The Healing Souls

Preparing for the Master

[Carmen]

My father didn’t come back after the confrontation on Monday. I was relieved, but there was something that made me nervous, too. Mike called me and told me about his interaction with Dad on Monday. I told him what happened that afternoon.

He knew where I worked. If not for Rock thinking about that, Goddess only knows what could have happened. I may be mad at him, but hearing him get physically hurt would have been too much for me. Forrest wouldn’t have held back if he’d gotten in. I knew that because Forrest was serious about his responsibilities.

I didn’t want to hear that, no matter how upset I was. All I wanted was for him to leave. I wanted him to leave me alone and never come back. I wanted him to understand that our relationship was over. Maybe I needed to be the one to tell him. Maybe even that wouldn’t be enough for him and his obsession.

Hearing him talk about me as if I was property made me angrier than just hearing from someone else that he’d said it. I didn’t belong to anyone, like Rock said. Even the mate bond isn’t technically a form of ownership. It’s a partnership. Rock played possessive when we were in bed and things like that, but he really wasn’t that sort of guy.

More than anything, I appreciated that. I didn’t want to be owned outside of the bedroom. All my life, I’d tried to be independent. That didn’t just go away overnight.

The last week of Gemma working with us was coming to an end. I would miss her, but I thought Viola was working with me very nicely. It was better for Gemma to work for the pack. She was always grumpy about morning and afternoon traffic. Having a shorter commute would make her happy.

She would also have more chances to travel as Ben’s assistant. He would take her if he needed to visit a pack we were friendly with. It would give her more opportunities to find her mate. I wanted that for her more than anything. I always wanted my friends to be happy.

“Ready to go to dinner?” Rock asked me as I turned off my computer.

“Yes. I’m so hungry today. I think it’s because I’m sad. I’ll miss having Gemma around.” I sighed.

“We still have Friday with her. Plus, she’s going to have a job that fits her skills and interests, plus, you like Viola. She’s a great employee.”

“I know. It was just nice to have my best friend here.”

Rock put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. It was a reassuring touch. I knew he was there for me no matter what happened.

“You can talk to her whenever you want with the phone and she’s going to be coming to all of our dinners with friends. You’re not losing her. I promise.”

I smiled at him. He was very good at this. Rock would be a fantastic father in the future because I knew that was just part of who he was. He didn’t want the people he cared for to suffer.

We got our things together and headed out to the truck. Tonight, he would be meeting with the Master of the territory and I would be going with him. This time, we were going to a fae-run restaurant instead of Carroll’s. I loved the chance to try other places and this was a different one from last time.

As we drove, Rock talked to me about whether or not I wanted to be in the office with him and the master. It would actually be a good time to catch up with Echo. I liked her a lot and didn’t have a ton of time to talk to her at the last barbecue. Gray worked on Fridays, so there would be time.

When we reached the restaurant, Rock helped me out of the truck. I decided to let him because it made him smell happy each time he got to do it. I liked that scent.

I wrapped my arm around his and he guided me into the restaurant. I could smell all sorts of different fae. I was starting to learn the difference. There were trolls, orcs, and some nature fae there. I could also smell some things I’d never smelled before.

Rock groaned.

“What?” I asked.

“Goblins. The ones who live in the fae lands are better behaved than the ones in the wild, but I don’t like them. They’re one of the few fae who still eat humans if they get the chance,” he replied.

A shiver went through me. “Will they try to eat me?”

“No. Like I said, the ones here are better than the ones in the wild. Not by much, but still, better. These ones only eat corpses. They were part of the clean-up crew for that hunter battle. They ate all the human corpses from the fight,” Rock explained.

“If you don’t like them, we don’t have to eat here,” I offered.

“We’ll be fine. I’ll just sit with my back to them. Their table manners are disgusting. Imagine cannibalistic toddlers, and you have goblins. They eat with their hands and get a little frenzied when food comes.”

“Gross.” I stuck out my tongue.

The host came up and led us to a table after Rock whispered to him that he wanted to be as far from the goblins as possible. Rock made sure I was as close to him asI could be while we walked to the table and he pulled out my chair before helping me to sit and pushing me in.

I got another blind troll menu and was happy with all the items they offered. This place used more seasoning than the other did and it had some strange combinations that I was surprised worked so well together. In the end, though, I went with something I’d had before.

Our waiter came up to the table.

“Welcome. As part of the dining experience, we offer bread and lemon water. This is for a fee of one dollar, would you like me to bring them for you?”

“Yes, please,” Rock responded.

That must be how they got around not being able to offer it for free. I liked that he was upfront about it. This was a better restaurant than the other one that Rock took us to.

“If you need a few more minutes, I will go get those.”

“We’re ready now,” Rock told him.

We placed our orders and the waiter took our menus before leaving to put in the order. The atmosphere here was different from the atmosphere of the other one as well. It was warmer and I could hear people talking animatedly.

Rock and I talked about our plans for the weekend. After how last week’s family dinner went, my mom decided she wouldn’t be inviting Aunt Cathy and her family again. I appreciated that decision. This weekend, though, was just another barbecue with our friends. This time, Echo and Harmony said Val would be joining us.

“Sorry, Carmen, I need to run to the bathroom. I’m going to put a glamour on you so your father won’t be able to tell it’s you if he comes in. The wait staff here can see through glamour, so they won’t treat you oddly if the waiter comes back. Will you be alright without me?” Rock said.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just catch up on messages from Ashley. She sent me a few today.”

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

He got up and kissed me briefly before leaving. I pulled out my phone and plugged my earbuds in, putting one in my ear while leaving the other uncovered. I went to my messages and listened to the phone read off Ash’s messages.

