[Pyla]The day had finally arrived. Forrest was a lot more amorous and aggressive as we got closer to his birthday. I didn’t feel forced. In fact, it felt entirely natural to be with him in this way. Over the last few weeks, he had shown me so many amazing things he could do and my body was almost constantly aching for him. Being with him in public helped, but we didn’t have a ton of chances for that. He still went to work every day, but I stayed in his house or went out to visit people I knew in the fae lands. More of the female trolls were talking to me than before. My mother and her mate were ignoring me entirely. Forrest still postured at them every chance he got, but he promised me he wouldn’t do anything as long as neither of them did. It was easy for me to accept not having contact with them, though. I didn’t miss my mother like I had my father and his family. Forrest went to work in the morning. I worked on getting things ready for the party. It would last three days and we needed to have food and drink available for our guests. Some women were still coming in hopes of me not actually being Forrest’s true mate, but not as many as we thought would. When Forrest got home from work, he found me in the kitchen making him some food. He hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. I leaned back against him and melted into his hold. “Change your mind about being the first in the room. I don’t want anyone but you. Please, Pyla,” he murmured as he kissed my neck. “I love you, Forrest, but I’m afraid that love will make me fall for whatever your troll brain tells me. Trust me.” He sighed and held me tightly against him. “I understand. I just don’t trust that I won’t be able to seduce the other women. Pyla, I only want to be with you.” I pulled his arms off of me and plated up the food I prepared. There was nothing I could say to that, because I only wanted to be with him, too. After all these weeks, I was more sure than anything that Forrest was my mate. Rock and I had already talked about the plan and he was entirely fine with lying to Forrest about who would be the first person in the room. He told me that he owed Forrest a favor and making sure that I was certain of our relationship was enough of a favor to cover it. We ate our dinner and cleaned up. The feeling in the house was some strange sort of somber excitement. Our peace would be intruded on for the next few days, but neither of us would really know it, since the room where he’d be chained up was soundproofed and no one would interrupt us. At ten o’clock, Forrest took my hand and kissed it, then he went to his room. He was going to prepare himself for his coming-of-age. I knew the chains were already secured and they had purchased stronger locks after what Carmen did to the locks when Rock was having his coming-of-age. Around eleven, Forrest’s mother and father arrived along with his sister. I hadn’t met her yet. She was very tall and beautiful in a very trollish way. I didn’t understand why Rock and Elbio always talked about her as if she was ugly. She sized me up and nodded. Forrest told me she was a warrior in the fae realm. I treated her as a fellow warrior and that seemed to leave a good impression. Rock and Elbio arrived a little later with Kaya. Carmen wouldn’t be coming until noon the next day. She’d be bringing Gemma and Austin. All of them considered Forrest a friend and wanted to be at his coming-of-age for him. “Hi, Rock.” I smiled. “Hey, Pyla… is there somewhere we can talk?” he asked. “Is this not something that can be settled right now?”“No, we need to talk privately,” Rock insisted. I nodded and excused us from the gathering. Forrest’s mother said she would take care of the guests as they arrived. Rock followed me to my room and I closed the door behind us. “What did you need to talk to me about? Is there something I need to know before going into the room with Forrest?” I asked. Rock sighed and shook his head. “Before I came, I talked to Queen Maeve. She called I didn’t seek her out. She told me that Shayle Stanvale needs to be the first person in the room with Forrest. I told her we were fairly sure you were his true mate and we already planned to have you in the room first, but she insisted and said she would make it an order if I kept pushing back. “I don’t know how Shayle managed it, but there’s nothing I can do. I kept pushing and it’s now a decree from the royal in charge of the area. Shayle will be the first person in the room and you will be the second. Disobeying will have severe consequences,” Rock explained. Queen Ivy gave us her support. I didn’t understand why her mother would decide that. I felt anger surge through me before I managed to tamp it down. There was nothing I could do against a decree by the queen.I nodded. “Do you think she’ll… sleep with him?” I whispered. “Probably. If she can’t have