“Unfortunately,” Tybo continued, “she passed out during the attempt . . . hitting her head and losing even more precious blood.” Tybo shook his head. “At this point, she probably needs a blood transfusion herself. She’s very weak, Magnus. Even asleep her heart rate is elevated and her breathing rapid and shallow.”

Magnus frowned at this news and reached out to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. “Feeding a child as young as Liam should not be this detrimental to her health.”

“No,” Tybo murmured, and was silent for a moment, his gaze still on her, and then he said, “I think she’s been letting him overfeed.”

Magnus’s eyebrows rose. Overfeeding the boy would mean that his system would use up a lot of blood trying to remove the extra blood from his system, which would just mean a need for more blood. It would be a vicious circle—the boy always hungry, always needing more blood. Unfortunately, more blood than one mortal could safely supply. If she’d continued like this much longer, it would have killed her. As it was, Allie was lucky she hadn’t already suffered a heart attack or simply died from the blood loss. In effect, the boy was bleeding her to death.

“Who is the boy?” Magnus asked now. “How did she end up the mother to an immortal?”

Tybo was silent for so long that Magnus turned to look at him. The other man’s expression was even more concentrated now as he sought an answer to that question, but it was another moment before he murmured, “Stella.”

“Stella?” Magnus asked. “Is that the boy’s mother?”

“I . . .” Tybo lost the concentrated look and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and fingers as if trying to ward off a headache as he murmured apologetically, “Her thoughts are very confused and almost veiled. It’s as if she’s so used to trying not to think about this stuff that even in sleep she’s protecting her thoughts. All I could get was the name Stella.”

“Blood loss can cause confusion,” Magnus murmured, turning his gaze back to Allie. He stared at her silently, wishing she was awake to answer the questions he had, but knowing it was better to leave her sleeping until they got to the house. He suspected she would fight them about going to the house if they gave her the choice. It was better to get her there, reassure her that she was safe, and then ask the questions buzzing through his head.

Three