Leopard's Kiss (Shadow Guardians) (Shadows Guardians Book 1) (12 page)

She shook her head silently, but her terror was stark on her face. "White leopards don't exist," she whispered.

"Oh, yes they do. And I know that, because my mother was one."

Her eyes widened. "She was?"

"Yeah." He looked grimly down the empty corridor. "I know all about this shit," he said softly. "Every last detail." He met her gaze. "My mother was murdered because of it. So was my dad, and my younger sister. This trade is the reason I am what I am, and it's the reason I kill."

A
nya felt
like her world was closing in on her. She hadn't wanted it to be about this. Her mother had told her, but she'd never imagined
this.
She could still taste the fear of each occupant, and she could smell the blood and the pain they'd endured. And Slade...the icy cold steel in his eyes made her shiver. He was no longer the man who'd kissed her. He was an assassin, pure and simple, and in that moment, she knew he would kill anyone who stood in the way of what he wanted to accomplish.

"You're a white leopard, aren't you?" He asked it again, his voice low and cold, warning her against lying.

So, she didn't. She gave him the truth. "I don't know for sure."

His eyes narrowed. "How do you not know?"

She looked past him, down the hall. "Can we talk later? Can we look for any signs of where they went first, and then get out of here?" The place made her skin crawl. Was this where her mom and Marjorie had been held when they'd escaped so long ago? Or worse? And Julia, dear, sweet Julia.

Slade swore under his breath, and muttered something about being distracted by her as he turned away. "Five minutes," he said. "We're out of here in five minutes." He strode over to the nearest cell, and put his hand on the lock.

"Can you pick up something?"

"I'll be able to track anyone who has been here recently." He handed her his flashlight. "Look for Julia. I don't know her scent. If you find it, tell me. I'll do the rest."

Her heart pounding, Anya raced toward the nearest cell. She hesitated at the threshold, suddenly terrified. She felt as if she stepped across that line, the door could slam shut behind her, just as her mother had warned so many times. She'd heard her mother's cries in her sleep, nightmares from the days she never talked about...in a place like this.

She looked back at Slade, who was still at the doorway, moving his hands rapidly along the steel and glass. Energy was humming off him as he scanned for residue. "Slade?"

He glanced at her, then paused when he saw her looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"You never make promises unless you know you can keep them, right?"

"Yes."

"Will you promise me that you won't let me be locked in here? That you'll get me out, no matter what?"

His eyes slid to the steel doorframe above her head, and then back to her face. Something shifted in his eyes, something she couldn't decipher. "I promise I will not let you get trapped here," he said quietly, his voice like steel.

Relief rushed through her, and suddenly she felt like she could breathe again. "Okay. Thanks." She flashed him a smile, then stepped into the cell. She glanced back as she moved inside. Slade was standing in the doorway, watching her. With the flick of his finger, he could slam the door shut and lock her in.

For a split second, terror ripped through her. What if she were wrong to trust him? What if she'd just made a fatal error? What if—

My mother was in a place like this, Anya. I would never let you stay.
His voice was clipped and tight in her mind, but she felt the wave of pain deep in his soul, buried so deeply that she could sense only the faintest hint of it, but it was the kind of pain that burned all the time, every minute of every day. He was a man of steel, but she saw more. She saw what he didn't even let himself see.

He wouldn't leave her there. She was certain of it. For the first time in her life, she was safe. Yes, she was in the most dangerous setting she'd ever been in, but she had no doubt the Black Swan would unleash his greatest wrath to keep his promise.

"Thank you."

He nodded. "Four minutes left. Make it count."

"I will." She took a deep breath, and turned toward the cot. Trusting him to keep her safe, she turned all her focus on her search. She raced over to the bed, and ran her hands over it. The mattress was filthy, tainted with fear and blood, but not Julia's presence.

Sweat beading between her shoulder blades, she raced out of the cell and into the next one, running to the cot. Again, she was assaulted with the scent of the person who'd been there last. It had been a woman. Terrified. Desperate. Not Julia. Tears filled Anya's eyes as she tore herself away, sobs seizing in her chest as she ran to the next cell, and then the next. So many women had been here, dozens of different scents, so much pain, so much fear. God, it was so much worse than she'd ever understood. With her hands on their beds, she could sense the emotions of those who had been there before. So much suffering, so much pain.

