Magnus managed not to react to those words, though he found them surprisingly painful. He knew he shouldn’t. While he might have accepted her as his life mate and had started developing feelings for her that had grown as he’d listened to her tale about her friendship with Stella and how she’d come to be Liam’s mother, she hardly knew anything about him other than how he was turned. And she was mortal. The fact that they were life mates wouldn’t mean as much to her.

Magnus was trying to decide what he could say that wouldn’t scare the hell out of her when she apparently grew impatient and said, “I barely know you. I don’t think I could— I mean, when people marry they’re expected to—”

“I would not expect anything from you that you were not ready to give,” he said when she faltered again, and tried not to feel guilty about the relief that washed over her face. Magnus meant what he said, but he also knew it was meaningless because they were life mates. Life mates were known to have incredible, explosive sex that was so mind-blowing and overwhelming that they passed out at the end of it. They were also said to be insatiable and unable to resist each other once they experienced it. He was counting on that and would have liked to test it now, but Stephanie had warned him not to let Allie experience the passion before he got her promise. So he kept his distance and simply waited.

“I need to think about this,” Allie said finally. “And talk to Liam. It affects him too.”

“Of course,” Magnus agreed solemnly, and turned to open the door. “Let me know what you decide.” He’d barely finished the last word before he had the door closed between them.