The Healing Souls

Monday Meeting

[Rock]

As the time grew closer to seven, I heard more people coming in. My office door was closed, but I could hear them through it because I had better hearing than most trolls or other people. The crowd died down and I knew they were in the meeting room.

The side door opened and I heard high heels enter the lobby. I got up from where I was kneeling and opened my office door. Gemma was standing there in a business suit similar to Carmen’s, but with tight pants instead of a skirt. It looked good on her.

Carmen’s friends were as beautiful as she was, but in different ways. Gemma didn’t pull her hair back into a bun like Carmen did. She was wearing it braided down her back. I remembered how I assessed her in the club. A plotting ditz. None of that airhead energy was coming from her now.

“Come in here, please,” I told her.

Gemma followed me into the office. She smiled when she saw Carmen and walked over to her, putting her hand on Carmen’s hand. My mate smiled up at her friend.

“Thank you for coming to help out until we find someone,” Carmen said.

“Don’t even worry about it. I’m here for as long as you need me. And we can have our lunches together. Now you won’t miss out on any of the good gossip.”

Carmen laughed. “Thanks, Gem. I’d hate to miss that.”

“Okay, Rock, there are a few things you need to know. I smelled rogues here and I remember you saying something about having rogues working for you. When Carmen’s in heat, you might have to keep her out of the office. And all of the shifters need to know that Carmen is claimed. It’s something we do when we announce that we’ve mated. We show off our mark to our friends and family,” Gemma stated.

“That’s true,” Carmen added.

“Alright, if we need to do that. We can do it with the announcement that Carmen’s my true mate. Everyone’s ready for us, if you ladies are ready to meet the guys.”

Carmen got out of the chair and held onto Gemma’s arm. My mouth twitched. I didn’t like the way Carmen held on to her friend. She should only hold on to me like that. I took a deep breath. She was mine and this was a friend, nothing more.

I led them out into the lobby and headed for the meeting room. This was something I did a million times before, but it felt different this time. I wasn’t just doing the Monday meeting, I was introducing my men to my mate.

Maybe she was right and I wanted another week at home with only her, but I shook it off. I was the boss and I needed to show them nothing would change just because I had a mate now. I was in charge and they would follow my orders.

“Stay out here until I announce you. That way they’ll pay more attention to me than to the beautiful women beside me.”

Both of them smiled at me and I relished it for a moment before heading into the room. I didn’t close the door all the way, but I did make sure no one could see in or out.

Being in front of a crowd of men was not the attention I craved. It was the hardest coming back to work had ever been for me. I loved working more than anything else, until I had Carmen. Now, I didn’t want to share her with everyone in the room.

Everyone was sitting around the large table, except for Tripp, who was leaning against a wall. He glared at me a little as I went to the head of the table. I scanned over all of them. They seemed to be in good moods, but the shifters were sniffing the air a little. None of them said anything, though.

Tripp had most of my attention, though. He hadn’t come back to work after the weekend when I first met Carmen. I’d been looking forward to teasing him, but didn’t get the chance. With the look on his face, I could tell some of the other trolls already had a few words with him.

“Gentlemen... and Tripp.... Welcome back from our week off. I hope you all had fun, but it’s time to get back to business. Anything to cover before we get to announcements and assignments?” I asked.

Tripp scoffed. I focused on him.

“Yes, Tripp? You have something to say, or were you choking on something?”

“Just get on with it already...” he grumbled, averting his eyes.

I managed to stop myself from smiling. He was still pissed off. I wondered what happened, but wouldn’t ask. That wasn’t my way.

“I appreciate you all being willing to take last week off while I celebrated my birthday. Though, Tripp, I think we should give you a little extra work. We had to pick up a lot of slack the week you were away. I know you didn’t catch a bug, so I’ll assume you were injured somehow. From now on, don’t do dangerous things on the weekends during the busy time. We don’t have the staff to make up for you lazing around,” I told him.

Tripp scowled at me, but nodded at me without a word. Everyone looked over at him. Busting his balls wouldn’t be fun if he didn’t react. There was a flicker of a smirk on his face that quickly disappeared. He nailed the troll.

“This weekend, a round of drinks is on me, guys!” Tripp said with a smile.

That bastard thought he was covering it up with his offer. The other trolls snorted. They knew as well as I did what was going on. At least one of them had been at the club that night. He was the one who told the other guys I tried it with a softie and failed.

There had been some good-natured ribbing about it, but the men knew where to draw the line when joking with the boss. I didn’t mind it, because I knew the truth. And they would realize it after I introduced my mate.

“I’ll have to bow out of drinks. I have plans this weekend; I appreciate you making it up to the guys. Anyway, I need to introduce you to the two newest members of the crew.” I turned toward the door. “Come in, ladies.”

Carmen and Gemma came into the room and all the attention turned to them. I could see the noses of the shifters twitching. Carmen reached for me and I went to her, taking her hand.

“This is Carmen. She’s going to be the office manager from now on. The redhead is her assistant and our temporary receptionist, Gemma. They’re pack wolves from the Hallowed Moon Pack,” I announced.