him, she’ll want to have a piece of him in some way. If I could change it, I would, Pyla. Are you going to be okay?” “Yeah. There’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to accept that Forrest saved himself for nothing. I’m still proud of him, though. He restrained himself so much. I could tell it was a struggle for him most of the time. He’s my true mate, I’m sure of it. I will obey the queen, though,” I replied. We left the room and found the living room had grown fuller while we were gone. Forrest came out of his room in a loincloth, enjoying the catcalls from the other trolls. He embraced his sister and parents before Rock and Elbio led him into the room where he would be chained up. Forrest’s mother put a hand on my shoulder. “You look down. Maeve contacted me about what she decided for tonight. I disagreed, but there’s not a lot we can do when those who outrank us make rulings.” “Forrest is mine. I know that and I don’t think Shayle will bring his true self out. I just have to deal with it.” I shrugged. “It’s almost time for my speech. Soon, you will have my son for your own and we will welcome you into the family gladly. We never thought Forrest would end up with a mixed blood, but I think you are a perfect match for him.” There was a knock at the door and I excused myself to answer it. As if called by her name, I found Shayle on the other side of the door. She looked down her nose at me and smirked. “Please come in. There is food and drink in the dining room,” I told her. “Thank you. It looks like you already know about how tonight is going to go.”“I don’t know what you did to get her to decree this, but you are not Forrest’s true mate. You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment,” I warned her. “Aww, do you actually care about my heart, little lizard?” Shayle scoffed. “If you’re not his mate, don’t sleep with him. I won’t forgive you if you act selfishly here. He decided that he wanted to save himself for his true mate. As soon as he made that decision, your physical relationship with him was over. Don’t take advantage of him because you want him,” I said quietly. Something in her face shifted slightly, but she recovered and scowled at me. She didn’t say anything else, but pushed past me and went to the living room. A few other people showed up and I let them in. The house was very full by the time the clock struck midnight. Everyone quieted down and turned toward Forrest’s mother. She looked imperiously over the gathered crowd of trolls. “Goddess, this is the night my son turns fifty. In his life, he has dedicated all of his achievements to you. He does all things in your honor. Forrest is a good troll and a good man. “In the past few months, he has found a connection that we pray is permanent. During this celebration, watch over Forrest Montblanc and let him find his true mate. He will honor and love the woman who is meant for him. He will care for her and fight alongside her for the rest of their lives. “My son has done all in his power to show he is deserving of this gift from you. In your name, we pray for your blessing. Give my son the mate he desires in his heart, the mate you found for him, the woman who will gift us the next generation of the Montblanc line,” Stilla said loudly. The entire room had been quiet while she spoke. Now, everyone praised the goddess and started talking about the things Forrest did that made him worthy of finding his true mate. This was very different from a lizard person coming-of-age. “He loves me and holds my heart,” I whispered to the goddess. “Please let him be my mate.” Once that was done, Forrest’s parents sat in his favorite chair. His father was in the seat and Stilla sat in her mate’s lap. Rock whistled to get everyone’s attention. He and Elbio stood near the entry to the dining room. “Shayle will be the first in the room,” Rock announced. Everyone in the house froze, then looked at Shayle. Their eyes found me and I could see some looks of pity and a few looks of amusement. I hated it, but I knew I was Forrest’s mate, so I wasn’t afraid of losing him to her…. Mostly. I also couldn’t deny that he told me he thought Shayle was his mate before I came along. Shayle came over to me and patted my shoulder before going over to where Elbio and Rock were. She turned and looked out over the room as if she were challenging someone to object. No one did. Elbio led her back to the room where Forrest was chained up. I could hear him roar when the door opened. He was trying to intimidate whoever came into the room. I smiled a little to myself as a shiver went down my spine. Forrest was mine and I just had to keep remembering that for as long as Shayle was in there. No matter what she decided to do, I was the one Forrest would end up with. There was nothing she could do to stop the fact that I would be the one to stay with Forrest tonight.