“I—” Magnus scowled. “Well, not like this. A seemingly accidental encounter, maybe. Something that appears random or natural, and then I would woo her.”

“Woo?” Tybo grinned.

“What?” Magnus asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Nothing,” the younger man said at once, but his grin widened. “You’re just showing your age. Wooing is kind of old school.”

“The word or the activity?” Magnus asked with irritation.

“Both,” Tybo decided, and then clapped a hand on his shoulder and used the hold to urge him toward the exit. “I’m afraid the accidental encounter thing is out. We need to find out what she was really up to tonight.”

“We know what she was up to,” Magnus pointed out as they exited the emergency area. “She was moving some blood she forgot to take care of before leaving work that day and—”

“Maybe,” Tybo interrupted. “But we need to find out for sure.”

“Of course we do,” Magnus agreed wearily, but wasn’t happy with the knowledge. He’d hoped to have a more natural introduction into her life. This was not going to be natural and could make things harder. But even hard was better than not having the chance. He’d waited a long time to meet his life mate. “So, we are going to her place?”

“Yeah,” Tybo said, and then they both fell silent as they left the building and headed for the SUV. Neither of them actually spoke again until Tybo pulled into the parking lot of an apartment building some twenty minutes later. Turning off the engine, he then turned to Magnus. “How do you want to play this? I mean, I don’t want to make this any harder for you than it has to be. You could wait in the car and I could go in alone, read her mind, and if everything is aboveboard, and she wasn’t stealing blood, just leave and let you do your whole accidental encounter and wooing later.”

“You would do that?” he asked with surprise.

“Sure,” Tybo said, and then pointed out, “It’s not like you’d be much help anyway. If she’s a possible life mate you can’t read or control her. So, really, if she wasn’t stealing blood, it makes more sense for you to wait here so you can approach her without complications later.”

Magnus nodded, but his attention had caught on two men moving through the darkness along the front of the building, half-hidden by the bushes that ran along it. He tensed when he noted the way their eyes glowed in the dark.

“So, I’ll leave the car on and—”

“Allie lives on the first floor, does she not?” Magnus interrupted.

“Yes,” Tybo said, sounding bewildered by the question.

“The front of the building?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t know. I just know her apartment is 107.”

“I am pretty sure she probably lives in the front,” Magnus said grimly, reaching for his door handle.

“Why?”