The simple answer was to promise to be a life mate to Magnus and allow him to turn her. Liam could never control her then and she would never lose him. But it added a third person to the dynamics. They would be a family. She would lose some of the control she was used to holding and control was important to Allie. She had promised herself at sixteen that she would never be dependent on a man like her mother. She would never give up control of her life and have to bow to a man’s wishes. Now she was faced with a situation that forced her to consider doing just that.

Allie didn’t miss the irony in the situation. Her mother had willingly given up control completely to her father, and that had ended with her losing her daughter, Allie’s sister, Jilly. Now Allie was contemplating giving up at least part of her own control to keep her son.

Sighing, Allie opened the nearest bag and began pulling out items, surprised to find Magnus had thought of everything in his shopping. There were two toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, a hairbrush, shampoo, and conditioner. There was a lovely and expensively packaged perfume that she’d never heard of but quite liked, a wallet and purse, and even clothes for both her and Liam. Each item of clothing came in different sizes, one of which was right, but the best thing about them was that she liked his taste in clothes. The man had similar taste to her, she realized as she pulled out a hip-length black parka with a soft faux-fur lining and trim around the hood.

It was lovely, and looked warm, which was much appreciated. Her own coat was probably still at the blood bank. She’d taken it off while she’d been gathering blood and it hadn’t been around when she’d woken up in the hospital.

The sound of the door opening drew her head around to see Liam rushing in wearing his snowsuit and new boots and carrying another shopping bag.

“Elvi said to bring this up. You forgot it,” he announced, rushing to the bed to add it to the pile. He started to turn away then, no doubt to rush out again, but paused as his gaze landed on a T-shirt with several comic book characters on it. “Wow! Is that for me?”

“Yes. Magnus bought it for you,” Allie said, and smiled faintly when he picked up the T-shirt to get a better look at the characters on it.

“Cool. Can I wear it now?” he asked excitedly.

Allie shook her head. “No. But we’ll give you a bath tonight and you can wear it tomorrow.”

“Ah, but it’s so cool,” he protested, scowling at her with annoyance at the refusal, and she wondered if he would have controlled her and made her let him wear it now if he could.

Allie pushed the thought aside, and asked, “Why do you have your coat and pants on? It’s too hot to wear it inside.”