[Rock]We decided to walk to Pyla’s mother’s house. It wasn’t very far away, and it would get attention. It was one of those times that we wanted the eyes of all the trolls in the neighborhood on us. They had to know that harming one of our women wasn’t going to fly. Forrest was pissed, which was a rare sight anymore. I’d never seen him like this, but I could imagine why. He loved Pyla. I could see it in the way he looked at her. It was a lot stronger than it had been when she left to visit her family in the fae realm. “Seems like Forrest is out for blood,” Elbio said to me as we followed the angry mountain that was our friend. “Definitely. They must have done something to Pyla. I don’t see him getting this angry just because they kicked her out,” I replied. “I have to wonder if we’re there to back him up or hold him off.” I nodded. Either one seemed likely. I’d never seen Forrest like this. Pyla didn’t look hurt when I saw her, but that didn’t mean anything. Each race of fae healed at different rates. I didn’t know what the healing factor was for lizard people. We went around to Pyla’s mother’s house and I could feel people watching us. It worked as we planned. People had to have realized where we were heading with Forrest in the lead like that. I wouldn’t doubt if they called their friends to get them to watch and report back. As we approached the house, I remembered it. It was one I had built. Two bedrooms with two bathrooms. The layout sprung up in my mind. I knew exactly which room would be Pyla’s and how to get there from the front. Suddenly, the reasoning for bringing me instead of Mica was apparent. If something happened, Forrest was counting on me to go into the house while he and Elbio dealt with the mother and her mate. He wanted me to gather Pyla’s things. It made sense. I was smaller, faster, and knew the lay of the land. I may not be able to be the muscle like Elbio and Forrest were for me back when I went to get Carmen’s stuff, but I was useful. We walked up to the door and Forrest pounded on it. Elbio and I waited a few feet behind him. A few moments later, a male troll opened the door. Forrest growled at him, but the male didn’t seem to be fazed. “Just a second,” he replied and closed the door again. “Forrest, are you okay to be up there or do you need to take a step back.” “Stop me if it looks like I’m going to actually kill him,” Forrest growled. Elbio and I moved closer. Not long after, the door opened again and there was a female standing there, who had to be Pyla’s mother. She glared at the three of us. “So she sent you to get her things? Seems awfully cowardly for a lizard warrior,” she scoffed. “Where’s your mate?” Forrest asked. “He’s dealing with something more important than whatever wild stories my mistake has been telling.” She reached to the side and put two suitcases outside the door. “Take her things and leave. Tell her she’s not welcome back in my home.” “My mother won’t approve of you kicking her out,” Forrest told her. Pyla’s mother laughed. “She walked out after an argument. My mate tried to stop her and she attacked him. I’m only giving her what she wanted. Pyla doesn’t want to stay here. If that’s what she wants, who am I to stop her? She may not be an adult, but she’s old enough to be responsible for herself.” “He gripped her wrist hard enough to rip scales off of it.” “So? He was trying to stop her from leaving. Should he have done something else? Good luck with her. There’s no way a bіtch like her will submit easily. Leave my property. I have no more business with you,” she replied, and closed the door on him. Forrest stood there for a couple minutes before he grabbed the cases and turned to us. We headed back toward Forrest’s house. It was far less dramatic than he thought it would be. I could tell he was a little disappointed about that. He really wanted to kick that guy’s ass. I understood. I wanted to kick Carmen’s dad’s ass when I took her home. The anger over someone hurting your mate was hard to stuff down. Forrest was doing his best, but I was relieved it didn’t turn into a fight. It wasn’t something we wanted to have to defend to Queen Maeve. It was obvious that we weren’t expecting a peaceful confrontation. “If you two have got this, I need to get going. I have a date with my girlfriend,” Elbio said. We stopped and turned to him. He was trying to hide a smile. I punched him in the arm. “When did you claim her?” I asked. “Last weekend. Things were going well, so I went after the other guy who was hot on her heels. Kicked his ass pretty soundly,” he replied proudly. “Congrats, man. This is the pretty thing you brought to the last barbeque back in October?” Forrest asked. “Yeah. Kaya. The more time I spend with her the more I love her. I think she’s my true mate, but I have to wait for her coming of age. It’s in April almost six months before mine. It’s so different from anything I’ve ever felt for any of the women I’ve ever been with. I don’t feel the need to dominate her every time we’re together. Sometimes, I let her win and she’s got some fun ideas when I’m hers to command.” Elbio chuckled. “That’s how it feels with Pyla. I don’t have to be in charge and I don’t have to control everything. I just need to keep her safe and I’m happy. For all that I was with Shayle for years, I never felt that for her. She was hot and I didn’t think of anything like what she enjoyed or what would make her smile. I think of that with Pyla,” Forrest admitted. I nodded. “Carmen changed everything about how I think of women. She gave me something I was missing and made me stronger in return. Even when I first met her, I let myself love her. I’m a lot softer than you two, so it obviously took me a lot less time to fall in love with my true mate. I think the goddess guided all of us to the women who match us early. I don’t know why, but I’m grateful.” “Well, enough of the girl talk in the middle of the street. I’m heading out. You guys okay?” Elbio asked. “We can get these back to Forrest’s without any trouble,” I told him. He patted our shoulders and ran off to his house. I took one of the cases from Forrest and we headed to his house. The walk was pretty quiet. I could see that Forrest was struggling with something. Of all my friends, Forrest was the easiest to read. He was very straightforward about everything, like most trolls, but his emotions played on his face very plainly if you knew him. I elbowed him, making him elbow me back. “What’s up Forrest?” I asked. “Pyla’s starting to feel what I’ve been feeling. I was worried because it seemed like she didn’t. I thought that might mean she wasn’t my true mate. Rock, I didn’t know what to do if I felt it, but she didn’t,” he told me.