anymore. They’re planning on tearing it down soon.”
“Perfect,” Basha said succinctly. “Any other places like that in or around Port Henry?”
When the only answer she got were shaking heads, she straightened. “Well, I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket, but I suggest we search the plant first. If we don’t find anything, we’ll have to go farther afield.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. You really pissed off Abby.”
Those were the first words Allie heard as she woke up. Blinking her eyes open, she ignored her pounding head and scowled at Stephen when she saw him standing just inside the door of her prison. Not bothering to respond to his words, she glanced around the room instead, getting the lay of the land. Something she hadn’t really had the chance to do earlier.
The room wasn’t very big, office-sized, maybe. And it was dark, the only light coming from the lantern Stephen was holding and the bit that was creeping through the open metal double doors. The floor was a concrete slab covered with so much dirt one could have been forgiven for thinking the floor itself was dirt.
Allie finally shifted her attention back to Stephen and said, “I’m glad Stella’s not alive to see what you’re up to.”
“I’m just trying to get my son back,” Stephen snapped.
“So that Abaddon can twist his poor little mind and turn him into a monster like he is?” she asked sharply. “He’s your son. Don’t you care about him at all?”
“Of course I care,” he said irritably. “That’s why I want him. We’re going to raise him together. We’ll be a family.”
“A family of rogues,” Allie said grimly. “Abaddon has told you that there are laws about biting mortals, hasn’t he? That you’re supposed to feed off bagged blood, and if you bite mortals you’re considered rogue and executed?”
Stephen looked away with a frown and muttered, “Abby’s smart. They won’t catch us.”
“Right,” Allie snorted.
They were both silent for a moment and then Stephen asked, “Why did she do it?”
Allie peered at him silently for a moment and then said, “You mean why did Stella kill herself?”
He nodded silently, unhappiness wreathing his face.
“To save Liam,” she told him. “She was hoping you’d think both she and Liam died in the fire and I could raise him. Give him a normal childhood.”
“He’s not a normal child,” Stephen said at once.
“He is,” she assured him. “If you’ve been watching us in Port Henry you must have seen him playing outside with the other kids, building snowmen, making snow angels, tobogganing.”
“I saw the tobogganing,” he acknowledged reluctantly. “He seemed . . . happy.”
“He is happy,” she assured him. “He drinks bagged blood, but otherwise he’s as normal as you were as a boy. He has friends, he plays, he even had a sleepover with the other kids. His life can be normal with me,” she said pleadingly. “What will it be like if you and Abaddon get him?”
Stephen shook his head, his expression a combination of anger and upset. “You’re asking me to choose between my son and my life mate.” Meeting her gaze, he said helplessly, “I can’t do that.”
“You already have,” Allie said wearily. “Stella sacrificed herself for Liam, but you’re sacrificing Liam for Abaddon.” Shaking her head, she muttered, “At least, my mother killed herself rather than make the choice. You’re just going to stand by and watch Abaddon ruin your son and, of course, reap the benefits of hot life mate sex while he does.”
“Shut up,” Stephen snapped, his hand clenching on the lantern. “I doubt you could choose either were you in my position.”
“I would never sacrifice Liam for—” Allie cut herself off at the last moment before saying Magnus’s name, and then began to frown as she stared at Stephen. He was almost holding his breath in anticipation. And then she recalled the conversation she’d heard when she first woke up. The man she’d heard telling Abaddon what had happened at the house hadn’t sounded anything like the tortured man in front of her now. There had been no guilt at what he’d done, just frustration that he hadn’t succeeded in beheading Drina, and a certain disgust every time he’d referred to Allie as the human. As if her status as a human made her less somehow.
Stephen was playing her, Allie realized with amazement. This whole conversation was an effort to get her to reveal her life mate’s name.
“So did the turn drive you insane and ruin you? Or have