[Rock]I returned from the restroom a few minutes later to find a tall young woman sitting with Carmen. I knew she was wearing a glamour and definitely a troll, but I didn’t recognize the glamour. Most of us had a set glamour we used in the human town unless we didn’t want to run into someone we knew. For a moment, I worried that it was Shayle, but Carmen turned and smiled at me. She was holding the other woman’s hand. I didn’t think there was anything Shayle could have said or done to make Carmen hold her hand. “Your mom found us,” Carmen said. Mom slipped into her more familiar glamour and smiled at me slightly. I could see the guilty look in her eyes. It was what I thought, she stayed away longer than she intended to and hadn’t planned on seeing me. It was only a coincidence that she was talking to Carmen. “Mom, did you have a good trip?” I asked as I took my seat and indicated to the waiter that we’d take a second plate of what I ordered. “Not especially. I worried about you. I’m sorry I left your party before I could see your mate come in. I think I would have seen she was meant to be yours right away,” she replied. I looked at Carmen and realized I forgot to take the glamour off her when I sat down. I’d made her look like a mix of her two friends. The combination of the two made a woman who looked like a human supermodel. I left my mark on the glamour so no one would try to flirt with my mate. Though the glamour was quite attractive by human standards, it looked nothing like Carmen. I took off the glamour and my mother looked at Carmen. She smiled brighter. “Thank the goddess, she’s not that ugly in reality. You have such pretty eyes, Carmen,” Mom said. “You’re having dinner with us.” “What?” “Haldor and Goran already shared a meal with us. You’re sharing one with us, too. Once Carmen’s mother has proven to me that she’s really changed her stance on our relationship, I’ll host a family dinner with the five of you and Carmen’s mother, brother, and sister-in-law. For now, I ordered you what I’m having. You can give the vegetables to me or Carmen.” “You eat vegetables now?” Mom asked. “I make him. He wasn’t healthy eating a carnivorous diet. He’s half-human, he needs more than that to be healthy,” Carmen replied. “What did you think of my other sons and their mates, Carmen?” Carmen thought for a moment and smiled. “Goran is quiet, but when he talks, he really means what he says. His mate, Sphene, has some strong opinions and she has no problem sharing them. Haldor is friendly and loves to joke around. Ilana is beautiful inside and out. She worries about being a burden on her mate, but he couldn’t possibly love her more.” My mother looked over at me and raised her eyebrows. I grinned at her. Carmen always saw the truth of people. I knew she identified with Ilana in that way. Carmen definitely worried about being a burden to me. I also couldn’t love her more. “So you liked them?” “I really did and I look forward to getting to know them better in the future,” Carmen answered. Our food was delivered. Mom continued to ask Carmen questions about my friends, my family, our relationship, her friends, and her family. The whole meal felt like a polite interrogation. Mom was on her best behavior. Carmen was just as polite as my mom was. I knew she could give back as good as she got if Mom got nasty or more trollish, but that never happened. Mom started telling stories about when I was young. She loved having someone who listened intently when she talked about me. I could see how happy Carmen was to find out more about me. Carmen had a big smile on her face when Mom told her about the first time I made friends with humans, back in kindergarten. Back then, I was really excited about going to a human school. I practiced my glamour daily all the way up to the first day. Mom was proud of me for being like all of the other troll children and not clinging and crying like some of the human children did. To be honest, it wasn’t until I realized that she was gone that I started getting upset. Forrest came and held my hand. He reminded me that she would be back when school ended. There were only four trolls in our school and Forrest was the only one in my class. Elbio didn’t start school until the year after and Jett went to school in the forest village. Mica had started the year before. We saw him at recess and he showed us what things were the most fun to do. Another little boy, a human, came up to talk to me while Forrest was climbing to the top of the play structure with some of the older kids. Shane had been my first human friend. But, we were only friends up through third grade. He was a softer person and I was too mean. That was what made me decide I would learn how to deal with humans and have relationships with them. I knew I couldn’t be too much like a troll if I didn’t want to attract other assholes. Because of Shane telling me he didn’t want to be my friend anymore because I was mean, I learned what I needed in order to be successful. Part of that, helped me to be a better mate for Carmen. It let me see when I needed to back off from my own desires and focus on hers. I made more human friends and acquaintances. I may have lost my first human friend, but I knew I wouldn’t lose any more if I could avoid it. I think it helped with having employees who were different species, too. “What about in high school? Did he date human girls?” Carmen asked. “He had a crush on a human girl but thought I didn’t know. Rock would never actually date a softie. Not until you. I don’t think he ever even considered other species of fae or other supernaturals. In the forest village, he was always popular with the troll girls,” Mom replied. “They just wanted to touch me because I was softer than the other trolls,” I told them. “I don’t entirely agree. There were one or two who were interested in more. They were at your coming-of-age and looked eager to be sent back. The first one back paid Forrest to send her back first because she was certain she was your mate. She was really infatuated with you. I stayed until