“No, there were no blood banks,” he agreed mildly. “She must have brought me people to feed on through the turn and probably controlled me to prevent my harming them.”

“You don’t remember?” she asked, and Magnus shook his head.

“I do not remember biting anyone, or even the turn, really, other than bad nightmares,” he admitted. When she merely nodded with a grim expression, he continued. “I eventually woke up feeling rather amazing, but wondering where I was. Alodia came to me shortly after and explained about my being found and brought to her. She explained what I was now and offered to mentor me.”

“Mentor?” Allie’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly did that entail?”

“She basically adopted me into her family and taught me how to survive as an immortal. How to hunt. How best to avoid detection, etc.”

“Oh. Right, you were only fourteen,” Allie said now, relaxing a little. “Of course, she adopted you.”

Magnus didn’t remind her that he had been considered a man at that age, and that many of his friends had been married with a child or two under their belt by then. He merely nodded solemnly. “Family is important to immortals. They understand that it can make the difference between an immortal going rogue or not, so clans often adopt stray immortals when they come across them.”

She tilted her head. “Is she still alive?”

“Yes.” He hesitated and then admitted, “One of her natural sons, Edward, lives here in Port Henry. You will probably meet him in the next day or two.”

“How old is he?” she asked at once.

“I believe he was born in 1004,” Magnus said slowly, double-checking the date in his head. “Yes . . . 1004.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Well, I’m sure it will be nice for you to see each other.”

“Maybe,” he said dubiously.

Allie’s eyebrows rose. “Maybe?”

Magnus grimaced. “Edward was not my favorite of her sons. He was a bit of a prick growing up. Alodia spoiled him rotten,” he explained. “Made him think a lot of himself. But I hear he has mellowed and become almost human since meeting his life mate, so it may be all right.”

“Life mate.” Allie latched on to the word like a dog on a bone. “Leonora said something about being turned after she met Alessandro and found out she was his life mate, and you called Victor Elvi’s life mate,” she pointed out. “What is it? Is it just the word immortals use for their mates? Or does it have some deeper meaning?”

Magnus was trying to decide how to answer her when a tap sounded on the door and it opened. He turned with relief to see Leonora’s head poke in.

“It’s been an hour. I need to take Allie’s vitals again,” she said apologetically.