Those soft fingers trailed over his cheek.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“Darkness, Colorado,” she replied. “In the mansion owned by the angels. You’re safe here.”
Safe.
That wasn’t a word he was familiar with. For so long, he’d been anything but.
Though he hated to break the contact, Khari sat up, his body moving easily, his power fully charged, his strength unparalleled. Within seconds, he was on his feet, helping Bijou up, peering around at those who watched him as though he might spring at any moment.
He easily picked out the vampires, noted the angels. He cataloged the exits, let his senses expand to take in his surroundings. A mansion of great size and filled with a number of souls was at his back, tunnels leading to another. In one direction, there was another facility, filled with vampires and angels, these not nearly as strong as those who surrounded him now.
Khari turned to see his female standing beside him, her eyes full of… He wasn’t sure he could pinpoint the emotion he saw there. But it wasn’t fear and that was the only thing that mattered. No, this female knew he would never hurt her.
Then he heard a familiar heartbeat, one he’d listened to for the past twenty-eight years. Turning, he headed in the direction of the sound.
“Khari? Leave the human be. He’s not well,” someone said.
He ignored them. Opening the door, he pushed it wide, stepped into the sterile room with its white walls and shiny equipment. A machine sat at the head of the bed, colored lines dancing over the screen, moving in time with the heartbeat he could hear.
Oliver Calazans.
This was the male he’d inhabited. The human he’d forced aside.
Stepping up to the male, Khari placed his hand on the human’s forehead. Warmth traveled from him into the human husk. He would not allow the human to suffer. Not after what he’d done for him all these years.
That tremulous heartbeat strengthened, the pulse shifting into the normal range.
“It’s okay,” Khari told Oliver. “You’re safe now.”
With his hand on Oliver’s forehead, he gave the human a glimpse of the past, assured him he was where he was supposed to be. Then because he could, Khari returned the memories, but stopped those that occurred right before he met Bijou. Those weren’t Oliver’s to have. Those would remain with Khari, where they belonged. No other male would know that sort of intimacy with the female. Only him.
“What are you doing?”
Khari shifted his attention to the door, to the female standing there. This was the one who the human Oliver knew as his sister. Penelope.
“I’m returning him to you,” Khari assured her.
She stepped forward, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Will he remember me?”
“He will now.” Before removing his hand, he sent a sense of peace and well-being into the male, removing the anger and hatred he’d lived with for so long. Those emotions belonged to Khari as well. The human didn’t need to be shackled with them.
Penelope moved closer, taking Oliver’s hand in his, holding it carefully as though the male might break.
“He’ll wake soon.” Khari met her golden eyes, saw the beauty that radiated within the human turned angel. Yes, Oliver was safe with her. She would care for the male she believed to be her brother.
“Thank you,” she said kindly.
Khari nodded, then stepped back, turning for the door. He peered down at himself, noticed the baggy blue clothes he wore. They had to go. He needed something … else.
When he returned to the main hall, he realized more angels and vampires had joined them.
Including the archangel.
Khari narrowed his eyes. “You.”
He had to give the male credit, he didn’t back down, didn’t show fear.