after she came out. I hoped she was right.” “I’m glad she wasn’t,” Carmen said. “I’m glad I was Rock’s mate. I couldn’t imagine loving anyone as much as I love him.” “I’m glad it was you, too. My Rock deserves someone who makes him feel strong and capable. I should get going. I was planning to go see Maeve after dinner. I didn’t think I’d see you here. I’m glad it happened, though. Goddess only knows how long it would’ve taken me to get over my worry and come to you,” Mom replied. “Thank you for forgiving me, Rock.” “You didn’t do anything wrong. I knew there was a chance we wouldn’t see you for a while. Even my brother knew how you get. But Haldor thought you would love and hate Carmen all at the same time. He said you would be upset about me having any mate.” She laughed. “I’m not that much of a doting parent. I love you and you helped me forget about my loss for a while, but I couldn’t be selfish about your life. I forced it on you. All I wanted was for you to find a mate who would care for you as much as I did. I don’t know everything about Carmen, yet, but she seems to love you. That’s enough for me.” I stood when Mom did and she hugged me tightly. My mom was taller than me and always would be. Carmen put her hand out to my mom, who used it to pull her up and hug her, too. Definitely not as tightly. I could see that Mom was being gentle. “Take care of yourselves and we’ll meet again,” Mom said as she patted Carmen’s head and turned to put a hand on my shoulder. “Take care of your mate, my son. She is your gift from the goddess and you must always treat her as that.” “I always will, Mom. You taught me what was most important.” “Good. I’ll see you later.” Carmen and I sat down after Mom left. As surprised as I was to find my mom sitting with my mate earlier, I was also happy she approved of her. Not that it would have made me change my mind about loving Carmen if she didn’t. My love wasn’t contingent on anyone except the person I loved. The touch of a little hand on my own brought my attention back to the table. Carmen held my hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was smiling at me and the first thought in my head was how much I loved her. “Thank you for talking to my mom and showing her how perfect you are.” Carmen giggled. “I was worried she wouldn’t like me because I was too nice. She really loves talking about you. I loved learning more about your childhood.” “Mom doesn’t always act like that, but I think she was trying her hardest to make you like her, as well. It won’t always be like that, but, for now, I think it went as well as it could have. Do you like her?” I asked. She nodded. “I really do and I don’t mind if she starts acting a little more trollish later on. I think Rhett influenced her or something, though. He froze time while she and I talked. I didn’t realize he was that powerful. It seems like a scary power for someone to have.” “I agree. It’s a good thing he’s on our side. This is actually one of her favorite restaurants in town. I was hoping, if she was back, she’d be around. Maybe he was watching over you for me and saw a chance to give you a little private time to talk with my mother. Either way, I’m glad for it. I was worried that she wouldn’t come to talk to me for a year or more.” “Your mother definitely worries about you. Should we be getting ready to go soon?” Carmen asked. I looked at the time and sighed. Since it was September, the sun was going down earlier. It was close to sunset and we needed to get moving. This was my chance to prove to the Master of the territory that I deserved this contract. “Yeah, we should get going.” Waving down the waiter, I got our bill and paid. It was nice to have a meal with my mate outside of the house. I’d been worried that we’d have a run-in with her father, but he seemed to have backed off. I wouldn’t trust it, though. As long as that man was out there, I wouldn’t relax my guard. Mike told me all about his visit with his father. There didn’t seem to be any reasoning with the man. Carmen didn’t realize that I was putting a glamour on her every time we moved around outside of our house or the office. Unlike the one I put on her in the restaurant, which just made her look like a different woman, this one made her invisible. It was all I could think of to really hide her movements since she had a fairly routine schedule. I helped her into the truck and closed the door before looking around. Nothing caught my attention, but that wouldn’t change my diligence. At least, I knew she’d be safe when we got to the Master’s house. -When we reached the Master’s house, we were buzzed in and I saw a man walking the perimeter of the house. I was glad for the guards. Not much Matt could do against guards and an ancient vampire. Carmen held on to my arm as we went from the truck to the porch. Before I could even knock, the front door opened. A blonde woman stood in the doorway. She smiled at us. “Please come in. Master Nightshade will be out in a moment,” she told us. “Thank you,” Carmen replied. The woman closed the door behind us and told us to wait where we were before she disappeared further into the house. The entryway was done in marble. I let my magic seep into it. There was a weak spot on the stairs. It wouldn’t cause problems for them for a few years yet. I could fix that without tools, though. Something tugged at my clothes, but when I looked around, I couldn’t see anything tugging at me. I looked down at Carmen, who was standing next to me. She tilted her head and sniffed. “That’s weird,” Carmen murmured. “I smell a cat.” “Why’s that weird?” I asked. “Cats don’t like werewolves. It doesn’t really smell like a shifter, there’s no magic in the scent. I think there’s a natural cat here somewhere.” A weight pressed down on my left shoulder and I looked over, coming face to face with two glowing, golden cat eyes. Cats didn’t like trolls any more than they liked werewolves. Here was this cat staring me in the face from my shoulder. “Mrraow?” The cat rubbed its face on mine. I moved my head away from it. What did I do?