“She’s been feeling it for a while. She told Carmen about it months ago. Pyla didn’t want to tell you in case you weren’t feeling the same. At the Halloween party, she wanted to know how to tell the difference between you and your other self. Even back then, Pyla wanted to know how she could tell it was really you. She wants to be your true mate,” I said. He nodded. “We fooled around last night. I think we might do it again tonight. I’m keeping my promise, though. No ѕex until my coming of age.” “Lots of things you can still do that aren’t ѕex. How was it?” “She’s so soft, like pillowy and muscular all at the same time. She feels warm, even though I know she’s cold-blooded. I had a question, though, since some softies share features…. The wetness thing? Does Carmen do that?” Forrest asked. I laughed. “Yes, and it’s the best thing you’ll ever feel. The wetter she gets, the better you’re doing your job. It’s how they get ready to take you.”“I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept going and she kept getting wetter. I didn’t want to say anything and embarrass her.” “Good idea. Do you have any other questions? I’m the expert when it comes to having ѕex with softies,” I said. “Any tips on what I can do that’s not ѕex? The women I slept with did whatever I wanted and other stuff wasn’t really on my mind. Being with a woman was enough to please her.” “It doesn’t always have to be about ѕex. You can be sensual without being ѕexual. Carmen likes it when I massage her. Oral ѕex is good, if you can convince her to let you.” “Convince her to let me what?” he asked. I stopped in my tracks and he turned to look at me. “You’ve never performed on a woman?” “I won, they did that for me, but I never did it to them. It’s demeaning.” “No. You never really won if you never did that. The power you have over a woman after using your mouth to bring her pleasure is more than forcing them to perform on you. She starts begging and it’s musical. The better you are with your tongue, the more they want your diсk. When Carmen сums, her legs clamp on the sides of my head and the feeling of that soft, silky skin on my ears is enough to practically bring me to my end. “Sorry to contradict you here, but you’ve never owned a woman until you’ve made her beg without issuing an order. Not just ‘please Forrest’, but telling you all the things they want you to do to them. All the things they want to do to you. You have no idea how powerful you feel when you know you’re the only one that can make them feel that way,” I explained. “Damn…. I never thought of it that way. I might try that…. If she lets me.” “Remember, massages, kisses, nibbling her ears. Not everything has to be fuсking or fuсking adjacent, Forrest. She’s not your property, she’s your little goddess and you have to worship her to get her to bow to you,” I told him. “I’m heading home. You take these back to your place and spend some time getting to know more about Pyla and how to care for her. Ask more about lizard culture, especially dating. I bet you’ll learn a lot from that.”We were right in front of my house, so I handed him the case I was carrying and headed off to my front door. When I opened it, I found Austin and Gemma getting ready to go out. They had just been getting up for the day when I left. “Where are you two headed?” I asked. “Lunch with my family. The wedding is in two weeks and we were going to go over all the details. We got the exception for Austin’s family to come up for it. Now we’re working on a petition so they can sign it. The petition will be for sanctuary from their old pack,” Gemma said. “I don’t know if they’re going to want to sign it, but they got a travel pass and those are hard for omegas to be given. That means they had to have wanted to come. Maybe it means they’re willing to stay. I’d like to get to know them,” Austin added quietly. Ever since Gemma moved in, we saw Austin growing a lot more as a person. He was talking more and planning for his future because he could actually see a future available to him. I liked that and I looked forward to raising our kids with theirs. Carmen and Gemma were already planning to try to get pregnant at the same time so our kids could grow up as friends. Austin stopped blushing about it a week ago and started looking as if he was planning exactly how he was going to put a baby in her. It was good to see him normalizing. He started working with me at the beginning of January and took to it quickly. He was cleaning up and assisting with whatever he could. Everyone liked him, even the trolls. He was a great fit for the company. “Have fun. Will we see you for dinner tonight?” I asked. “We should be back in time. Carmen seems to still be in bed. She didn’t get up for breakfast,” Gemma told me. “I’ll go get her up. She shouldn’t sleep the day away. I figured I’d give her a little extra time this morning because I kept her up all night.” I winked. Gemma laughed. “That’s what weekends are for. We’ll see you later.” I waved them off and went into the house. After removing my boots, I headed to the bedroom. Carmen was in the middle of our bed, curled up with thick, heavy blankets. I could barely see her for all the blankets. They had mainly been a joke because she kept saying how cold she was last night. I was playing dumb and adding blankets instead of giving her the cuddles she wanted. She laughed and play pouted as I piled them on the bed. Now, she was under the mountain of cloth. Quietly, I slipped into bed and slid my hands down her back. Carmen yelped and rolled away from me. I followed, touching every inch of her bare skin that I could with my cold hands until she fell onto the floor. “Why are you being mean? It’s the weekend, I get to sleep in,” she muttered while pouting. I leaned over the edge of the bed and picked up the rolled bundle that was my mate. She tried to fight back but was rolled tightly in the blankets. I laughed at her struggles. Goddess, she was so cute. “Well, my little sushi roll, I was out helping Forrest get Pyla’s things and I thought we might want to invite them to dinner. Of course, I had to ask my sweet little mate, first. So I had to wake you.” “With your cold hands? There was no other way to do it?” Carmen scoffed. “Yes, my tasty little treat, with my big, cold hands. And now, I’m going to warm them up.” “How are you planning to do that?” she asked warily. “With you, my little hand warmer,” I laughed wickedly and squeezed my arms into the blanket rolls, grabbing any part of Carmen I could find, making her squeak and squirm, trying to get away from me. Eventually, she worked her way out of the blankets and ran for the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I chuckled and followed, stripping off my clothes as I went. A hot bath sounded good and now I had my favorite bath toy to entertain me.