The Healing Souls

Meeting Friends

[Rock]

When the weekend finally rolled around, Blanche was running around the yard like crazy while I was getting the food prepared. I had two hogs in the pit and two large racks of ribs in the smoker. It wasn’t as much as I would normally cook with all of my friends, but it was a decent amount of food.

Carmen let me know we were doing this in a potluck style, so other people would bring food, too. That meant more time for us to play. I found that Blanche was as sweet and playful as Carmen was. She had a lot of energy to spare and loved wrestling.

I never knew how much I needed someone like her in my life. It was like having a mate and a pet all at the same time. Though it was sad I didn’t have a second form to share with her.

Blanche was a beautiful wolf. She had dusty gray fur and the same icy blue eyes as Carmen. Her fur was soft and thick, even in summer. I didn’t know how she managed to be so active when it was hot out, but the way she zoomed through the yard and half ran up the fence made me think she didn’t really feel it.

“Alright, time to get dressed,” I called out to her.

She trotted over and bumped against my leg before heading back into the house. I smiled after her. It was nice.

Most wild animals, and even domesticated animals, were afraid of trolls. Not without reason. We ate most of them for millennia. Now we stuck to the ones someone else killed for us, but that doesn’t erase years of ‘danger’ feelings.

I saw a head pop up over the fence. I waved to my neighbor. He was another troll, but not one of my friends. Our fences were over six feet tall, but that didn’t stop nosy eight-foot-tall neighbors.

“You need something?” I asked.

“I wanted to see your wolf.”

“She’s getting dressed. You just missed her.”

“I’ll see her later, then,” he replied, and turned away from the fence.

In the last few days, we’d gotten more visitors than I’d ever had before. People wanted to see Carmen and touch her. Since she was a troll’s mate, they were certain that meant they should be able to touch her.

Carmen was a good sport about it. I wasn’t as much. Some of these people had never talked to me before or were assholes to me growing up. They thought they had the right to come over and try to touch my mate.

If I told them no, Carmen backed me up. I was glad that she didn’t question anything I said to other people in front of them. She would wait until we were alone and ask questions.

She came out of the house and used the railing to come down the stairs. I went to her and took her hand, bending down to give her a kiss. Carmen smiled against my lips and rubbed one of my ears while she kissed me. I groaned.

Her heat never came and we decided it had to be because of how differently our species marked each other. The magic fae used was different from the magic wolves used. That was fine, though. She was insatiable enough that I didn’t know what I’d do if she was in heat.

I never knew werewolves were that horny all the damned time. Even when she wasn’t wanting ѕex, Carmen made sure I knew she wanted my body. It was different from anything I had ever experienced. Carmen was different from any female I had ever known. Different from any person.

She loved me and she told me that all the time. Carmen was always calling me her ‘big, strong troll’ or saying I was handsome. I loved it. I loved her.

Carmen pulled out of the kiss and smiled at me. I caressed her cheek and she rubbed her face against my hand. Every time I remembered that her father hit her, I wanted to kick his ass. She told me where he hit her and I always made sure to touch her there gently. Not because it was physically injured.

He hurt her more than physically. There wouldn’t be a bruise because of her healing ability, but there was a wound on her soul. She never thought her father would ever hurt her. He broke her trust and that was a harder thing to heal.

“Will everyone be here soon? I’ve never hosted something like this before. I’ve always helped out with other people’s parties. Usually, that meant doing something simple and being praised like I did something amazing.” She sighed.

“You’re not going to be babied in our house. I don’t have anything for you to do, but if I did, it would be your job no matter how complicated it was.” I chuckled.

“But you would help me if it was too hard.”

“Always. We’re still finding our footing, but I don’t think this will be too hard. There are plenty of blind fae and they have magical ways to make life easier for you. I already have some people who are planning to come by and help me get things set up,” I explained.

“You think of everything. You’re so smart, Rock.”

She did that too. She complimented me for doing the littlest things. Carmen told me she loved how I was always thorough and thoughtful. She loved my calmness, even if I was a little volatile at times.

