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

death was such a powerful statement of who he was.
    "I will hunt them down," he said. "For you. For her. For me."
    She nodded, fighting back the sobs threatening to take her. "I don't know who did it."
    "I'll find out." His hand slid around to the back of her neck, and his fingers tightened in her hair. "And I wanted to fuck you because you make me feel things I don't want to feel, things I don't have control over, things that threaten my entire existence. I wanted to fuck you because I don't do anything halfway, and every last bit of my soul is screaming at me to bury myself in you until all that's left are two bodies so depleted that there's no more space for the pain that's trying to come back and take me down. So, yeah, I want to fuck you. I want to sink my cock into the one woman alive who actually knows I exist, who sees me, who kissed me, who has been through the same shit I live with every day, who is strong, bold, unstoppable, and ridiculously, obliviously outmatched for what life has thrown at her."
    He cut himself off then, his words echoing in the tiny room, bouncing off the steel walls. She felt breathless, overheated, and utterly lost in the intensity of his words. With that one little speech, he'd reignited a raging physical need in her. She was intensely aware of him not only as a man, but as someone who'd suffered, who'd become a machine of steel in response. Except he wasn't steel. He was more.
    She realized he was waiting, watching her, his dark eyes inscrutable. She met his gaze. "That was better," she said honestly. "I still think it's a little crass to say you want to fuck me, but—"
    He kissed her then, hard, fast, deep, utterly without mercy, utterly without restraint.
    His desperate need for her plunged straight to her heart, awakening all the emotions she'd tried so hard to control for so long. She felt utterly raw and exposed with him, barely able to hang onto her emotional control. She didn't want to feel like that, and she didn't want him to tear her apart so ruthlessly, but at the same time... she needed his kiss even more desperately than he needed hers. It was as if he gave her somewhere safe to pour her emotions out. He gave her something safe to feel. With his arms around her and his steel-hard body shielding her against the wall, she was utterly protected and safe.
    Anya. His voice was a raw, rough caress in her mind, a desperate call of isolation and need that filled the emptiness of her soul. With a low moan of capitulation, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, turning herself over to him.
    She had no time to think about what she was doing, or to wonder if it was right. The moment she surrendered to him, the situation took on a power of its own. He consumed her with his need. The kiss was boiling hot, spinning out of control. This man was deadly, incredibly lethal, with her life in his sights, and yet she was completely sucked into the sheer fierceness of what was between them.
    He dragged her shirt up and took her breast into his mouth, teasing her nipple. Anya grasped his shoulders, her head back against the wall as he gripped her hips, holding her so tightly that she knew there was no chance she'd fall. Desire raced through her, heat so excruciating she felt like she was going to burn up. The lust was intoxicating, because it left no room for the ache in her heart and the constant terror she had for Julia's safety. With the way he was kissing her, there was no space left for anything but him.
    He slipped his hand between them, unfastening her jeans with deft ease, his fingers brushing over the bare skin of her belly, even as he continued his assault with his mouth. He grabbed her around the hips, pulled back just enough to get her jeans off, then hoisted her up higher against the wall, locking her legs over his massive shoulders.
    His mouth closed on her swollen nub, and she gasped, twisting as he invaded her body with his tongue, his lips, and his fingers. His