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Holly watched him go and then got out of the front seat and moved to the backseat instead, leaving the front for Gia. She then sat staring at the house she and James had bought together after they’d married. They’d planned to sell and move to a larger place when they were ready to have kids, but it was a good starter home.

The house suddenly blurred in her vision, and Holly blinked, and then raised her fingers to dash tears from her eyes. They were unexpected. She hadn’t thought this would upset her. She really was happy for Gia and James and hadn’t felt a moment’s jealousy, which was just wrong. In fact, more than anything, all she’d felt was relief. Those two weeks before the accident had been impossible. She couldn’t imagine trying to struggle through a lifetime of that, even a mortal lifetime. And now she didn’t have to.

Still, Holly supposed she was grieving what had been. The dreams she’d had as Mrs. James Bosley. And maybe she was also crying a little because she wasn’t sure of her own future. She had turned Justin away, repeatedly rejected him. What if he now did the same to her? And if he didn’t, how could she be sure they could work? Until very recently, she’d been certain she and James could and that had been wrong. With Justin, she wasn’t certain of anything.

“Piccola!”

Holly glanced around with surprise when Gia slipped into the backseat beside her.

“I will ride back here with Holly,” the woman announced.

“Ah, you’re gonna make me sit up here all by myself?”

Gia clucked her tongue. “Drive, James.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” he muttered, starting the engine.

“Why is it funny?” Gia asked with confusion.

Holly met James’s eyes in the mirror and they both burst out laughing.

Gia merely smiled at them and then took Holly’s hands. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to work out. Justin will not reject you. He understood and even admired your decision to honor your vows. And,” she added firmly when Holly opened her mouth to speak, “And you do not have to trust in yourself with Justin. Trust in the nanos, yes? They will never steer you wrong. If they think you are life mates, then life mates you are, and you will work.”

“Now,” she squeezed Holly’s hand and then turned to smile at James in the rearview mirror. “We will go have dinner to celebrate . . . in Canada.”

“What?” Holly turned on her with surprise.

“Hmmm. I called Aunt Marguerite and she insisted we all come to dinner.”

“In Canada?” Holly asked with disbelief.

“Hmmm. Is only a five hours flight or something like that,” she reassured her. “And there are snacks on the plane.”

“The plane?” Holly echoed.

Gia nodded. “It should be landing when we get to the airport. Lucian Argeneau arranged for it to come get us when I called him earlier.”

Holly’s eyes narrowed. “And why did you call him?”

“Because I want to be happy, but I want you to be happy too,” she said simply.

“And how does flying to Canada for dinner make either of us happy?” she asked warily.

“Well . . . when James and I finally talked about everything, and he decided that he had to talk to you as soon as you got home . . .” She hesitated and then said solemnly, “I cannot celebrate and enjoy having James to life mate if you and Justin are not settled as well, Holly.”

Holly bit her lip and said, “Have you ever heard the expression you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink?”

Gia shook her head slowly. “What does it mean?”

“It means she’s afraid you’ll get her to Canada and bring this Justin guy around, but that doesn’t mean he’ll still be interested,” James said solemnly.

Gia shook her head. “You are his life mate, Holly. You have nothing to fear.”

Holly didn’t say anything, but as Gia patted her hand, she worried that might not be true.

Nineteen

“Do this, Justin. Do that, Justin. We’re shorthanded, Justin. Mortimer needs you, Justin. You have to come back. But where is Justin? Everyone else is out hunting a rogue, but what is Justin doing? He’s delivering pastries to Marguerite’s house for some damned dinner she’s having. Oh yeah, we need you, Justin,” he muttered under his breath as he parked the SUV in Marguerite’s driveway and got out to walk around to the back of the SUV.

He retrieved the covered tray inside, then straightened, pressed the button on his key fob to close the back, and headed for the house. He was still ten feet away when the front door opened and Dante peered out at him. “What took you so long?”

“Really?” Justin asked, one eyebrow rising. “Not, ‘Thank you for taking time out from your important work of hunting rogues to bring us yet more food to swallow in one or two bites, Justin.’ Just, ‘What took you so long?’ ”

Dante shrugged and stepped back for him to enter with the tray. “I don’t eat pastries.”

“Yeah, you do,” Justin said dryly, stepping inside and turning to watch him close the door. “As far as I can tell, you and Tomasso eat everything.”

“Yeah, we do,” Dante admitted with a grin and then waved at the door to the living room.

Shaking his head, Justin turned and strode to the door, but stopped there as he noted all the ­people present. It wasn’t a damned dinner—­it was a party of some sort. The whole Argeneau family appeared to be here, as well as every last hunter who was supposed to be out rounding up a supposed nest of rogues Lucian had got word about. Even Mortimer and Sam were here.

“What the—­” he began and then paused as Marguerite suddenly smiled at him. She took her husband Julius’s arm and the two stepped sideways, revealing three ­people sitting on the couch.

“Holly,” Justin breathed and dropped the tray he held. Fortunately, Dante was quick and managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Justin hardly noticed though; his attention had shifted to the man beside Holly. James Bosley, her husband, sat between her and Gia on the couch. That was a shock, but when he noted the silver glint in the man’s eyes, he reeled back and whirled away, only to crash into Lucian Argeneau’s steel wall of a chest.

“Where are you going?” Lucian asked mildly. “Aren’t you going to greet your life mate?”

“She’s with her husband,” Justin growled. “Obviously he was a possible life mate to her too. She’s made her decision. I—­why the hell are you shaking your head?”

“Because you’re wrong,” Lucian said. “As usual.”

Justin scowled at him and then hissed. “See the guy with silver-­blue eyes there?”

“Justin, ninety percent of the ­people in the room have silver-­blue eyes,” he pointed out with amusement.

“The one on the couch that isn’t related to you,” Justin growled.

“You mean Gia’s life mate?” Lucian asked mildly.

“No, I mean Holly’s husband,” he said with frustration.

“The only man on the couch is Gia’s life mate,” Lucian informed him.

“What?” he asked with confusion and then turned to look at the trio again. James Bosley? Gia’s life mate?

“Yes,” Lucian said in answer to his unspoken question.

“So Gia turned him?” Justin asked slowly, trying to absorb what he was being told.

“No. Holly turned him,” Lucian answered.

“What?” Justin faced him again. “Why?”

Lucian released a long drawn-­out sigh and then shook his head. “I suggest you gird your loins and ask Holly. I am bored with this conversation now.”

“Gird my loins?” Justin asked with disbelief. “Who even says that?”

“I do,” Lucian growled and strode around him to enter the room and join his wife, Leigh, by a table filled with appetizers.

“They were in a car accident. James would have died. Holly felt responsible so turned him.”

Justin turned to glance at the woman who had spoken. Decker’s mate, Dani, now stood on his right side.