Carmen hadn’t seen that part of me in full yet. She was still new to me and I was on my best behavior. Plus, she hadn’t seen me after a bad day at work yet, either.

I had her sit with me while I checked on everything. I didn’t want to overcook anything. The only people who were coming who were omnivores were Prince Rosario and a couple of witches who were friends of his mate Sean.

Pixies, werewolves, trolls, and dhampyrs were all carnivores. Most of them also ate fruits and vegetables, but they preferred meat to everything else. Prince Rosario would eat meat, but needed more balance. That’s why Carmen said a potluck was a good idea. That way I wouldn’t have to try to figure out all of the non-meat options.

After about twenty minutes, I heard the doorbell. Carmen got up and went into the house. I followed her.

She had learned the layout of the house rather quickly. I remembered Blanche running around the house. She went fast, and then slow, she jumped up on things and ducked under others. I was pretty sure she saw every inch of the house. Now, Carmen moved through it as if she could see everything.

Carmen opened the front door. I didn’t like that. I would put in an intercom system so she could ask who it was before answering the door. The fae lands were safer than the human lands but not as safe as the pack lands.

“Sean, Rosario! Thank you for coming!” Carmen said once the door was open.

“Thank you for inviting us,” Sean replied.

I needed to get her out of the habit of thanking people too much. Most fae didn’t want to piss off the trolls, but if they got offended, it wouldn’t matter what they wanted. It might be polite to humans and werewolves, but if she thanked someone for something they didn’t have a choice in doing or that was standard hospitality, she would offend them.

“Please take off your shoes and put them on the shelves,” she told them.

Sean was holding a container. I went and took it from him so he could get his shoes off. Carmen told me the werewolves would be totally fine with taking their shoes off. They liked being barefoot. I hoped no one would be offended by the request, but there was no reaction from Prince Rosario or Sean.

There was another knock at the door. I went to put the container in the kitchen. It was cold, so I put it in the refrigerator. When I returned, there were a lot more people. Sean and Rosario were looking around my living room appreciatively.

The new additions were a young couple. A boy with black hair who looked like Alpha Trent, and a small girl with black hair and big, innocent eyes. He had a cake carrier with him. I wouldn’t have even thought of cake.

I went to retrieve it from him. He stepped in front of the woman he was with and stared at me. I was used to this kind of reaction and smiled…. That didn’t help.

“Gray, stop that,” the girl said and swatted his arm.

“This is Rock,” Carmen told him and held her hand out to me. “He’s not wearing his glamour and you’ll have to get used to it, Grayson.”

“I’m used to it, Carmen. A lot of people are wary around trolls.”

“No, I’m sorry.” The wolf ducked his head. “I knew you were a troll, but I’m newly mated and a little overprotective, still. That was my bad.”

He shifted the cake to one hand and held out the other. I accepted it and was pleasantly surprised by a strong handshake. He wasn’t trying to assert his dominance and he wasn’t trying to be gentle, either.

“I’m Gray Padua. You met my brother, Trent, at the packhouse. This is my mate, Echo.”

“I’m Rock Beaumont. Welcome to my home. You can take that to the kitchen if you like.”

Gray nodded and looked around. I pointed to the door he was looking for and he headed off. Echo came over and put her hand out. I accepted it.

“Your skin looks like stone but it doesn’t feel like it,” she said.

“I’m half human.”

“I’m part werewolf, witch, and vampire. We get all the best parts about our species. You are scary and soft at the same time. I’m just learning all the things I can do. I hope we can be friends.” Echo smiled brightly.

I smiled back. It was as if I couldn’t help it. “Sure. We can be friends.”

Carmen growled a little and I took my hand back. The packet Trent gave me said growling was a warning with werewolves. It said that newly mated werewolves were overprotective and possessive. It took a while before they were comfortable enough not to act that way, even if it wasn’t in their personality before.

Over the next hour, everyone we invited arrived. The kitchen counter was full of other dishes. Most of them had some sort of meat in them, but there were rolls, salad, and a bowl of seasoned vegetables. Mike brought them and said he’d show me how to cook them on the grill.