The girls waved around the room at everyone. I looked over at Gemma and she nodded toward me. I unbuttoned the top buttons of my shirt and pulled the neck aside to show off the mark Carmen gave me. The eyes of the shifters widened.

Carmen did the same, showing the mark I gave her. There was some smirking and elbowing from the trolls. They may have heard the rumors, but this was proof for them. It wasn’t something trolls did, but if werewolves needed to see a mark to keep them from hitting on my mate then I’d do it.

“Carmen is my true mate. I expect all of you to treat her with respect and she will do the same.”

The room went still. It was as if they were all trying to process it. Tripp pulled out of the gaping stare before the others did.

“Yeah! Woo!” Tripp shouted, clapping his hands together. Some of the other men on the crew cheered too. “Congrats boss! Try not to suck too much face while at work though! Ramsey over there might get some ideas.”

The rest of the crew laughed as they poked at one of our younger elves. He was a good kid, but moon-eyed and in love with someone new every other week. I couldn’t help but laugh along with the rest of the guys.

Tripp had always been a little bit of a suck-up, but I was actually grateful this time. He drew the attention to himself and broke the silence. It made Carmen smile.

“So does that mean we get another week off for the wedding and honeymoon?” Walsh, one of the shifters, asked.

“Nah, Bossman will probably slave us even harder now... gotta make himself look good for his new mate,” Tripp answered teasingly.

“Settle down. No one is getting married for a while. I’ll let you know. And no one is working harder than you already do. Carmen is already plenty impressed by me and my abilities,” I told them.

Carmen blushed and hid her face against my arm. I hadn’t meant it like that, but she confirmed it to them in that way. The other trolls elbowed each other more and chuckled.

I sat Carmen in my chair and Gemma took the one next to her. Since Tripp was already standing, he didn’t need it. We went over the work completed the last time we met and I gave out assignments for the week.

When the meeting concluded, some of the men came up to meet Carmen while a few others went to flirt with Gemma. She was giggling and flirting right back. I could see the cool assessment in her eyes, though. She was trying to figure out which ones she was interested in.

“So you didn’t strike out with the wolf that night.” Hurste laughed. “I recognized her.”

“I don’t know who spread that rumor. It’s funny how gullible all of you are if you believed it. Like a troll would give up that sort of opportunity.” Carmen laughed.

I smiled. That was almost exactly what I’d expect to hear a troll woman say. Dell laughed too and Hurste hit him.

“Cut it out,” I told them sternly. “No roughhousing around my mate. You hurt her and I’ll do worse than firing you.”

Both men straightened out. I knew in their natural forms they were both nearly eight feet tall and a lot stronger than I was, but I needed to protect Carmen.

“Oh, really? What worse could you do?” Dell asked in a gravelly tone.

I glared up at them both. Damn it. I issued a threat without thinking of how I was going to make them comply.

“I’m friends with a fire witch. She could melt you with a simple spell. Or do you really believe you’re indestructible just because you’re made of stone?” Carmen growled. “Rock isn’t afraid to use any tool available to him if any harm comes to me. And I have no qualms with my friends being those tools.”

There were old stories about fire witches melting trolls that pissed them off. It was an old bogeyman story all of our mothers used to tell us to warn us away from fuсking with witches. I knew their mothers told the same story, because they stilled completely and stared at my mate.

“You’re being awfully quiet. I can’t see if you’re agreeing to behave or not. Speak up, unless you’re too afraid to say anything.”

She was goading them in a tone I had never heard from her before. The other men in the room were watching as Carmen threatened two of the toughest guys on the crew. None of them would step up to defend them.

Trolls were assholes and the tougher a troll was, the more of an asshole he was. What could anyone do against two behemoths who wanted to poke fun at them? Even if they got a little rough from time to time.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Hurste said.

“We won’t do it again,” Dell added.

They went back with the other trolls who teased them quietly. Carmen smirked and held her hand out to me. I pulled her from her chair and bent down to kiss her. I could have gotten my ass kicked for threatening them without having a real threat.

There were some catcalls as I felt Carmen’s hands slide over my shoulders and up to my ears. I could hear the fae start clearing out. They didn’t want to see what would happen when she started stroking my ears.

“Boss’s softie is a little badass,” Tripp laughed on the way out the door. “Don’t want to get on her bad side.”

I picked up Carmen and set her on the table, pushing her back until she was laid out on the conference table, squirming against me and stroking my ears. I pulled out of the kiss and turned to the shifters, who were staring at us.

“Get. Out,” I snarled at them.

They pulled Gemma out of the room and closed the door behind them. I turned back to Carmen and started kissing her mouth, chin, and jaw. I was working my way down her neck to her mark, when I felt Carmen’s little tongue slide up the outer edge of my ear. I shuddered with pleasure.

“Goddess, Carmen. You’re making me act like a horny teenager,” I groaned.

She hummed and the vibration of her lips went to my ear and straight down to my cоck. I didn’t have time to get myself under control before she started nibbling and sucking on my ears. No one had ever done that to me.

In all the times I had been with Carmen, she never did more than stroke my ears. After what just happened with the other trolls, she seemed to be feeling more aggressive. I liked it. She was my little troll wolf.