“Holly?”
Stifling her sobs, Holly tried to regain control of herself at the sound of Gia’s voice and after a moment managed to sound relatively normal when she said, “Yes?”
“Can you come out here, piccola?”
“No,” Holly moaned, and then had to fight to keep from bursting into sobs again.
“Please don’t force me to make you, piccola,” Gia said gently.
“You can’t,” she sniffled. “You have to see the person to control them.” At least she’d learned something useful the last two weeks. Well, besides the fact that she was the whore of Babylon.
“I can see you through the crack, Holly. I can take control. Please don’t make me,” Gia said grimly.
Her gaze immediately shot to the space between the door and the stall wall, and Holly saw that Gia could indeed see in. Certainly, she could see a sliver of Gia through it. Cursing under her breath, she pulled a wad of toilet paper off the roll on the wall next to her, blew her nose and stood up to unlock the stall door.
“What?” Holly muttered resentfully as she stepped out.
“Are you okay?” Gia asked.
“What do you think?” Holly said bitterly, throwing the tissue in the garbage and moving to the sink to turn on the tap. “I just found out I’ve been having an affair on my husband and didn’t even realize it.” Whirling suddenly, she glared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me about shared dreams?”
“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Justin—-”
“Oh, like he’d tell me,” she snapped, and whirled back to the sink. “Thanks for nothing.”
Gia hesitated, and then straightened her shoulders and added, “And because I thought you might try to put an end to them and—-”
“Of course I’d have put an end to them,” Holly growled, splashing cold water on her face.
“And,” Gia repeated, “I thought it would be better for you to have them.”
Face dripping, Holly whirled. “What?”
Gia sighed and shook her head. “Holly, whether you like it or not, you are Justin’s life mate.”
“Possible life mate,” Holly snapped. “Possible, but since I’m married it’s not possible.”
“It is when your marriage fails,” Gia said quietly.
Holly gaped at her. “You want my marriage to fail?”
“No, piccola, of course not,” Gia said gently and stepped forward to hug her. Rubbing her back, she added, “But I fear it will.”
Holly stiffened and tried to pull out of her arms, but Gia tightened them grimly and continued, “I have lived a long time, piccola. You are not the first married mortal who has been turned for one reason or another.”
“You mean because they were a possible life mate to an immortal,” she muttered into her shoulder.
“No. There are other reasons. There have been mortals in the past who have saved the life of an immortal, or even many immortals, and who have been turned for their selfless act.”
“Really?” Holly asked with surprise, pulling back slightly. This time Gia let her so that she could see her nod.
“Si. It is very rare, but it has happened,” she assured her. “And in the two cases I know of, the mortals were married to other mortals. Those unions did not go well after the one was turned. The new immortal could read their partner, and even control them once trained. For one of the two new immortals, they could not bear what their mortal mate truly thought of them. It was too hurtful to hear their thoughts all the time.” She paused briefly to let her absorb that and then added, “The second new immortal could not resist controlling her mortal husband and making him do what she wished. He became little more than her puppet, and she hated herself for doing that to him. In both cases, the unions ended badly, and the new immortal had to go on alone.”
Hugging her again, she patted her back and said, “Fortunately, for you it can be different. You are Justin’s life mate, and he gave up his one turn for you. The fact that you have had shared dreams with him proves that you are life mates, and the fact that you enjoyed them so thoroughly—-”
“How would you know I enjoyed—-You read it in my mind,” Holly asked, and answered, her own question.
“Yes,” she said unapologetically. “And you did enjoy your shared dreams with Justin. You are attracted to him.”
“But I’m—-”
“Married,” Gia finished for her dryly. “Yes, I know. And I know you will not just accept my suggestion that your marriage may not now work. You need to go home and see for yourself.” Releasing her completely, she stepped back. “I suggest you do that now.”
Holly blinked. “What? Now, now? Like this minute?”
Gia shrugged. “Your training is over. You have learned all that you need to survive as an immortal without risking harm to mortals. I will see that Justin arranges for regular deliveries of blood. And,” she added solemnly, “If you sleep at the house tonight, you will not be able to prevent yourself from having shared dreams with Justin again.”