by Lynsay Sands
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Epilogue
About the Author
By Lynsay Sands
Copyright
About the Publisher
Prologue
Allie was curled up on the couch in front of a rerun of The Big Bang Theory, slurping down a late dinner of ramen noodles, when the knock sounded at her front door. Her lips immediately slid into a smile. It was nearly midnight and there was only one person she knew who was likely to be up this late. Stella, her neighbor from across the street, was a night owl like herself, but she was also a new mother.
Setting her noodles on the coffee table, Allie scooted off the couch and hurried to the door. It was mid-February, had been snowing most of the day, and was freezing cold outside. Too cold to be standing on a doorstep with a month-old baby.
“Oh, good, you’re still up!” the petite brunette greeted her cheerfully when Allie opened the door.
“As usual,” Allie said with amusement, automatically backing up when Stella started forward. “I’m nearly done with the project, so knocked off early.”
“And probably want to relax now,” Stella said with an apologetic smile as she shifted a bundled-up baby Liam to cradle him in one arm so she could push the door shut behind her. “Well, I won’t bother you long.” Gesturing to the bag dangling from the wrist of the arm holding Liam, she added, “I just realized that I forgot to drop this off earlier today and thought you might like—” Her cheerful chatter and smile died the moment the door thunked shut. Expression suddenly grim, she whipped the receiving blanket off of little Liam and held him out. “You have to take him.”
Allie’s eyes widened, but she took the baby and pressed him to her own chest. The moment she did, Stella tugged a doll out of the bag and began to wrap the receiving blanket around it as Liam had been wrapped in it just moments ago. Allie watched her with concern, but before she could ask what was going on, Stella announced, “They’ve found me.”
Allie’s arms tightened protectively around Liam, her concern turning to all-out fear. “What happened?”
“Nothing . . . Yet,” she added quietly. “I spotted them following me on my way home from the coffee shop.”
“So you came here.”
“Just to leave Liam with you,” Stella assured her. “Now I’m going to lead them away to keep you both safe.” Finished with the wrappings, she set the doll on Allie’s hall table and reached up to remove the heart-shaped locket she always wore. She met Allie’s gaze and asked solemnly, “You’ll keep your promise and take care of him?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thank you,” Stella breathed, and then quickly moved around behind her to put the necklace over her head. “This has a picture of Liam’s father and me. Someday, when he’s old enough to understand, show him the picture and explain. Tell him I loved him more than anything. Don’t let him forget me.”
“No, of course I won’t,” Allie murmured, peering down at the locket where it rested against her breast next to Liam’s small, warm body. Frowning, she glanced up to see that Stella had reclaimed the swaddled doll and was settling it against her chest much as she had held Liam on arriving. Biting her lip, Allie eyed her friend with concern. “Stella—”
“I’m sure everything will be fine. This is just in case,” Stella interrupted her, and then managed a smile. “Thank you . . . for being my friend and for loving Liam.”
“I—” Allie’s mouth closed on the words she’d wanted to say. Stella was already gone. Allie stared at the closed door briefly, startled anew at the incredible speed the woman sometimes displayed. She shifted Liam to cradle him in one arm as she moved to the door and tugged the edge of the blind aside just enough to peek out. She noted Stella cooing to the “baby” as she laid it in Liam’s waiting carriage on the sidewalk in front of her porch, but then she scanned the street, searching for someone out of place or watching Stella. She didn’t see anyone, but it was dark. An army of men could be hiding out there among the row of town houses and she probably wouldn’t see them.
Biting her lip, Allie shifted her gaze back to Stella as the woman finished settling the “baby” and started pushing the carriage down the snow-covered sidewalk.
“I should have cleaned the walk again when I finished work,” Allie muttered to herself with self-recrimination. She had pulled out the snow blower and cleaned the sidewalk that afternoon, but it had continued to snow after that and there were a couple of inches of the white stuff out there. Not a crazy amount, but enough to make pushing a baby carriage a bit of a trial. Not that Stella appeared to be having trouble, Allie noted. But Stella was a lot stronger than the average woman.
Despite the hour and lack of traffic, Stella paused to check both ways before crossing the road and making her way to her own town house. Stella then scooped up the “baby” and mounted the steps to her small porch. Allie watched her unlock the door and step inside. The door was just starting to swing shut behind her when the explosion happened.
The sound was deafening, and Allie felt the floor vibrate under her feet as the building across the street shuddered. Its windows shattered, glass flying as flames roared out of them with a stunning fury before receding back inside.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure she got out the back with that crazy speed of hers,” Allie whispered when Liam began to fuss in her arms as if he had seen and understood what had just happened. The words had barely left her lips when Stella reappeared in the still-open door of the burning town house. The fake Liam was still clutched to her chest and her body was cloaked in fire. Stella stood there briefly, obscured by the flames shrouding her, and then turned back into the house and collapsed into the blaze.
