He grabbed her wrist and chained her to him. “Not you.” His gaze swept the room. His nose followed that scent. His eyes narrowed as he focused his stare on the far corner. “You into watching now?” A dark taunt directed at the one waiting.
“Uh, Keenan?” Worry had entered Nicole’s voice. “No one else is here.”
“He’s here.” Keenan rose from the bed and didn’t bother to cover his body. Angels weren’t supposed to care about nudity. And he didn’t care about his—just hers. “Unless he’s here to kill me, then he needs to drag his winged ass out of here.”
He felt the wind whisper against his face. Angel power. “Can’t you smell him?” He asked her because a vamp’s enhanced senses should at least be able to pick up that light scent. Most humans—those who stopped to pay attention—caught the telltale fragrance.
The sheets rustled. “I … yes.”
Keenan glanced back at her.
Her gaze was wide, her lips open. “I know that smell. In the alley, when that vampire attacked me …” She jumped from the bed and clutched the sheet tightly to her. “I smelled it then.” Now it was her turn to sweep the room with her gaze. “There was so much blood, I couldn’t figure out why I just … smelled flowers.”
Because an angel had been near.
“Is he the one who was there?” The worry was gone from her voice. Only fury remained. “This jerk in here—is he the one who stood there and watched while that vamp attacked me?”
Another whisper of wind blew on his face. Then the floral scent began to fade as the angel vanished. What had been the purpose of that visit?
A threat?
He didn’t take so well to those angelic threats anymore.
“He’s leaving,” Nicole whispered. She grabbed Keenan’s arm. “I can tell. The scent is almost gone.” She turned and her gaze tracked all around the room. “Why can’t I see him?”
“Because you’re not dead.” He exhaled slowly. Time for more truth. “You can only see an angel when you’re dying—in those last few seconds before death.”
Her lips curved down. “Haven’t you heard? I am dead.”
“No, you’re undead. There’s a difference.” She’d died only for a few seconds. Not long enough for her soul to leave. Just long enough for her body to change when the virus got inside her.
That’s what vampirism really was. A virus. One that—if it wasn’t monitored—could be passed along until the whole human race died out. Died out—or transformed.
He rolled his shoulders and forced himself to meet her eyes. “He’s gone.”
“He?” Her brows rose. “Could you see him?” She pressed.
No lies. “I saw enough.”
“Was he the one that was there that night?” Her delicate jaw locked. “Was he the bastard that just stood there while the vamp tried to kill me?”
“No.” One of the things about angels—fallen or those still in grace—they could never lie. He exhaled. “That bastard… well, that would have been me.”
CHAPTER SIX
“What?” Her voice had gone flat and cold, just like her eyes.
And her teeth were getting longer and sharper. When the fangs came out, trouble was calling.
But it was time to reveal this to her. After what he’d done tonight, she deserved to know. “I was the angel there that night. I was the one you sensed.”
“You?” Her knuckles whitened around the sheet. “You saw what he did—”
His muscles locked at the memory. “I saw everything.”
“And you just stood there?” Disbelief. Disgust.
His spine straightened. He’d expected this.
“You stood there,” she repeated, “and let him hurt me? He clawed me, he bit me, hell, I even thought he was going to rape me—”
Keenan spun away from her. “He didn’t.” I didn’t let him. I broke the rules. Took him when I should have taken you.
“Wait. I get it now.”
Keenan glanced over his shoulder. “I doubt it.”
Wrong thing to say.
She lunged forward. The sheet dropped. “You were my guardian. My guardian angel, right? So your job was to watch me.”
No. He’d never been a guardian angel, and he shouldn’t have watched her so much. Since he couldn’t lie, he just didn’t speak.
“I thought guardian angels were supposed to keep their charges safe.”