grab the man’s arm and drag Liam from him. Holding the boy tightly, she peered from one man to the other and then shook her head. “Thank you for your help, but we aren’t going with you. Liam and I—”
“Will not survive more than ten minutes on your own,” Magnus interrupted firmly. “We are your best bet, Allie. Tybo and I can get you to a safe house where you will be protected until we can find out what is happening and take care of this situation.”
Allie scowled. “And I’m supposed to just take that on faith? I don’t know you any better than the first two men who broke into my apartment.”
“Magnus,” Tybo said quietly. “We don’t have time for this. I’m hoping those men will search the apartment building first. But there are enough of them that they can do that and still send a couple over to check the plaza. We need to move.”
Allie eyed Tybo suspiciously. It sounded to her like he was asking for permission to do something. She was sure she was right about that when Magnus gave a short, reluctant nod. When Tybo immediately turned a concentrated gaze on to her, Allie found herself turning and carrying Liam toward the front of the restaurant. It wasn’t a choice. At least, not her choice, and she should have been panicked and horrified that she was doing something she didn’t intend or want to do, but she was oddly calm and unaffected by it.
As if she’d been drugged was the unconcerned thought that floated through her head, but that didn’t seem quite right. It was more as if her anxiety and worries were being veiled somehow so that she couldn’t connect to them, and a sense of calm and serenity was being pumped through her in their place. Whatever the case, Allie carried Liam straight through the kitchen, and then the bright dining area with its white floors and plastic orange seats to the door and out to the car waiting there.
She got into the back seat, sliding along its length until she was crowded up against a stack of pizza warmers. Allie then settled Liam more comfortably in her lap while Magnus squeezed in next to her and Tybo got into the front passenger seat.
Allie was aware of Tybo pulling out a phone and talking to someone named Mortimer, but her own attention was on the parking lot around them, her eyes searching it for the men who had pulled up in front of her building. Much to her relief, she didn’t see anyone before they were wheeling out of the plaza parking lot and onto the road.
“Mortimer’s expecting us and is having Sam ready a room for Allie and Liam, as well as one for yourself, Magnus,” Tybo announced.
Magnus tore his gaze away from Allie to peer at the younger immortal as he tucked his phone into a pocket of his jacket. Tybo had turned sideways in the front seat to talk to him, and now added, “He’s also sending men to round up the rogues at the apartment if they’re still there when they arrive. If not, they’ll simply take care of the apartment and any video footage from the entry camera, if there is one, then collect our SUV.”
Magnus grunted, his attention slipping back to Allie and Liam. The boy had curled up on her lap and fallen asleep with his head on her chest and she had dozed off with her head against the warming bags stacked next to her. While the boy had probably dozed off on his own, Magnus was quite sure Tybo was responsible for Allie’s sleep. This situation certainly wouldn’t normally put a woman to sleep, he was sure.
“She’s extremely pale,” Tybo commented from the front seat.
Magnus nodded, his eyes sliding over her classic features and pale skin. Her eyes were closed now, but he’d noticed they were hazel. Her hair was long and light brown, and while most would have said she was just pretty enough, she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. His life mate, he thought, and then pointed out, “According to the officers who answered the 911 call, she had fallen and hit her head.”
“She didn’t fall,” Tybo announced grimly. “She fainted . . . from lack of blood.”
Magnus glanced at him sharply. “What?”
“She’s been feeding the boy with her own blood for a good four years,” Tybo announced, his concentrated gaze on her face as he found