardians) (Shadows Guardians Book 1) by Stephanie Rowe

dark eyes searching hers. "Tell me what happened."
    She shook his grip off and stood up, her legs wobbling precariously as she tried to find her balance. He steadied her, but she pretended not to notice, too shaken up by her dream, and the memory of what she'd let him do to her body. "I don't want to talk about it." She noticed her jeans and underwear folded on the arm of the couch, and embarrassment flooded her. She grabbed them and pulled them on, so past the point of wanting to be naked in front of him. What had she been thinking?
    "You have to talk about it," he said.
    "Why?" Her pants back on, she spun toward him, anger rushing through her. Anger at him for making her feel vulnerable. Anger at the world for what had happened to her. Anger that she felt weak and exhausted when she needed to feel strong. "Why do I need to tell you anything? Why can't you just leave me alone?"
    His eyes darkened, but he remained seated on the couch. "My name is Slade Cross. I'm known as the Black Swan. I have a perfect assassination record. I am the ultimate, perfect killer. I kill. It's what I do. I am among the most lethal, dangerous creatures who currently walk this earth."
    She swallowed at the intensity of his gaze as he spoke. "I believe you."
    He didn't even acknowledge her comment. "When the demon took my heart, I died. But when I was on the threshold of hell, a woman came to me and said she would give me another chance at life if I complete one mission, to be your guardian."
    Anya stared at him in shock. "What? Someone pulled you back from death ? How is that possible?"
    "I don't know how it's possible, but you saw me. The demon ripped out my heart. I'm pretty difficult to kill, but that's beyond my capacity to heal on my own. But I'm here." He pulled his shirt down, revealing a massive scar on his chest from the demon's fist. She flinched, remembering the sight of that clawed hand protruding from his chest. So much blood...
    "I died, and now I'm sitting nice and pretty, alive because you matter, and apparently, I'm the one who has been handpicked to keep you safe." He rested his forearms on his muscular quads, watching her closely. "Of all the people she could have chosen to save you, she chose a man who only kills, never saves, never protects. Why me?"
    Anya shrugged, shifting her weight restlessly. "Because you're the best. You just said you were."
    He shook his head. "I'm the best assassin . As you saw earlier when I kissed you, I'm not the best at protecting life, and I have no interest in developing that new skill." He scowled. "Or I didn't, until you got to me."
    Her heart flipped. "I did?"
    He shot her a baleful look. "Yeah, and you know you did. You did it on purpose."
    She couldn't help but smile. "I did. This is true. I'm glad it worked."
    He ran his hands through his hair, leaving it messy and askew, which somehow gave him more humanity. He looked more like a man named Slade, than a famous, deadly assassin named the Black Swan. "The point is, I'm not the best one she could have chosen, and yet she selected me. She used some kind of miracle to bring me back to life, and it couldn't have come without a price. But she did it, she chose me, and she chose you. Why? What's so important about either one of us?"
    Wordlessly, Anya shook her head. She had no answers.
    "We need to find out. I need to learn every single thing there is to know about you, and I need to figure out why she chose me. And we need to do it fast." His gaze bore into hers. "You have powerful enemies, and powerful allies, neither of which can be trusted. We're both on someone's radar, someone important, someone powerful, and they're hunting you. If I fail to keep you safe, we're both dead." His voice gentled, as if to take away the sting of his words. "So, I don't care if you don't want to relive your mother's death, Anya. You're going to do it anyway, because it's our best lead to understand what is going on."
    Anya bit her lip, unable to stop the swell of