No one had any problems with taking off their shoes and everyone complimented my house. I wasn’t used to so many compliments without a snide remark or a note of sarcasm. It was really weird.

Carmen and the other women got together and started chatting around the patio table. The other men started talking too. I was the oldest person there. It was awkward.

“Hey, Rock. Sorry it took me a bit to come over, but I needed to talk to my friends about something,” Sean said.

“Oh, I was fine if you wanted to go hang out with them.”

“I wanted to tell you how happy I was for you and Carmen. You seemed really nice in the times we’d met before and I hoped you would accept her.”

“I would never give up my goddess-given match. Carmen had good reason to be afraid. I did, too. We were both lucky the goddess took that into account when she matched us,” I replied.

“That’s true. Oh, and I wanted you to know that Rosario would prefer if you don’t call him ‘Prince Rosario’ when he’s here as a friend. This is unofficial time for him,” he whispered.

I chuckled. “Your mate wants some time off from being the prince. I get it. He’ll just be Rosario here, then. Anything else?”

“Do you need any help?”

“Not right now. Go talk to your friends. You don’t need to hang out with me because I’m alone,” I assured him.

He looked like he wanted to argue, but I turned to the grill and stirred the cinders and coal a little. It was nearly ready for the vegetables Mike had.

As if summoned by me thinking of him, Mike appeared with the container of vegetables. I stepped aside and let him do his thing. It seemed weird to be grilling vegetables.

“These are Carmen’s favorites. I wrote you a list of all her favorite fruits and vegetables. It’s on the kitchen counter. I want to make sure you’re taking care of her right,” he told me as he put the vegetables out.

“Do you think I’m not?” I asked.

“Carmen is my little sister. Do you have any siblings?”

“Two older brothers, but they would never do something like that. Trolls are different from werewolves.”

“Then write it off as one of our differences. Carmen isn’t a child, but she is still someone who needs to be taken care of. I know you’ll want to do it right. You don’t want to make her a dinner that she hates,” Mike said quietly.

“And you’re talking low so she doesn’t hear you trying to take care of her even though she doesn’t need it. I can take care of my mate, Mike. I don’t need you to tell me how to do it.”

He frowned up at me, but I didn’t back down. Carmen told me how everyone in the pack treated her as if she couldn’t do anything. They babied and coddled her. They picked her up and put her places instead of letting her get there on her own.

She wasn’t a person to a lot of them, not really. She was an object of pity to most of them. The poor little blind wolf. The weakling who should have been drowned at birth.

Carmen told me all about everything people said about her when they thought she wasn’t listening. The people she trusted most were her family and friends, but only her friends treated her like an adult. They were the only ones who saw her as an equal.

“Look, Mike. I appreciate you trying to help me out, but the biggest way you can help is by showing your sister that you believe in her and love her. She feels like people don’t think she can survive outside of the pack. Your parents hurt her ability to trust. She needs to know that you’re different,” I told him.

“I am different. Carmen has always been independent. She never lets people tell her what she can and can’t do.” He turned to look over where Carmen was talking to several other women, including his mate. “Tell me how she is with you. Is she stubborn or does your size scare her into compliance? She doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know how you’ll react to things. Is she as bold here as she was at home?”

I laughed. “Nothing scares your sister. She’s bold and stubborn when she wants to be. If this is her when she doesn’t know how to behave, then I can’t imagine how she’ll be when she’s comfortable here. Mike, you don’t know Carmen as well as you think you do. She wanted me even after she found out I was a troll.”

“Some might say she didn’t understand at the time how different you were from a werewolf.”

“Some would, or your dad did? You shouldn’t listen to him. The fact that he hit Carmen to get her to behave shows how little he knows about your sister, too. That just made her more eager to get out of there and find me. It made her run to me for safety. She’s cut him off, not me. All of this was based on what Carmen wanted. Don’t make her decide the same for you. She loves you, but she will not hesitate to end her relationship with anyone who tries to push her around,” I warned.

He nodded and turned back to the grill. The rest of the time, he was quiet unless it was to give me instructions regarding the food. I preferred that.