She was learning a lot about the Beta female position in the Polar Star Pack. I listened to her describe all the new things she’d learned. Then she turned to complaints.

Roald’s mother was pressuring them about pups. It made Ashley mad because of how much it hurt Roald every time his mother brought it up in front of him. His mate and pup had died in childbirth. It was too hard on both of them and there was a lot of bleeding.

It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it could affect the surviving mate for a very long time. Roald was afraid of something like that happening to Ashley if they had a pup. On some level, he knew he had to produce an heir, but, for now, that fear was too strong for him to want to think about.

Ash said she wanted to wait about six months before they even tried. Roald’s last mate was human. He needed to understand the differences between a werewolf mate and a human mate. We were a lot stronger. I felt so bad for them.

I was focused on replying to Ashley’s message when I felt something touch my neck. I jumped and swatted it away. Pushing out my magic, I saw that it was a tall woman.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” I asked incredulously.

“I saw the mark on your neck and wanted to see what it was. That’s a troll mark, but you’re too small to be a troll,” she answered.

“My mate is a troll. I don’t have to be one to mate with one. Touching someone without permission is very rude. You scared the heck out of me.”

“I’m not exactly hard to miss. Maybe if you hadn’t been staring at your phone screen, you would have seen me,” the woman replied with a scoff.

“I’m blind. I wouldn’t have seen you no matter what. That doesn’t change the fact that you should get permission before touching someone else.”

The woman was quiet. She regarded me carefully and shook her head.

“A troll mated to a blind human? How does that even happen? I’ve never heard of something so ridiculous. Our world wasn’t meant for something as small and weak as a human.”

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. This was just another curious troll. I was learning that they didn’t have the same social etiquette as werewolves and other species did. She probably thought I did have a chance to see her and she wanted to understand what she was seeing.

I could smell that she was the same sort of troll as Rock was. In fact, she smelled a lot like his brothers, but not like Elbio. I bit my lips together as I realized that it was a family scent. This was someone related to Rock and with how strongly she smelled like Rock’s brothers, I was almost certain she was Rock’s mom.

“My name is Carmen Rosen. I’m a werewolf from the Hallowed Moon Pack and I’m mated to Rock Beaumont,” I told her. “Sorry for being upset. I was startled.”

“I see. How did you meet Rock?” she asked.

“I met him at a club where I went dancing with my friends. It was a week before his coming-of-age party. Rock invited me. I knew he was my mate before he knew and I claimed him at his birthday party. Why didn’t you stay after the blessing, Lady Eru?”

She was startled. The unease in her stance grew. I knew she didn’t expect me to know who she was and that could make people uncomfortable.

“Simply, I didn’t think he would find his mate at his coming-of-age like he dreamed of, and I didn’t want to see the disappointment in my son’s eyes. Rock always told me he knew he’d find his mate at his coming-of-age. He planned his whole life around finding her when he was fifty. I’m not a soft troll, but, for that boy, I am.”

“Please, have a seat. I know Rock will be excited that you’re back home. He’s been wanting to introduce us for weeks,” I said.

“I appreciate the offer, but Rock may not be too happy to see me. I struggled with how long I should take, then it seemed like I had been gone for too long. He’s always been a little softer, even though he covers it well. I didn’t want him to take it personally. It was me, not him,” Eru replied.

“Please, sit. Rock isn’t upset with you. I know he understands. Rock is a very intelligent and loving person. He may be soft, but he’s smart enough to be reasonable.”

She nodded and pulled out a chair next to me. She sat and I relaxed a little more. I held out my hand to her and she accepted it.

“I’m so happy to finally meet you. I hope you’re not too disappointed that Rock didn’t have a troll mate.”

“A long time ago, I learned to not have the same expectations for Rock that I had for his brothers. I’ve only been back in town for a short time, but no one would tell me about Rock’s coming-of-age. They just kept telling me I needed to talk to him. Even Maeve wouldn’t tell me anything. You have no idea how frustrating it was.” She sighed.

“I can imagine. I hate it when people won’t tell me what’s going on around me. What can I tell you? Let me help,” I insisted.

“Tell me about your first meeting with my son. How did you know he was your mate? How did he charm you?” Eru asked.

I smiled at her and told her the story of meeting Rock. I told her how his talking about his hopes for his birthday had struck my heart and how much I loved him from the first time I heard his voice. She listened intently.

When I finished with that, I told her about Rock’s coming-of-age party, including how I ingratiated myself to all of the other trolls. I told her what a dear friend Forrest had become and how Elbio was warming up to me. She asked after Jett and his opinions. I told her about how Jett and I were becoming better friends and I looked forward to seeing him again on Saturday.

“And what do your parents and friends think of my Rock?” she asked.

“My friends love him so far. My brother thinks of Rock as family and so does my sister-in-law. As for my parents… my mother’s getting better, but neither one was happy to find out I was mated to a troll. My father left the pack over it and my mother rejected her mate bond with him when he disparaged the goddess and her plans,” I replied solemnly.

I wondered where Rock was. He’d been gone for a while. Our food hadn’t been delivered, either. I spread my magic out to find that no one else was moving or talking in the restaurant, except for one person.

He matched what people told me Rhett looked like and he saluted me and winked before disappearing. Everything seemed to start moving after that. I pulled my magic back in and focused on Rock’s mother.

Rhett was making sure we didn’t get disturbed while we talked. I was grateful for that, but also minorly annoyed that he did that without asking. I needed to have a word with him about freezing time without letting me know.

“Carmen, who’s this?” Rock asked.