by Lynsay Sands
Abaddon stood frozen just feet away, horror and despair on his face as he stared down at Stephen, she saw, and then noticed Lucian Argeneau and a couple she didn’t know coming through the arch and approaching the rogue from behind. While Allie had never seen the couple before, the woman had the same white-blond hair and silver blue eyes as Lucian. A relative was her guess and she wondered if this was the couple everyone had been worried about. Basha and Marcus.
“You killed my life mate,” Abaddon growled, drawing Allie’s attention again. His eyes were glowing pure silver with emotion as he glared at her, and his fangs were even now sliding down out of his upper jaw, she saw with fascination, and then felt Magnus catch her arm and draw her back against him.
She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and looked around to see Tybo moving up beside her, but then the woman’s cold voice pierced the silence. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, eh, Abby?”
Allie swung her gaze back to the man in time to see him spin around to face the newcomers. The men had stopped walking, leaving the woman to continue forward alone, and she was hefting a sword like the one Allie was holding.
“Basha!” The man spat the word even as the blonde swung her sword. The blade sliced clean through his neck, sending his head tumbling to the floor. His body remained upright for a moment, blood spurting from the open wound, and then dropped heavily to the ground.
“Ewww,” Allie said with disgust, whirling toward Magnus and burying her head in the uninjured side of his chest.
There was a moment of silence, and then Tybo gave a disbelieving laugh. “Ewww? You just did the same thing to his buddy over there not two minutes ago.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t look when I did it,” Allie muttered, easing back from Magnus a little, afraid she might cause him pain.
“What?” Tybo squawked with disbelief, even as Magnus peered down at her with shock.
Lifting her head, she turned to frown at the Enforcer and explained, “I closed my eyes.”
“You closed your eyes while cutting off a man’s head?” Tybo asked with horror.
“Well, I didn’t want to see his head come off,” she said defensively.
Tybo stared at her for a moment, and then turned his gaze to Magnus. “Magnus, buddy . . . she closed her eyes. I mean, who does that while wielding a sword?”
“My wife apparently,” Magnus said mildly.
Allie sighed with relief when she saw the grin pulling at his lips and pushing away his pained expression. He would be okay.
Raising his hand, Magnus brushed it lightly down her cheek and added, “Is she not magnificent?”
Allie smiled in surprise, and then reached up to cover his hand, her expression becoming solemn. “Magnus, I promised myself I’d tell you this if I survived today, so . . .” Pausing, she took a deep breath, and then blurted, “I think I might be falling in love with you.”
Magnus stilled, his smile replaced with an expression of wonder. “You do?”
“Yes. I’m quite certain I do,” she said, and then wanting to be honest, admitted, “Well, seventy-five percent certain anyway . . . Or maybe sixty-five.”
“Your certainty is decreasing by the minute,” he pointed out dryly as Tybo started to chuckle.
Allie frowned, and then sighed with frustration and said, “Well, I’ve never been in love before. How do I know this isn’t just lust, combined with liking and respect?”
“Actually,” Magnus said gently. “I believe that might be the very definition of love.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head, and then, “Really?”
“It is, and you are,” Lucian said dryly. “Now can we clean up this mess and get out of here? I have a wife and children at home that I would like to see before the sun rises.”
When Allie turned to scowl at the man, he looked her over more closely and then shifted his gaze to Magnus and grimaced. “On second thought, Magnus, take your woman to the van. You both need blood. We can handle this.”
“Allie! Oh, thank God they found you! I’ve been so worried.”
Allie shifted to the side to look past Lucian at that cry, a smile of relief curving her lips when she saw Drina rushing toward them with Harper, Teddy, and Tricia on her heels. You couldn’t tell by looking at her that she’d had the top of her head sliced off by a machete a couple of hours earlier. The woman looked as good as new if a little pale.
