if you and your sister had spaghetti instead of the liver.” She let her think about that for a minute, and then said, “That’s how it would start. Just a food he wanted, or candy you didn’t think he should have. Nothing big or important. But it would move on from there to things Liam wanted to do that you didn’t approve of, or places he wanted to go and so on, until you were just a puppet, unable to stop him from doing whatever he wanted. Hell, not even aware that you didn’t want him to do these things in the end.”
Allie stared at her with mounting dismay. If what Stephanie was saying was true . . . She couldn’t be an effective mother to Liam if he could just take control of her when he chose. He was a good boy, but even a saint would find it difficult not to abuse that kind of power.
“And then it wouldn’t take long for others to realize what was happening. They’d decide that Liam should be taken from you and given to an immortal couple, so that he could be raised properly.”
“What? No!” Allie said with dismay.
“And then they’d wipe your mind so you had no memory of Liam, or immortals or anything.”
“No,” she said, standing abruptly. “I won’t allow that. He’s my son.”
“You couldn’t stop it,” Stephanie said solemnly, and then added, “The only way to prevent it is to become immortal yourself.”
Allie froze. “To be . . .”
“Turned,” Stephanie said, and then pointed out, “If you were immortal, Liam wouldn’t be able to control you. There’d be no reason to take him away from you then.”
Allie stared at her blankly. She’d never considered becoming immortal. It just hadn’t occurred to her as a possibility. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she wanted to consider it now. Immortal? A vampire?
Stephanie shrugged. “I guess you have to decide how much you love Liam. Do you want to remain in his life?” she asked. “Because the only way to do that is to turn.”
Allie stared at her silently for a moment, and then sagged back into her seat in defeat. She did love Liam. She might not have given birth to him, but he was her son. She couldn’t lose him. Running a hand wearily through her hair, she asked, “How do I become immortal?”
“Someone has to agree to turn you,” Stephanie said simply.
Allie bit her lip, and then asked, “Would you—?”
“Oh, no,” she said firmly, and then added, “Trust me, you wouldn’t want me to. I’m Edentate, not immortal.”
She had no idea what that meant, but simply asked, “Do you think someone else would, then? Someone who was immortal?”
“Unfortunately, immortals are only allowed to turn one mortal in a lifetime . . . and they tend to save that for a life mate.”
“Life mate,” Allie muttered with frustration. “Everyone keeps throwing that word out, but I have no idea what it means other than that they’re a mate for life. I presume there’s more to it than that?”
“Much more,” Stephanie agreed. “Life mates can’t read or control each other. They can sit in a room together and not worry that their mind is being read, or that they’ll hear a hurtful stray thought from their partner’s mind, because they just can’t. A life mate is an oasis of peace in a very noisy and stressful world.”
“I see,” Allie said slowly.
“No, you don’t, because you have no idea what I’m talking about,” Stephanie assured her wearily, and then suddenly narrowed her eyes. “But you could.”
“I could what?” Allie asked warily when Stephanie started walking toward her.
“See what it means to be without a life mate. The noise you have to constantly block out.”
“Oh, I don’t think—” Allie stood up, but that was as far as she got. Stephanie was immediately before her, reaching for her head. The moment the young woman’s fingers touched either side of her temple, Allie’s mind exploded with chatter. Liam’s hope that he never had to leave this place and the friends he’d made. He was so happy and Mom wasn’t so scared here. Teddy’s thinking that he liked his new friend, and it would be nice not to be the only boy all the time. Sunita’s thought that with all the people here it was like Christmas. Gracie hoped she got to stay over again tonight; it was fun. Leonora was concerned that she might get distracted with the talk they were having and miss taking Allie’s vitals.