The fifth cell she was in had housed a woman, but there was also the scent of a male twisted through it. A partner? Or an assailant? Or another prisoner? Tears blurred her eyes as she stumbled for the door, barely able to focus through the assault of psychic energy.

Slade caught her arms as she tripped on the threshold, his grip firm and strong. "Anya." His voice was low and steady. "Look at me."

She obeyed, barely able to focus on his face through the tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's so awful," she whispered.

"You need to focus on Julia," he said firmly. "Just Julia. Don't get overwhelmed by everything else. You have a mission right now. I'm assimilating everyone else. You need to find Julia. Focus only on her, and dismiss everything else. Got it?"

She took a deep breath, and pressed her trembling hands to her forehead. "Okay, yeah, I'm all right. Keep going. I'll be fine."

He gave her a skeptical look, but released her.

She took a moment, pushing her hair out of her face while she tried to focus. He was right. They were here for Julia. She bit her lip, and strode into the next cell. She sifted through the scents, and quickly dismissed them, somehow managing to keep her focus.

"Thirty seconds," Slade called out. "We can't risk staying longer."

Urgency pulsed through her, and Anya sprinted into the next cell. Then the next. Then there was only one left. She raced into it, and dropped to her knees by the cot. For a moment, she could smell only the scent of bear shifter, a male, and then, beneath it, she caught a faint scent she recognized.
Julia.
"She was here, Slade! Here!"

He appeared in the doorway almost instantly, then strode across the floor to crouch beside her. He placed his hands on the mattress, and closed his eyes. She felt his energy circulate around her, prickly and powerful, as he breathed in Julia's scent. "Can you track her? Do you have a strong enough lead?"

He swore under his breath. "Almost." He slowed his breathing, and she felt the surge of energy that he summoned as he poured it into the mattress, trying to create that bond with Julia.

The seconds ticked by, and the back of her neck began to prickle. She instinctively looked out into the hall, fear creeping down her spine, a signal she had long ago learned not to ignore.
Slade. Someone's coming.

He didn't answer, but he poured more energy into the air around them, until it began to crackle audibly.

Fear continued to build inside her, and Anya rose to her feet.
Slade.
Her heart began to thud, and she edged toward the door. Danger was getting close. She couldn't pinpoint what she was sensing, but she had no doubt.
We need to get out of here—

She hadn't even finished it when the door clicked and began to slide shut. She lunged for it, but she knew she'd never make it in time. Terror ripped through her, and then suddenly Slade grabbed her and bolted for the door, slipping them through the opening a split second before it slammed shut.

He swept her up in his arms and raced down the hall, toward the steel door that led to the rest of the warehouse...a door that was now closed.
Slade
—

Psychic energy pulsed through the air, and the lock clicked. Slade ripped the door open and sprinted through the opening, bursting into the open area of the warehouse. He stopped sharply, keeping her close as he scanned the area. "No one's here. Let's go." He took off with her toward the car. Moments later, they were on the highway, moving so fast they were nothing more than a blur.

Anya's heart was pounding, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She couldn't clear her mind of the sight of that cell door closing on her, that terror that she was going to be trapped. She bent over, trying to regain her breath while Slade drove. "Are they following us?"

"Not right now, but I expect they'll be closing in on the place any minute. It was some sort of security system that picked us up. The doors closing was an automatic response, but I'm sure people were alerted." He hit his hand on the steering wheel. "I never make a mistake with a security system. It must have been something I've never encountered. Shit. They're good, Anya. Very good."

Anya leaned back in the seat, her hands shaking violently. "Did you get a fix on Julia?" she asked. "Tell me you can find her." The thought of Julia being chained up in that cell was debilitating. What were they doing to her? Had she already been sold to some psychopath, already chained in his basement to be his plaything, impossible to ever track?

"I'll find her." His voice was grim, edged with enough tension that she looked over at him.

"You weren't able to get enough of a lead on her, were you?"