Allie stared at the burning entrance to the woman’s house for a long time. She had no idea what she was waiting for. Perhaps for Stella to reappear and wave to let her know everything was all right. But that didn’t happen, and finally, she made herself release the edge of the blind so it blocked the burning house from view.
Swallowing thickly, Allie looked down at the baby in her arms. The promise Stella had mentioned was to raise and keep Liam safe if anything happened to her. Stella hadn’t been specific on what that something might be, but dying in a fiery explosion would fall into that category.
“Dear God,” Allie breathed, staring down at the little orphan in her arms. She now had a baby to care for and keep safe. Her, Allison Chambers—a thirty-year-old single woman with no children of her own, or any likelihood of ever having them—was now a . . . mother? Foster mother? Adoptive mother? She didn’t know what she was except that she was responsible for the child in her arms . . . And she didn’t know a thing about babies. She knew even less about raising vampire babies. What the hell was she supposed to do?
One
Magnus stepped out of the plane and stopped abruptly on the steps, his fingers tightening around the handle of his suitcase as a frigid north wind blasted over him. It was cold enough to steal his breath away and had him briefly wishing he could turn around, reseat himself on the plane, and demand to be taken home to the UK. Then he spotted the SUV pulling onto the private landing strip.
Straightening his shoulders, Magnus ducked his head and quickly descended the stairs to the tarmac, leaning into the frigid, roari
ng wind to do so. He was resolved to staying. He hadn’t flown all the way here from England just to turn tail at the first chill breeze and fly back home without collecting the woman he’d come for.
“What did you do? Check the weather forecast for the coldest time of year to arrive and book the flight for then?”
Magnus lifted his head at that shouted comment to see that the SUV had pulled to a halt just a few feet in front of him, and a young dark-haired male had got out on the driver’s side to rush around to him.
“Tybo,” he greeted mildly, giving up his suitcase when the younger man reached for it. “It is a bit brisk.”
“Brisk, my ass. It’s freezing.” Tybo shouted to be heard over the wind as he stowed the suitcase in the back of the SUV. Closing the door then, he hurried around to the driver’s side, adding, “I’ll be surprised if the pilot can take off now he’s here. His wings probably have ice on them already.”
Magnus merely grunted and slid into the front passenger seat, eager to enjoy the waiting warmth.
“How was the flight?” Tybo asked, fiddling with buttons and knobs to adjust the heat.
“Uneventful. I slept most of the way,” Magnus admitted as the younger man put the heat on full blast, sending a rush of warm air over him.
“Good. You’re all rested up, then, and ready to go,” Tybo muttered as he shifted the vehicle into gear and pulled a U-turn on the landing strip.
“To go?” Magnus asked, eyes narrowing. “The only place I am going is to Marguerite Argeneau Notte’s. I was told you would take me there.”
“Well, as it turns out, Marguerite came to collect you herself,” Tybo informed him.
“Then why are you driving past the house toward the gates?” Magnus asked, turning his head to stare at the Enforcer house as they passed it.
“Well, see, as I said, Marguerite came over to get you, and while waiting, she happened to be chatting to myself and Sam about your life mate—”
“Possible life mate,” Magnus corrected, mostly for his own benefit. He was trying to keep from getting too excited until he knew things would work out. He’d lived a long time and for most of that time had longed for a mate. Getting his hopes up only to have them be crushed would be unbearable. It was better he hold on to a “wait and see” attitude.
Tybo grunted, but continued. “Mortimer came into the kitchen where we were talking, just in time to hear her name was Allison Chambers.”
“Allie,” Magnus corrected. “Marguerite says she prefers Allie.”
“Right. Allie. Anyway, it seems he’d just heard on the police radio that an Allison Chambers had been arrested for robbing a blood bank and he was going to send—”
“What?” Magnus interrupted with horror. “My Allie robbed a blood bank?”
“Yes. Well, we’re quite sure it was your Allie. It’s the blood bank where she works. Mortimer was going to send Valerian and me to the hospital to see if this robbery was immortal related or not, but once he realized she was your life mate—”
“She robbed a blood bank?” Magnus repeated, still stuck on the fact that she’d robbed anything. Then Tybo’s latest words sank in and he asked with alarm, “Why the hospital? Was she hurt?”
“Mortimer wasn’t sure why the police took her to the hospital. You know that officers only radio in the bare basics.”
Magnus scowled at the lack of information, now worried that his possible life mate might be injured, or even dying. That would be just his luck. Find a life mate just as she died.
“So, we’re going to the hospital to find out what’s what,” Tybo finished solemnly.
Magnus nodded and then shook his head. “Why the devil would she rob a blood bank? Marguerite said she was mortal.”
Tybo shrugged. “That’s something Mortimer wants us to find out. If she was actually robbing the place,” he added meaningfully. “I mean, she works there, after all. Maybe the police made a mistake.”
“So you’re saying this was all a big mistake?”
Allie ignored the dry skepticism in the older police officer’s tone and focused her attention on the much more sympathetic younger officer as she answered, “Well, it is if you think I was breaking and entering the blood bank. I didn’t break in. I have keys,” she pointed out. “I work there.”