“Yes, yes, we found her,” Lucian said impatiently as Drina and Tricia reached Allie and hugged her one after the other, murmuring over her head wound. “Now she and Magnus need blood, and so do you, Drina. You are still healing and pale. Harper, take the three of them to the van, give them blood, and drive them home. The rest of us can take care of this.”
“There are live mortals in the basement,” Allie heard Teddy say as Harper began to usher her, Drina, and Magnus away. “They’re locked in a room someone had written Livestock on with a marker,” he added dryly. “Some are in bad shape. They’ll need tending and their memories wiped.”
“Victor, DJ, and I will tend to them,” Lucian decided. “The rest of you drag what is left of Abaddon and Liam’s father out behind the building and burn them.”
“I am so relieved we found you before anything horrible happened. Well, more horrible than that head wound you have,” Drina said, drawing her attention. Concern cresting her face now, Drina added, “My God, your head must hurt.”
“Not as bad as it did,” Allie assured her. “And I’m glad to see you too. You were in pretty bad shape when Stephen carried me off.” She grimaced at the memory. Drina’s wound would have been a death blow on a mortal.
“You saved my life,” Drina said solemnly. “He was aiming for my neck when your shout made me turn and duck. If you had not done that I would have lost my head. I would have died.”
Allie shook her head. “Only if your head wasn’t returned to your neck quickly, and Tricia or someone would have done that right away.”
“No, Allie. I am pregnant,” Drina said solemnly, and assured her, “You saved my life.”
“Pregnant?” Allie asked with surprise, and then pulled free of the hand Magnus had on her arm to stop and hug the woman. “Congratulations. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“Not yet,” Drina said with a small smile as they pulled apart and continued to walk, heading for a set of double doors that were hanging half off their hinges. Allie could see a parking lot and the night sky through the opening.
“Allie, you are swaying on your feet. Are you all right?” Harper asked with concern as they neared the doors.
“I’m fine,” Allie assured him, but frowned as she realized she was swaying a bit. She was also leaning heavily on the hold Magnus had on her arm, and she realized that now that the panic was over, her adrenaline was waning and apparently taking her strength with it.
“I am going to run ahead and get the van,” Harper announced, starting to move a little more quickly. “Wait for me at the doors and I shall come and collect you.”
The moment they murmured their agreement, he burst into a run that quickly carried him out of the building and out of sight.
“Harper and I have always split our time between Toronto, Italy, and Port Henry,” Drina murmured as they paused at the open doors of the building and looked out. “But now that we’re going to have a child, we have decided to buy a house in Port Henry and spend most of our time here.”
“Oh, that’ll be great,” Allie said with a smile, leaning against the door frame to take her weight off of Magnus. “The baby will have kids to play with and you’ll have Elvi, Mabel, and Tricia.”
“Yes.” Drina smiled, and then asked, “What about you two? Abaddon is gone now. You could settle here too.”
“Oh.” Allie glanced uncertainly to Magnus. She wanted to say hell yeah, she was staying in Port Henry. She’d love that. Both for herself and Liam. But where she lived wasn’t just her decision anymore . . . a rather annoying realization for someone who had b
een independent for her entire adult life.
“Liam seems very happy here,” Magnus murmured, pressing a hand to his wound. “And I think it would be nice for him to grow up with friends.”
“Yes, but would you be happy here? What about your castle?” Allie asked with concern, and not just for where he wanted to live. Magnus was trying not to show that he was in pain, but she would guess he was suffering as much as she was, and she was suffering pretty badly now that the excitement was over. Enough that while she wasn’t looking forward to the pain of healing, she would take it to get to the after healing.
“We could always use the castle as a vacation home,” he said. “As I told you, my love. I will be happy wherever you and Liam are. Wherever the two of you are is home. Which reminds me,” he muttered, and pulled out his phone. “I promised him I would call the minute we got you back.”
Allie’s eyes widened and then a smile began to pull at her lips as he punched in the number to the house and spoke briefly to Stephanie before asking for Liam. Magnus put the call on speakerphone as they waited for Stephanie to fetch Liam and they both smiled when his young voice greeted them with, “Did you find her?”
