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

She was in so over her head. "Crap."
    A small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "I am very, very good at what I do. I never fail. I want my life back, and the only way to do it is to see this guardian assignment through, so that is what's going to happen. Trust me."
    "Trust you? So you can get back to your life of assassinating people, including me?" She shook her head, keeping her voice low, suddenly afraid that the demon could be on the other side of the wall, listening, planning, knowing exactly where she was. "I don't trust anyone, Slade. It's stupid to trust people, especially assassins!"
    He cocked his head, studying her. "Yes, this is true."
    She leaned her head back against the wall, suddenly too overwhelmed to think. "I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't defeat assassins. Three of them? I bake bread , for God's sake. What am I going to do? Shoot yeast in their eyes and blind them?"
    "You're going to trust me. You have no other choice."
    She gave him a skeptical look. "Would you trust yourself if you were me?"
    "If I gave my word, yes. My word is my bond. I never go back on it. Everyone knows my reputation."
    "Really?" She pushed off the wall and walked over to him. "You haven't made any actual promises to me, Slade. What is there to trust?"
    He ground his jaw, and she could tell she'd caught him. She already knew him well enough to know that he was a loner, and the last thing he would ever want to do was bind himself to the well-being of another, or to owe anyone anything. If his word was truly binding to him, then to give it to her would be more than he would be able to do.
    Finally, he said. "I accepted the position as your guardian."
    "That's a deal you made with someone else, not a promise to me. Neither of us even know exactly what being my guardian means, except that it probably doesn't mean killing me." She gave him a challenging look. "Make me a promise, Slade. Promise me that you won't stop until Julia is saved. Promise me that you'll keep me alive. Promise me that you'll take on my hunt for Julia as your own. Then I'll trust you."
    For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he shook his head. "I don't know what I can promise you at this time," he said. "I don't know enough about the situation."
    Damn him. She turned away, pacing across the room. "Can you at least promise me you're not going to kill me? Ever?"
    He ground his jaw. "No. I can't. I don't have any immediate plans to kill you, and at the moment, my intention is to be your guardian, whatever that entails, but I can't promise that it won't change in a week, or a day, or in the next thirty seconds."
    Her stomach dropped at his honesty, and fear rippled down her spine. She'd been feeling safe with him, and his answer was a terrifying reminder of what she was facing. "Then how can you ask me to trust you? Trust you to do what?"
    He finally shrugged. "I don't know. I guess nothing." He stood up. "Don't trust me. You're right." He held out his hand. "You ready?"
    She stared at him. "You want me to go with you after you just said not to trust you?"
    "You might not trust me, but you still have to make a choice. I have a lock on the woman who wore the wig. I'm going after her. You can come, or I can drop you off somewhere. But it's time to leave, because there's a demon outside that's getting too close."
    Her heart stuttered, and she looked at the steel walls. He was her only link to finding Julia, now that he'd burned the wig. There was no decision to be made. "I'll go with you."
    He nodded, giving no outward sign of whether he liked her decision. "Your choice," he said. "What method would you prefer for ensuring you can't reveal this location to anyone? I can blind you temporarily as we leave so you don't see where this safe house is, or I can wipe your memory of this location and everything about it. I always wipe memories, but for you..." Something shifted in his voice, a hitch that was barely noticeable. "I'll give you the choice to