“And you just went there to move some product. At eleven o’clock at night?” the older officer asked dubiously.
Allie nodded firmly. “I needed to move some blood pegged for the hospital to the proper refrigerator. I forgot to do it before I left earlier today.”
“And you thought this was a good idea at eleven o’clock at night?”
Allie shrugged. “That’s when I left the party and thought of it.” Offering a wry smile, she added, “Mind you, I’d been drinking, so my judgment might have been off. Still, I didn’t want my boss to have to do it in the morning. She’s older and her arthritis has been acting up.”
She paused to eye both men to see how they were accepting what she’d said. “Besides, what would I steal from the blood bank? There’s no money or drugs or anything there. All there is in the place is blood. Who would steal blood?”
Much to her relief, that seemed to be a convincing argument since the younger officer nodded as if what she’d said made sense, and the skepticism on the older officer’s face eased considerably. Then the older one asked, “And your outfit?”
Allie glanced down at the black jeans and black blouse she was wearing, but knew it was really the black cat mask that they were talking about. Fortunately, at the last minute she’d thought to add it just in case something unexpected happened and she got caught. Thank goodness, since she’d fainted midway through the ordeal, and cracked her head on the hard tile floor when she fell. She’d apparently been found by one of the cleaners when they arrived at midnight. Which is how she’d found herself waking up here in the emergency department of the hospital with a doctor and these two officers staring down at her, full of questions.
“It was a costume party,” she said now, giving the excuse she’d come up with ahead of time. “I went as a cat . . . not a cat burglar.” She added that last bit with a quirky smile and silently prayed they’d buy her excuse. Noting the way the younger officer’s lips twitched, Allie felt sure she was convincing them. “I must have left my ears at the party. They were on a headband and it was kind of tight. Started to give me a headache as the night went on. Or maybe that was the booze,” she added, although she hadn’t had a single drink tonight. It was better they think she was a tipsy idiot than a blood-stealing fiend. She simply couldn’t go to jail. Who would watch Liam?
Allie fretted about that as she waited for the policemen to make up their minds about her. What would happen to her son if she went to jail?
“All right.”
Allie glanced up quickly at those words from the older officer.
“This is obviously a case of . . .” He grimaced and shook his head. “I’m not even sure what you’d call it besides bad judgment under the influence. In future, ma’am, when going to parties where you intend to drink, leave your work keys at home. Hopefully that will prevent something like this from happening again.”
“If she’s allowed to keep her work keys,” the younger officer commented, and gave her a sympathetic look as he explained, “We had to call your supervisor and tell her what happened. She was on her way to the blood bank to check out the situation and calm the cleaning staff.”
“Yeah,” the older man grunted. “Finding you unconscious on the floor in that get-up and surrounded by a pool of blood gave the cleaning crew quite a scare.”
“Oh, no! Some of the blood bags burst?” Allie asked, dismayed at the thought of the waste. Blood banks were always struggling to keep up with the need for blood by hospitals and such.
“No. The bags were fine. The blood was from your head wound,” the old guy said grimly. “You took quite a knock as you fell.”
“Oh,” Allie sighed, and instinctively reached up to touch her he
ad, encountering cloth there she supposed was bandages. She’d fainted in the middle of the robbery. Her dizziness had come on quickly. She’d been a little weak, but fine up until then, but as she was carrying a box of the bags of blood across the room everything had suddenly started to spin and then the floor had come up to meet her. Apparently, she’d hit her head as she fell. Great. She’d lost more blood.
“Well.” The older officer shifted and closed the notepad he’d been jotting in since she woke up. “We’ll head out and let them get you settled in a room.”
“A room?” she asked with alarm.
“The doctor said they want to keep you twenty-four hours for observation,” the younger officer said gently. “You really took a bad blow when your head hit the floor. Skull meeting hard tile is dangerous. They want to make sure all is well. No swelling on the brain or anything.”
“But we’ll expect you down at the police station when they release you tomorrow,” the older officer said sternly. “You’ll need to sign the paperwork this little jaunt of yours has caused.”
“Yes, of course,” Allie murmured, but knew she really couldn’t stay. Liam was special. He couldn’t be left alone for long.
“Officer Mannly?”
The older patrolman turned at that soft enquiry and smiled at the young nurse who had appeared at the opening in the curtain. “Yes?”
“There are two detectives talking to Dr. Whitehead. I think they’re here about Ms. Chambers, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
“Detectives, huh?” Mannly said with disgust. “Thanks. We’ll go head them off and tell them they wasted a trip.”
When the nurse nodded and slipped away, he turned back to smile crookedly at Allie. “Get some rest. But don’t forget to come to the station tomorrow. And maybe without the cat costume.”
“Yes.” Allie managed a smile and murmured, “Thank you,” as the men slid through the opening in the curtain and out of sight, but her mind was on how to get out of there. Surely the hospital couldn’t hold her if she wanted to leave? She wasn’t under arrest. Thank God.