"I got some. I can work with it."

"Oh, God." Anya leaned her head back against the seat, unable to stop her hands from shaking. "My mother told me about places like that," she whispered. "That's why we ran. She and Marjorie escaped when they were pregnant with Julia and me. No wonder they were so scared of being found." She closed her eyes, trying to breathe. She needed to focus now, not freak out. "We need to go back. We need to find the people who did it." Even as she said it, she felt sick.

"I'll go back. Not you." The engine revved as they hurtled down the highway. "You can't be near there. They'll know what you are in an instant. If they realize what you are, they will stop at nothing to acquire you." He looked over at her. "No one knows about you, do they? That's why only Julia was taken."

"I don't even know if I am one." She sat up, alarmed as she suddenly realized the implication of his plan "You're going to leave me alone while you go back?" Even as she asked it, she felt like a fool. Since when was she afraid to be on her own? Since she'd acquired a demon assassin and experienced the depravity of the world that had been hunting her for so long.

"There's one place you'll be safe." He didn't look at her, and didn't slow down. "It's not far."

Anya leaned back against the seat, and took a deep breath. Her hands were still shaking from being in the warehouse. She looked out the window at the guardrail hurtling past, trying to process what she'd seen, to correlate it with everything she'd learned from her mother over the years.

Slade said nothing, but his face was intense and focused, and she knew he was doing the same thing she was.

Finally, she broke the silence. "You've been there before?"

"Not to that one. To others." He exited the highway, the wheels screeching on the ramp as he sped off it, racing through streets that were almost empty at this late hour. "There's a black market for shifters, Anya. It's powerful and ruthless, and involves a lot of high rollers. Money. Lots of it."

"And how do you know about it?"

He sped down a ramp toward a closed garage door. Anya flinched, gripping the door handle as they got closer and closer to the closed door, still moving quickly. "Slade—"

The door opened at the last second, admitting them just before they crashed into it. He didn't slow down, hurtling straight toward another closed garage door. She grimaced, tensing as they sped toward it, but that also opened at the last moment, averting a head-on collision that would have killed her.

"Oh, God." She took a deep breath, trying to relax. "Is it possible for you to be a little less terrifying when you drive?"

He glanced over at her, his dark eyebrows going up in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

It figured. The man was so entwined with speed that he couldn't even comprehend that hurtling top speed toward a solid wall could be daunting. "Never mind." She twisted around, watching the door close behind them just as fast. As she turned forward, yet another garage door appeared.

This time, even though she knew that it was going to open, she still couldn't keep from grimacing or pulling back as the car hurtled toward the garage door. It opened again just long enough for them to speed through, but this time, as it closed, she felt Slade watching her.

"It's timed to precision," he said. "I can't slow down or we'll crash. Just close your eyes."

She glanced over at him, surprised that he'd actually taken time to register her fear. "You're not as insensitive as you want to be, you know." She decided to watch him instead of the next door they were approaching. How many damned doors were there anyway?

His jaw tightened. "I'm extremely insensitive. I'm an expert at it."

She almost laughed at his tension. "It's okay to notice the emotions of others, Slade. It's a good thing."

He glanced over at her as his car shot through another garage door. "No, it's not. It's the most dangerous thing I could ever do. Don't try to make it happen. Understand?"

There was a desperation in his voice that made her heart turn over, making her wonder, once again, how he had gone from a boy who noticed his mom's flowers to the man who took lives without hesitation. She nodded. "I understand," she said softly, sighing to herself when she saw his shoulders relax slightly.

A man who couldn't afford to feel. She'd never met anyone who didn't want to feel. She couldn't imagine how empty his life was...but at the same time, a part of her envied him. Wouldn't it be great not to live in terror? Not to awaken in the middle of the night having a panic attack that she'd never find Julia? To never have to worry that if she stopped running, that the weight of her grief would crush her so severely she'd never be able to stand up again?

She sighed, leaning back in her seat as she watched their progress through the tunnel. She counted ten doors that they sped through, each of them taking them deeper and deeper underground. Eerie green lights marked their way, casting them in a sea-green glow as he drove deeper.