Allie clutched at his shoulders, squeezed her eyes shut, and prayed as they suddenly launched into the air. She stayed like that until they landed on the other side of the fence with a jolt that rippled from his body to hers. When Magnus started running again, she opened her eyes to look around.

They were behind the plaza where deliveries were made to the individual stores, but the men were heading toward the end of it. She thought they’d run around the corner to the front of the stores. There were a couple of restaurants there where they could have sought haven, but instead they went to the back door of the last store with something or other Pizza on the sign. Allie wasn’t sure what it read. She never had spare money for fast food anymore so had never paid attention to the name of the nearby pizza joint, and the men were moving too quickly for her to read it properly before the door was open and they were inside with warm air rushing over them.

“I’ll see about getting us a ride,” Tybo announced.

When the man holding her grunted in what she assumed was agreement, Tybo carried Liam off up the hall toward the noise and delicious smells of the kitchen.

“The boy is safe with Tybo.”

Allie tore her concerned gaze away from the pair to peer at the man holding her. She quickly looked away again, though. Holding her as he was, his face was just inches from hers, his breath feathering her lips and cheeks when she’d faced him.

“You can put me down now,” she said quietly, and after a small hesitation, Magnus bent slightly to set her on her feet.

“Thank you,” Allie said, trying not to sound as relieved as she felt.

“You are welcome.”

Allie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and then turned toward where she could see Tybo talking to an aproned man in the entry to the kitchen. Her eyes slid anxiously to what she could see of Liam. Her son was leaning into Tybo with his little arms around his neck as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Allie frowned at the sight. Liam usually didn’t take to strangers. Not that he met a lot of them, she supposed as she became aware that the Go bags were slipping and hefted them to a more secure position higher up her shoulder.

“Can I carry those for you?”

Glancing around to see Magnus’s hand reaching for the straps of the Go bags, Allie instinctively jerked back a step and slapped his hand away. “No.”

His eyes widened, but he let the matter go, and instead asked, “Who were those men in your apartment?”

The question brought surprise flashing over her face. “You tell me. They’re vampires like you.”