“Yes. We found her,” Magnus assured him. “And we are on our way back.”
“Yes!” Liam shouted, and then, “I knew you’d save her. Now we can be a family, Dad.”
Allie felt her heart stutter when Liam called Magnus that. It was so unexpected . . . and sweet.
“We are a family now,” Magnus said firmly, and then smiled wryly at her and admitted, “But I fear I did not save your mother so much as she saved herself . . . and me.”
“But Magnus saved me first,” Allie said at once, not willing to let him diminish what he’d done. The man had pushed her out of the way of the machete, knowing it would leave him unprotected from the coming blow.
“That’s what families do,” Liam said solemnly. “They save each other.”
“Yes, they do,” Allie said quietly, and decided she must have brain damage from that blow to her head, because tears were welling up in her eyes.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, son,” Allie said softly, and then cleared her throat and added, “You go on and play with your friends. We should be home soon.”
“Okay,” Liam said at once. “Can we have pizza when you get back? Teddy says pizza is awesome. Why have we never had pizza?”
Because we didn’t have money for things like that by the time you were old enough to eat it, Allie thought, but Magnus said, “We can have pizza. Tell Stephanie to order enough for everyone and we will celebrate that you and your mother are free of the bad men and never have to move again.”
“Really?” Liam squealed. “You smoked them?”
“Smoked them?” Allie whispered with disbelief.
Where had her son heard words like that? she wondered as Magnus said, “Well, actually, Basha smoked one.”
“Yeah, Teddy says Basha is badass.”
Allie’s jaw dropped at that. Liam had never sworn before in his life. She reached for the phone, ready to give him hell and threaten to wash his mouth out with soap, but Magnus turned so she couldn’t take it and said, “Yes, well, so is your mother, son, because she smoked the other one.”
“Really?” Liam sounded shocked, and Allie scowled. First cussing, and now thinking her helpless. Who had kept him alive for the last four years? Well, as it turned out Liam wasn’t in any physical danger, really, but he’d certainly been in danger of—
“Yes, really,” Magnus said, distracting her. “But I suggest you drop the word badass from your vocabulary until you are older, or we are going to have to have a serious talk. Understand?”
“Yes, sir, Dad,” Liam said at once.
“Good boy,” Magnus said warmly. “Now, say goodbye to your mother and give the phone back to Stephanie.”
“Bye, Mom,” Liam said
He must have immediately handed the phone to Stephanie because she heard a rustling sound and then Stephanie’s slightly muffled voice saying, “Go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Allie didn’t listen to Magnus’s conversation with Stephanie. Mostly she just stared at him, thoughts chugging slowly through her head. Magnus had played the heavy with Liam about his choice of language, sparing her from being the bad guy for a change. But he’d also done it well in her opinion, being firm but following it with love. And she hadn’t been lying to Liam. Magnus had saved her life when he’d pushed her away as Stephen was about to have at her with the machete. She had no doubt he had been aiming to take her head. But Magnus had saved her from that, and had done so despite the fact that it had put him at risk and seen him terribly wounded. And the man was willing to give up his castle and use it as a vacation spot to live here in Port Henry to make her and Liam happy.
Added to the constant thoughtfulness he’d already shown her, as well as the passion he gave her, Magnus Bjarnesen was really something special. His love was nothing like the versions of love that she’d experienced growing up. He would never stand by and watch her die. She was quite sure he would fight for her with his last dying breath. And Allie thought she might do the same for him. He was a man worthy of that kind of love . . . and she was now one hundred percent certain she did love him. Because just looking at him right now was making her heart hurt and filling her with a longing to take him in her arms and simply hold him and never let go.
“Allie?” Drina said quietly.
“Hmm?” Allie turned to smile at her, promising herself she would tell Magnus that she definitely did love him later, when they were alone.
