Lucian,” Magnus said with irritation, but he was watching Allie with something like fascination. Her lips were still blue, but anger had put color in her cheeks, and her eyes were flashing with fury and determination as she held out her makeshift flamethrower.
The woman was a mama bear protecting her cub. She was also his life mate. Magnus had no doubt about that. He’d tried to read her several times since rescuing her from the men in her apartment—first in the pizza joint as they’d waited for Tybo to arrange a ride, then in the delivery car on their way here, and again before leaving her in the guest room upstairs—and all to no avail. He could not read or control her, a sure sign Marguerite was right. Allie was his life mate . . . and she was magnificent.
A little foolish, perhaps, he acknowledged. After all, she was attempting to take on four immortal men on her own, but she was courageous and beautiful and he just wanted to fold her in his arms and assure her everything would be all right now.
“I am not the one who needs to work on communication,” Lucian said abruptly, drawing his attention reluctantly away from Allie. “She has been here most of the night. Why have you three not explained things to this child? She has no clue who or even what we are, or why she and the boy are here.”
“I’m a woman, not a child,” Allie growled, and Magnus found himself smiling at the way she mirrored Lucian’s scowl. Magnificent, he thought.
“Miss Chambers was unconscious when she arrived, Lucian,” Mortimer said now, drawing Magnus’s gaze reluctantly from Allie. “She only woke up moments ago. We have not had the chance to explain things to her.”
Lucian grunted at this and then glanced to Magnus. “She’s your woman, Bjarnesen. Explain things to her so we can get down to the business of finding out what she knows about these rogues chasing her.”
“I’m not his woman,” Allie protested at once, apparently not at all appreciative that she’d at least moved up from child to woman. She also turned to cast that angry scowl at him now, and Magnus couldn’t resist smiling in return. She was just so wonderfully brave and fiery.
Even as he thought that, Allie blinked in surprise and her scowl faded as her eyes grew wide. It made him wonder what she was thinking, or seeing.
Allie was thinking he was quite the handsomest man she’d ever encountered. It was an odd thing to notice when she had no idea who these people were or why she and Liam had been brought here. On top of that, the mean blond man’s comments about her not being Liam’s mother had made her afraid they might try to take her son from her. Which just made her want to grab Liam and flee, hence the reason she’d pulled her makeshift flamethrower.
Not that she knew how exactly she could get herself and Liam away once out of the house. She’d have to steal a vehicle, she supposed. But where could they go? How was she to continue to hide them both from these men as well as the other group of vampires? Last night’s attack had ensured they couldn’t safely return to the apartment, not even to collect her car. So they were now homeless, and carless. On top of that, after four years of running and hiding, she was pretty much broke. She was also mentally exhausted and physically spent. In truth, Allie just wanted to go back upstairs and sleep for a week. But she couldn’t afford to. She had Liam to worry about.
Those had been the thoughts chasing around inside her head before she’d been distracted by the man beside her. Magnus, she recalled. He could have modeled for a living with that face, she decided as her gaze slid over his features. He had a straight nose, high forehead, and an angular jaw presently sporting a trim beard somewhere just beyond a six o’clock shadow that he either kept trimmed close or was just starting to grow. He also had a mouth made up of a thin upper lip, but a full, almost pouty, and very sexy lower lip.
All of that together put him in what she was sure was the top five percent of gorgeous men on the planet, but his eyes pushed him all the way to the top of that list. Large and pale blue with a rim