Leopard's Kiss (Shadow Guardians) (Shadows Guardians Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

"Hello? Talk to me!" Tears burned in her eyes as she raced along, looking into every doorway, peering down every alley, but there was no other sign of the woman she'd worked so hard to track down.
    Finally, agonizingly, she stopped. Her legs were trembling from running so hard. Her breath was heaving in her lungs. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. The woman was gone. "Julia!" she screamed her friend's name, even though she knew it was useless. "Where are you? I—"
    Chills suddenly prickled down her spine, and she whirled around, her heart freezing when she saw the man who had kissed her at the bar standing directly behind her, his dark eyes boring into her. His trench coat flapped around his calves, and a hole gaped open in his shirt, right over his heart. His chest was bloody, but it looked intact, despite the fact she'd seen the demon's hand sticking out of it. He was tall, with broad shoulders, and his legs were powerful beneath his jeans. His dark eyes were relentless, and she could still remember what his lips had felt like when he'd kissed her. A silken seduction of desire and dangers...
    Oh, God. It was happening again! She leapt backward, clutching the wig to her chest. "Get away from me." She immediately wove the mental safeguards in her mind as she backed away from him, looking around frantically for someone, anyone, she could ask for help.
    "Who wants you dead?" His deep voice rolled through her, powerful and ruthless, but again, with that same underlay of culture and refinement that made her envision him sitting at a white-linen tea with scones served on elegant china, discussing polo strategies and the status of his vineyard.
    "You, apparently." She slid her hand into her back pocket, and wrapped her fingers around her phone, trying to get her thumbprint aligned properly to unlock it. If she could dial 9-1-1, then they could track her phone, hopefully before he killed her. "Why do you want me killed? I know you went there for me. Why?" She pressed her thumb on the divot, hoping that she'd aligned it correctly. She continued to edge away from him, toward the middle of the street, hoping that a car would drive by and have to stop to keep from running over her.
    "I don't care if you die," he clarified, making a distinction that didn't feel all that important to her at the moment. "I was paid to kill you. Someone else cares."
    She froze then, staring at him as his words sank in. "Someone paid you? And you took the money? What kind of value system is that?"
    His gaze didn't waver. "And then someone had a backup assassin with the knife blade, and I'm thinking that the demon was sent for you as well. No one ever double-books one of my kills, and yet you were triple-booked." He studied her thoughtfully, as if she were a great science experiment he was curious to investigate "Why is that? Is it that you're so difficult to kill? Or is it that important that you die?"
    She stopped edging away from him as his question sank in. Three assassins had been sent to kill her? A chill raced down her spine, and this time, it had nothing to do with sexual awareness of him, and everything to do with a deep foreboding. Warily, she glanced up, scanning the rooftops. Where there were three, there could be more. "Why are you talking now, instead of killing me?" She pressed her phone screen where the emergency call button would be if she'd managed to get it right.
    "I missed my window to kill you," he said softly, still watching her. "The rush is over. Late by one minute is no different from late by ten minutes. I'm already late."
    "Why do you care why they're after me?" She pressed her screen again, her heart pounding, as she scanned the area again. Suddenly, every shadow seemed to be undulating. Every piece of trash blowing made her jump. And every roof seemed the perfect spot to launch an attack. What had Julia been into? What had she inadvertently walked into by hunting for her? Three assassins? What was going on?
    "Because I have a