“I’ve been thinking,” Drina said, her hand moving to her stomach. “If I haven’t lost this baby . . .”
“Yes?” Allie asked when she hesitated.
“Well, you know Elvi, Mabel, and Tricia deliberately had babies at the same time so their kids could be friends, right?”
“Did they?” Allie asked, but wasn’t really surprised. It actually sounded kind of smart to her.
“Yes, they did,” Drina assured her. “And, well, I’ve been thinking,” she began, and Allie listened to her plan with mounting interest.
Epilogue
“Time to wake up, sleepyhead. Your surprise baby shower is in thirty minutes.”
Allie groaned in protest at having to get up, but then smiled when she felt Magnus’s chest against her back and his arm slip around her very large waist. Yawning sleepily, she covered his hand on her belly with her own, and muttered, “It’s hardly a secret. Drina figured it out weeks ago and told the rest of us.”
“Yes, but you, Leonora, Dawn, and Drina will all act surprised to keep from upsetting Mabel and Elvi, who have worked very hard to arrange this surprise combined baby shower for the four of you.”
“Yes, we will,” she agreed, snuggling back against his groin and wiggling her bottom.
“None of that, wife. We don’t have time for any of that nonsense today,” he reprimanded, removing his hand and rolling away from her to get out of bed.
“Meanie,” she accused, sitting up to scowl at him as he pulled on his jeans. “You know, I’m pretty sure withholding conjugal rights is illegal. Or should be.”
Magnus chuckled at the claim, and reminded her, “We just woke up from a postcoital bout of unconsciousness.”
“Postcoital bout of unconsciousness,” Allie echoed with amusement. “God, you turn me on when you talk all highfalutin’ like that.”
“Everything turns you on,” he countered with a grin as he did up his jeans.
“Everything about you does,” she agreed, unembarrassed.
“Hmm.” Crawling halfway onto the bed again, he gave her a hard, thorough kiss, and then broke it to lean his forehead against hers and admitted, “Everything about you turns me on too.”
Allie snorted at that. “I’m bloated, tired all the time, have swollen ankles, and a big fat belly.”
“I love your big fat belly,” he assured her, running one hand ove
r her extended stomach. “It’s holding our child while it develops and grows.”
Allie smiled softly and covered his hand. “Have I told you I love you yet today?”
“Only three or four times,” he said with a soft smile. “I was beginning to worry that you might be tiring of me.”
“Never,” she assured him, and then bit her lip and leaned back to peer at him. “I’ve been thinking of names for the baby.”
“So have I,” he said solemnly, sitting on the side of the bed and taking her hand in his. Before she could say anything else, he asked, “How do you feel about Stella if it’s a girl?”
Allie’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Magnus nodded solemnly. “I think it would be fitting to name our daughter after the woman who gave us our son, and helped bring us together.”
“Yes,” Allie breathed, tears filling her eyes. “I’d like that. In fact, I was about to suggest it myself.”
“Perfect. Then it’s settled,” he said, kissing her hand. Releasing her then, Magnus stood and grabbed his shirt to pull it on as well.
“But what if it’s a boy?” Allie asked, slipping out of bed now to find her own clothes.
Magnus paused in the act of doing up his shirt, and then shrugged. “I picked our daughter’s name. You get to choose for our son if we have one.”
Allie was silent a moment as she dressed, but as she did up the light summer dress she’d donned, she said, “Then I think I would like Erik.”
When Magnus turned to her with surprise, she pointed out, “He was your friend, and if he hadn’t convinced you to go a’viking, you never would have been turned and I never would have met you.”
Magnus nodded solemnly and walked over to slip his arms around her. “Then Erik, it is.”
Allie smiled, but then asked anxiously, “Are you sorry we’re having a child right away like this?”
“No, of course not. As I said when you told me about Drina’s plan the night we killed Abaddon, I have always wanted a family.”
“Yes. But I’ve been worrying that you just agreed to make me happy. Most newly married couples want a little time to enjoy each other before—”